As we crossed over to the mainland we heard and eventually saw fin whales breathing in this channel again. No wonder that this channel is called "Cannal de Ballenas". The point we were heading towards is also called "Punta Ballenas". Apparently the baleen whales hang out here all the time. When we met the rest of the kayakers we learned that they had pretty close encounters with these whales in this channel. Close enough to smell bad whale breath!
We crossed over to Punta Ballenas with no problems and stopped on a pocket beach to photograph the successful return of the "ascent team" to the Baja peninsula. Then we slowly paddled along the long sandy beach towards Dolphin Beach. This is a spot with a steep bluff rising out of the sand and there we found everyone else's tent and other gear but no kayaks. We considered a practical joke of moving all the tents down to just above the high tide line, but that was too much work. They were apparently out on a day paddle. Late in the afternoon the wind came up from the north and we could still not see the other kayakers even with binoculars from up on the bluff. Finally they came around a sandy point west of us and worked their way across the wind to rejoin us. Dave Harry and Christine Hauser had joined up with them and now there were nine of us camping together.