General

Paddlers from Puerto Escondido to La Paz were Herb Howe, Andrea Wolf, Mary Coburn, Diana Van Konynenburg and Lee Apple plus Rick and Dianne Range in a double for a total of 7 paddlers in 6 boats. Also paddling the first two days before staying in the Loreto area were Dave Herr, Laura Ayers, Ralph Daniels and Ralph Crabtree.

After several days, the La Paz group settled into a typical daily schedule. We arose at about 6AM as soon as it was light enough to see. We took about an hour to wake up and view the usually spectacular sunrise over coffee and breakfast. Then another hour to break camp and pack the boats, launching at 8AM. We'd take a mid morning shore break and then another for lunch. Depending on the wind and what campsites we found, we'd try to land around 3PM. This allowed time to set up camp, enjoy drinks and snacks and prepare dinner before darkness started setting in at 6PM.

Photos from the trip are in Andrea's Gallery and in Diana's Gallery.

Refer to this map for the locations of our campsites that are mentioned below. Each site is labelled with the number of the paddling day. For example, the site near Agua Verde was where camped after our second day on the water and is labelled as site 2 on the map.

The Trip

November 5, 2004

The entire group of 11 launched at noon from the beach of a free campground a mile south of Puerto Escondido. Camped at Triunfo. Paddled 12 miles.

November 6, 2004

Launched around 11AM. After paddling about 5 miles, we took a long lunch break at the hot springs near San Cosme where Rick cooked and shared a fish he had caught. The two groups split after lunch. Our La Paz group of 7 then paddled from 2PM to 4 or 5 and camped a couple of miles short of Agua Verde. Paddled 12 miles.

November 7, 2004

Stopped in Agua Verde for water, tomatoes, apples and jewelry. Camped south of Punta San Francisco next to a large grassy field posted with a "No Hunting" sign. Paddled 13 miles.

November 8, 2004

The seas began building, driven by winds further to the north. We camped at La Morena sheltered from the seas by a rocky reef and in front of a rocky bluff. Walking south along the beach, we discovered a small estuary bordered by a fence erected to keep animals away from either the water or the quicksand. Rick went spearfishing. Paddled 12 miles.

November 9, 2004

Even bigger seas with a light NE wind. The waves steepened as we rounded points. After passing Rancho Dolores, we camped with permission on a fine beach behind which someone had built a compound of houses and planted many palm trees. Paddled 14 miles.

November 10, 2004

Rest day. Some slept off sickness while the rest went exploring. Evening fiesta.

November 11, 2004

Stopped for lunch at Nopolo where we were offered (and accepted) great fish tacos. Made camp early on a nice beach a couple of miles south of Nopolo when we encountered an increasing headwind from the south. Seas continued high around points which gave some of us a few moments of excitement. Paddled 8 miles.

November 12, 2004

Conditions initially calm with the wind again building from the SE. We stopped for water in Evaristo which has a modern desalination plant. Stopped early again at a great spot a couple of miles south of Evaristo as the headwind increased in the afternoon. Paddled 7 miles.

Just before we landed to camp, Rick and Dianne had an adventure. Here is Rick's description:

We were paddling in the afternoon under gray skies. The wind had taken a shift from the southwest to the west and was almost directly offshore. When an offshore wind blows in the Sea of Cortez, it is time to paddle closer to shore. These winds termed "Los Elephantes" have been known to sweep kayaks out to sea. A few seconds after we started to move closer to shore the reel on my rod started to scream. It was a big fish on the line. I looked over my shoulder and wow! It shot out of the water six feet and splashed down. This powerful creature repeated the feat 3 times.

As I watched the group paddle closer to shore, I had to decide if I should cut him loose and paddle nearer to shore with everyone else. Actually, there was little to decide, I wanted that fish and waived the group on. My plan was to stay put, play him out and bag him for dinner. With only 20 lb. test line I had to be vary careful. He was a big fish and could easily break the line. So I let out the drag, tightened it and reeled a bit, and let it out again. He could change direction at will and off he would go with the line. On one run he took all the line I had on the spool. Luckily, I was in a double and Dianne was able to paddle after him to get some slack so I could put reel more line back onto the spool. Dorado is known to be one of the strongest fighting fish in the sea.

