Gray Whales and Whale Sharks! - Bahia Concepcion Week #1

Sunday, 6 April 2014

We left La Paz on March 26, about 1.5 weeks ago, and arrived in Bahia Concepcion on March 29^th, dropping the anchor under Casa de los Suenos, at La Posada anchorage around the corner from Santispac, at around 7:15 p.m. in the last, dim light of day. 

Cinnabar motors into her anchorage just before it gets dark - photo L. Teoman

We learned our lesson last year, no more overnight pounding to weather (into the wind and waves)! This year we meandered north, stopping at a pleasant anchorage each night. Here was our itinerary:

Day #1: La Paz to Isla San Francisco = 44 nautical miles (nm), sailed about half the time. Dropped anchor next to a boat we knew from Alameda, sv Westerly.

Day #2: SF to Bahia Candeleros = 67nm motoring; shared the big bay with one other super yacht. The skipper said all the other cruisers left due to predicted northerlies coming into the bay, but the night was windless with the water like a millpond. A very relaxing night!

Day #3: Candeleros to San Juanico = 44nm motoring. This was a good, protected anchorage from the northerly winds and swell.

Day #4: San Juanico to Santispac = 55 nm, sailed 6 hours out of 10. After a couple of somewhat gnarly hours, boat heeled over and things flying about down below, the boat and conditions settled down and we had a glorious day of sailing in a stiff breeze with reefed mainsail and jib, more or less toward our destination. 

A great day of saling!

Since our goal was directly upwind we took a couple of long port tacks out to sea, then back, and had to turn on our motor as we neared Point Concepcion so that we would make the anchorage before dark.

Turns out our friends Deniz, Lissa and daughter Amanda, and Bobby and Denise, also arrived in Bahia Concepcion that day so it was a great gathering of friends. They kayaked out to bring us a tandem kayak so we could join them for a feast of freshly speared Yellowtail and Grouper. What a welcome!!

If you know our friend Mike McGuire, or remember the McGuire family from last year’s posts, you will know that Mike has activities planned to pack a 28 hour day. Since Mike and Stephanie had to spend the day in Loreto the day after our arrival, our first day in Concepcion was a “day of rest”, hanging out with our friends, kayaking, snorkeling, and getting some boat tasks done. 

Our friends kayak over for coffee - photo D. Teoman

Good thing because the next day was a full one, driving to Laguna San Ignacio on the other side of the Baja peninsula for some up close and personal gray whale watching. 

Every year gray whales travel from Alaska to San Ignacio to give birth, and when the calves are old enough the mother and calves come right up to pangas to get scratched and and rubbed, which they seem to love. 

Whale calf gives us the eye.

Leave it to Mike to challenge everyone to KISS a whale! 

Amanda kisses the calf. - photo D. Teoman

I don’t know of anywhere else in the world where the whales like to come right up to the boats, rub under them and push them in circles. It’s quite an amazing experience!

The whales love the contact.

The next day the guys left early for a day of spearfishing. They came home with some yellowtail, grouper, and other reef fish. Delicious for that night’s feast of sashimi, ceviche and grilling!

Great job on the day's catch!

While the guys were gone the ladies enjoyed a day of provisioning in Mulege and stopping for shrimp cocktails and lemonade on the beach.

We enjoy the fresh limonada at Arturuo's.

Some of our friends had never seen a whale shark, and we heard there had been a sighting in Bahia Coyote, a few coves down from us. Mike was determined that they would have a whale shark experience. So the next morning most of the group jumped into kayaks and started paddling toward Coyote.  Tom, Lissa and I motored over in the dinghy and we all converged in Coyote, on the lookout for the telltale double fins of the whale shark. It was windy and choppy that day, so no fins, but eventually we could make out some large dark shapes moving through the water and sure enough, some whale sharks had come into the cove!     

Amazing shot of whale shark face - photo D. Teoman

We spent the morning looking for and snorkeling with these gentle giants. Deniz and his daughter Amanda couldn’t get enough, and since they were leaving the next day Tom took them out one more time for a snorkel with these fascinating beasts.

Amanda is tiny next to this giant! - photo D. Teoman

The next day, April 4, everybody packed up the truck and van to drop the Teomans off at the Loreto airport, while the rest of the group (except Stephanie and I) drove over to Scorpion Bay on the west coast of baja for a surfing trip. 

Kelston and Tom pack up the truck.

