Baja, San Franciscito, April 26th 2000.

Baja is known for it’s unpredictable weather. There is a strong northern wind, called Del Norte, that can come up at any time. Since the Sea of Cortez runs north-south there is a long stretch of water for big waves to fetch up in this wind. There is also a weather phenomenon called katabatic winds, or “Elefantes” by the natives. Air roars down from the top of the peninsula and across the water towards the mainland. These winds can blow you out to sea or trap you on islands unable to return to the mainland until things calm down. I have been lucky and found calm weather both trips to Baja now. I know other kayakers who got on the water one day, were pinned to a beach for a week by the wind, and had to turn back and head home on the first calm day. Every kayak trip to Baja should include a few extra days in case you need to sit out bad weather. Then if the weather is nice, you spend those extra days lazing around on a beach or hiking in the desert. We had taken three days instead of two to drive down to Baja and then we had taken an extra day to minister Maryly’s stingray wound. Low on extra days we had not taken a day off so far on this trip. Now we were a one day paddle from the end of the trip and could walk to our cars in an emergency, so we finally got to take a layover day.

I looked at my topographic maps and picked the highest nearby hill. With water and a camera I worked my way up onto this “peak” taking pictures of the cacti up close and the cove from a distance. I came down along the edge of the fossil beach where it extended up into the hills and saw the footprints of animals in the white sand. Back in camp we all huddled under our awning out of the noon sun and caught up on our reading.

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