Punta Pilares to Punta Santa Rosa, April 2nd 2007.


We managed to launch early on this day (8:00 AM instead of 9:00) after a day of rest. We meandered down the coast and hugging the shore. I found several caves to poke into. Doug Hamilton and I found a cave large enough that there was a gravel beach in the back with room to turn a 17 foot kayak around in front of it. I was the only person on this expedition who wore a helmet every day. Some people considered this extreme. You were supposed to wear a kayak when surfing, rock gardening or caving on a rough shore with the chance of big swell. A helmet is considered uncomfortable, a hindrance of your view and a necessary evil. I have become used to my helmet. It is the best waterproof hat I own and has a wide visor to keep the sun off my face. I wear my helmet in the HOPE that I will be ready when I find a cave or an arch to go through. Doug resisted following me into many caves because he didn’t have a helmet on. The large cave that we found on this day was so large and so calm inside that Doug had no qualms about going inside anyway.

When we stopped for lunch, a moderate (10 knot) wind came up from the east. This is yet another unusual direction that we did not expect to get wind from. Unfortunately we had to go straight into this to get around the only large point in the neighborhood, Punta Santa Rosa. More evidence that capricious weather gods that delight in making things difficult for everyone control the wind. Our goal for the evening was one of the gravel beaches just around this point. Doug and I picked out a pocket beach with reefs on each side to protect us from the normal wind and waves from the north. Don insisted that we go look at a larger north-facing beach with some protection from this wind from the east. Everyone but Don liked the first choice better so we returned there. (Don nicknamed it “Wind Tunnel Beach”).

In the evening the wind died down and we had clear skies to watch the moon rise up from the Sea of Cortez. The moon was full and pumpkin-orange like a harvest moon.


All text and images Copyright © 2007 by Mike Higgins / contact