Stephanie and I stayed behind so we could catch up on some work and reading, and so I could keep an eye on Cinnabar for some high winds that are supposed to blow through today and tomorrow.

Last night Stephanie and I stood on the porch of her villa, and exactly at 7:10 pm the space station appeared as a bright, fast-moving orb out of the SW. It traveled straight over head and disappeared into the NE six minutes later. It was truly a serene and magical moment. (I’m glad we enjoyed it, because we were both extremely sick last night, we think from some local cheese we had for dinner. Oh well, that sort of thing is to be expected when one travels. I’m sure a day of rest will set us to rights, and that’s all I’m going to say about the matter. Ugh)

On Tuesday the Scorpion Surfing Safari group will drive back to Loreto, picking up our friend Mati at the airport on the way in. Then my sister and Erik arrive the next day so it will be back to activities at a breakneck speed for another couple of weeks. 

More pics of our first week in Bahia Concepcion are HERE.

Cinnabar "on the hook". - photo L. Teoman

McGuire's Midnight Moonlight Malacostracan Madness - Bahia Concepcion Week #2

Week #2 in Bahia Concepcion - Thank you Mike and Stephanie!!
NOTE: I think we've run out of internet time here, so this post doesn't have quite as many pictures as I would like. Every time I get greedy and try to upload another picture my internet crashes. I don't even think I can link to my google album.

UPDATE: Thanks to an internet café in Mulege I can now post a link to my google album of Bahia Concepcion Week #2 (well, week #2.5 really) right HERE.

Santa Rosalia - The day after we said goodbye to Clint and Mackenzie, and hello to Bryce, the newest addition to Casa de Los Sueños, some of us decided to take a day trip up to the historic copper mining town of Santa Rosalia. Mike and Stephanie had some business in town, and Tom, Jake and I insisted on tagging along. The French Company El Boleo founded the town in 1884 and actively mined there until they closed down in 1954. I found a very thorough history of the Santa Rosalia mining operations HERE. Allegedly, the S. Koreans have now obtained a 30 year lease to resume mining operations. 

There is a terrific museum perched on a hilltop that looks out over the town and harbor.

The building once housed the offices of the Boleo company, and many of treasury, payroll and accounting artifacts can be found there along with the actual mining artifacts.

Entry level miners (local peasants of course), started out barefoot and with a loincloth.

Promotions, for those who lived long enough, included an upgrade in uniform, namely a miner's hat, shorts instead of a loincloth, and boots instead of barefoot.

An unusual church built of steel plates is located in the center of town. I was surprised when I read the church plaque, the church was designed by Gustave Eiffel.

We heard there was an authentic French bakery, there since the mining days, that made real baguettes! Instead we found regular Mexican sandwich rolls, a meager selection of uninspired pan dulce, and an exceedingly cranky patroness.

Whale Sharks!! - The next morning Mike, Jake and Bryce dinghied over to Coyote Cove for a bit of spearfishing. They did get some fish but, more importantly, they spotted Whale Sharks! That night, as we enjoyed their freshly grilled catch, the guys made plans to go fishing while I made plans to dinghy over to Coyote Cove at the first opportunity.

Mike kept us busy with sightseeing and activities for the next couple of days but all the while I was itching to get over to those Whale Sharks. I finally got my chance when the guys went on another fishing trip. At last!! After my morning cup of tea I jumped into the dinghy and zoomed over to Coyote Cove. Mike said to look for the telltale fins but all I could see was flat, mirror-like water. I waited while one or two pangas zoomed in, also looking for the elusive Whale Shark, and zoomed out to continue their search around the point. I continued waiting. Finally, about 15 minutes later, a black fin broke the smooth water and slowly moved toward me. Then I saw another fin closer to shore. And then another! I watched three Whale Sharks that morning, one big, one medium and one small. I watched them for a good 45 minutes, keeping my distance so as not to disturb them.



You always see the fin first.

Then the shark!



The murky water is a sign of zooplankton-rich food for the whaleshark

However there was one shark that kept trying to swim close to me. In fact once, when I had turned my outboard off, it turned toward me and totally freaked me out as it swam underneath me, bumping under the dinghy as it passed underneath. Not surprisingly, this shark had a mangled fin. Soon, other boats and kayaks realized I was getting the show all to myself, the cove became a bit crowded, and I left.

