Bahia de los Angeles

Jose Mercade was, once again, a host that continues to give and provide. He offered his boat to us for a late morning and early afternoon cruise of the bay. The time between when he opened up the garage door to launch was about 20 minutes. His house sits on the bay and he has his own launch ramp.

His panga was perfect for our tour and soon we found a small pod of bottlenose dolphins. They played about the bow of our boat for nearly 15 minutes and JT got some great footage of them. They soon tired and fell back to do their thing.

We were on the outside of the first row of islands, just east of Horsehead Island, when we shut down the motor just to soak up the tranquil, windless, and glassy conditions of the water. Suddenly we heard the unmistakable sound of a whale's exhale. We were blessed to experience a single finback whale in a series of feeding dives. After each dive the whale would swim a circle near us with between 10 and 15 surface breaths before diving deep.

In the afternoon, we were lucky to have two great interviews. The first was the great grandson of Dick Dagget Sr. at his RV and fishing camp just north of town. He had invited his mother, Doña Trina Dagget. Dick Dagget was an Englishman that had jumped ship in the 1880s and had made a name for himself in this part of Baja. Nelson and Goldman had negotiated with him in San Quintin to purchase supplies when they arrived at his mine (The King Richard Mine) near Calamajue. When they arrived, the mine was empty and boarded up. Being skilled trackers, they found tracks leading away from the mine and found the party on the beach of a small bay. Their own supplies had run out and a misunderstanding about the timing of the new supply ship caused them to survive on turtle meat, fish, and wild honey for over a month.

Dick Dagget saved the lives of Nelson and Goldman. The younger Dagget was impressed by the story and was happy to connect with us. Doña Trina was a lively and energetic interviewee. She spoke only in Spanish and most of what she said went over our heads. She was missing most of her front teeth so her speach was off a little too. We will have to wait until the translation is complete to really know what she had to say. I can't wait!

May 27, 2016 (Day 12)

We planned for an early launch so we could follow one of the pangas out of the bay. Bahia San Quintin is very shallow in places and there are no channel markers. While we were preparing to launch, only two boats took off, and we missed them. So, we headed out on our own. We had all eyes looking out in order to navigate through the maze of shallow areas to get to the mouth of the bay. JT was in charge of the GPS, Greg had the binoculars, and I was driving blindly. I could feel every time the motor would bounce off the bottom.

It was about a twenty-mile run out of the bay and up to Isla San Martin. It is a beautiful volcanic cone island with a spit of rocks that harbors a sandy beach. Again, I had to let the film crew off and stay on the boat. Nelson and Goldman took the “motor launch” called Todo Santos to this island during their expedition.

JT and Greg were almost immediately met by two Mexican biologists that were studying the island’s unique flora and fauna. A request for an interview was granted and they graciously escorted them around for a short tour. They caught and tagged a gopher snake during their walk. When Nelson and Goldman were here, they noted that gopher snakes and “alligator” lizards were found on the island in 1903.

The island is covered with a unique plant with velvety leaves commonly called a Live Forever, or Dudleya anthonyi. JT and Greg also came across an elephant seal hauled up onto the shore. In 1906, Nelson noted that “the island was once a breeding resort for the sea elephant and is now extinct there.” The elephant seal was once on the brink of extinction, being hunted for their rich blubber. Nelson also noted that they saw a few “leopard seals.” Either that was a miss-identification of a harbor seal or in 1905 the harbor seal was called referred to as a “leopard seal.” We did see a large group of harbor seals that took to the water as soon as we arrived on the island.

We arrived back at The Old Mill Restaurant and Hotel early in the afternoon, packed up our gear, and headed for the States.