Friday 12/2/05We woke up at 3:30 to head for Sacramento for our flight. I met a little girl in the airport (around 4 or 5, I think) who told me she was going to visit her grandparents in Lubbock. I told her I knew it was in Texas because I was born there. Her mother was so amazed! We used the flyaway bus to visit family during our 8-hour layover at LAX.
It's a good thing our plane was late, because otherwise we very likely would have missed it. We just missed the 2 p.m. bus, and the next one didn't leave until 2:30 (supposed to be 2:15). Add that to the horrendous traffic, and we were sweating bullets the whole way!
Our flight was uneventful. We had a beer in Hermosillo and chatted with a gal who used to vacation in La Paz, but now lives nearby. I noticed a very funny sign in the La Paz Airport: "Loose & Found." Some things change a little in the translation. We got to our hotel (Las Gaviotas) late, ate a dinner of potato chips, and slept!
Saturday 12/3/05We slept late (9-ish) and dilly-dallied around until there was a knock at the door reminding us of the resort orientation meeting we'd forgotten. So we went! It was about things like drinking water, which beaches are nice, and also had presentations from a dive company and a tour company. We scheduled a Cabo San Lucas tour for Thursday.
We had a lovely brunch at
La Terraza (I think), then took a taxi out to the
Cortez Club at
La Concha. We made our arrangements to go diving Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. There was a Christmas party going on at Cortez's bar, so we went over to the poolside bar at La Concha instead, and had a couple of
Micheladas. Then we caught a taxi back to our hotel and took naps, then showered and dressed for dinner. We went to
La Pazta -- a Swiss/Italian restaurant.
Sunday 12/4/05The day started off rather strangely. After waiting about ten minutes in the lobby, we asked the gentleman at the front desk to call the Cortez Club about our ride. A young lady named something like "Rosia" arrived shortly after. She drove us (like a crazy woman -- faster than fast!) to the Club. We did all our paperwork, tried on BCs and fins and wetsuits. Then we waited. And waited. The keys to the Jeep with which they back the dive boat into the water had apparently gone home with somebody. Guess that was SOME Christmas party! The guys working at the dive shop did look a bit ragged... Rosia frantically called a bunch of numbers, but no luck. So, we decided today would be our shopping day instead of Wednesday. After a very quick ride back to our hotel with Rosia (we later found out she's a race car driver, and I believe it!), we changed and wandered downtown. We did a bit of Christmas shopping and bought some sweatshirts for diving -- we weren't prepared for how cool the weather is. We had a sumptuous lunch at
Los Arcos. Today's a margarita day for me. I like Micheladas, but not too many!
After a long and relaxing siesta, we headed back down the malecon looking for dinner. We caught a cab and ended up at
La Divina Uva (the Divine Grape). I had had seafood pasta for lunch, so I ordered pork sirloin for dinner. They'd pureed potatoes and apples and nestled both together. Two foods I would never had thought to blend, but they were perfect! I had a dessert of sliced bananas, English cream, and vanilla ice cream. I also had a Mexican coffee with brandy and cream. We ended up walking all the way back to our hotel - 2 or 3 miles -- so I could take pictures of all the Christmas lights.
Monday 12/5/05Now we're really going diving. The sea was pretty rough! We stopped at our dive site (near a bunch of rocks topped by a light house and the occasional sea lion) and starting getting into our equipment. It's just three of us plus our divemaster, Carlos. My BC was too tight over my wet suite, and I started to feel sick while our captain (Dany) was trying to get it fastened. Next thing you know, I was losing my breakfast over the side. So I skipped the dive. The rocky little island the lighthouse was on felt like it was in the middle of the ocean. K said the dive site was well protected, but it sure didn't look that way from the surface! In between bouts of getting sick (UGH!), I got photos of the lighthouse and of some sea lions sunning themselves in the water.
After the guys were back on the boat, we got a radio message that the harbormaster had closed the port because of the rough weather. Since we were already out, we then moved on to the next dive site, which appeared to be much more protected from the wind. K said he'd gotten cold on the last dive and was going to change to a 7 mil wetsuit. I was still a bit queasy and didn't think I could handle changing wetsuits. It feels as I imagine a full-body girdle might. Besides, if my BC wouldn't fit over a 3 mil, it most certainly wouldn't fit over a 7 mil! After he got into the water, K had trouble with his weights and with his buoyancy. He was totally unable to sink, and at one point his weight belt came undone. He got frustrated that he was holding up the other divers and said, "the hell with it," and got back on the boat. We decided to snorkel a bit around the boat (frankly, I needed to pee!). It WAS too cold for a 3 mil wetsuit, so I stayed in the water only a few minutes. K snorkeled about for just a little bit longer until he got stung by some jellyfish and saw a whole bunch more. He scrambled back to the boat (okay -- he practically walked on the water!). My quick dip had taken away what was left of my queasiness, so we went ahead and had our lunch: Club sandwiches on french bread with chips and mashed potatoes (but no utensils, strangely enough).
