Angel de la Guarda Island
All week I have had the impression that I have been dreaming. I can’t believe my eyes, I can’t believe the myriad of feelings that this group of islands awakes in me. Was it a mirage, the red massive mountains underneath the moon, the flat seas, and the sun rising behind another peak?
I can’t say this desert is only colors and silence. This desert is vibrant, it is, somehow, loud. I took the Zodiac to explore the northern coast of Angel de la Guarda island, looking for a good Fourth of July barbecue site. This shoreline is on the leeward side, so the ocean is like a mirror that reflects the hills, the cardons and the elephant trees. Yellow footed gulls made me company, laughing, fishing, flying, resting on the calm sea. Like a still picture, but not quite, because there was movement, there were sounds. How can I describe what I saw, or what I think I saw, because it might have been a dream…
Angel de la Guarda is a block that detached from the peninsula about a million years ago. Only a few miles away one can see the same colors, the same volcanic deposits that were once together, as a continuous formation, but are now separated by an expanding sea floor. In front of Angel de la Guarda there is an islet made up of pure granite, a rock that must be at least 60 million years old. In this area time has converged, past and present live together within the rocks; the future is fused as well, in every living organism in a constant struggle to leave a footprint, to ensure the survival of its kind. We snorkeled among sea lions, we sailed in the company of hundreds of long beaked common dolphins and a couple of fin whales (that swam right under the ship). Kids loved the banana boat, and guests kayaked with the sun setting behind the peninsula. Meanwhile, Erasmo, our dynamic Hotel Manager and his team, set the barbecue at a hidden and secret beach. We saw the stars, we had the warmth of a bonfire.
Am I becoming part of this world? Or is this world becoming part of me, of my deepest self? When I see the faces of our guests, quiet, contemplative, smiling, in peace, I realize I am not the only one charmed by the magic of the Gulf of California.
All week I have had the impression that I have been dreaming. I can’t believe my eyes, I can’t believe the myriad of feelings that this group of islands awakes in me. Was it a mirage, the red massive mountains underneath the moon, the flat seas, and the sun rising behind another peak?
I can’t say this desert is only colors and silence. This desert is vibrant, it is, somehow, loud. I took the Zodiac to explore the northern coast of Angel de la Guarda island, looking for a good Fourth of July barbecue site. This shoreline is on the leeward side, so the ocean is like a mirror that reflects the hills, the cardons and the elephant trees. Yellow footed gulls made me company, laughing, fishing, flying, resting on the calm sea. Like a still picture, but not quite, because there was movement, there were sounds. How can I describe what I saw, or what I think I saw, because it might have been a dream…
Angel de la Guarda is a block that detached from the peninsula about a million years ago. Only a few miles away one can see the same colors, the same volcanic deposits that were once together, as a continuous formation, but are now separated by an expanding sea floor. In front of Angel de la Guarda there is an islet made up of pure granite, a rock that must be at least 60 million years old. In this area time has converged, past and present live together within the rocks; the future is fused as well, in every living organism in a constant struggle to leave a footprint, to ensure the survival of its kind. We snorkeled among sea lions, we sailed in the company of hundreds of long beaked common dolphins and a couple of fin whales (that swam right under the ship). Kids loved the banana boat, and guests kayaked with the sun setting behind the peninsula. Meanwhile, Erasmo, our dynamic Hotel Manager and his team, set the barbecue at a hidden and secret beach. We saw the stars, we had the warmth of a bonfire.
Am I becoming part of this world? Or is this world becoming part of me, of my deepest self? When I see the faces of our guests, quiet, contemplative, smiling, in peace, I realize I am not the only one charmed by the magic of the Gulf of California.
