The dude beach

South of Mulege, we stayed in a "Palapa," or leafy beach hut, barbequed chorizo, kayaked, and snorkeled. Adam, shown here igniting the campfire with his gaze, kayaked out into the darkness at midnight, lighting phosphorescence in the water as he went.

Heavy petting in Baja: Feb 27th 2006

We´d driven 5000 miles to be here the grey whales had swum 5000 miles. The whales come down from the Bering Sea each year to this bay on Baja to calve. There are thousands of whales in an area of just a few square miles. At first we loved seeing whales all around the boat, but then the really special thing happened. The whales enjoy coming and `playing´ with the boats. We had 2 to 4 whales around our boat for at least an hour. They came up to the side of the boat to be stroked and to look at us. They also loved the whale version of farting in the bath, coming up under the boat and blowing air. All the mammals involved had a great time.

Ensenada: Feb 25th 2006

Our first stop in Mexico, the town was so pleased to see us that the spontaneously erupted into fiesta. After dropping off our bags at a hotel where everything, including the furniture, was made of concrete, we joined the party. Bad food, lots of beer and tequila and dancing followed. As always, the police showed impeccable taste in techno by patronizing the best sound system.

mission (viejo) accomplished: Feb 22nd - 24th

We arrived at the "other" coast on February 22nd. Woohoo! L.A. is worthless, but the beach is lovely. Pictures are of Route 66, which we took from Joshua Tree National Park to L.A., Laguna Beach, and Mission Viejo, where we stayed with the lovely Geetanjli. Please note the success of Samar and Geetanjli´s "twins experiment." ¿Can you tell who is who?