Friday 9 March 2018

Adios Pescadero and Hola Cabo Este



We’d been hemming and hawing when to pick up stakes from San Pedrito beach, and finally decided on March 2, the day after our dentist appointments. Who really thinks about dental cleanings while laying around paradise? But it’s so worth it...both of us got great cleanings in half the time the Canadian hygienists take and paid about $100 Cdn total! As we don’t have any extended medical coverage, this is a huge savings for us.

Anyhoo, Pescadero really brought out all the stops for our last day. After 10 cooler days of winds and clouds, March 1 was brilliantly bright and warm. We enjoyed our favourite roadside pork tacos one last lunch, then settled back at the beach to savour the afternoon sun. 

At low tide we took our beach chairs down to the surf with a few cervezas and Coco’s ball flinger. Buddy, a large old black lab from a neighbouring camp, decided to join in the fun. Coco was VERY perturbed to have to compete with another dog for her ball and vocally let us know! 

It was an idyllic last day and made us ponder staying longer. We made such cool friends at the beach - 70-some-year-old Nick, the Catholic-turned-spiritualist nomad from New Mexico, young Tim from Oregon and his meximutt Tecate who became Coco’s main wrestling partner, BC forest fighter Ben who disassembled his elaborate camp and left the day before. But all good things must come to an end as there are more places to experience...

So on Friday morning we re-packed the trailer and set our course. Although our destination was only 100 km away, the journey took all day with stops at Costco and Walmart in Cabo San Lucas to stock up on supplies. 

The East Cape, or Cabo del Este, is accessible via a 60-km long dirt road that hugs the coastline east of San Jose del Cabo north to La Riberia, almost directly east of Todos Santos on the other side of the peninsula. Here there are remote gorgeous beaches, amazing oceanfront estates, and Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. But no stores. So our truck and trailer laboured to pull an extra 500+ pounds of food, water, and propane to last us at least 2 weeks before we reach civilization again. 

We made our first camp at Shipwrecks beach, apparently named after a popular sunken boat snorkelling spot. It was a big change after San Pedrito; it’s a small arroyo enclosed by sand dunes with only two other campers. And the silence is deafening! The surf where we’ve been the past two and a half months created a constant boom...sometimes I’d wake up in the night thinking a Boeing 747 was doing a low fly-by or that a thunderstorm was clapping...but nope, it was just the waves. Here, on the Sea of Cortez there is only a tiny little shush of a wave. 

The water is stunningly clear and the sand goes on for miles in both directions. It is one of the most gorgeous spots we’ve seen in Baja, and again, totally free to camp. Besides a few other campers and day trippers, our only visitors were a donkey and a small herd of cattle. 

After four days at Shipwrecks, we packed up super-securely to tackle the 30-km section of dirt road to Cabo Frailles. It took us 2.5 hours to complete the journey, at some points going only a crawl thanks to nasty washboard. 

We’d spent a few weeks at Cabo Frailles last year...despite the East Cape winds it’s a beautiful bay with calm waters and a big mountain for hikes. However we’d heard from other travellers that it was decimated by Hurricane Lidia in August 2017. 

Wow, they were right! It’s unbelievable to imagine the force of the torrents of water that completely denuded this arroyo, even knocking down a section of 6’ high X 2’ wide rock wall. There are no more bushes or shrubs to provide shelter or privacy - just clumps of uprooted debris. 

However it’s still a popular place with fishermen and snorkelers. Within minutes of setting up camp, we ran into two friends from last year. Ironically it was Del’s (an older fellow from Hudson’s Hope) last day here and we just caught him packing up, so were the the recipients of all the food he couldn’t carry including about 5 pounds of grouper he’d caught! 

Sadly it was also the last day for one unfortunate tourist - a 64-year-old man who had a heart attack and died down on the beach. Many campers tried to help with CPR but to no avail. 

And then we caught up with Alice and Michael from Comox. “Saint Alice” helped us last year when Coco was just a pup and was having many digestive problems; thanks to their advice and a box of dehydrated raw dog food they were able to sell us, Coco thrived from that point on! It was adorable to see Coco reunite with her - she definitely remembered Alice! 

Yesterday we came to Cabo Pulmo, a quaint little village in the middle of the national marine park. Here the coral and reefs are protected and provide excellent snorkelling...that is when the winds die down enough so the water is clear. At least the camp spots are protected by bushes. The beach is rocky but the rocks are an amazing assortment of colours and patterns, all worn smooth from the relentless surf. 


The thing I love most about Pulmo though isn’t in the water - it’s the extensive and well-marked trail network through the nearby hills. I have no idea who or what, in such a tiny town, could construct and maintain these miles of trails through cactus scrub and around fascinating rock formations. But I sure enjoy it! 

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