A Note from John and Gail

We're heading back into La Paz in a couple of days to prepare for our trip south to Puerto Vallarta (PV). We should be heading south on about Dec 15-17. We'll work our way back to Los Frailes, then cross to the mainland, most likely to a place called San Blas, about 90 to 100 miles east of PV. It should be about a 36 hour trip from Los Frailes to an island called Isabella, where if conditions are right we will overnight, then finish the trip the next day.

So far, however, we are having a fabulous time up here in the lower Sea of Cortez on the "Baja" side. We just spent the last 2 days up at Isla San Francisco and area. Yesterday we did some fabulous snorkeling. What made it fabulous was that near the end of our dive we headed across a path of sand, about 20ft deep, and came across some "garden eels". Basically they look like grass growing, but if you wait and watch, or dive down and get close, they retreat into their holes when threatened. We'd seen some before while diving in Hawaii, but they are always a treat.

Gail doesn't free dive but I'd always done it, long before I knew there was a name for it. My max depth has always been about 30ft but I can stay down for about a minute. Don't worry, I always surface early because I know of lots of accidents where free divers stay too long and blackout - Don't need to go there. A few extra seconds are not worth dying for. Yesterday, one time when I was at depth, I thought "Gee I've been here for a while" but then I looked up at the surface and thought that's a long way up, so it's time to go!

Anyway, back to the end of our snorkel - at one point we counted 5 young Manta Rays swimming in our field of view. Sometimes they were zooming around scooping in all the food they could (like whale sharks - they survive on the ingestion of plankton and krill)while at other times they would move slowly and gracefully. It was really fun watching them change pace at a moments notice. As opposed to the slow and always graceful movements of mature Mantas these "kids" would dart off willy nilly as fast as they could in whatever direction inspired them at a moments notice! - Kids, they are all the same regardless of species!

This morning I was privileged to see another baby manta jumping out of the water. It made a series of three skips across the surface before disappearing. I hope I never grow tired of watching nature at its finest!!