scary wildlife

The picture above is a dolphin scull that is part of an entire skeleton that a friend had on his boat when we caught up with him for on Isla Espiritu Santo. The Whale Museum in La Paz sent him and some college students to clean the carcass and bring it back. Usually an evening with Jack looks more like dinner and a music session, but chips and salsa over a dolphin carcass was an interesting twist.

In general, the wildlife has been both alive and friendly, and we're delighted to share our days with egrets, herons, osprey, pelicans, sealions, colorful fish, dolphins, rays, and just yesterday, an octopus swimming under our boat. However, sometimes, I can't help but feel that the creatures are out to get us. An evening paddle in a bug infested estuary on Isla San Jose over two weeks ago that left me with nasty bites on my face, neck, leg and hands which still itch. Watching egrets settling into the sunset was brilliant and sure made the bites worth it though.


The following afternoon, a swarm of bees came in search of fresh water and didn't leave until the next night. We hid out in the boat all day, only sticking our heads out when a couple from another boat ventured over to say hello. They suggested we place a bowl of fresh water on the bow to draw the bees away from the cockpit. They must have a much longer boat, because all this did was increase the number buzzing guests. The next morning, before the bees returned, we pulled up the anchor and scurried off to Isla San Francisco, making sure not to have any fresh water outside during the daytime.

A week later, I was swimming about 30 feet off the starboard side of the boat in Bahia Agua Verde and saw a pretty big shark fin about 100 feet off the bow. Yup, it was scary. I swam as quickly as I could (which isn't saying much) to the boat, hoping my dangly legs looked too scrawny to be a good meal. Just as I was heaving myself into the kayak, a panga with a local family motored up to warn us about the shark in the bay. As it turns out, it was a young whale shark, which is a docile, filter feeding shark. It stayed in bay for a few days, giving us a couple opportunities to paddle along side it as it fed. Alex even jumped in the water with his mask and swam with it.

To top off the wild creature experience, I was on the beach one afternoon with a Christine from another boat. We'd gone paddling when the afternoon wind started to howl, so we decided to wait it out over lunch and a beer. The neighborhood kids took a liking to our kayak, practicing their paddle stokes in the sand. Soon, the neighborhood dogs also came by to say hello. One of them, while quite friendly, had a look about him that suggested he might mark his territory if you stopped petting him. Which is exactly what he did on my leg. Thinking quickly, Christine poured beer on me, thinking human urine is a remedy for stingray wounds, so beer must work for canine urine.