So there we were with a west wind blowing paddling out into the Sea of Cortez chasing a big fish. It must have been a half hour or more before he showed signs of tiring. Gingerly, we made progress getting him closer to the boat. Then he started to take deep dives and at one point was directly under the boat but still 30 feet down pulling my rod into the water. I had to play him inch by inch to coax him closer to the surface. When he first popped up, we could not believe how big and beautiful he was. Bright blue specks, iridescent long yellow stripes.

How were we to land him? We did not have a net big enough. I was holding the rod so it fell on Dianne to try to grab him. We had heard you could possibly grab a fish like this by the small of the tail. So that was our first plan. But he was moving too much and splashing and we were afraid the line would break. So the next plan was to try to get some of the net on him from the tail. As Dianne swept the net across him the netting caught on one hooks on the lure that was hanging out of his mouth. This gave her a hold on the fish. In one amazing motion, she hauled the wriggling giant out of the water and slid it into the cockpit with her. It was bigger than her and hung over her shoulder. I rammed a stringer through its gills and secured him, dragged him over Dianne across the boat and tied him off. We had our fish but were both covered with fish blood and guts.

For 45 minutes all we did was concentrate on this fish. We felt like Spencer Tracy in The Old Man And The Sea, being taken on a dreamy odyssey. When we finally came out of the dream, we discovered we were 2 miles offshore and still under the influence of that west wind. It was time to hunker down and paddle hard to the closest point to the land. We tucked our heads forward and worked our paddles with that big fish dragging behind us. It was a struggle to make headway.

After an hour of hard paddling we finally spotted our group. They had landed for the day on a nice camping spot. I t was a lot of fun to paddle up and present our prize fish. We took a couple of steps on the beach on both collapsed. Our arms were worked not only from the paddle, but the tough fight Mr. Dorado put on that rod.

When we awoke, Mary was already building the nightly campfire. Our thoughts turned to cooking up this delicacy. Lee had a can of pineapple in his provisions. We had tin foil and some spices. I cleaned it up and cut it into seven huge steaks, smothered them in pineapple and wrapped them up. Into the bed of coals they went. When the fish was baked just right, we all sat down on the sand and ate heartily. Afterward we all reflected on the paddle while gazing at the vibrant Baja sunset of orange, red and purple. Sharing the fish with such a great group of people added a nice ending to a beautiful and exciting day. - Rick

November 13, 2004

Arrived at Arroyo Verde around 10AM. A beautiful camping spot but too early to camp. After rounding Punta Coyote, we paddled far enough down the beach to camp away from the road. A bit of nervousness as we attracted the attention of a van full of young men who, fortunately, soon departed. Paddled 16 miles.

November 14, 2004

Easy calm paddle along spectacular multi-colored sedimentary cliffs which we dubbed the Painted Desert. Very scenic. Camped in a great spot between two cliffs just north of Punta Trabillas. Paddled 14 miles.

November 15, 2004

Continued along the Painted Desert which slowly receded inland as we moved south. The coast began to resemble a rugged version of the California coastal range with cliffs at the shoreline backed by lower coastal hills. We passed a large abandoned phosphorous mine and the associated company town of San Juan de la Costa. Our day was extended a couple of miles when we found a large house on our intended campsite where the road leaves the water. We continued beyond visual range of the house and camped in sand dunes at the beginning of the low sand plain which extends to La Paz. Paddled 20 miles.

November 16, 2004

Another 20 mile day as the condo came into view through the binocs and the group decided to push on to the end instead of spending another night camping on the beach. A NE wind came up in the afternoon with 2-3 ft wind waves coming in from our port beam. This made for a bouncy crossing from El Mogote to the condo, an interesting finale. We landed on the condo beach at about 4PM. Paddled 20 miles.