In Cabo, Scuba Diving and Snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez - Mexico
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After our 3 night voyage from Grand Cayman to Bocas Marina in Panama, and after our friends MarkJ and Christian left us, we had a long list of "to dos" for aVida. Before we could sail again anywhere, the most important task on the list was to fix the leaking oil valve on the starboard engine. Apparently, the rubber mountings attached to the hull from the engine were disintegrating, and oil was leaking, primarily in the starboard engine, and would eventually leak in the port engine. We hired Jeff, the local mechanical guru at Bocas Marina to tackle the job of lifting the engines and replacing the rubber mountings with more solid secure ones.
Rather than being in his way while he tackled the job daily, we decided to book a trip to the Sea of Cortez - described by Jacques Cousteau as the "Aquarium of the World". In most of the Caribbean islands their rainy season had now begun, so a much preferred drier and sunnier option was to travel to Baha, Mexico where it rains very little if any this time of year. It was also an ideal choice - a chance to dive in the warm waters and untouched reefs, with many fish similar to the Galapagos experience we had almost 5 years ago, so we were told.

We identified and booked lodging in several regions of interest - 5 nights at the lively and touristy Cabo San Lucas in the South, 5 nights in a more relaxed laid back area in the North in a town called "La Paz", and 5 nights in the National Park on the east called Cabo Pulmo - quite remote and truly "off the grid". We rented a car to get around on our own, and as we often do, changed our plans along the way.

1st stop Cabo San Lucas. This place is a BIG partying town. We lodged at a great boutique adults-only ME (Meilia) Hotel. After 3 nights though, it was enough. Afternoon to night and into the wee hours of the morning, young people packed into the pool like sardines, danced their pump and grind routine, drank and drank- they never stopped. Even though we have been known to be quite naughty ourselves, I guess we were showing our age. Young girls pranced around bathed in suits you could barely blow your nose with, and hot men flaunted their six - eight pack bodies. Enough already.

I will say our Melia Hotel offered quite a unique setting - in fact our room's balcony opened up to a fantastic view of the rock formations in the distant harbor called "Cabo Arch". We snorkeled there around one large formation looking like and thus called "Pelican Rock" after a dropoff/pickup by a Panga water taxi. For our second excursion, we signed up for a tourist Catamaran excursion, where they motor sailed us around the same formations, and then over to Bahia de Santa Maria, where we snorkeled again, surrounded by clear warm waters and many many schools of fish.

We checked out early from the ME Hotel. We moved on north to "La Paz". On the drive there we stopped at a charming town for lunch called "Todos Santos" (All Saints) on the Pacific side, known for its art galleries, great surfing, and historical Hotel California, which yes, was the inspiration for Don Henley's song.

After another stop at a beach covered with Pelicans and local fishermen, we reached La Paz. La Paz is a town with a much more relaxed atmosphere, in fact almost too relaxed... nothing but nature, a boardwalk by the sea for locals to stroll around at sunset, and a nice and almost vacant seaside resort. Our objective though... to dive and test Mark's new underwater rig for some great photography.

We booked a day of diving, and little did we know this was one of our best ever, having dove almost over 100 dive sites around the world. Our Divemaster Juan escorted us, including another couple from Madrid, Spain. 1st dive in the famed La Salvatierra "The Wreck". And THEN, to Shauny's reef. The amount and diversity of fish we saw was incredible. Similar to Galapagos, they were not so skittish and we felt almost as one diving with them. We then moved on to search for whale sharks after a lunch break on the deserted and scenic Balandra Beach. Frequently, under way, we saw families of very vocal sea lions loitering on the sea waters. I was initially somewhat doubtful that we would locate any since the season for the migrating whales had just passed. However, after a close to a half an hour plus of watching and waiting, Juan did his magic. And then, we spotted her, all of her, about 30 feet long. We all quickly grabbed our snorkel gear and jumped in the water to pursue her. For about an hour, we spent following her and the attached remoras, getting as close as we could. Some of the remoras were actually inside her mouth scraping off any remaining algae and debri they could off her jaw. The Spanish couple were delighted and so were we... they and we had never ever seen anything like this.

