Monday (Oct 27th) (Piojo and Hidden reef between La Ventana and Horsehead "Lost Boat Reef")
At the first dive site, we drop down and found nothing but a rocking bottom, and then as we swam along, we spotted what looked like a busy highway of fish. We tried to sit on the bottom and watched the show. We quickly found out that we had swam into a medium current, so stopping was basically out of the question. I signaled to Rich that swimming with the current at the beginning of the dive could cause us problems later and that we needed to turn around. We pulled our way back towards the boat hand over hand. This dive probably had the most fish and best visibility of any dive all week (50+ feet of viz). Also, while relaxing between dives Rich and Kathi spotted a Manta ray.
Tuesday (Oct 28th) (NE End of Isla La Ventana and SW End of Isla Smith)
Each day before our diving we cruised the south end of the bay looking for whale sharks (In Spanish: 'Tiburon de Ballena') On this day, the water was like glass and we spotted some ripples in the distance. So we decided to check it out. WOW, we found them. There were 3 of them in the one area. They ranged in size from about 15 feet to 30 feet. The largest one was very curious of about us. It slowly circled the boat about 3 times. The small one made one pass towards the boat, and then slowly swam away. We were in heaven. It was utterly amazing! We said to ourselves, if we see them again we would enter the water and scuba/snorkel with them. Sadly, this was the only day we were able to find them. We did take lots of pictures and video of our experience.
Wednesday (Oct 29th) (Point Punta El Pescador, South End of Ensenada El Quanado and Inside a point in the Bay)
Kathi saw a dolphin at the beginning of the first dive. Then Kathi and I saw a miniature Stingray city in a sandy area between a few rocks on the 2nd dive.
Thursday (Oct 30th) (Calaveras Rocks, "Lost Boat Reef" and Punta Don Juan)
Today, we invite one of the local Americas that we meet to dive with us (Bill W). There was not much to see at Calaveras Rocks except lots of Sea Lions. We were told that the Baja sea lions are not very happy with visitors and to stay away from then. So, aside from one curious sea lions, we did not see much of anything on this dive. This time on "Lost Boat Reef" we left Rich on the boat with a cold he was fighting. We had a nice relaxing hour dive and barely used any air. See below for an explanation of "Lost Boat Reef"
Friday (Oct 31st) (Punta Don Juan and Isla Coranito)
At the end of the 1st dive, Kathi and I surfaced to find a sea lion relaxing on its back just a few feet away. (See the picture at the right). Isla Coranito was my last dive of the week and I did it solo. Rich and Kathi relay wanted to, as they put it, "KB". That was short for kickback. So I drop down into an aquarium link environment and casually took pictures the entire dive. This was probably the best dive of the week. I was now relaxed and content and almost ready for deal with the real world again.
Saturday(Nov 1st) (Bola to Santo Tomas)
We figured our trip home would be long and uneventful. Well, one out of two isn't too bad, right? With no official (Pemex) gas station in Bola, we figured we would top off our two vehicles with gas siphoned from the gas tank of the boat. The problem was our new siphon hose was not long enough to reach the gas in the boat's tank. We did not think we had enough gas in our vehicles to reach El Rosario. This was the first gas on the way home. This forced us to buy 'FILTERED' gas from the local gas station. It was not exactly your local Shell station back in the states; it was more of a gas pump in an old Uhaul container. A define sight for the eyes. Just after passing though Catavina, the suburban began having engine trouble. The power was beginning to go away. We were creeping up the hills at about 10 miles an hour and the engine was DRINKING up the remainder of our gas fast. The decision was made that I would take 2 of our 3 empty gas cans and the jeep and drive to El Rosario. I needed to buy some high octane fuel and get some fuel cleaner or an additive. We figured the octane in the gas was low or the gas was dirty. At this point, El Rosario was 67 kilometers away (About 42 miles). At the same time Rich and Kathi would continue to limp along toward El Rosario and I would meet them somewhere back along the road. The only additive I FOUND in El Rosario was octane buster. I bought three bottles of it and 10 gallons of gas. I carefully placed the gas in the backseat of the jeep and started my return drive back towards the group. Of course, some of the gas spilled out and I was feeling pretty dizzy when I found then sitting on the side of the road only 24 kilometer (about 15 miles) farther along than when I left them. The new gas and the octane buster 'improved' the power in the burb by only about 20%. We continued to limp our way to El Rosario. After a good lunch of lobster burritos at Mama Espinosa's restaurant, we stopped at the Pemex station to fill up on gas. Rich was able to 'TALK' with the people there and get two bottles of fuel injector cleaner. When we returned to the road, between all the high octane gas, injector cleaner, and octane buster, the burb was back to normal in a few miles. Thank goodness!!! The Baja dessert is no place to have vehicle problems. That would make for a very long dangerous walk back to the States.
Sunday (Nov 2nd) (Santo Tomas to Home)
This time our room in Santo Tomas was less than expected. The bath room was a disaster. Either we had very hot water or all cold water. Also, the drains did not work, so the floor flooded and the drains smelled of......to put it nicely, 'Shit'. Man, Kathi was not a happy camper. We tried to change rooms, but were un-successful. By eight in the morning we were off again, not exactly rested, but on the road back towards the states.
So to wrap it up, two major problems on this trip (The lost boat and bad gas). Due to excellent problem management and solution thinking we are all alive and well to talk about it. All be it, down a few "Cat Lives".
Wow, what a vacation!!!! The water was warm 73-77 degrees and the air was comfortable: around 80 degrees. The water was flat and very few people around, very relaxing.
Sea life seen during our trip: Various species of Angelfish, Balloonfish, Sergeant Majors, Whale sharks, Bait fish, Starfish, Mexican Hogfish, Barber fish, Octopus, Scorpion fish, Blue & Gold Snappers, Bullseye Stingrays, Sea lions, Dolphin, Manta Rays and Triggerfish.
Explanation of the "Lost Boat Reef": The reef was between La Ventana and Horsehead and is only visible during low tides. The only scary part was coming up from the dive in open water and finding the wind had picked up with 3-5ft swells. Doesn't sound like a problem right? WELL, Rich was the first to surface (he was cold in his dive skin and surfaced 15 mins before us). The wind caused the boat's anchor to drag to deeper water. So the boat was drifting FREE. Thankfully the current was running towards shore and the anchor snagged about 1 mile away. He swam very hard and thankfully got to the boat. When Kathi and I surfaced, we could see almost nothing. We inflated a safety sausage and started kicking to a far away point, then towards a distant boat we barely spotted. We were alone for about 30-45 minutes before Rich got to the boat and found us. Thankfully, we never panicked. That could have been life threatening, especially if the current was running OUT to sea. We learned to ALWAYS check the anchor before the start of each dive and if we do not did not feel comfortable with the anchor to have someone surface and stay on the boat.
