Playa Escondida
Since my last post, we did spend the “week” in Mulege at our favorite little campground just outside of town. It allowed us to restock our supplies, withdraw a few pesos from the bank, and get in a much needed shower (each, of course). Since we arrived on Tuesday morning, and left again by Friday afternoon, only three nights were spent in town before we skipped and headed back out to the beach.
It was only another one and a half miles further down the bay from where we stayed last weekend, but it was a whole different adventure at Playa de Escondida.
When we arrived late Friday the sun was already deep in the sky. With the half-dozen or so palapas already taken, we had our pick of anywhere on the more secluded but no-palapa-beach which suited us well (considering our dogs bark at any movement within a quarter mile). I gave Big Blue a quick flick of reverse gear and a crank on the wheel to place our rear doors right up to the water then mashed the brakes. A moment later the engine was shut down, the side and rear doors open, and we were pulling out the Tecate’s… we were beach-camping again!
As our neighbor (some 50 yards down the beach) came over to say hello, the sun finished its day and the light was quickly dissipating. It was in mid sentence that Kerri stopped and says, “hey, I think that is the bio-luminescence in the water!” (I leave it to you to read up on it, it is cool) and the three of us walked over to the waters edge and tossed rocks and sand into the water to irritate the local plankton, which causes the glow. It was very much like the Northern Lights to me, just so out of this world yet right here in front of my face! Of course, it was impossible to capture it on an iPhone, so instead I offer you a google-images link to many examples of what I experienced.
The mornings of each of the three full days we were at the beach we kayaked out to nearby islands. The islands were small, and mostly rocky, homes to many a seagull and pelican. Down below, in the water, tons of small fish and stingray swam into and out of their rocky-homes. Each day we brought our snorkeling gear out kayaking but with the water temps somewhere in the 60-degree range we stayed out of it until the final morning. It was on that final day that we chose to kayak out to Coyote Island and when we rounded to the South-Eastern side we could not help ourselves anymore, pulled over on a small rocky beach and put on the snorkeling gear for a half hour of fun – and freezing – in the water swimming among those fish and stingrays.
The afternoons were spent lounging, reading, and relaxing as best we could… it wasn’t an easy life at all. The dogs played in the water a lot of course, but never enough for either to stop their whining and complaining about lack of food/affection/freedom/etc.
Each evening we would fix up a meal and cocktail to watch the sun set, then hope that the bio-luminescence would return. We were planning to get back out in the kayak in the glowing waters, but the second and third nights were a bust. Even though we were planning to leave the beach the following morning by 7am, we left the kayak inflated and ready to go for our final night. The glow was minor, but it was there, so we took the chance and set out on the water well after the sun had set and hours before the moon was to rise. We paddled around in the bay, splashing and just having a good time picking on the plankton to make them glow. Kerri is quite the plankton-bully, continuing the meanness for a half our before I pointed us back to shore, ending our stay at Playa Escondida. We were up and driving away at 7:15 AM to make it into Loreto to start Kerri’s work day on time, and another work week back in a city.