And, as if this was not enough entertainment for the day, as we cruised back toward the dock, we saw many dolphins, sea turtles, and then other strange dancing, jumping critters in the distance. Similar to what we had recently seen on a National Geographic episode, about a hundred plus male manta rays jumped and flipped out of the sea, each competing to impress the females as to who may be the strongest to win their favor. Mating season was to be over by now, but apparently these guys had more stamina than one imagined. It was a very special diving day and a marvel of nature we were privileged to experience.

In between our two dive days, we rented a double kayak for the afternoon, toured Balandra Beach by water, covered the shoreline, and then parked our kayaks in a remote area on the beach. We snorkeled out to the rocky coastline, where we found millions of smaller fish... Seargent (Major) City is what we called it.

Another dive day booked, this time to the northern neighboring island of Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit). The first dive was an interesting wall dive down to almost 100 feet, and then back again to Shauny Reef for a shallow dive, with radiant healthy coral and schools of millions of fish, literally.

We moved on from La Paz, eager to dive in the pristine waters of the Sea of Cortez in Cabo Pulmo... to the east cape of Southern CA, Baha. This is an area that is REALLY off the grid. Dry, desert, mountainous terrain, little development if any. We arrived at our small self catering B and B cabin, and thought, what have we got ourselves into. The town is just a block of several small shops off of dirt roads, 2 of them dive shops, small several restos and the tiniest markets we have ever seen. We checked into our lodging at a cute establishment, maybe too long of a word for it, but comfortable with an outside kitchen, cactus gardens where we photographed lots of bird life, and a surprise private outdoor tub, where we stripped our clothes off and relieved ourselves in the tub from the very very hot sun.

The next day we were prepared to dive in Cabo Pulmo. Unfortunately, a big weather front arrived, compliments of the Florida Hurricane, and had churned up the seas, creating a huge surge by the seafront. The dive boats only launch out from the beach, and under these circumstances, they were not able to. Diving was cancelled for at least three days. We were disappointed, but dealt with it. After all, we had two full days of diving and two snorkeling days already, one day including the most memorable 3 diving spectacles we have ever experienced.

So, we changed our plans again. Due to the storm front and cancelled dive trips, we moved on earlier than planned, south to San Jose Del Cabo - a traditional Mexican town populated with colorful buildings and quaint cobblestone streets that lead to the town's picturesque main plaza.

Our first night's stay was beachfront at an all inclusive Barcelo Hotel. Okay... we are not "All-Inclusive" kind of people, but all the beachfront accommodations were. So, we dealt with it, again, for one night.
We walked the historical town which was a 5 minute drive north from the coast and stumbled upon a very quaint, vibrant artsy district, as well as a quaint accommodation, once a Mexican residence from over 100 years ago.... Refurbished and expanded since, and now known as "Tropicana Inn".

Little did we know this was THE place to be. We promptly checked out of our Barcelo all-inclusive and checked into Tropicana, into their "Troje Casa"... a very clever thatched roof unit, with a winding staircase from the base floor living room and bathroom to the upstairs bedroom. The grounds were covered with tropical vegetation, tropical birds everywhere, a resident macaw, exotic parrots, and a colorful courtyard with a comfortable warm pool.

This was home for many of the remaining days. Most evenings, Tropicana hosted live entertainment, from a jazz duo, a young solo Spanish guitarist, to a full 7 piece Salsa band. Of course, we danced to just about every performance. Even though we were not located right on the sea, we found some lovely local art galleries, fine restaurants, walked the surrounding bird estuary, and just enjoyed our private Casa.

Local Mexican wines are actually very good these days, as we found out. We love a good wine and sampled some of which were very full bodied, blended nicely, and smooth, but expensive. We found out that in est the last five years, many smaller vineyards and wineries have popped up, producing high quality wines from a wide variety of grapes, and getting away from the mass marketed wine production models out there. This was a real surprise and a treat for us wine connoisseurs.

