Staying at the beaches of the Sea of Cortez, or the Gulf of California.

Bahia Concepcion

1. Anonymous Playa.

We decided to stop at beaches of Concepcion Bay ( in Spanish - Bahia Concepcion) , and not to drive to south anymore. The first beach ( we didn't remember its name), actually all beaches (in Spanish called Playas) are small bays. There were bungalows for cars made of palm's trunks, and palm leaves, they could provide a good shadow in a daytime. We found two vacant bungalows at right, near cliffs. After light lunch we walked along the trail up the cliffs. Some pictures are taken from ridge separating two small bays. Before late supper we decided to go to swim a bit. There was an interesting phenomenon: the water around legs, arms phosphoresced brightly. In the morning we noticed how the water level had risen - that was the high tide.

2. Playa Requeson.

Next day we moved to other beach - Playa Requeson, just several kilometers from the first. There was an island in a small bay, and a sandy spit, which almost connected the island with a beach. This spit is a favorite place to large birds, pelicans and their companions, gulls, to sit in early morning before sunrise. Some of them hunt, some, maybe, just socialize. The outer rocky side of the island was good for diving, it was deep, many rocks in water, we watched many large colorful fish there, even very big one. The whole island was covered by thick layer of shells, who ate them, and how long did it take to eat that much? We didn't find any luchable amount of them.

On the left, if you stay back to the water there is a strange painted hill with a tree-like picture.

Nights were so nice, so warm, that most of us preferred to sleep outside the tents on the sand. It's great to watch sunrise and hunting pelicans being wrapped in a warm sleeping bag.

Darya and Anna tried to ride a nimble inflatable boat under the Misha's command; it's not easy for an inexperienced pair. But fearless Arina can do it alone, even if it's much more difficult. Darya looks like she rides the board, but you should see the depth under the board - about one foot only.

3. Our Neighbors.

We had interesting neighbors on our left and on our right. Fritz, Wolfgang , and Eveline were in process of seasonal migration from Vanquver to La Paz in their RVs. They all are retired and prefer to live summer in the north, winter in the south. Wolfgang and Eveline have large family in Canada, continuing their roofing business, Fritz is a widower, and all three of them are from Germany, left it in 50s. We had a good talk about Russians and Germans during the War. Fritz is a great connoisseur of Russian folk music, and he had several discs. We gave him our favorite CD "Songs of our time" as a sample of modern time folk songs, and Fritz promised to get used to it.

On our right, the family of 7 arrived on one RV and one SUV. They are from LA area, and they keep coming in that place for many years, since their eldest son, Al Junior, at age of 16 made all the way along Mexican road #1 on his bike in 1974, and discovered these beautiful beaches. His parents, Al and Maria Theresa liked especially this place, Playa Requeson, and come here every Thanksgiving holidays. Three Al's kids enjoyed this beach very much, swimming, canoeing, windserfing. At our campfire some of them had a cup of black tea for the first time.

4. Mulege.

One afternoon we were tired of swimming, and our food had gone, so we decided to visit Mulege, the nearest town. Pavel filmed for a while, but since it was at dusk, the pictures cut of the tape are a bit bluish.

5. Farewell to the Sea of Cortez.

November 22. We had to go. After several hours of packing we were ready. Last "bye-bye" to our neighbors, and we hit the road. Mulege, Santa Rosalia, where we stop for gas.

In Guerrero Negro we found two rooms for about $30 each in a motel by the road, but the water in shower barely dripped while all of us were eager to wash out the salt accumulated during several days.