October 29, 2018 - First Day on the Water

What a day! Swimming with whale sharks, beach combing, and learning to sea kayak efficiently on the Isla Espiritu Santo. This place is amazing.

Panarama of Bonanza Beach on the Ilsa Espiritu Santo

  

Our camp on Bonanza Beach

The whale sharks were huge, although I never really saw one up close. With a simple flick of their tails they were off away from us. A new regulation required that we wear life jackets, so using out flippers was ridiculous. Thankfully, we won't have to wear lifejackets while snorkeling in the days to come.

On the boat ride out we saw tonnes of birds, many circling in thermals. At one point I saw a group of about 20 birds circling, showing the full shape of the thermal rising off the ground and drifting with the wind. Dreams of flying beneath my wing came up and I've begun to understand why so many paragliders travel to fly. The winds on the beach we're camped at were also steady and I saw seagulls and frigate birds playing in these, and understood the appeal of beaches and shorelines to paragliding pilots, although my dreams are still of flying in the mountain, I see the hills above those beaches and dream.

The kayaking is going to take practice to get efficient. Push, not pull; rotate with teh body, not work the arms; and remember to steer! Oh, and also notice the beauty around you!

Kayaking to the end of Bonanza Beach

Before an early bed I saw a crab scuttling about on the beach. Frozen in my light it stared at my camera, transfixed. After a delicious dinner of tamales, we were visited by a couple of praying mantises. Neither of them landed on me, but we got some fun photos of them.

Crab on the beach in the dark.

Praying Mantis. This one was smaller than the one that landed on my head in Thailand.

I hope my spare battery for the camera will be enough to last the week.

Out tents and homes for the week.

A dried puffer fish on the beach.
After seeing a few of these, we wore footwear at night and carried lights.

Dried Trigger Fish. Mental note: Don't run into these in a dark alley.

Flowers in the sand dunes.

 

Sunset over the island.

Camp at night.