San Pedritos Beach

San Pedritos Beach is the official name of the beach we live on (not Pescadero Beach as previously inferred). After the Donkey Quest, we've settled back into our beach routine, extending the number of hours actually spent as sand lizards and sharpening our observation skills. In four more days we leave this paradise, with some sadness in our hearts, yet with happy anticipation of new adventures on the east coast. Friends Bob and Jenny from Colorado join us this afternoon. It will be a treat to share this with good friends.

Down on the beach we will have to introduce Bob and Jenny to Bruce's sand carving craft so they can make their own custom thrones.

And we will have to continue watching the beach dynamics. I like to set up my observation station a few hours before noon. If I lie parallel to the ocean shore, on my belly, I can rest on my elbows and behind my shades pretend I am reading one of Bruce's crime novels. This way people are perjaps fooled into thinking I normal. I like to think no one can see that my eyeballs, actually my whole head, is focused on the surfers perched on their boards just off the "surf break." By now, I can identify the regulars from the seasonals from the short time visitors. I hesitate, out of respect for their privacy to say much about the people I observe. But I can tell you, that the folks who spend several months out of every year here are mostly surfers and that they are simply in love with the ocean and playing in it. Whether their legs carry them and their boards into the breakers with a skip and a run or whether they greet the waves when swimming with arms upraised like someone yelling "hallelujah" at a revival meeting, they rejoice in the fact that they are here and in the ocean.

My very favorite "regular" is a dog I've come to refer to as Vigil Dog.

Vigil Dog belongs to a surfer and when his owner is out surfing, Vigil Dog sits at the highest point on the shore nearest his Favorite Surfer (owner)and holds his nose to the wind anxiously watching and waiting. His only distractions come in two forms: certain two-legged creatures and four-legged souls if (and only if) they have a ball they are willing to share. The two-legged creatures must be friends from another venue, and they must be surfers. Many surfers come out of the water near where Vigil Dog waits, but only certain ones get a greeting. Vigil Dog will even bark and meet them in the surf if they are really special. He seems to ask them if they caught any good waves out there and they seem to thank him for keeping an eye on things. Plenty of dogs cross the shore in front of Vigil Dog, but unless they (not the human with them) offer a ball to Vigil Dog, he is not to be distracted.

At a certain point on the morning, an attentive observer may hear the piercing whistle beyond the crashing of the waves. Vigil Dog always hears the whistle. Even if that observer has not heard the whistle, s/he might soon notice one solitary surfer paddling due south, parallel to shore. Vigil Dog has already begun barking and wagging his way down the shore, keeping pace with his Favorite Surfer. When that surfer cuts toward shore and is within 10-20 feet of sand, Vigil Dog just cannot help himself and swims out into the waves, so happy to see his Favorite Surfer coming in. When the surfer reaches down to pick up his board, Vigil Dog is ready for the greeting and enjoys taking a few licks of salt water off of Favorite Surfer's face. Together the two begin their homeward walk, with Vigil Dog carrying an expression which seems to say "See why I waited for this wonderful person?"

There seems to be a certain hour when all the surfers tire of waiting for waves, and suddenly the surf break is empty and we are alone on the beach. Then I really do have nothing better to do than read my current paperback, whatever I've traded for at the most convenient gringo spot. Bruce and I rejoice on the days the waves are tame enough for us land lubbers that we can actually swim when we get bored with our books. Some days the waves break in close to shore and we can easily swim beyond the breakers and loll in the swells like babies in a cradle. Yesterday the waves broke further out, the depth varying from over our heads to only waist high. We played a game of over/under....alternating going over or going under each broken wave that comes to us. I lost on a rapid double. I went under the first, tried to go over the second, caught a snoot full of water and had to go under the second as well. Ok, so I am easily entertained. But it was fun.

We continue to see whales, although it seems like fewer these last few days. This happened last year about this time and we get the sense that their migratory path along the Baja Pennisula is nearly complete. There continue to be fewer pelicans than last year. My original theory was that they all moved to Cabo San Lucas where every available ponga boat sits waiting in the marina for the next boatload of tourists who have purchased a fishing experience. Each of these pongas has an open bait box in the back, full of live bait fish that are just the right size for a pelican bill. I just like to think that all the pelicans have opted for an easier life style where they can just pick a meal out of the nearest bait box, rather than having to fish the ocean waves every time they get hungry. When I asked a year-round resident what happened to all the pelicans she gave me a sobering answer, "They are all starving to death.". Gosh, I hope she is wrong, but I will not go into Cabo San Lucas just to find out.

The arrival of Bob and Jenny marks the beginning of the end of our time at San Pedritos Beach. I am always sad to leave a place. We will miss Fidel and his fresh vegetables, Serita's stellar huevos Mexicanos, Lupe's enthusiastic greetings and we will even miss our long walks yto town past fields of basil, poblano peppers, tomatoes and avacado trees.

And I am already feeling sad for Jenny. She will only have five days here (counting two travel days) before Bob has to take her back to the airport and to her job in Colorado. Bob will stay another week and will get to see a couple of other Baja sites.

At the same time that I am sad to see our time in Pescadero and San Pedrito Beach come to an end, I am looking forward to new adventures. On Tuesday we will ride with Bob in his rental car to the east coast of Baja to La Paz (our first road trip in a private car) where we will enjoy Carnaval, La Paz's Mardi Gras. We will look for the gambling game which took the enchilada money from the cute tequila salesman from Todos Santos and we will see if there is anything to report from that experience. After two days of La Paz we will go with Bob to Cabo Pulmo on the Sea of Cortez where we hope to fish and snorkel. We will share a house with Bob there for three days before Bob has to return home. Bruce and I will then move to a smaller casita and spend another 7 days in Cabo Pulmo. We've wanted to snorkel the living reef in Cabo Pulmo since our first trip to Baja, but since the buses don't go there, we've never been able to arrange that. This will be an adventure as we hear the whole town is "off the grid" and operates on propane and solar power. We also hear there are a couple of small grocery stores and a few restaurants. I don't know if we will have Internet access there or not. I do know I like exploring new places. And this time of year, the wind should be lessening on the east side. With the whale presence decreasing and the advent of a few cloudy, windy, cool days this may be as good a time as any other to be leaving one of our favorite spots. We have heard that the surfing also quiets down in March as the waves typically are not as good in March as they are in February. On the east coast, popular with wind and kite surfers, the wind which has blown at Livingston rates in February usually calms down in March. The calm turquoise waters and white sandy beaches off the Sea of Cortez will be another pleasant adventure in the sun.