Later that morning Stephanie and the kids kayaked over to Cinnabar so we took another spin out to Coyote Cove so the kids could swim with the sharks. We saw the whale sharks several times over the next week. Once one of the sharks even came into our anchorage and swam around Cinnabar! A few of us jumped into kayaks and spent time following this magnificent creature out to an island.

More Fishing - As I mentioned before, Mike took the guys out on another fishing trip. This time with a local guide named Chuy. Apparently this Chuy really knows his stuff and so they had another successful day. The guys caught 5 (one each) Yellowtail using rods and reels...

Pole fishing (live mackerel bait)  in the calm morning fog, pod of fin whales exhaling in the distance - Isla San Idelfonso

Fish On!! Yellowtail (TY) are powerful fighters. A week earlier, our guide said, an 11 yr old boy was pulled off the boat while fighting his YT.

Tom's first catch of the day! Bryce is fighting YT #2.

...then jumped into the flat calm water and Mike and Tom shot another two each using spearguns.

Tom lands another beauty - It is a special thrill to hunt and an honor to be nourished by these sleek, noble, bluewater fish of the sea.

That night we had our favorite sashimi platter of sliced yellowtail served with nori, avocados and rice. That, served with Stephanie's famous blended smoothies, made for a perfect meal on this hot evening.

Kayaking Mulege River - One day Mike wanted to explore the Mulege River to see if there was a place we could put in on kayaks and paddle either up or down river. We went to the Mulege Mission, high on a hill that overlooks the river, and we saw that there was a dam right underneath the mission, then we discovered the river went underground a short way up from the mission, so going inland was out of the question. We were able put in about 2.5 km from the river mouth, and we rowed against the wind all the way to where the river meets the sea. It wasn't very far, but it was a good workout since we were paddling upwind. Not to mention we paddled very fast at first, since we seemed to be in some questionably brown, kind of smelly water.

One of the seemingly few year-round rivers in the whole Baja landscape.

If you read this we'll have to kill you -
1) Stealth Reef Project: The moon was their only witness...

...It was a success, and that's all I can say about the subject.

2) McGuire's Midnight Moonlight Malacostracan Madness at Punta Chivato: Local dive shop owner Robert and his lovely wife Laura guided us to Punta Chivato for a beach party, bonfire, and some nighttime free-diving...

The guys gear up to dive at sunset. Turned out to be a bit of a washing machine out there on this windswept point.

Mike prepares the night's catch. Small but tasty! Sorry, can't tell you what it is, you'll have to surmise it.

We Say Goodbye: The moonlight beach party and bonfire would be our last hurrah as a group. Bryce and Jake would be leaving the next afternoon so the morning of their departure would be Mike's last chance to use their muscle power. They moved the kayaks and outboard into storage, flipped the skiff upside down and stored it high up on the beach, cleaned up the beach, and did all manner of heavy-lifting. Then Mike loaded up a cooler for each of them filled to the brim with frozen fish. Stephanie and I took them to the airport in Loreto, then consoled ourselves with a lunch of ice cream from La Michoacana ice cream store in Loreto.

It was a slightly glum afternoon, knowing that the McGuires would be heading back to Colorado the next day, so Mike and Tom gave Stephanie and me the night off from cooking. The McGuire's treated us to a pleasant dinner at JC's Restaurant, across the highway from Burro Cove.  

As we were driving home the huge, perfectly full moon rose from behind the mountains to our East. It was so startlingly bright that we had to pull over to get out of the car and enjoy the moment. It took at least 15 minutes for Mike and Tom to get the perfect "Moon over the Cactus" photograph. In fact they got many perfect photos!

Mike's got the whole moon in his hands.

The next morning, Friday April 26, was full of a flurry of chores, cleaning and packing. The McGuires loaded up their car with all their goods and coolers bursting with frozen fish, and drove away from Casa de Los Sueños, leaving Tom and me alone. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, reading and moping, boo hoo!

Yesterday, still exhausted from the McGuires' breakneck pace of 24/7 activities, we hung out at the boat, exercised some of the systems that hadn't been used in a week (genset, watermaker), and talked about our plans. But then we got the happy news that our friends Joe and Lisa are flying down next Saturday to visit us for a week! We enjoyed happy hour in the cockpit with some cold beers, a couple of turtles that kept popping their heads up next to the boat, and plans for what to do when our friends arrive.

As I mentioned above, we visited El Candil internet café in Mulege yesterday and I was able to link to my google album of Bahia Concepcion Week #2 (well, week #2.5 really) right HERE.

