Kayaking in Sea of Cortez: Other Kayakers on My Sea – Day 19

Kayaking in Sea of Cortez on my 19th day the sunrise came early at my camp on the beach south of Puertecitos de Emmedio. The days were getting longer, but also direction that I was travelling the last few days was more to the east and I could feel the change in the early rising sun.  The old sailor saying of “Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning” seemed to be appropriate as there was a very red sky before sunrise and wind offshore seemed to be strong. The waves began to build on the beach, and I thought I would have a wet launch, but it wasn’t too bad. y

Before I launched the kayak for the morning, I checked out the area behind the beach where there was a large 7 to10-acre soda pond that had a crusty white surface.  I was walking towards the center of the pond on the soda surface, and I broke through, like ice on a pond.  It was about 6 inches thick, then an air gap and then water. Fortunately, I didn’t break my leg because I was a long way from help.

I paddled for about an hour, then a break, and then for another 45 minutes before stopping for brunch.  I’ve been alternating between potatoes and soup for my lunch breaks.  Today was a soup day.  

The rocks in this area were all covered with small barnacles, and coral fans were frequent in the shallow water along the shore.  I’ve noticed that the coral fans seem to be oriented parallel to the shore and face the waves.  I guess being parallel to shore maximizes the amount of water that they can filter as the waves wash back and forth over them.  I came across five large jellyfish right at the surface and not more than about 30 feet from the small surf.  They were about 10 inches in diameter and had long trailing tentacles hanging straight down.  I could spot them from some distance by the small doughnut shaped dimple they make in the water surface.  When I disturbed one, it began a swimming motion, down and then back to surface.  The last few miles I have been scanning the bottom for coral and other stuff and I have not seen a single fish.  I suspect this area is heavily fished using gill nets.

The cliffs were not as prominent south of Bahia de Los Angeles.  There were more open arroyos, and the beaches here have more sand.  During the middle of the day, I met two guys on sit-on-top kayaks.  They had left from Bahia de Los Angeles and were going to El Barril and then would be returning to Bahia de Los Angeles. They had a 5-gallon water container lashed to the deck of each kayak.  They said they had seen two other kayakers and were leap-frogging this other group.  I kept going to try to get away from them, but they seem to be able to travel faster than I thought.  Kind of disturbing to see other kayakers: I thought that this was my personal Sea of 
Cortez!

I passed by a fish camp called San Rafael.  There is a road that gives access for fishermen and supplies to San Rafael and there were about six pangas pulled up on the beach in front of the camp. I ended the day about two miles south of San Rafael and stopped at a place where there were very interesting rock formations in the tidal zone.  I decided that I would have to do some exploring in the morning.  Also, there was a 4-foot-thick layer of fossil sand dollars above the high tide line.  Very nice.  I collected a couple of the sand dollars.  My camp site was at the northern end of a very long bay called Bahia de San Rafael. There were four purse seiners working this area and I watched one for about 20 minutes as it set and retrieve its net.  There were great numbers of birds feeding on the fish in the net each time they brought it up.

Next: Day 20 – Bahia de San Rafael      

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