isla espiritu santo is just north of la paz. we dove at los islotes and camped on isla la partida which is the north part of isla espiritu santo (the big island on the map) and checked out the mangroves that are in those little bays between the fingers on the island:
we motored our way straight out to los islotes and jumped in. all islands in the gulf are protected areas (of flora and fauna, just the land part), but the marine zone around espiritu santo has recently been declared a national park. los islotes are the no-take zone and also the site of a sea lion colony (i believe it's the only rookery near la paz). we were diving with a profesor from UABCS (one of the universities here in la paz) who is an expert on invertebrates (yay!) and so our plan was to descend straight down a wall to about 90 feet, check out the gorgonians and then descend a bit more to see a bed of black coral (which ironically enough is white). then to work our way back up slowly along the wall.
[nearing los islotes / por los islotes]
[arch at los islotes / arco en los islotes]
my little camera could not handle the darkness (i need to buy an external flash), so i have only poor photographs .... but while we were at 90 feet, i turned around and watched a school of barracudas go by. i've never seen a school of barracudas - usually just one or two - so this was pretty cool. barracudas are seriously creepy, by the way.
[barracuda school / escuela de baracudas]
[looking up the wall / mirando para arriba]
as we finished the dive and were hanging out under the arch, the sea lions came to play with us. one of the ladies was particularly playful - getting right in my face and biting my fins! love it.
we camped on la partida, on a tiny little beach in a little bay, surrounded by rocks and cactus. we got there just in time to watch the sunset. as we ate and sat at talked, we were visited by a local resident - a babisuri who was completely unafraid of us. i slept in a tent to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitos, but my co-worker slept outside and woke up to find the babisuri curled up sleeping at his feet!
[babisuri]
in the morning, we went for a little walk up the cliff to get a better view of the bay and islands. i cannot say enough how beautiful desert and sea are. such a contradiction.as we descended, the panga driver shouted for us to hooray, and we turned to find black thunderstorms behind us. as we returned to the beach, rain began to fall and suddenly the wall of rain (reminiscent of monsoons in tucson) arrived. within minutes we were drenched and hurriedly bringing things to the panga and trying to keep them dry. the professor commented that in 30 years of visiting the island, it was the first time it had rained while he was there. amazing. i love rain in the desert. it stopped for a moment and some fishermen came into the bay and we took shelter in a little cave as the rain returned.
[camping beach / playa de acampar]
[little bay / bahía pequeña]
[view from hideout cave / vista desde nuestra cueva]
when the rain let-up, we toured the island, visiting the mangrove areas and enjoying the view.
[mangroves / manglares]
[clouds, island, mangroves / nubes, isla, manglar]
a very unique and special first trip out to the island. am looking forward to returning sometime soon :)
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