Isla del Carmen
Days begin with a glow, but here it is more than a pink glow, a deep pink, closer to red really, all along the horizon. Then it intensifies, at a single point, definitely red, now as bright as can be. Pop! No noise, just the top of the sun out of the water, shimmering, a mirage, ‘alive’ like jell-o dancing beyond the earth’s atmosphere. More of it now, as it grows it seems to draw the deep pink back into itself from across the sky, a recapitulation of primal stellar birth, becoming stronger as it crawls out of the water, above the horizon until there is just a bright, red sun, soon warming up to a hotter, brighter yellow.
Then plop! What was that? Now a sound without an image. And again, plop! The water near the Sea Voyager is still dark, but a darker square shoots out of the sea, spins and tumbles like a tidily-wink and plops back into the water: a devil ray, a mobula, basically a not too huge manta ray. Why do they do that, perhaps getting a peek at the sunrise too? Then there were dolphin, birds and tuna working over a shoal of baitfish, all before my second cup of coffee – and then “Land Ho!” just before the bow, just before breakfast.
We made two landings on Isla del Carmen. First on the north, trekking on sand and marine sediments, as pictured above, and there is Matt our Video Chronicler, and beyond him the small bay where we swim, snorkel and kayak. Later, in the afternoon we arrive at Bahia Salinas, the site of a defunct salt works dating back to Baja’s colonial days. Ruins are explored: a shallow lagoon, a thin layer of very salty water over salt is wallowed and there is great snorkeling at a wreck in the bay, thousand of fishes in a vast and pleasing variety of colors, shapes and sizes! Very refreshing, the water, this life, learning about the world and learning about ourselves. Then there is sunset, conversations into the night, good food and time to sleep, because it will all soon start again and we want to be there to see it, to be part of it, to turn the pages on a great story that never ends.
Days begin with a glow, but here it is more than a pink glow, a deep pink, closer to red really, all along the horizon. Then it intensifies, at a single point, definitely red, now as bright as can be. Pop! No noise, just the top of the sun out of the water, shimmering, a mirage, ‘alive’ like jell-o dancing beyond the earth’s atmosphere. More of it now, as it grows it seems to draw the deep pink back into itself from across the sky, a recapitulation of primal stellar birth, becoming stronger as it crawls out of the water, above the horizon until there is just a bright, red sun, soon warming up to a hotter, brighter yellow.
Then plop! What was that? Now a sound without an image. And again, plop! The water near the Sea Voyager is still dark, but a darker square shoots out of the sea, spins and tumbles like a tidily-wink and plops back into the water: a devil ray, a mobula, basically a not too huge manta ray. Why do they do that, perhaps getting a peek at the sunrise too? Then there were dolphin, birds and tuna working over a shoal of baitfish, all before my second cup of coffee – and then “Land Ho!” just before the bow, just before breakfast.
We made two landings on Isla del Carmen. First on the north, trekking on sand and marine sediments, as pictured above, and there is Matt our Video Chronicler, and beyond him the small bay where we swim, snorkel and kayak. Later, in the afternoon we arrive at Bahia Salinas, the site of a defunct salt works dating back to Baja’s colonial days. Ruins are explored: a shallow lagoon, a thin layer of very salty water over salt is wallowed and there is great snorkeling at a wreck in the bay, thousand of fishes in a vast and pleasing variety of colors, shapes and sizes! Very refreshing, the water, this life, learning about the world and learning about ourselves. Then there is sunset, conversations into the night, good food and time to sleep, because it will all soon start again and we want to be there to see it, to be part of it, to turn the pages on a great story that never ends.
