Bahía de los Ángeles to Las Animas //
The plan for the day is to pack up and move south to a more remote and even more picturesque beach. While watching the sunrise we all agree that our preference would be to pack up and go sooner than later however Mark and I have long since learned our lesson. Never start a driving day without a proper meal. Cooking and cleaning up breakfast no doubt prolongs the process of getting on the road but the shortcut of avoiding that chore always comes back to bite us. Getting on the road without breakfast inevitably leads to a sudden downfall of morale which always leads to poor decision making.
During breakfast a small fishing boat slowly floats by. Two fisherman clean their catch while dozens of various birds wait for scraps. On the shore a family, each with their own pole in hand, seeks out the best spot for their best chance at a morning catch. We watch and comment on the fact that one of our favorite things about Mexico is how it feels as though we’ve stepped back in time. Teenagers are not on their phones, they’re out fishing with their families.
An unusual movement in the water catches our eye and we quickly determine by the dorsal fin that it’s a small shark. We see the fin break the surface every minute or so as it looks for food a few feet from shore. For all five of us and our collective 13 months spent in Baja over the last few years, this is our first shark sighting. It’s a small hammerhead about three or four feet long. As far as we know this is a docile shark and we’re all more intrigued than scared which prompts the question of “would you still get in the water after seeing that?”. Mark and Josh agree that they would and not thirty minutes later Mark decides to go for a quick dip. I watch with amazement. We had never spent much time near the ocean until coming to Baja and when we first started coming here the ocean gave Mark trepidation. Him getting in the water the same morning we see a shark is a symbol of how much Baja has changed us.
After topping off our water supply at the local purificada, we begin the 47 mile journey down a rough and seldom-driven and dirt track that will take us to our destination for the night. In the mood to groove, we jam to dance music cranked full blast for the majority of our four hour drive. Spending the day traversing Baja’s magnificent backcountry and doing it alongside some of our favorite people that love these kinds of adventures as much as we do – this is our happy place and we were illustrating it with our epic 40 year old dance moves.
It is nearly sunset by the time we arrive at Las Animas. The wind that greets us when we arrive makes us happy that we spent our day in the comfort of our cab. A short time is spent outside together in our makeshift living room before all deciding to call it an early night. The forecast is promising better weather that we are eager to enjoy come morning.
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Wow a baby shark! 🦈 Hopefully you won’t have any unexpected ones on the rest of your travels! Hannah was the star on that road trip!
Someday, when you’re near a library, you might look for Craig Foster’s *Underwater Wild* in which he describes swimming with, among many other species, sharks. The book was the foundation of the documentary film *My Octopus Teacher.*
https://www.amazon.com/Underwater-Wild-Octopus-Teachers-Extraordinary/dp/0358664756?tag=hydsma-20&source=dsa&hvcampaign=booksm&gbraid=0AAAAA-byW6CZV1Tm7zm366rcqhN8KCpZm&gclid=CjwKCAiAgoq7BhBxEiwAVcW0LKKsy9dNv9Nz89qH8wD1CVFTiTcs98QgLnqRfDBIipkfJaySpiGvBhoCMu8QAvD_BwE
He describes the hammerhead as among the most docile.
That looks to be some deep sand in that photo w Hannah as lookout. Do you air down?
When I read about airing down, one person suggested dropping to 20 psi was sufficient. Another said you weren’t *really* airing down until you got to 10 psi. Wha’d’ya’ll think?
(This is awesome! Even bed-ridden I feel I can share the adventure. Please include more details.)
mfhalb
Thanks so much for reading Michael and for your kind words. We also appreciate the book recommendation as we really enjoyed watching The Octopus Teacher. As for airing down, Mark says that a lot of different factors play into how he decides what tire pressure to air down to (such as the weight of the vehicle, the weight rating of the tires, the size of the tires and so on) and that it’s impossible to offer a recommendation that would apply to anyone across the board.