The shoreline northwest of Bahia Kino is steep and rugged for a while. However there are roads coming down to boat ramps, houses on the hills and on some of the bluffs above the water. It is much more developed than the areas of Baja Norte I have paddled past. It is difficult to imagine finding a beach high enough to camp on that didn’t have a dirt road coming down to it already. Half way through our day the cliffs dropped away and we paddled along the low sandy Punta Granito. On the way we scared schools of small fish and made them jump in front of us, landing with a sound like gentile rain falling on the water. In the afternoon light their bodies lit up bright green, like living day-glow lures. I see now why fishing lures are painted such garish colors!
When we got to the end of Punta Granito we landed for a break before crossing over to Isla Tiburon. The beach was sandy but the afternoon wind was coming from the south and fetching up waves. Near the end of the point the waves were breaking at an angle and made launching difficult. The angled waves would push your boat sideways and then trap you against the beach. With a fully loaded boat the only solution is to get out, turn the boat into the waves, and try again.
By the time we started the crossing it was 4:00 in the evening. The crossing from Punta Granito is only two or three miles and it was uneventful but we didn’t get to the island until 5:00 PM. Then we had to travel down the coastline looking for a good place to camp. When Dave Littlejohn, Roger Lamb and I paddled past this coast in April we went from point to point and saw the shoreline from a distance. From far enough away a cobble berm looks like fine white sand. Things weren’t really that bad, the berm here is mostly gravel. However, behind the berm the east side of the island is a gently sloping plane covered in desert scrub. The scrub was dense and came right down to the berm and there was little room to set up camp. We stopped at one marginal spot but then John found a baby rattlesnake crossing the berm. This worried us since baby vipers are reputed to be more deadly than adult ones and because snakes often hatch in large batches. We moved on down the beach. Eventually we found a dry wash with lots of room for camping and started setting up camp. We cooked and ate dinner in the dark.