Bahia Concepcion/Mulege Week #1 - Old Friends and New Friends, A Leap of Faith

It's hard to believe we've been in Bahia Concepcion for two weeks already! Here are some of the highlights of Week #1:

The first week was full of numerous water activities, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends, sightseeing, eating, and trying to cook fish as fast as the guys were shooting and catching them.

Old friend Clint from CA, new friend Jake from CO, Mike and Stephanie, overlooking the Mulege river.

One of the first activities, or should I say CHALLENGES that Mike threw down was to dare everyone to jump off a high rock on a nearby island. Mike knew that this would really rib Tom because we all remember very well an incident that happened in Virgin Gorda some years back. Mike had challenged the guys in the group to jump off a very high rock into the ocean. They all climbed the rock, stripped off their trunks and threw them into the water, and made the mighty leap into the sea. All except Tom that is, and he stood up at the top of the hill for at least an hour, starkers, while the rest of us jeered at him. Finally, as the sun was setting, our taxi driver would wait no longer and we started filing into the van. Rather than be left behind, or even worse to climb back down the hill, Tom forced himself to leap; he emerged with all his body parts, but not his pride, intact. Tom's reluctance to jump has been legendary ever since.

Fast forward to now, and frankly I was amazed that Tom accepted Mike's challenge. I  stuck my nose in the air and told Mike to take a flying leap, (which he did of course), but guys are different, and Tom felt he had to rise to the occasion.

Mike and his victims dinghied over to the island. They climbed up amongst the squawking, roosting seagulls, trying to avoid their nests, eggs and accompanying insects, to the jumping spot. Mike's son Kelston jumped first...

...then Mike, and then Tom actually jumped. And he smiled about it. And he wasn't even the last one off the rock!

Tom jumped, leaving our new friend Lam to do the final leap.

I think Tom's jumping phobia might be cured because today he suggested they go rock jumping again.

A few days after we arrived we all headed an hour south to Loreto to have lunch at the McGuire family's favorite taco place, El Rey Del Taco...

Savanah wants her taco NOW!!!

The chef rocks the carne asada tacos.

...and to pick up our friend Clint and his daughter Mackenzie at the airport. Immediately after we got back to the villa the kids had to get into the water. So it was back into the dinghy for more rock climbing and jumping.

Girl power! Savanah leaps.

When they wearied of leaping Mike tied a surfboard to the dinghy and started towing the kids around. This would be a daily activity, sometimes twice a day, and it was always a hoot to watch.

Savanah, Kelston and Mackenzie have fun tow-surfing.

As fun as the Bahia and McGuireville are, there are many other interesting things to do in and around Mulege (the nearest town). You already know about the HUGE excitement of the week, where Mike, Kelston, Tom, Clint and Mackenzie went spearfishing offshore and brought home lots of fresh yellowtail.

Kelston and Tom with the day's catch.

But the Mulege area is also very historic and quite fascinating. One day we traveled to the Mulege river mouth, where the wide river empties into the sea. Just north is Punta Prieta, a rocky beach where all sorts of flotsam comes to rest. We had originally intended to snorkel there, but the brisk northerlies had whipped the small bay into a frenzy, so beachcombing became our Plan B.

Mackenzie and her found treasures.

After some of us had collected our treasures, and others of us had injured ourselves, AGAIN...

When he's not getting stung by scorpions Kelston likes to start and then be underneath rockslides.

...we drove a short way to a fascinating abandoned hotel. The Aero Club was built in 1957 by one of the first Baja Bush Pilots and was pretty much accessible by small plane only. It had an elite clientele of bush pilots and celebrities. John Wayne was one of the many celebrities who enjoyed the hotel, also called Loma Linda. This place has one of the most beautiful views in the area, hence another of its names, Vista Hermosa.

Big view, big smiles  - Syl and Stephanie on the hotel water tower

In 1996 a small but vocal group of local peasants, ejidatarios, evicted the guests and owners and claimed the land as their own. The ejidatarios, who were granted vast tracts of public and private property by the Mexican government earlier in the century, insisted that they had documents showing they owned the land. (The ejidatarios also claimed other property in Mulege, as well as numerous other areas throughout the country.)  They demanded that the owners pay them tens of thousands of dollars in rent before ending their siege. The owners eventually just walked away leaving the hotel to the ejidatarios, who did not wish, or have the money or desire, to continue the hotel, and so the place eventually turned into an abandoned ruin. Even though the ejidatarios were within their rights, the fate of Vista Hermosa seems so very sad as one can easily imagine the hotel's beauty in its heyday.

