Apr 19, 2010

The Sea of Cortez gets my two thumbs up...








Andrew and I have just returned from a picture perfect kayaking trip in the Baja California Sur Mexico where we spent 6 days out on the beautiful sea of Cortez, then a day at the El Chorro hot springs and finished off our little trip (thanks to Captain Kirk) with SUP'in from la playa in La Ventana.





It was hot, it was sunny, and it was post card picture perfect. We snorkeled with balloon fish amongst other sea creatures, we got 5 nights with private beaches (no one else happen to be there), we hiked up and through canyons and among various cactus plants, we experienced the markets of mexico, and some of the great local delicacies such as fish tacos and clams. We enjoyed our share of cervezas and vino. We read books, slacklined and simply enjoyed life in the desert.




Mar y Aventuras provided us with kayaks and the right kayaking gear for our 6 day trip out of Telecote and around the Isla Espiritu Santo and Partido. The islands are part of the national park and no fresh water can be found on these islands. We therefore stuffed 48 litres of water in our kayaks along with food and gear for 6 days. We decided to try and maximize our Mexican experience with bringing lots of tortillas, beans, avocados and cheese. Something, that is very different in Baja than in BC is that it is HOT and fresh food is harder to keep than in BC where cooler waters and temperatures help preserve these fine foods.



Our kayak route is shown on the map. We enjoyed fairly light winds on our trip. Apparently April is one of the best months for kayaking in this part of the world. Wind is normally the "worry" while kayaking on the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Baja. Having only the forecast of winds and waves before we left we took the opportunity of light winds on our first two days and covered much distance on our kayaks (3/4 of the route...maybe I was treating it a little like an adventure race and forgot that we could rest and not keep moving as fast we could and be heroes...oops! hehe). Having completed most of our route on the first two days we took the opportunity to hike, snorkel and enjoy 'rest' on the final four days of our kayak adventure while bay hoping on the inside passage of the island. We rarely saw anyone else and enjoyed 5 nights of private beach camping!!!









More of our favorite pictures can be found HERE!

Andrew also has a blog and wrote something up about the trip as well. Our pics are the same but our thoughts and take on the adventure are different... enjoy!

This trip was grand and it had been awhile since I went away on an adventure that wasn't a race.
I do miss racing and I will be back on the adventure race scene sometime in the near future. I am excited to train and see what opportunities arise for me. For now I am going to train hard on the mtn bike and race in Pemberton's new 50km race in May as well as give my first xterra race a try in Squamish this June....

for now its back to applications, training, and life in Vancouver (which I LOVE) until the next adventure...

live, love, laugh,...DREAM!
lina

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