Rocky Contos 1995
Las Encantadas or "the Enchanted Islands" are a chain of about 5 distinct islands in the Northern Sea of Cortez off the Baja peninsula. They offer some very exciting sea kayaking due to their isolation, the clear green waters surrounding their often rock-studded shores, the warm water that remains there from May-November, excellent fishing, and strong tidal currents and winds that can be taken advantage of. The 4 largest of these islands lie 2-3 miles off shore and each are separated in a north-south fashion by 2-3 miles, making them an excellent chain to island-hop. The tidal ranges in the Northern Cortes are incredible, reaching over 20 ft at San Felipe. These changes decrease as one moves south, so that at Puertecitos they're 18 ft, at San Luis Gonzaga 16 ft, and at Bahia de Los Angeles 12 ft. The area recieves less than 3 inches of rain annually, and cloudy skies are not common, often giving spectacular views of the stars at night. The winds usually blow from the north in the months of Nov-May, sometimes extremely strongly. However, easterlies ("elephantes") are also common. Winds from the other directions occur, but not as often. In summer the predominant direction is gently from the southeast.
OUR TRIP: I made my first trip to the islands in 1995 over Thanksgiving weekend (4.5 days) with Chris and Claudia Stromberg (two prominent sea kayakers in San Diego). From San Diego, the drive to our launching point, Puertecitos, was 7.5 hours, with a couple short stops. A stop in Calexico is a good idea to pick up any extras one might need. I bought a fishing pole and a few lures in a K-Mart there. The border crossing is usually not as crowded as the San Diego/Tijuana crossing, and doesn't take very long to pass through. Interestingly, we had three stops by the military south of Mexicali where each time they asked us if we had armas (guns) or drogas (drugs). After brief searches, they would let us pass. I thought these searches (which I was not familiar with even after dozens of Baja trips) were particular to highway 5 en route to San Felipe over Thanksgiving break, where young party-goers could cause havoc for the city. However, after returning I learned that my friend Preston who had also gone to Baja over the same weekend but down highway 1 to Catavina (350 miles), also was stopped and searched 3 times. He believes they were trying to prevent arms from entering the country, perhaps for rebels in the south. In any case, the searches only delayed us maybe 30 minutes total. We arrived San Felipe around 5:30-6 pm. Down to here the roads are very good (can easily drive 60 mph). The 50 mile drive from San Felipe to Puertecitos is paved (as of a few years ago) but after about 15 miles there are periodic "vados" that need to be traversed. These are dips in the road for arroyos (creek beds) to flow over when it rains and there is runoff. One must slow down to 10 mph for each of these. One must probably go over ~100 vados on this road down to Puertecitos. They seem to be most concentrated near the middle and toward Puertecitos. The drive takes about 1.5 hrs. We arrived in Puertecitos at 8 pm. At the northwest part of the cove there are some palapas with tables where one can camp and leave vehicles for a small fee ($4.50/night to camp, and $2.50/day to park). This is a good place to leave your vehicle if you'll be paddling from Puertecitos. Otherwise, head further south on the graded dirt road where you can get right next to the islands and down to San Luis Gonzaga. 4WD is recommended on this road, though it might be possible in a passenger car (I saw a mini-van about 15 miles south of Puertecitos).
PUERTECITOS: This is a wonderful small town of a couple thousand people with a restaurant/bar, a 4'X4' post office and library, a mechanic, and a small store. Besides these luxuries, there is the major attraction: SALTWATER HOT SPRINGS. This was my first encounter with such pools. There are several in one spot of town (just northeast of the shallow bay, there should usually be people there if it's cool and the tide's not too high). People have blasted two large pools at the higher region. The one to the south is hottest, and gets scorching after a while. The saltwater permeates the volcanic rock and seeps out very hot and with very strong sulfer smells into these pools. The water tricles down and into other pools, creating various water temperatures. After eating a hearty pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner, we perused over to find the hot springs, with the guidance of a few locals. The tide was coming up. The upper pools still had good warm water in them. I put my clothes on a rock between the hot pool and the sea, easing my way into the hot smelly water. So nice!! But unfortuanately, within a half hour, the tide had come up and the cold sea water was pouring into the pool, first slowly through cracks in the rocks. Tthen it started gushing in. That water must have come up 3-4 ft in the short time we were there (40-50 minutes). It was getting too cold for us to really enjoy ourselves, so we decided to leave. I went over to retrieve my clothes. OH NO - floating away!!! Well, only the tevas (which I quickly retrieved). All my dry clothes and flashlight had stayed dry. Look out for those fast rising tides!