The front of Hotel Loma Linda/Vista Hermosa

We eventually made our way to our favorite beach palapa café La Almeja for a late lunch. The waitress Chatita was absolutely hilarious, somehow an extra plate of Garlic Fish showed up at our table for Clint, who had also ordered the Garlic Shrimp. I guess she thought he was such a big eater he wanted TWO full plates of lunch. By and by it was clear that everybody but me had gotten their lunch. When I asked about my order of Guacamole Chatita shrugged, said they were out of avocados, and pointed to the extra plate of Garlic Fish. "Eat that" she cheerfully suggested. We all had a good laugh over that one.


Tom angling for a career change at La Almeja.

After a week of non-stop fun, we sadly chauffeured Clint and Mackenzie back to Loreto for their flight home. We consoled ourselves with some local "Chocolate" clams on the half shell.

But the good news is another friend of the McGuire's from Colorado was coming in on the afternoon flight and we had another week of FUN to look forward to.

Our album of Week #1 can be found HERE.

Just a hint of what's coming in week two: Lots more yellowtail, some food pictures at last, and WHALE SHARKS!!!

Yachtie Yearns for Yummy Yellowtail

Like the picture? Want to know what Tom is up to? Well read on...

Anybody who knows the McGuires knows that hanging around them equals 100% activity from the time you wake until the time you fall into bed completely exhausted. Oh, and did we mention that Mike was a multi-year national spearfishing champion?

We picked up Mike and Tom's long-time diving pal Clint, and daughter Mackenzie, in Loreto last Saturday, April 13. They only had one day to "rest" before Mike's next adventure, a panga ride to Isla San Idelfonso several miles off the coast to go spearfishing for the prized yellowtail. (The day of "rest" consisted of rock-jumping and surfing behind the dinghy, but more on that in another post.)

Mike, son Kelston, Tom, Clint and daughter Mac got up early Monday morning and drove to San Nicolas bay to meet Robert, who has been living there for many years and is a fishing expert. There was a slight delay due to getting stuck in the sand, but soon they were able to beach-launch the panga and set off for Isla San Idelfonso, 7 miles from shore.

Expert fisherman Robert, Expert spearfisherman Mike

Anchored and getting ready to hunt.

The prime location was over some pinnacles on the north side of the island. Kelston and Tom were the first in the water.

Tom settles on top of the pinnacle to wait for his victims.

Kelston  immediately spotted a couple of hefty specimens, Tom lined up his shot and managed to nail his first 25# yellowtail.

Bringing the fish to the surface.

In the six hours that they were out there Tom was the only one who shot yellowtail that day. But in the interest of full disclosure, it was Kelston who spotted the fish, handed his gun to Tom and told him to take the shots. What a generous guy! He couldn't have been more excited if he had shot the fish himself.

Later that day Kelston shot a Cabrillo and Robert line-caught a trigger fish and the third yellowtail.

Kelston with Cabrillo



What a team!

Clink, Mac, Robert, Kelston, Mike and Tom with the day's haul.

The happy group arrived home with coolers full of fish parts and big smiles on their faces. Well, I think Mac's was a grimace due to her numerous jellyfish stings, but we soon got her fixed up with some Benadryl and Lidocaine gel. She's quite a girl.

The hunters wasted no time in cutting up the fish and bagging it up. There were beautiful fillets for grilling, sushi-grade for sashimi, smaller pieces for teriyaki and tempura, and the rest was diced up for ceviche and machaca.

Mac, Clint and Mike cutting up the fish.

So far we have had delicious ceviche every night, a beautiful sashimi with fresh ginger and sesame, and dinners of fish tacos, fish fillets, yellowtail teriyaki and avocado handrolls, and last night we had fish and sweet potato tempura which I guess was our version of a Baja fish taco/fish and chips mashup.

Have I taken any pictures of all this wonderful food? Sadly no because as soon as it's ready we all swoop down on it like a flock of starving vultures!! I'll try to do a better job in the future.

The dream team?

Because of our slow-ish internet connection I've been having a heck of a time downloading and sorting all our pictures, but we've managed to do an album of the spearfishing expedition and it can be found HERE.

Hopefully we'll be able to do some more updating very soon in between all our activities and eating.



My hero!! Tom with his two big yellowtail.