Dinner was at the little fish restaurant just downhill from our hotel. We've had drinks and
ceviche there a couple of times. It's delightful and quite convenient! I may have Monday and Tuesday mixed up on this -- my notes aren't complete.
Tuesday 12/6/05Back to the Cortez Club for more diving! I was issued a larger BC this time. It took a good hour and a half to get to
Los Islotes. We almost didn't get to go, because when we first checked, the harbor was still closed. While we were down in the lobby looking for a tour, Cortez Club called to say the port had reopened. It was a heck of a roller coaster ride getting to Los Islotes! Much of the time, the swells were much higher than our boat and it was insanely windy. Thank goodness today's boat was larger than yesterday's -- I don't think the smaller boat would have done well at all out there.
The island does a good job of blocking the wind -- although it didn't happen until we were practically against it. This trip, we had the same three divers (
Pete, K & me) and a young couple there to snorkel. We struggled into all our gear -- well, I struggled, anyway. I felt like a very heavily weighted Michelin Man! I had 24 pounds of lead on my belt, plus all that other stuff. A tank of compressed air is none too light! It's very counter-intuitive to fall backward off a boat loaded down with weight, but I finally convinced myself to just do it (actually K peeled my fingers loose while Dany pushed me -- later I found out K helped with the pushing, too). Swimming with baby sea lions was an incredible, amazing experience. What a great experience for my very first certified dive! I have no clue how deep we went or how long we were down. My gauges were tucked in so only others could read them. Which they did (K and our divemaster).
Our next dive was to something called the military wreck. Carlos took the scenic route. Both directions. When he and Pete headed INTO the boat, I balked. That's not for untrained, brand-new divers! Besides...it looked really scary. So, K brought me around the outside. At one point coming back, Carlos left me hovering near the bottom so he could go look around. I checked my watch and decided to give him five minutes before heading (slowly) for the surface. Well before that, I felt a tug on my fin. It was K and the divemaster, who'd found the boat. Behind us. Our rental gear didn't include compasses. Not too good! Carlos had a compass, but somehow he'd gotten a bit off course.
I think we ate at
La Fonda this evening -- a beautiful open-air restaurant recommended by one of the staff at our hotel. He said it was where locals like to eat. It was delicious, and very inexpensive. We had a full dinner, bottle of wine, and dessert for (are you sitting down?) $28.
Wednesday 12/7/05Today I actually started feeling comfortable under water. I figured out where my pressure and depth gauges were and checked them regularly. The deepest I went was 65 feet, and we were down about 30 minutes. Our first dive site was Punta Lobos. The water was pretty rough at the surface (3-4 ft swells), but calm below. Dany was our divemaster today and Carlos drove the boat. Dany takes his time underwater and is easier to follow. I was able to look around a lot more without worrying about losing him.
For our second dive, we were going to stop in the middle of nowhere (that's not the official site name), miles from land in any direction, where there's a reef. Completely below the surface. And lots of waves and swells. Fortunately, there was too much current to set the anchor properly. K saw my wide-eyed terror and suggested to our driver and divemaster that we go to a more sheltered site. Whew!
We went to the sheltered side of an island and dove around the point. We were down about 45 minutes, no deeper than 35 feet. I was first off the boat!
We had dinner at a steak/barbecue sort of place -- I think it was called Buffalo something. Pete and his wife showed up there later, too. It was cool. No roof, just walls.
Thursday 12/8/05Today was our big tour day. I took lots of pictures, but no notes! Some places we visited (I think): Los Barriles, San José del Cabo, Cabo San Lucas, Todos Santos. We turned out to be the only people on the tour, so we had our guide (Manuel) all to ourselves. He's the owner of Manny Manny Tours. Here's a blurb I found: "Local bi-lingual (Spanish/English) guide Manuel Pérez Nuñez provides airport pickups, city tours, and expeditions to regional attractions. From USA (direct): 011-52-612-122-0911, or cell phone: 044-612-127-0910." When he asked where we were from, we said northern California. He said he'd lived in Stockton for a while. What are the odds of that? It was fun talking with him. His degree is in business, but he did field labor while he was in California. I'm guessing it had something to do with getting more fluent in English and with getting work papers. I found
his picture, near the bottom of the page.
Our ultimate destination was Cabo San Lucas, but we stopped several places along the way--once for breakfast. We glimpsed a whale on the way back. I took pictures, but you'd have to have me pointing at the little puff of mist to know what it is (sort of like my alligator pictures from Florida!).
