Puerto Gatos & Isla San Francisco
There are beautiful places and there is Baja California. Puerto Gatos is on the mainland of the peninsula of Baja California. It has a magnificent backdrop of tall, broken, pointy mountains, leading to a huge valley covered with very large cardones, those largest cacti of the world (the record is 79 feet). Off to the right are red sandstone hills, rounded off by eolian erosion (wind), ending in a wide sandy beach. Yes! Baja California is a sight! And, probably the best of all, we were alone!
At different points of this bay, we kayaked, snorkeled with the colorful fish, and hiked into the interior to observe and enjoy the so many desert plants, some of them with flowers, as it rained a few months ago.
By midday we were all back on the ship, and started our longer journey to Isla San Francisco where, when we arrived, we had the opportunity of snorkeling in an excellent locality, next to a series of rocks, and of crossing the island along the narrowest part to a beach with very good tidal pools. Here we had the help of Dr. William Gilly to enjoy all these invertebrates: sponges, sea stars, brittle stars, different mollusks and even a few small fish.
On the beach we had fun looking for pookah shells (remember them?). Eventually the sun went down amidst the gray clouds, thus ending a lovely day in this paradise.