DAY 1 PADDLE: It was a beautiful Thursday morning. The only problem we had was that to get the south-flowing current and launch at high tide, we would have had to leave at 4 am. Much too early for us. We ended up packing the boats and departing at 7:30 am. This was not a good thing, as we left just after a very low tide. The Puertecitos cove is shallow enough that it all becomes rock/sand at low tides. This means a very long portage to the water (i.e. 1/4 mile). One could probably launch either north or south of town and circumvent this problem, but we all thought we'd handle it. It is strenuous though (good exercise!). I ended up making 3-4 trips back and forth bringing my boat and gear out to the water. I unfortunately left my video camera in a unsealed dry bag on my boat which was resting in a few inches of water. The tide was coming up and a gentle breeze toppled the bag. The water gushed in, and Claudia grabbed it within a couple seconds. I rushed back in another few seconds and removed the battery. BYE BYE camera. Well, it has a bit of corrosion near the back, but it still has a picture, albeit wavy (getting repaired). Look out for those fast rising tides! We launched, heading for the Isla Miramar (also called Isla Muerto) 18 miles to the south. If one hugs the coast on the way the journey to Isla Miramar would be 22 miles. We decided on a straight course, and planned on exploring the coast on the way back. There was no wind or a very slight north breeze. The north swells were small (1 ft). It was clear, warm and almost hot - unusual for this time of year here (it should be cooler). The daily high/low temperatures for our 4 days there were 80-85/60-65oF. The sea surface temperatures were about 68-75oF. We paddled together for about half the way, then parted, agreeing to meet at the island. I took ~5 hours to reach the island, while Chris and Claudia made the trip in 6.5 hrs. With my spare time I circumnavagated the island.
ISLA MIRAMAR: As one approaches the island from the north one first notices what appear to be a few lone figures standing watch on a western mesa. These "cardones" are large cacti (like saguaros) that are found on many of the islands, though they are in their most ominous forms here. The other thing one notices is that the island has what appears to be white paint all over it's cliffs. Getting closer, one sees the painters all sitting near the water as well as high on the cliffs. Man, there are thousands of these guys. Gulls, pelicans, and courmorants are the most prominent, in that order. But I counted at least 8 other species on this island alone. The gulls all start gawking loudly as a lone kayak nears, and some birds will fly off, only to return after the intruder passes. I proceeded to paddle around the island in a clockwise direction. On the east side I encountered about a dozen porpoises, which were lazily frolicing about in a cove over there, and decided to swim with me for a while. There are no good landing spots on the north, east, or south sides. Besides the numerous indigenous inhabitants, the cliffs do not permit landing. On the southwest and west sides there are good landing spots. There is a small lighthouse on the southwest side which offers a nice landing. There were lots of gulls and pelicans even here. Going around further I found a few nice coves to land in. One of these had a half-eaten sea lion washed up on the shore. We pulled up into the next cove south to camp. Lots of flies there. Not the kind that bite you - rather the kind that just swarm around you and try to land. There were even more over by the lighthouse, though Ed Gillet's writeup suggests that there may be fewer there. These flies willl follow you if you run up the island, but fortunately, they go to bed at dusk. On Isla San Luis we did not encounter such flies. Here on Miramar we camped by these small "rock wind shelters" which only came above the ground about 2 ft. There was ample dry driftwood scattered along the shore of the cove, and I made a small fire for a few hours that evening, while we had another hearty dinner with the usual bottle of red wine (that's usual for me).
