Pages

Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexico. Show all posts

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Paddling For Your Life


An overview of Bahia de Los Angles and  Isla Angel de la Guarda 
In 1993, I (or more precisely, J, of J and L) was kayaking off the coast near the sleepy village of Bahia de Los Angles, approximately 417 miles south of San Diego in the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California). I had been on the road a couple of weeks, kayaking up and down the beautiful, but deserted coastline of Baja.

Bahia de Los Angles on the Sea of Cortez
Traveling by himself during the age of the dinosaur, before cell phone use was common, no one knew of his exact location. Of course, I knew where I was, but without contact of any sort with the outside world, I was not aware that a potential monster of a storm was brewing directly south of Cabo San Lucas.

Cabo San Lucas was getting slammed before John knew about it
One exceptionally gorgeous and calm summer day, I struck out from the coast in my 15-foot sea kayak and headed toward Isla Angel de la Guarda – about 27 miles east of Bahia de Los Angeles through the bright blue waters.


Who wouldn't want to go to this island? 
Being younger, and not much brighter than I am today, I didn’t bother to wear a life jacket. A seasoned kayaker, sea, river and lakes, I just thought that this beautiful morning while the gulf was like glass, it would be an easy paddle to the island where I had planned to camp overnight.
Things didn’t turn out as planned – as is often the case with best laid plans of men.

Unbeknownst to me, churning up the Sea of Cortez was Hurricane Calvin, while I sat in my kayak paddling calmly across the smooth seas enjoying the serenity and beauty of the bay. Two hours later things changed drastically. I noticed the surface was getting a little rough and my paddling efforts were sluggish. The smooth glass had turned to large rippling waves.

Not a place to be in a kayak by yourself or even with others!
Determining that I had traveled 8 to 10 miles out from the coast, I cast a look far south down the gulf and saw a wall of black approaching rapidly. The winds had started to pick up as rain began pelting my face and arms sideways. Suddenly lighting was striking down from the heavens nearby. The ocean was no longer the place to be sitting in a small craft.

Being without communication, I had not realized that a hurricane had made landfall in Cabo San Lucas before heading northward – right at me. But I did understand that I was for in a world of hurt.
Realizing that reaching the island, which was still a long way off, was rather doubtful, I spun the kayak and paddled like hell toward the mainland. Within twenty minutes the calm sea broiled into swells five or six feet in height. I paddled with all my strength, forcing the little yellow kayak up the face of a wave, only to slide into the trough below, several times submerging into the foaming waters. Once or twice, the kayak was hit by an unexpected and unseen sideways swell, nearly capsizing as I paddled now for my life.

In a hurricane ,the waves come from every angle - hold on!


It was at about this time that I realized that the next time I decided to kayak – if of course there were to be another paddling adventure – I’d prefer to be wearing a life vest. Just in case!
Nearly eight hours later, shore came into view and with a rather undignified and painful landing on the beach, I gratefully touched land once more.

Shivering and exhausted, I took shelter in the bed of my truck while the winds tried desperately to tear the camper shell from the truck.
An hour later the sun was out and everything began to dry out from the drenching the arid desert had received.

So, the point of this blog? Well, there is a bit of a moral to this story:

One, be prepared whenever going out on the ocean or any body of water for that matter. Two, make sure someone who cares about you knows your exact location in case you don’t show back up – at least some sort of rescue could be attempted. Three, always wear a life jacket – being separated from your boat but floating face up is better than being separated from your boat and floating face down. Four, always check the weather conditions before exploring the waters or embarking on any adventure for that matter. And finally, don’t paddle alone. Always have a companion or two with you while paddling in any body of water – accidents can (and do) happen and the unseen can capsize a boat, even in calm waters.

Be safe and use caution as the guiding principal.

Having grown older, wiser, and having learned my lesson, I recently paddled off shore from Grace Bay in Providenciales, in Turks and Caicos, to the reef about a mile out. Bight Reef, also known as Coral Gardens, is an incredibly beautiful place to snorkel and paddle to but again one needs to be watchful, as the reef is home to not only a plethora of species of coral and fish, but also sea turtle, shrimp, lobsters, stingrays, moray eels and the occasional nurse shark.

It was a just couple of days after Hurricane Michael tore through the Florida panhandle, and though these Caribbean islands were not in harm’s way, the weather was a bit unstable. Thinking I could handle a short little jaunt on my own in the kayak, I headed down the beach. Suddenly, a still voice told me to text my wife. Although she was thousands of miles away on business, I thought that perhaps I should let her know where I was and what I was doing. See, I had learned my lesson. The voice in the back of cranium also suggested that it would be a good idea to reach for a life-jacket.
Glad that I listened to that voice. The waters grew rougher as the day progressed, but it was worth every sore muscle. Perhaps a few pictures can explain it better.

So, yes, do go explore and be adventurous, but always remain cognizant of your surroundings and put a thought or two into personal safety. A bit of common sense that perhaps I sometimes lack – but then again I’m a professional adventurer. Still, we at J and L wouldn’t want that next adventure to be the last adventure.

For a closer look at the adventure, click here.


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Out of This World!

