Adventure Boating in Baja....ha ha ha ha

The beginning....a beautful boat ride!

I long for more campfires, but the wood supply on the beach is sparse.  We know there is wood on the island beaches in the bay and today the water is flat!  No wind!  Nada.  Calm.  Time to launch the porta-bote.  A true family outing, with both dogs along, our engine just back from Fernando the outboard mechanic in town...we zoom off!  Life is good.  Oh, so much to check on...are the blue footed boobies still around? (yes)  Comorants?(yes)  Brown boobies? (yes, a few)  Heron nests occupied? (yes)  Osprey? (yes)  Fish? (not so much) Sting rays? (nada!)

 Full ahead we zoom toward the biggest island and firewood...until we're not.  What's this?  Engine slowing down?  Out of gas?  Maybe.  But a quick refill, and frest start off...I look behind us and gasp, "We're smoking!"  As Steve raches for the kill switch, the engine quits.  As in...stops...freezes?  It appears the oil has run out, all of the oil.  Not so good.  Actually, terrible.

So now, it's the oars.  After all, that's what oars are for.  I row us to the beach on Coyote Island and we collect firewood.  But it's bothersome to think...ahhh...just how long will it take us to row all the way back?

It's good exercise....

Beachcombers in search of firewood

Not so much wood....time to get back!

A quick stop for a little wood, beach in the boat and off we go.  Steve at the oars this time.  A small dinghy powers by us and warns of big waves forming just on the other side of the island.  "It's going to get rough!"   Gulp.  Does he come by to tell us that because we have such a seaworthy looking vessel?

It's a long trip.  Rowing a Porta-bote could never be described as "swiftly skimming over the surface of the sea".  I suggest tandem rowing, "I'll push, you pull, we'll have twice the power to the stroke!"  No, Steve doesn't trust the oar locks.  As he says this, "SNAP"...one breaks.  We gaze at the rigs parked on our beach, so far away.  We gaze at the broken oar lock.

 Ok, now it's canoe paddle style...on we go.

Capt. Steve and new crew

La playa....

But wait!  Is that Pedro we see, launching his inflatable?  He is motoring toward us!  I am waving an oar!  He arrives and tosses us a line....which turns out to be like a water ski towline.  But what will he tie to in his boat?

Oh!  Why not tie to Pedro?

"What could possibly go wrong???"

Skipper is easily bored by the whole event.  Sparky is on watch to see what is next in this game?

When are we gonna get there?

How to keep all these sheep together?

Not exactly like water skis...but...

Away we go...in the right direction...

We arrive with a florish of trumpet blasts...Pedro has remembered to bring along his horn!  Should we expect less?

"Toot-T-TOOT!

Another day, another surprise....life on the playa, in Mexico, on the Sea of Cortez, in the Bay of Comception...

Well, it WAS a new engine....

Lots of free consulting offered

So, that's the end of the motor boating for now.  It's back to Fernando in Mulege to see what he thinks.  Steve thinks that if it can be fixed anywhere, this is probably the place.  At home, there would be a grave look and a "Here's the price list and order sheet for a new engine."  It seems to us that in Baja, there's an attitude of "figuring out how to make do with what you have and get it working again"...more than, junk it and get a new one.  A concept: "fix" not "replace."?  Maybe!