ISLA LOBOS: Again attempting to get a little ahead of the low tide (around 8 am that morning) so we could take advantage of the south-moving current, we launched early (around 6:30 am). The crossing to Isla Lobos is 3.5 miles and took 50 minutes at a normal pace. Again I circumnavagated the island. "Lobos" is spanish for "wolf" or "sea lion". I wondered before reaching the island if such a small island could sustain some coyotes (only knowing the "wolf" interpretation. Definitely not!! It's so small and there's such little plant life on it, a coyote would have to catch birds for its living, and this would probably drive most of the avians away. Anyway, wolves aside, the island is aptly named, as there are literally THOUSANDS of sea lions that call this island home. One can hear them barking from over a mile away. They come out to greet you as you approach. As the other guidebooks state, give them a wide berth as large male bulls can trample to death young as they rush to the water in desperation. I was just close enough for a few to get ants in their pants, but not for most. This led to a few interesting encounters. What sea lions usually do to tell you they're pissed is to come within 20-30 ft of your boat, look straight at you a second or two, then dive down very abruptly and slamming their tail on the water to make their "scary" presence known. The kayaker usually just passes by and that's that. Another interesting thing I noticed was the range of calls the sea lions poured forth. There are some pretty wierd ones to hear, such as going from almost a high to low pitch rather than the usual low to high pitch. The young small ones were the ones that got closest, as if interested in who we were. It was all pretty fun. We continued on to the next island:
ISLA ENCANTADA: The crossing from Lobos to Encantada is 2.5 miles. I did the crossing in 30 minutes. This island is similar to Miramar, in both size and feel. There are thousands of birds here as well, and no sea lions. I almost circumnavigated this island as well. There are good landing/camping areas on the southwest corner, and we stopped here briefly before crossing over to Isla San Luis (3.5 miles), which took about 50 minutes:
ISLA SAN LUIS: Upon reaching this island, I dropped my camping stuff off and continued on to San Luis Gonzaga while Chris and Claudia hung out and circumnavigated the island and snorkeled a bit (I did the circumnavigation the next morning). This island is the largest of the chain, being about a mile in diameter and roughly square to circular in shape. It has it's own unique features. There are many good camping spots on the island - several near the southwest side, and a few around on the east side by a small lighthouse in the volcanic crater. This very prominent volcano is one unique feature of Isla San Luis. Though all the islands and the surrounding mountains are volcanic in origin, here it is most noticable. The large crater opens up to the east where its other half apparently was blown off to the sea. What is left is a half crater left opening up to the east. The height of the rim is about 500 ft. In the center of the crater (which is all trottable, though there are gulls that nest in there) one can see a small mound of volcanic rock that rises 20-30 ft. From campsites on the southwest side one can hike up to the rim (takes about 20-50 minutes depending on your pace) and walk south along it to the highest point, where one can glimpse a magnificent panoramic view of the area and volcano. We did the hike up on the next morning. The temperatures were climbing to near 80 degrees, and we all consumed at least our daily alotment of 1 gallon of water that day (the other days, being mostly paddling, consumption was only about 1/2 gallon - this includes all meals). Another interesting feature of the island is the lagoon on the southwest side. As the tides rise and fall water pours into and out of this small body of water, creating a flat stream of sorts. At the head of the lagoon is a small sandspit that one can carry one's boat across and launch back into the sea. With this short portage one can float around and through the lagoon riding the current in a circular motion. With neap tides, the sandspits surrounding the lagoon are nice places to camp. Otherwise, there are other very nice spots a little north. The "outer lagoon" here is good to snorkel and fish in. That evening I caught a couple dozen cabrilla, a few triggerfish, and a spotted snapper (good size, and delicious)! Of course all but two fish were thrown back. There were two other groups on the island that evening. A group of about 3-4 from Santa Cruz, who were camping over at the lighthouse, and Ed Gillet's group of about 12 who were camping near the lagoon. We were in the next cove north. That evening from this region where we were camping I took a walk over to speak with Ed, who helped identify the snapper. One the way we reached this interesting stream draining from the island. The tide was going out, and the water that fills into the island at high tide percolates slowly out through the porous volcanic rock. The stream was big enough for a kayak to float down (maybe 50 yards). The spot where the water percolated out of the rock is where I cleaned the fish. There we found a huge sea hare about 8 inches long and 4 inches wide, with a reddish white coloring. At first site I thought it was some fish fillets.
CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF ISLA SAN LUIS/ISLA POMO: The next morning is when I did a circumnavigation of the island. It is about 4-6 miles, depending on how many coves one explores and if one also paddles out to Isla Pomo. One should take into account which way the currents will be moving, especially for the southwest part of the island. As described later, these can be extremely strong. The south side has a large high dirt cliff where it appears the island was chopped off and the southern part thrown somewhere else. As I was paddling by there was a sizeable dirt landslide that occurred here. A large cloud of dust arose at the base where the dirt hit. The east side has the half-crater that is interesting to explore. Also from here one starts crossing over to Isla Pomo, which appears as a vertical walled rock several hundred feet high that juts out of the sea. >From afar, it seems there would be no places to land on this "rock" but this is dispelled when one gets there. Except at very high tides, one can land in this awesome little cove on the northern side or in another smaller cove on the southern side. The southern cove has a cave about 10-15 ft high that one can go into (but it doesn't go back very far). The cliffs on the island continue to drop into the sea almost vertically on much of it, and the water around it is very clear. The northern cove is truly a delight to go to. One can land in here and the snorkeling is excellent. It is protected by a rock at the entrance that comes straight up out of the water for 40-50 ft. The small Cortez swells pound into the cove's northwestern side, where a few small caves exist. Paddling back to San Luis and around is fun. I sneaked up on a sea lion that was sleeping on his back in the water. After being startled he continued to follow me a while and get pretty close.
James "Rocky" Contos
Neuroscience PhD program