Another beautiful day in Baja California! Clear skies and an incredible sunrise with a green flash. We were sailing full speed (11 knots) toward the north, toward the gypsum-rich island of San Marcos. This island produces enormous amounts of the best quality gypsum, which is exported to the United States via San Francisco. There is a population of 700 people on this island, but it will shortly close down due to the drop in production there. The mining company already has a new deposit of this mineral, a few miles north of Santa Rosalia.
After breakfast we were already anchored at our desired position, near the north end of the island. Hikers were let on shore, where they immediately started up a narrow canyon, with a fantastic collection of rocks of different colors and types. Many of the plants were in bloom, which contrasted strongly with the darker colors of the minerals. Yellows, ochres, reddish, brown, and black! Fragrant ones as well as strongly fetid. Lizards and hummingbirds were to be seen, flitting from flower to flower. One of the most striking plants in bloom was the hofmeisteria, in the aster family, with its pink flowers on long extensions!
Kayaking was unique, as we were completely isolated from the rest of the world. And snorkeling caused quite a few expressions of happiness and awe, with a good number of fish and a varied biodiversity of submarine life. And, of course, the water was crystal clear!
By midday we were all aboard National Geographic Sea Lion, and after an opiparous lunch, began our slow meanderings in the area, in search for marine birds, other interesting animals, and of course, the large animals—whales, of course!
Dolphins distracted us for a good while till lunch was served. In my many years here in Baja California I had never seen dolphins jump so high, nor so many at the same time! A small group began jumping in the air, then another different group began. It was at least a half hour during which these intelligent marine mammals enjoyed these antics. Fantastic! But eventually we began our approach to the dock in Santa Rosalia, and soon found ourselves walking to the center of town, towards the famous metal church, supposedly built by Gustave Eiffel in then late 1800’s. This town was famous during those years for the copper mined by the French Boleo Company. The town grew and by the early 1950’s the mineral had run out. Now the town has a small mining museum, and the also famous “French Hotel” is still functioning. It is indeed quite expensive, but still has the original red silk wallpaper in every room.
After that we visited the also famous bakery El Boleo, founded in 1901. Here we all sampled the different sweet bread famous in town: the “ears,” the “empanadas of apple or pineapple,” the baskets of pineapple, etc. We then slowly convened at the hotel and enjoyed a guacamole dip and corn chips, with a margarita or a cold beer. Wow!
