Arrived in La Paz!

Wow - what a stretch!  We made it in about an hour ago.  Showered up and off to find a bite to eat (other than fish).  Stay tuned, more to come later.  Just thought we would update you on our arrival.  Stories and pictures to follow later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Thank you Rita for the great hospitality shown to us in Loreto!  You have a beautiful home and you really treated us well during our brief stay at your home.  Rita played an integral part in making this trip happen, between opening her home to us as well as arranging car transportation for us during our trip in Mexico.  Rita Westfall knew Mark and Sheila and their families back in Hood River, Oregon, and now she lives full time down in Loreto.  We would also like to thank Rita for the fantastic home grown grapefruit that was the start of many of our days on this leg of the journey.

Along the way between Loreto and La Paz we visited many interesting sights and small communities.  One of the most interesting places we visited was a natural hot tub that was basically in the middle of nowhere.  But....lo and behold we found some other kayakers from the Paddle South Kayak Company guided by Antonio.  We thought they had found the hot tub, but they were just as lost as we were.... but between us and them, we actually did find the hot tub.  We had a great time visiting with them and we made them listen to way too many stories as we hadn´t talked to other people for a long time!  Thanks to Antonio, Kerry, Inger-lise, and Mara-lisa for the great time!

Now for the fish stories....  Doug managed to catch and hang on to a Dorado that was caught in front of the tiny village of Timbabichi.  It may not have been the biggest Dorado, but it was sure tasty and made a great meal for the two of us!

Mark was able to find our first lobster, but although we know it was a lobster, some could mistake it for a crawdad.  It may not have made a complete meal, but we did eat it with a splash of lime right out of the shell.  Hopefully we now know what we are looking for and may do better on the last leg of the trip!

Mark also was able to catch our first Rooster Fish of the trip!  He caught it yesterday along the shoreline coming into La Paz bay and it was just too beautiful to kill, so he released it.  We don´t even know if they are good eating or not, but if we are hungry when the next one is caught..... we may find out!

Coming into La Paz was a little bit of a grind, as we cranked off two 30 mile days, and it didn´t look like we would see much more than sand beaches and sunshine- I know, real rough life!  But we were really rewarded well with a viewing of about 20 Whale Sharks and Manta Rays scattered in with them!  It made the trip into the bay so worthwhile, and we got tons of photographs.  Unfortunately most of them are blurry and not the best because we were blown away with just looking at them right beside our kayaks.  We will try and pick through them and find the best ones to post tomorrow.

We are very happy to be here in La Paz and to be staying at the Hotel La Perla where we have stayed with Cheryl and Sheila before.  The difference this time is that we dragged our two loaded down kayaks up the stairs and through the lobby for the night, and had to explain to the manager that we had come from San Felipe!  We are headed back out on the town to get things that we can´t get enough of on the water- ice drinks and ice cream!