Had so much fun last Christmas camping and kayaking on Isla Angel de la Guarda... doing it again next week.
Excuse last year was the "Bethlehem Star" - the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. My companions were the "wise" Baja bears Paddy and Lavender. There
over two weeks... didn't see anyone!
Just feral cats, an extraordinary number of ospreys and ravens, and no vultures or coyotes. Gulls and ravens could hardly deal with the all the dead
creatures that washed up.
Story was told in my Kindle eBook - Paddy and Lavender's Christmas Adventures. Over 100 color pictures. A kid's book but hopefully with universal
appeal with all kinds of information about the trip and the island.
It's a free download for 4 more days. If you're out that way bring honey and tequila. Merry Christmas everyone... sorry I won't be joining you at the
malls and parking lots.
Merry Christmas Mr. Adventure in Baja! You might want to sneak down for a quick visit to La Bocana!100X - 12-6-2021 at 08:31 PM
Very nice/generous--thank you! I have a 2 year old niece that will enjoy it!David K - 12-6-2021 at 09:31 PM
I am not going anywhere, so if you need wind forecasting via your Spot device, you know my number!
HAVE FUN and keep the bears fed!pjpvi - 12-6-2021 at 10:50 PM
Very nice. Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!BajaNomad - 12-6-2021 at 11:38 PM
JZ - 12-6-2021 at 11:41 PM
That cat is freaky looking. How many did you see and how often?
Any rattle snakes?
No coyotes or you just didn't see any?
[Edited on 12-7-2021 by JZ]Graham - 12-6-2021 at 11:42 PM
Thanks everyone.
About time I got to visit La Bocana. Maybe see you in January or February.
And thanks David. Your weather updates have always been priceless. Hope to send my "all's well" SPOT signals every day.
Last year blew one night like a hurricane... no fun with two tents and a kayak trying to blow away at 2 AM. Good to be prepared.
Graham - 12-6-2021 at 11:52 PM
Yes, cats really "creepy". Hard to spot. Very secretive.
But find several dead ones and tracks are everywhere. Amazing they survive summers out there.
No coyotes... they can't survive lack of water. Simplifies camping... but ravens rule the island and will peck to pieces anything left out.
Island notorious for huge rattlesnakes... hope they'll be dozing while I'm there. Certainly night will be too cold.
Graham - 12-7-2021 at 08:05 PM
If anyone visits and I'm not "at home"...
I'll be hiking the deep palm canyons or hiking or kayaking the shore.
Generally lose a few pounds with all the exercise.
Island may be uninhabited now... but back in the 1970s there was a major fishcamp there with over 100 pangas working scallop beds. Settlement was
bigger than Bahia de los Angeles at the time, and was almost certainly the source of the cats.
Even had a decompression chamber installed... as so many of the scallop divers developed the "bends", and several died. John Harper - 12-8-2021 at 06:30 AM
So, the scallop beds must have been quite extensive, I wonder how much is left today?
JohnGraham - 12-8-2021 at 09:36 AM
The scallop harvest seemed inexhaustible. Government scientists had investigated the resource and laid down limits for its exploitation. With easy
pickings and high profits, all limits were soon ignored and exceeded.
Led to increasing numbers of untrained divers working deeper and deeper, and multiple cases of decompression injury and death, and the eventual
complete collapse of the scallop resource.
Story told in detail with photographs and interviews in my Kindle eBook: Marooned With Very Little Beer.
I got to go out with scallop divers a little over 30 years ago in the Bay of Conception. There was an encampment just south of El Requeson, and we
befriended a couple of the divers. On the water, they offered to let me dive too but I took one look at the old, run down, leaky automotive air
compressor feeding the diver and decided to stay in the panga and watch. These were quite friendly but fearless young men, not too concerned about
safety standards the way we are used to.
They would harvest scallops by the bushel, and return them to shore where the women prepared them. In the end there were stacks of shells 6-8' high
and hundreds of clear plastic bags each holding I would guess 10 kilos of meat. Of course we got to bbq some and they were delicious, but I suspect
there are not so many of them left now (the Chocolates were thick in the area as well).
I still remember their stories of how many divers had passed away that year, in the teens I believe. One of them had a girlfriend on the mainland and
sometimes would take the panga across the Sea of Cortez to see her and return the following day! Were quite the fearless, macho hombres!
wilderone - 12-8-2021 at 10:56 AM
Have a blessed Christmas, Graham! John Harper - 12-8-2021 at 10:58 AM
Story told in detail with photographs and interviews in my Kindle eBook: Marooned With Very Little Beer.
I've read some of that book, my roommate has all your writings down at her place. I probably haven't read that far into it yet.
JohnGraham - 12-9-2021 at 03:42 PM
Amazing story 100x... echoes my experience of scallop camps.
The bravado and rusty primitive equipment divers use probably accounts for many decompression injuries... but on Isla Angel de la Guarda those sent to
investigate said untrained divers began operating too deep and staying down too long. Hence the decompression chamber. Arrived in Bahia de los Angeles
before being shipped to the island in the summer of 1973.
Monday... heading back to LA Bay with my amigos for our second Christmas on the amazing island. Thanks Wilderone for kind wishes. Happy Holidays
everyone.
Thursday Dec 9, till midnight, Kindle ebook - Paddy and Lavender's Christmas Adventures - still a free download. Kid's and bear's eye-view of the
island.
Mulege Canuck - 12-10-2021 at 10:19 AM
Thanks Graham
Great post!
I have to get out on that Island.100X - 12-13-2021 at 10:16 AM
Diving rig!
100X - 12-13-2021 at 10:19 AM
David, will you be posting Graham's updates from the island this year? 100X - 12-18-2021 at 07:20 PM
Any Graham updates?Don Pisto - 12-19-2021 at 11:26 AM
