Sea Kayaking Baja Mexico

Sea Kayaking Baja, Mexico

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Eight days, two notebooks, three camcorder batteries.
Would they be enough?

"Bienvenidos a Mexico!" the sign at Loreto Airport announced.

Balmy air wafted into the open-air room under the lovely "palapa" roof made from fan palms fronds. I wondered why there was a ceiling fan turning at exactly 12 r.p.m. above my head. At that point I was in "vacation mode," measuring time by the number of trips my duffel bag made around the nearby carousel as I waited for a new stamp in my passport.

I had arrived for a weeklong "Islands Expedition" in the Sea of Cortez, offered by Sea Kayak Adventures, Inc.

Owners Terry Prichard and Nancy Mertz have been running trips here since 1993, and their experience shows in the organized schedule and thorough pre-departure information provided to guests. They offer three other paddling trips here as well: an exploration of the sheltered lagoons along the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula, a strenuous twelve-day circumnavigation of Isla Carmen (the largest of the three islands east of Loreto), and, upon demand, a custom paddling trip from Loreto to La Paz. SKA also arranges a special one-day whale-watching tour, which seven of the nine people in our group would be taking tomorrow. Whale activity is at its peak in the late winter as the Gray Whales calve, breed, and prepare to migrate north.

"You can't get lost in Loreto," said Judy, the tour guide who fetched our group at the airport and delivered us to the Hacienda Suites Hotel. A good starting point for sightseeing,she said, is the famous mission - the first in all the Californias. Another guest and I strolled down Avenida Salvatierra, named for the Jesuit padre who founded the mission in 1697, until we saw the bell tower rising above the rooftops in the late afternoon sun. The old clock on the tower, not original equipment, is correct twice each day at about 10:30. Oh well - the rest of the place is still very much in use. Mass is held in the chapel, and the storehouse building next door is now the Museum of the Missions.

We didn't exactly get lost, but after deciding to take a different route back to the hotel, we couldn't find our desired street. We saw a bit of the town, though, ending up on Loreto's waterfront street, with its broad walkway and shops and restaurants. Loreto is a city of over ten thousand people, but it feels smaller and very friendly. It would be much larger today if not for the European diseases that killed off the very people the missionaries were trying so hard to help. Despite its sleepy, laid-back ambiance, Loreto contains two modern surprises. First, it has become a major tourism hub for kayakers and R.V. tourists. Dollars are widely accepted at a current rate of about ten pesos per dollar. Second, the town has several internet caf