Blogs from Baja California Sur, Mexico, North America

Ten years ago, while living in Buenos Aires, I experienced the amazing islands of Socorro. This place is actually 3 islands, I name San Benedicto, Socorro and Roca Partida. Middle of the Pacific, so can only be done by liveaboard, with what can be a rocky ride of minimum 24 hours out of Cabos San Lucas at the bottom of Baja California, Mexico. Socorro is part of what I call the big 4, not that far from Galapagos, Cocos and Malpello. I've done Galapagos and Cocos, but Malpello is not really on my side...if I want potential tons of hammerheads sharks, I've got them in my garden in South Africa! Ten years ago, I did 19 dives on Socorro...it was all about the mantas on 13 dives and we play with dolphins on 4 dives. There ... read more

After a 4.5-hour flight, we left the minus temperature and snow in Calgary behind to arrive in La Paz with a temperature of 30-degree C. A departure delay and then arrival delays, resulted in us arriving in La Paz just in time for dinner so provisioning “Rukba”, a 41’ Beneteau, had to wait until the morning. The crew went into town to buy provisions while I had the chart briefing and boat orientation. As soon as the provisions were on board, we would be off, I thought. Not So! Apparently, they were unable to buy alcohol until 2pm as it was election day. The crew threatened mutiny if there was no beer nor wine onboard, so we delayed our departure until 3pm after the beer was in the cooler and the wine cellar was stocked. After ... read more

Feb 14, 2020 – Mar 07, 2020 We left home just after lunch on Friday February 14, 2020. Our truck with our 35 square foot casa on the back is packed with the essentials we will require, and then some, for the next 75 or so days. First stop is Calgary where we went out for a nice Valentine’s Day supper and spent the night with friends. We hit the road early and made it to the US border by around noon on Feb 15th and crossed with no issues or holdups. We made our way quickly through the US spending the first night in a hotel in Dillon, Montana, the second night we got a hotel in Beaver, Utah. The next day we made it to Yuma, Arizona and stayed in our tiny casa in ... read more

Hi and welcome back. This is the first of my blogs from Mexico. We set of on 14th January, getting the train from Murcia to Madrid. A 12 hour flight to Mexico city and an overnight stay before a short hop to Baja California. Our trip is six weeks and we hope to have some encounters with whales in Baja, visit friends in Nayarit, see colonial Merida and some Mayan ruins and a week to chill on Isla Mujeres at the end. Mexico city was only a transit point and we were in an area to the west of the Centro antiguo. We wandered around a bit but it was fairly rundown , although there were streets and streets of shops with wedding dresses. We got very little sleep as our room was above reception and ... read more

Wanna go see the Mobula jump? What a silly question. Of course I do. Nothing is more amusing than watching thousands of rays the size of dinner plates hurl themselves out of the sea for a cartwheel and a splat. It's unknown why they do this but several theories abound. Some believe it is some kind of mating ritual. He who smacks the water the loudest gets the most Mobula action? Theory number two, it's a tactic used to scare the shit out of their food. Thirdly, it's to rid themselves of parasites that don't appreciate aerobatic maneuvers. Fourthly, they are trying to outsmart their natural predators. And lastly, they do it for the sheer pleasure of it. I'm going to go with that one.. I swear the Mobula splash down with a sheer glee. Do ... read more