There are places on this Earth, that at a glance, are nearly impossible to believe exist. This is an incredible creation, this big blue marble hurtling through space and time on which we have the privilege of existing. At J and L, we try to appreciate the things we find in our backyard as well as those around the planet, but these are so incredibly spectacular, we believe you'd enjoy a little virtual planetary exploration as you plan your summer vacations.
Painted Desert, Arizona

First up, take a look at the Painted Desert. Perhaps you've had the opportunity to see the colors, so vivid in the right light in the desert of Arizona. A visit here takes you to another wonder, the Petrified Forest. The existence of these wonders defy conventional understanding, and are worth the drive. But, the painted desert is not one of a kind. There is a location in southeast China where the geologic formations date back to the Cretaceous. We can thank the movement of the Himalayas for the creation of this exotic panorama. Not in my backyard, but spectacular.
Zhangye Danxia Landform – China

So what else would make you put a trip to China on your to-do list? Well, if we leave human history out (there goes the Great Wall, and Tienanmen Square, and on and on), and just go for the nearly other-worldly, then we must look from the desert, to the mountains. High in the Hunan Province, there are sheer mountain formations in the Tianzi which look like they came straight out of the painted backdrops for the film, Avatar. Try building your house here -- if you want to get away from it all. But watch that first step, it is a doozy!
Tianzi Mountains – China
Thinking of a mountain get-away but want something in this hemisphere? How about a veritable island paradise in Mount Roraima, South America.  This mountain peak serves as the border point marker for three countries: Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana. A table-top mountain (meaning, as the name suggests, it is flat on top) sits over two miles above sea level. The geologic formations date back two billion years. Yup, two billion with a "b" -- Precambrian. Back when your only neighbors would have been soft, single celled creatures. Quiet neighborhood, I should imagine -- perfect get-away.
Mount Roraima – South America
Okay, so heights are not your thing -- how about something more down to earth, or rather, below the surface. This Naico Mine in Chihuahua, Mexico has the largest formations of selenite crystals, more commonly known as gypsum, which can be found on this old Earth of ours. The crystals can be four feet in diameter and fifty feet tall.
Naico Mine – Mexico
Now again, for comparison and reference, there is a large deposit of these crystals in the desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico. But here, the crystals are the size of a grain of sand, and are, in fact, referred to as White Sands. Beautiful, but it begs the question of whether size matters when comparing such things.

White Sands - New Mexico
So, you still haven't decided where to plan your next vacation?  How about a trip to the lake? Lake Hillier, in Australia, or Lake Retba, in Sengal offer water the color of which is sure to please the little princess in your family. These waterways are perfectly safe to play in and around, despite their unsettlingly pink color. There is believed to be a combination of an unusual strain of red halophilic bacteria and high saline content. The locals will fish and swim in the lake, but I think I'd stick to just putting my feet in near shore where the water is clear.
Lake Hillier – Australia
Looking for something to cool off from the summer heat? How about the Mendenhall Ice Caves in Alaska? Just a dozen miles from Juneau, this formation, at the terminus of the glacier is the perfect place to take break from the summer heat!

Mendenhall Ice Caves – Alaska
All right, so maybe none of these places are your style or within your vacation budget, but there remains one last place that we at J and L have definitely put on our list: the Black Forest in Germany. Bordered by the Rhine, and encompassing the Danube, the history and beauty of this region is unparalleled. To lie on your sleeping bag in your tent in the dark, listening to the creatures of the forest, is to travel back in time and experience nature as man has for hundreds, even thousands of years. As the wolves howl, one can almost hear the echo of the footsteps of Vlad Tepesh as he searches along the banks of the Danube for his lost princess.
Black Forest – Germany
Wherever life takes you this summer, we at J and L know you will have stories and photographs to share with those close to you.






Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Ode to a Work Horse

Original Toyota Land Cruiser

Toyota has always built a strong and reliable vehicle but until J and L purchased the newly updated version of the old Land Cruiser did this writer know how tough and reliable they truly were. We were the first to take delivery of the 2007 Toyota FJ back in 2006 in the city of Victorville and loved the Cruiser the moment the ignition key lit the beast up and we drove out of the dealership.

'New' Retro Toyota FJ
The auto maker knew a good thing when they came up with the retro Land Cruiser from the sixties and seventies introducing one of the best off road vehicles in the world according to most industry reports. We did not realize how accurate those publications were until we took a short one thousand mile road trip within the first six months of owning the vehicle down south through Baja California to Cabo San Lucas along some of the worst roads Mexico has to offer.

Just before dusk on a lovely Tuesday evening J and L were racing down a rutted gravel path falsely listed as a road on a torn map listening to Phil Collins on the CD player belting out 'Something in the Air Tonight'. At that moment I did not realize Mr. Collins was alluding to us.

Laureen calmly looked over at me from the co-pilot seat and smiled sweetly. "Honey, there's no road in front of us."

I unconsciously shut my ears to Phil and widened my eyes to witness the front of the FJ grab air and suddenly we were the 'something in the air' that the crooner had been mentioning.

A line from Zachary Marshall, the antagonist from my novel Hunted, came into mind as he plunged a stolen Cadillac Escalade off a roadway and nose dived it onto a busy highway below. "This is going to hurt."

When the FJ finally landed, luckily on all four wheels sixty feet north and eight feet down into a dried river bed it didn't hurt. It didn't hurt at all.

The FJ was amazing.

click the link below for the Ode to A Work Horse Slide Show


After that trip through the wide open deserts of Lower California the Toyota has been on countless road trips exploring and researching all over the United States and never failed once.  Heavy snow drifts, torrential rain on muddy roads or nearby tornadoes weren't enough to even slow the six cylinders down but in fact seemed to the give the FJ more power and strength.

In fact, in all the time we've owned the Cruiser not once have we ever had to put snow chains on while visiting our weekend home in Big Bear but simply slipped the transmission into four wheel drive and off we went. The wheels gripping firmly and securely while all the rest of the travelers had chains or cables wrapped snugly about their tires.

Though it has dents, scratches and overall looks like it's been through hell, much like the main driver, it is still a beautiful machine.

One well worth a mention now and then for all its given us on the many adventures from the past and we pray well into the future.