Water Sports in San Carlos

The weather down here is getting warm enough to jump in the ocean from time to time.  Susan and Josh wanted to scuba dive and Jim and I and David wanted to snorkel.  It turned out that Chabali, being 10 years old, could take lessons and go on his first ever scuba dive, too.  Maya hung out on top of the water with us.

We hired a boat from Ocean Sports to take us to San Pedro Island which is
halfway between the Baja and the Mainland.

San Pedro Island is a Biosphere Reserve, home to a large colony of sea lions and many species of birds.  There is so much guano on the island that it is harvested for fertilizer.  The boat ride took about an hour and a half.  We all sat on the back of the boat and hung on tight as we were going into the wind and moving around was next to impossible.

The Zoia clan

David and Maya

Josh and Maya

Susan and Chabali

Chabali's first dive
He was incredibly calm and relaxed.

Doesn't he look handsome in a wet
suit!?!

One of the larger sea lions making incredible grunting noises.
The smaller ones are lying on the rocks.  

That's David and Maya and a sea lion on the right

It was an amazing experience to swim with these sea lions.  They were quite aggressive and curious and several of them would gracefully torpedo all around us and then stop for a moment to look you right in the eye.  At times, it was a little intimidating. One even bumped Jim right on his mask.  We saw all kinds of interesting things:  starfish, King Angelfish, all kinds of eels, wrasse, lobsters and crabs.  The water was a little cold-about 68 degrees! We all were so mesmerized in the water that we hardly noticed.  But it was a chilly trip home!

Soggy Peso in the Rain

The next night it just poured at the Soggy Peso.
The rain did a job on the dirt road leading to the beaches-
ruts everywhere!

We hunkered on down inside with beers
and shrimp quesadillas.

We tired him out, once again!

We found our own dance floor.  Don't I just love the look
of my bright green and pink Crocs!

The band had to play inside the palapa covered bar.  The
stage outside was soaked!

The Boys and Maya Go Fishing

Weird!  A scorpion fish

 They all caught sea bass (which we cooked up in enchilada sauce and served on a bed of refritos and Mexican rice), snapper and whitefish.

Jimbo caught the biggest fish, a sea bass
He also snared a scorpion fish along with it!

Last Night for the Younger Zoias at San Francisco Beach

We went back to San Francisco beach for the
kids' last evening.  Tried the sky lantern again
and failed for the 2nd time.

David does a photo bomb!

We are not too happy with the condition of the beaches out at San Francisco Bay.  There is trash everywhere, as the town has not cleaned up this area as well as they did downtown.  We do a big
clean up before we settle in for swimming and building a bonfire.  We ordered pizzas from La Trattoria to bring with us.  The boxes made some great kindling.

I love this picture of Susan in the sunset.  She
is the same color as the sky and the water!

Sunday with Assterisko

We closed out the weekend at La Salsa, dancing to Assterisko
and then went to David and Susan's to grill steaks and shrimp
and laugh the evening away.

It is so different out here now.  Almost all
Mexican young people and families and
it is crowded, especially on the weekends.

Susan had a grand time dancing to the oldies!

We know how to rock it!

Kayaking to Martini Cove

We rented kayaks at the Beach Club and took off around the peninsula where the sun dial is on Shangra La Bay and then headed towards Christmas Island and the entrance to the Bahia and over

to Martini Cove.  It was pretty windy in spots but gorgeous day and a really fun ride.  We investigated a couple of interesting arches.

That's Susan and David paddling through the arch.

Martini Cove
We snorkeled here and I saw a manta ray, an eel, lots of
angel fish, wrasse and a bunch of things I haven't yet identified.

Beautiful pink flowers growing out of the rocks
and flowering cacti now are everywhere

We even managed to find a seat and some shade.

Love these Cardon Cacti

The gulls were totally not bothered by our presence.
They stood like sentinels watching our every move.
They tolerated us but were pretty aggressive with
each other.

Back home to our house for fish, sunset and relaxation