coconino cycles custom bicycles www.coconinocycles.com: Baja spring 2016 = what a blast!

I saw lots of things on this trip I have never seen, and just couldn't capture some in photos, like hundreds of sea turtles, skates, fin whales up close & personal, giant schools of leaping manta rays.......one of which I caught - man, they sure whup the hell out of you but released unharmed.

D's slick new cockpit setup

Schools of rays!!

Trigger Fish - delicious!

Pelicanos

Princess!!

As good as it gets in my book

This pastel sunrise was stunning in it's depth.

Let's get out there!

Stellar.

Leaping mantas

Another day!

Coffee up - rising time about 4:30-5AM for optimum kayaking as wind is imminent

The last vestiges of dirt highway 5

Pretty singing!

Organ pipes & fall in the elephant tree forest

The plant life is simply amazing and unique.

Hell Yeah!
Tony slings some awesome tacos - a frequent stop.

And then our first of two whale watching trips, this one in Guerrero Negro

That's a huge creature!

This is the easiest place to get to to see whales.

This may be one of my favorite places to eat in the whole world - Tacos del Mar, a truck by a gas station in Vizcaino - open every day but Thursday until 3PM

Home-made Jamaica and scallop tacos!!!!!!

Caballero approved

Banana flowers!

A field trip to La Bocana - wins for most osprey nests in a given town!

Then to one of my absolute favourite places on this earth.

Osa's too!

One more?

Ospreys everywhere

Lizard fish

D. freaking slayed me on day one!

Cabrilla

A damn nice corvina

White ibis

Dibs on that last beer!

Good fishing for all

Sea turtles - damn hard to photo - sooooo fast!

Reddish egret - a funny bird, a very erratic chaser of tiny fish, and very pretty

Typical winter fishing, kinda slow & small, but I'll see these cortez halibut in October when they are about 24"

Watch them, they bite aggressively!

Green jack - not good to eat, fun to catch.

And into baby broom tail groupers!
Turn them back until they hit 10-15 pounds, and they can hit 250!!!!
I think it was a damn big one of these that totally spooled me, my reel was smoking

Like damn aggressive bass

Kisses

Typical highway scenes

And to San Ignacio to see my friends & stock up

Fog is typical

We went to Mulege but got turned north due to wind, which turn out to be a good call.

Volcan Tres Virgenes and - 7000ft vertical around 15 miles from the sea, a sky island home to a micro ice age plant community in it's caldera

Food for all!

New friends!!
Kelly, Becky, Todd, Heidi and Mark at Loncheria Kadakaaman - a killer spot!

I have not been to Laguna san Ignacio since our all dirt MTB trip along the length of the peninsula in 1995

Re-mote!

He gave us directions and rode of to nowhere

It was killer!!!!

We got Backy & Kelly to go

It's amazing.

And it will change your mind

We got a sweet haul of blue crabs and giant fan scallops as a nearby village - man, they were so damn good.

Kelly & Mark - they rocked!

Crabby!

Kelly & Becky's rigs

Oscar!
Like if Andy Kaufman was from Cadiz - he was who he was for sure.

Interesting road.......

Driven by wind to return

And it did not suck at all

Crater Lake sighting!

Morning dolphins

Osa is hugely fascinated by them

To catch the groupers you have to chuck a 5" husky jerk as far as a 7' rod will allow right to the edge of the mangroves without snagging them, then you get to see them attack in crystal clear water about 2' deep - always release to about 10lbs as the get to 30 and sometimes 250

D caught a freaking Bonefish!!!!!!!

Crowned night heron

These are the "Bite-y-est" fish down here, this one bit my leg.

White ibis

"Our" osprey

Ready!

Another crowned night heron

We hit big pods of medium corvinas

Nice!

Just sick conditions, there were tons of sea turtles

Stock up for dinner in BoLA

Custom accomidations

Maria - she's great

Mada rocked!

Egret

Crushed dreams

Damn cool fish, they fascinate me how the eye migrated to one side

So camo on the sand where they live, I saw lots of rays and even a few skates

Pompano - delicious, they were barely hooked, lost tons about as big around as a football, which is sad, as they are delicious.

Maria y Ricardo - love these two.

Camarones!

Henry

Scallop tacos round two!
Dios Mio they are amazing.

These ladies...........oh my lord, can they cook.

The finest highway 1 conditions - it's tight at best, terrible at worst.

We went to see the Peninsular Pronghorn recovery program, super cool, one of the rarest land animals in North America.

About 480 in the world, this is so the does can have babies away from predations, and the Machos just hang out.

They are totally isolate due to the fact that the mist desert that waters their succulents only covers a limited area.
They never need to drink.

An old Ford Aeromotor - a flashback to my childhood

A crested Cardon - I didn't know they existed, as Saguaros also rarely show this mutation

Some of the most beautiful desert, and I know my deserts.

Cardon & Boojum

Elephant trees

Palo Adan

BoLA

Princess Bikers!

I have never had such optimum conditions here for kayaking.
This place will kill you.

A paddle to the islands, about a 2.5 mile open crossing with strange tidal features, and deadly winds can spring up without warning - utmost caution required.