Winding staircases are so romantic, but not so practical. On our third night's stay at the Tropicana, in the middle of the night, Mark made his way "in his sleep" to the bathroom. He claims he thought the bathroom was right ahead of him, on the same floor. To his, and my surprise, he took a step "into" the bathroom and suddenly tumbled down the winding staircase, luckily not hitting his head first. As he stopped himself feet first, he dragged himself up to our bed and awoke me, saying, "Rita, we need to go to the Hospital, now", displaying a bent forefinger on his left hand. I jumped up and escorted him out to the reception desk. We told the wait staff of our situation and they quickly summoned a taxi to the nearest Medical Center. They took an Xray, the doctor examined it, and quickly relocated Mark's obviously dislocated finger back into place - all for $60!

The following days, we laid low. Mark had some bruising and scrapes on his back, and feet, with neck and back soreness, and a bruised but healing relocated finger. He and I were very very lucky. It could have been much worse. For our final nights' stay, we requested and moved to a room in the main building - one that was minus a unit with a winding staircase that leads into the bathroom on a separate floor from the bedroom. The day after, for a change of scenery, more relaxation and healing, we moved on to another B&B called Casa Natalia, in the heart of the Art District, although only 4 blocks down from the Tropicana. For our final night, we reserved a table at Tropicana, for a fine dinner and live Salsa music, and just a little dancing this time.

We checked out on our final day and flew back from San Jose through Mexico City, and then to San Jose, Costa Rica. Because our flight back to Bocas was to leave very very early the following day, we booked a room at the Airport Hotel - Courtyard Marriott in San Jose CR. Just one more blip in our trip. Mark set his alarm for 5:30 PM instead of AM. Uh oh. So we missed our very early flight back to Bocas. Unfortunately, flights back to Bocas are limited, so the next flight did not leave until the following two days later (Tues verses Sunday). Since Mark was still in the healing process, we took the opportune time to just chill and read at the Marriott and await for our flight several days later. Not too bad. It was quite a relief, after much travelling.

Ever wonder why they call it Montezuma's Revenge? Now we know why. The term actually dates from the conquering of local people by European countries. The bowel discomfort and results were thought to be the revenge of the local gods that were worshipped prior to Latin American countries becoming Christianized. On top of our little mishaps on this trip, we thought this had to be their final revenge.

Tuesday July 8, we successfully made our easy flight back to Bocas Town, setting a second alarm and arranging a hotel wake up call. Mark not only was sore but caught a flu bug the last day of our trip, so we booked a room in Bocas to just relax and recoup. The next morning we took our time checking out and took a water taxi back to aVida after a short window when the rain ceased. Jeff our mechanic had made much progress on aVida's engine problems - they revved up nicely. Too good to be true. A final investigation revealed that the starboard engine which leaked oil on our last voyage definitely showed signs of damage... imagine rubbing steel against steel on a 600 pound monster. So, the engine has to be rebuilt, and guess who will do it. Jeff will probably virtually live on aVida the next month. Big, big job.

To again get out of his way and to escape the rains again, we booked a return trip back to our home in the USA for 3 weeks, followed by a week-long getaway trip to Big Sur, CA for our 25th anniversary. That leaves us a month in Bocas until our 6-week Africa trip mid Sept for Mark's 60th.

Our plans for the future? Maybe we resume sailing after the Hurricane season back through the Canal and up to the Sea of Cortez hoping to dive in Calbo Pulmo, or travel to a new country, or dive in other remote exotic waters, or not. Maybe we sell aVida, put down roots for awhile, and devote our time and money to a charitable cause, or not. We just don't know, yet. We do know, we are ready for a change.

This will be our last public Blog entry - I will continue one for our personal journals. In the future, friends or family who wish to know what we've been up to or where we voyage on the water or in land, feel free to email us. We will be happy to share.