We have arrived at our Goal--Cabo San Lucas Arches!!!!!

Sometimes you do things in life that you want to undertake, but aren't sure you can accomplish.  This trip was one of those things, and today we made it a reality by actually paddling up to the end of the point of Cabo San Lucas, paddled through the arch, and then pulled into the beach at Cabo and loaded the kayaks up onto the explorer!

We left Los Barriles on December 19th and paddled through familiar territory to Buena Vista where we were greeted by Rod and Barb on the beach in front of their beautiful home.  We said hello and visited for a few minutes, then we were off to Cabo Pulmo for the evening.  The day started off flat calm and beautiful, but little did we know that by the day's end we would be struggling against a stiff head wind that slowed progress down to a crawl.

From Cabo Pulmo on, we found that we were essentially out of the Sea of Cortez and into the Pacific Ocean as we had swells from the south which translated to surf on the beach which translated into tricky beach landings and takeoffs.   We both experienced our first total roll overs on the beach and got to experience what they call "garage sale" landings- where you scatter your stuff all over the neighborhood!  No damages or injuries, and the only lost item was one ball cap!

However, after experiencing that last crash landing, we pushed ahead for a 30 mile paddle and didn't stop until we came to the boat harbor at San Jose at 8 pm in the dark.  It is a good thing that it was winter solstice, and we had a full moon to boot!  It was an odd day however, as we crossed the Tropic of Cancer on Winter Solstice day, saw 2 Blue Whales, got close to a turtle, and both crashed that day as well!  Our fun filled day wasn't over until 12:10 the next morning when we were rudely awakened by three security guards at the marina that told us that we couldn't camp on the dock and had to pack up all of our stuff and leave- so we packed up, put all of our wet gear on, and moved 1/4 of a mile around the breakwater and crashed on the beach until we woke up to joggers and horseback riders!    We would have included a picture of our camp at the harbor, but unfortunately the only pictures were taken by the security guards, and they don't want to share them with us!  They weren't employed by Mexican people- this was a high end US corporation venture, so we don't want to blame the Mexican people that were just following the big US orders.  We are now in civilization!

The next morning as we got up and started paddling towards Cabo, you could tell that we were in the land of mass development and people.  What's up with all of these paddle boarders now a days- they are everywhere!  Anyway, we stopped at a nice beach without a big swell on the way to Cabo and tried to get a can of coke, but they wanted 13 bucks for two of them, so we decided that water out of a Nalgene Bottle was OK!  We camped for the night right on the beach in front of a 5  star hotel- but we were in a tent just on the beach in front of it with security guards watching us all night!  Mexican law allows us to camp within 20 meters of the HIgh Tide mark- Zofomat is the legal term, and we proved that it is still possible to accomplish a trip like this in today's age even though it might not seem that possible!  It seems weird that we have had no issues with camping at all during this entire trip even though at times we were camping in front of people's homes and they were welcoming us to do so!

Today we got up and headed for Cabo San Lucas- the actual Cabo and the arches that are associated with it.  We arrived there about 10 am and paddled in and out and around all of the small arches and rocks at the end of the cape.  We took a turn up the Pacific side for a few hundred yards, and then decided that we had come far enough and didn't need to go any further!  Cheryl rented a Panga and came our and took our pictures and brought us a cold beer!

We then came on into the harbor at Cabo San Lucas, hit the beach and took a dip in the ocean!  The locals were impressed with us as well as the tourists that were there as well, and we might add that we are also impressed!

We loaded up the kayaks and headed for Cabo Wabo to finish off the trip in grand fashion- a shot of tequila followed by a few more Cabo Wabo drinks!  It was a great day to end a great trip, and now the only paddling we need to do is in our minds for a while.  It was an awesome experience and one that we will never forget and hope that you all have enjoyed sharing in our journey as much as we have enjoyed sharing our experiences with you!

We would like to thank all of the people that helped us in our endeavor, and provided assistance and encouragement along the way.  We would especially like to thank all of the Mexican people along the way that were as friendly and helpful and considerate as you could ever imagine.  We have experienced nothing but great friendly people and encourage anyone to undertake a similar journey if they desire, as it  is a trip that you will never forget!