An Afternoon with a Mermaid

A Missoula woman, walking by our Cabo Pulmo casita, recognized Bruce's KGLT t-shirt hanging out to dry as being of Montana origin.  On her next  walk past our place, she initiated a conversation., asking if we were from Big Sky Country.  Turns out, she has been coming down here for the last twenty years, off and on.  When I asked her what drew her back here, she cited the magical qualities of Cabo Pulmo.  That day, in fact, she had gone whale watching with a girlfriend.  Although she has been out many times to watch the whales, today's gift was one of song: she heard the rarity of a male whale singing the mating song to his chosen female.  It simply knocked her speechless.  She could only express her wonder at the gift of hearing it.

I had to ask her where her favorite place was in Cabo Pulmo for snorkeling.  She asked if we'd been to Los Frailes.  Yes, last year that is where Vince and Cindy took us camping and we did have some grand snorkeling adventures there.  Well, she said, Frailes  is great, but my very favorite is Mermaid Beach.  She described its location and how to get there without a car, which seaside vendor could drive us there, for a price.  As she described where it was, Bruce had to ask, could we walk there from here?  "Oh no!  I don't think you can walk there," was her reply.  "It is 15 minutes' walk from Los Arbolitos; you can't drive right to the beach," she argued.   Wait a minute.....the light dawned in our minds....last year we had walked to Los Arbolitos, so we determined that if we could walk to Arbolitos, surely we could walk to Mermaid Beach.  We decided to try it the very next day. 

Bruce had it figured as a two hour walk.  We packed a lunch, snorkel gear and water, ate a hearty breakfast of eggs with fresh vegetable, potatoes diced and fried and began our trek.  We splashed barefooted along the beach, then donned sandals for the sloggy  walk  through fist-sized ocean-tumbled pebbles.  We scrambled over boulders, waded  around rocky escarpments and were grateful  when sinking our feet in soft sand.  Multitudes of scrambling crabs entertained us on our rest/water breaks as we perched upon rocky seats.  After one and a half hours of hiking, we could see the palapas of Los Arbolitos.  A surprise this year was the Mexicans who had set up a semi-permanent camp there, selling water and who knows what else.  We asked them about the trail to Mermaid Beach and they simply pointed the way. We trooped along a path, now departing from the sea and traversing seaside hills, skirting along cliffs and dodging thorny cactus.  Within the promised 15 minutos mas we found ourselves within a small cove, without much beach.  A tourist ponga (small boat) from the  starting point near our casita was anchored outside the cove, near a buoy.  Its passengers had all splashed into the sea and some were already  snorkeling near the shore.  We found a rocky spot out on the peninsula that seemed to offer a nice "launch spot" for finned novice snorkelers and we decided to act like mermaids and sun on the rocks while observing the boatload of snorkelers invading "our" cove.  I felt sure that they were not appreciating the crystal clear waters as much as we would after our hot hike. 

I laughed as three of the invaders soon were clamoring up the rocky shore, having abandoned life vests and snorkel gear to enjoy the perspective from up high.  Two others stayed out near the boat in deeper water.  The sixth snorkeled within a few feet of us, in water that couldn't have been over two feet deep, stopping frequently to enjoy some kind of underwater delight.  It seemed a little strange to sit watching him from a few feet away while he remained oblivious to our presence.

So clear was the water in our little cove, that Bruce could spot fish from our rocky perch, before we had even dipped our fins into the water.  As he was pointing out the fish, a woman snorkeled by, stopped and lifted her face mask.  Addressing us, she asked, "Well, what do you think?". We talked for a little  bit before I realized, this was the Missoula woman!  We soon joined her in the water and it truly was a sight to behold.  No wonder the shallow snorkeler didn't care to look around and see us there on the shore.   He was captivated by sights wilder than any sea water aquarium!  Despite the dribbles coming into my face mask, there was no denying the variety of fish visible in such a short range!  The cool temp of the water soon had us back on shore warming in the sun, much like a pair of sea lions.  Within 15 minutes of our arrival, the tour boat collected its passengers and motored off to the next stop.  Our Missoula woman and her pals soon packed up and hiked back to their car, and suddenly, we had the place to ourselves.  We moved to the small sandy area our friends had occupied and from there, we spotted the namesake.  Yes, overlooking the fish-filled cove was a stone maiden seated on a rock.  Larger than life she could have only been placed long ago by forces of nature.  A fishtailed, long-haired woman sat at the sand's edge looking out over the watery paradise as we munched our cheesy burritos and felt the magic of the place.  Her stone features belied no expression of emotion. When we had it all to ourselves, Mermaid Beach became even more special.

Another dip into the sea, this time with mask correctly adjusted, revealed even more varieties of fish than we'd seen last year while camping just around the point in Los Frailes.  Bruce and I followed each other out around the little peninsula and then back again.  Neither of us could even describe accurately to each  other all the amazingly colorful and variety of fish we'd seen.  Once on the shore, the warm sand welcomed our chilled bodies and we lay savoring the memories of some of the amazing things we'd seen in that clear water.  I wanted to stay in this paradise and never leave.

All too soon the hands on my watch reached the agreed upon hour and we would have to begin our homeward trek.  We were happy the clouds waited until time for us to go.  Their soft gray color promised to shield us from the sun's harsh rays and to help keep us comfortable we as we began our reverse order of scrambling over boulders, wading around huge slippery rocks and slogging through piles of gravelly rocks.  We felt a few large raindrops cooling our heads and arms.  It really wasn't enough moisture to even wet our skin.  It was only enough to cool our walk.  As we moved along feeling the occasional spilt-splat of  the odd and large raindrops an ancient verse memorized in my youth began parading through my head: "Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."

And it's funny, but that is exactly how I felt as we walked home.  Our day had been so lovely, I truly felt blessed, full of the day's wonder.  I felt as if we'd been given more than two mortals could ever deserve.  Cabo Pulmo is indeed magical.