At first I thought I should post this in the Trip report section, but since most of the stuff deals with fish and critters, and who knows with the global warming we might even begin to see some of them in our waters, I decided to just keep adding to my Whidbey Island Critters even if they are not.
Happy Thanksgiving Day. The high wind warning is in effect for Whidbey Island, it raining and I have a miserable cold, cough and runny nose :( . Also I am back from a week long vacation in Mexico where it was sunny and warm. My daughter Maya, as a present for my birthday, convinced me that I should pack and join her for a trip to the "Aquarium of the World", name supposedly coined by J.Cousteau. Cabo Pulmo on the southern end of Baja California. Alaska Airlines nonstop flight to San Juan de Cabo was the simple part. Transportation from the airport to Cabo Pulmas not so much. We did not want to rent a car just to drive 60 miles to Pulmas and have the car sit there. Long story short, our prearranged driver Carlos did find us at the airport and with the daylight fading fast we got underway on highway 1, dodging cows on the road and not seeing much of the countryside. We made it. Carlos deposits us and our bags at our cabana what seem to be middle of nowhere, and we move in for the night.
Morning looks much better, we walk to the Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort where we had reserved two dives. Checking out rental gear, we brought only masks, fins and booties, all went find until we started suiting up. While putting on my bootie, I felt sharp pain in my big toe. I though a nail somehow got inside, so I quickly took it off, shake it and out falls a scorpion. Well, my first thought was, here goes my diving in Cabo Pulmo, not having any idea what a scorpion sting does to human. I was assured by the dive shop personnel, that unless I am allergic to it, I will be fine. They produced clove of garlic to smear it on the sting, then a cup of milk heavily fortified with garlic. When I gulped it down, almost immediately it all came out and I deposited all that and my breakfast into a nearby garage can. Not a good start. My toe was throbbing but the pain was manageable, little more than a bee sting. So we load gear into a boat and are launched by an ingenious system of floating cart and four wheel drive car into the surf. Short run on choppy waters to the first dive site. Rolling into warm waters of the Sea of Cortez at Del Morro reef. It has been fourteen years since I dove in tropical waters and I have to admit, not bad feeling. Plus fifty foot visibility, nice change from our Pacific Northwest. The one and only reason I came to Cabo Pulmo, was to see the incredible schools of fish, this place is famous for. We did not find them today. Second dive at El Bajo reef also was rather underwhelming. There is very little live coral here, especially when compared with my last tropical dives in Cozumel.
After the dive we met Arturo, who was to be our host for the rest of our stay here. He moved us to a cheaper, smaller cabana in the heart of the village, on the main road, close to the dive operations.
Solar panels provide electric power, and although I was worried at first about charging the many batteries, there was no problem whatsoever.
![Image](https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/Cabo-Pulmo-Mexico-2016/i-BtBQndM/0/XL/11.12.16%20Boat%20retrieval-XL.jpg)