This day, we rode into the desert with a local rancher, who provided the burros, mules and horses. We rode in two groups. Alejo, the rancher, assigned us to our mounts, and we were off up the trail from the beach. It was a fun ride of about an hour and a half. We rode slowly along rocky trails over hills and along the beach. It was fun to see the desert on the other side of the mountains surrounding the shoreline without having to hike! Returning to the beach, we paused at the top and had a beautiful view of the sea below. The ride down was a little scary, but our sure-footed steeds made the trek without incident.
After lunch a group of us donned our skins and wetsuits and took the skiff out to a big solitary rock at the entrance to the harbor and went snorkeling. The water was just as cold as we remembered, but we quickly got used to the chill as our wetsuits warmed up. It was a little windy, so the water was a little murky. We saw all sorts of starfish—blue, purple, red, and one called a "chocolate chip". We also saw some small, colorful sea slugs. Kevin warned us not to touch them since them were poisonous. It was fun seeing the fish and other creatures in the crevices, canyons, and tidal pools. The rest of the afternoon, some of the passengers jumped from the observation deck into the cold ocean water, swam, or used a rope swing out over the water. I watched - too cold without a wetsuit for me!
The next day was our last full day, and we crossed the Baja to Magdalena Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The bus ride up and over the mountains and across the desert went by quickly. Our goal was to see gray whales.
