Action de Gracias

Thursday November 24, 2005 LOCATION: Asuncion Bay, Baja California
GOOGLE EARTH COORDINATES: 27 07.738N,114 17.478W

Action de Gracias - As best we can tell that means the action of giving thanks or Happy Thanksgiving to you all and we hope this finds you all well and surrounded by family during this special time. We are well and currently nestled in Asuncion Bay. We have been continuing to hop from bahia to bahia y punta to punta, down the coast. We spent a few extra days in Bahia de Santa Rosalillita where we met some great people. A young couple Erik and Sarah, who are originally from Washington, traveling Mexico by van and surfing along the way. And a man, Ricard, from Spain who is traveling through Mexico by himself on his mountain bike. It was fun to swap stories of our travels each with a slightly different means of transportation and view of the trip. You can follow their journeys on www.vanontherun.com and www.bikemexico.blogspot.com. We hope to hook up with them again down the road.
While in Rosalillita we all got some more practice surfing on some really nice and long waves. Once your up (operative word being "up" for me) you could ride them forever. The boys also got to break in their new skim boards and are hooked. The bay itself is wrapped around in wonderful warm sand dunes that we would travel over like roadrunners(another cute bird you get to see a lot down here). Other fun finds were another new sea shell to us called turbans, which we hear are quite a yummy thing to eat and an entire whale skeleton with some leathery skin all dried out. Fascinating stuff.
Next stop was Isla Cedros. A nice island just north of the tip of Punta Eugenia and begins the central portion of Baja California. The island though it feels rather removed is the 3rd largest shipping port in Mexico. From miles away you can see giant mountains of salt that they load and export from lagoons such as Scammons lagoon on the Baja. One quick night and we were on our way to Bahia de Tortugas or Bay of Turtles. Nope, no turtles there. We had heard it is the first major stop and anchorage along the Baja coast for re-provisioning and refueling. They have quite the system going there. For a nice price, of course, they come out to your boat in their "pangas", fiberglass dinghies that EVERYONE owns for fishing, and transportation. The locals gladly take your garbage to shore for you and eventually, Jorge comes to visit you and deliver diesel and fuel. The guide books even mention by him name, although it must have been a busy day. We were told he would be the first person to meet you on your boat and seeing as how we were the last of boats that day to pull in and anchor poor Jorge didn't come for hours and yet made extra trips in the dark to bring us back our jerry cans full. We were very grateful for the help and an extra Tecate (cerveza) and friendly attempts with the language go far.
Currently we are in a wonderful place called Asuncion Bay. The best kept secret on the entire Baja Coast as far as I am concerned. It gets my vote so far as the best gem we have found yet. As with all great finds it is the people that make the experience real. An hour before you enter the bay you are called up on the radio by Shari. She lives on the point with a sweeping 360 degree view of the Pacific Ocean and can see you coming. Her back yard includes a natural jetty that provides a sheltered pool to play in no matter how high the tide or fierce the waves may be, complete with a bufadore (or a blow hole). The boys are still trying to figure out how they can get this in their back yard at home. She and her family, husband Juan and daughter Sirena welcomes you into her town and her home before you even drop anchor. We took them up on their hospitality and within five minutes of hitting the beach you meet the neighbors, have access to every amenity you need and we were treated to fresh squeezed orange juice, lessons in making tortillas and feasting.
Their house is a revolving door of travelers and they even run a B&B of sorts that includes immersion courses in the Mexican culture and learning to speak spanish. Shari graciously acts as the good will ambassador of Asuncion and shuttled us around to the store or to see the sights. Being fluently bilingual she has been teaching us every bit of the local lingo we can squeeze into our terribly gringo brains. They have horses to ride and will even take you to see a local valley where you can hunt for your own petrified shark teeth and other finds.
The town has an amazing Catholic church adorned with breathtaking stained glass windows throughout. Each depicting a scene from the bible in the lower half and a scene from the environment be it ocean or desert life on the top half. Even the copula is shaped like a lighthouse and the door hinges like whales. Not to mention the fresh pink and coral colored marble that wraps every pillar and the floors. Peaceful. We hope to attend a mass and share in their celebration before we go.
A few more travelers trickled in after us from Turtle Bay as well, and Juan and Shari offered up her home to us all to celebrate Thanksgiving. Each person contributed a goodie or two but the best part of the celebration was the offerings of local flavor. We feasted on BBQ yellow fin tuna, lobster(langosta) filled tamales and my new favorite deep fried lobster in the half shell of sorts compliments of Rosa and her husband Isidro. Lobster and Crab fishing is one of the major sources of income and industry here. Each days catch is contributed to a local co-op and sold from there. The work and rewards are shared.
Bruce was able to sneak in a few mornings of surfing with some of Shari's friends Seth and Ryan. They boys enjoyed snorkeling around the boat and chasing bait fish. When the sea lions go by the water boils with the bait fish as they try to escape. We are holding out here for another day or two as we let the brunt of a gale storm go by and we get to part take of a little more of the culture and friendship before we depart on Sunday for Abreojos (open your eyes).
Shari in her past life was a whale researcher for 15 years, and now a self motivated anthropologist and gold miner. Juan her husband builds the rock walls for homes around town, lobster fisherman and musician. If you are ever in this neck of the woods or are looking for an amazing location for some Spanish immersion encounters on the Baja Beach contact them at whales@intecnet.com.mx or call them at 001-52-615-160-0289. I will let you know as soon as their web page is up and running. (hint hint Shari) It is going to be tough to leave this anchorage behind but we are so blessed to have had the opportunity to share this corner of their world.
until next time, nos vemos
love lisa and the boys