Waking up this morning, Wednesday, May 18th we found no wind, a beautiful sunrise, and a very salty boat. After coffee we got to work with water bottles and rags, wiping down the dodger and stainless to get the caked salt off. While we were doing this, I heard an odd noise, like blowing bubbles. Looking over the rail I saw the most enormous creature on our trip! A whale shark, no, wait, two of em! We took movies, photos, and then noticed that some local tourists had jumped into the water and swam out to play with them. Not to be outdone, we decided it was ok to jump in also, with the 20+footers. There were two young boys hooting and hollering, and a more composed fellow from Germany with them trying to keep the boys from scaring the whale sharks off. They were so tranquil and just swam around sucking in plankton and ignoring us entirely. Huge mouths, spotted bodies and remora stuck on their tails which switched back and forth in the water. We were within easy touching distance from these enormous animals, but held back not to scare or bother them. It was the most incredible event yet on our trip!
 |
| Posada Concepcion, Pirelli-Minetti home. |
 |
| Our ride! |
 |
| The baby whaleshark! |
Waking up this morning, Wednesday, May 18th we found no wind, a beautiful sunrise, and a very salty boat. After coffee we got to work with water bottles and rags, wiping down the dodger and stainless to get the caked salt off. While we were doing this, I heard an odd noise, like blowing bubbles. Looking over the rail I saw the most enormous creature on our trip! A whale shark, no, wait, two of em! We took movies, photos, and then noticed that some local tourists had jumped into the water and swam out to play with them. Not to be outdone, we decided it was ok to jump in also, with the 20+footers. There were two young boys hooting and hollering, and a more composed fellow from Germany with them trying to keep the boys from scaring the whale sharks off. They were so tranquil and just swam around sucking in plankton and ignoring us entirely. Huge mouths, spotted bodies and remora stuck on their tails which switched back and forth in the water. We were within easy touching distance from these enormous animals, but held back not to scare or bother them. It was the most incredible event yet on our trip!
After that, which went on for over an hour or two, we hopped in the dinghy and went ashore to Posada Concepcion to take pictures of the Pirrelli-Minetti house. It was much the same as when I was there, perhaps a bit less beach in front of it as the hurricanes have eroded the sand. On the way in we saw a large sea turtle swim past, just a so-so event after the morning’s adventure.
Our next stop was going to purchase diesel fuel in town at the Pemex station. Without a car, phone, internet or taxi service, that was going to be a chore. We went ashore near Ana’s restaurant and found it closed, so went towards the hwy. to find a lone soul collecting fees at the gate. He suggested we take the water tanker truck… so we waited half an hour for it to drive by, discussed it with the driver, and climbed aboard. What luck, and what a riot, it had definitely seen better days, with the radio hanging out and various instruments not working, we bumped our way along the dirt road towards the hwy. and Mulege. He dropped us off at the Serenidad Hotel for a lunch of tacos and beer, then we rode a taxi back to Playa Santispac, stopping at the Pemex for fuel on the way. The taxi drivers here are extremely accomodating. I can’t believe our ride in was a water tanker truck, so funny. You never know how the days will turn out, and today started so normal, yet became one of the most memorable.
No comments:
Post a Comment