Baja, Santa Ynes to Isla San Louis, April 14th 2001.


The next day we continued our tourist behavior by stopping at “Coco’s Corner” for a soda. Coco is this guy who set up a drink stand at the intersection of two dirt roads in the middle of nowhere. Everyone who comes by signs his log book and he draws pictures in the margins, usually something about what they are here to do in Baja. I looked in the back of the book, but it didn’t go far enough to include the log entry for my last trip to Bahia Gonzaga three years ago. Coco went back to his trailer and came back with several older books. I pawed through them and soon found the entry for my last trip! Coco had drawn kayaks in under the text written by Mari Brandt and Penny Wells.

While we were driving down to Baja on the start of this trip, Sid described a beautiful island, Isla San Louis, that was featured in the National Geographic recently. He didn’t know where this island was and could not find it in the cruising guides. He figured it was far offshore or he would have seen it before. But when we looked at the cruising guide to the see what we might find north of Bahia Gonzaga, there was Isla San Louis! Plus four other volcanic islands in a chain called “The Enchanted Islands”. At Gozaga Bay we talked to a local who lived nearby at Punta Bufeo just south of the island. He would watch our car and his sister cooked lunch for us at the restaurant there.

It was late in the afternoon but we launched and paddled only a few miles into a mild breeze. We explored the southwest side of the island and picked a sandy beach between two arms of black obsidian jumbles. Gulls were nesting everywhere and screamed at us every time we moved.


All text and images Copyright © 2001 by Mike Higgins / contact