sea of cortez
West Coast: ° Cabo San Lucas
° Puerto Vallarta ° Sea of Cortez
East Coast: ° Playa del Carmen
° Cancun and the Mayan Riviera
A dozen of us lived out of kayaks in the Sea of Cortez for ten days.
THIS is a superb way to vacation. I went with Sea Trek Ocean Kayaking out of Sausalito, California on one of their annual trips to the Sea of Cortez.
Sea Trek organizes the trips each Spring, they are on their 30th year to points south, have included Belize, and they fill quickly. If you are interested, contact Sea Trek them directly through their web site or at 415.332.8494 and say "Dianne sent me."
We flew into Loreto, which is still quite a sleepy fishing village.
Sea Trek takes care of everything; you basically just show up with beach clothes, a windbreaker, small sleeping bag and tent, meet at a hotel in Loreto, then go.
Odds are you will see frigates gliding overhead. These birds, also called man-o'-war, are magnificant; their wing spans are so great (about 8 feet) that they launch from the edge of cliffs. This bird is perhaps the most aerial of all birds except the swift and alights only to sleep or to tend its nest. The adult, with insufficient preening oil to waterproof its plumage, never willingly alights on the water, but it is unbelievably fast and skillful in the air, soaring effortlessly and often diving to recover falling fish dropped aloft by panic-stricken boobies or other seabirds. It also courses low over the water to seize fish.
Fabulous people — all kayakers are fabulous people — guest kaykers have included members from the Oceanic Society and various environmental groups. As you kayak from secluded beach to beach, Sea Trek's staff fishes during the day, sets up camp and a kitchen at each stopover at starts your meal. You paddle in, set up your tent, hang out, have dinner, sleep like a baby, then get up the next day to paddle to the next stop. If it gets too warm during the day, just roll out of your kayak into the Sea of Cortez. Jacques Costeau said the Sea of Cortez is the youngest sea in the world and, as such, it is vibrant and filled with life.

Call Sea Trek with questions or to reserve your space. Dates and details on their website www.SeaTrekBaja.com
Trips for 2012: 7 days tours from February to April:
- Classic Islands Trips - Our most popular: $1195
- SUP Yoga Retreats with Leigh Claxton: $1450
- Yoga Kayak Retreat wth Diane Estey: $1595
- Meditation Retreat with Mark Coleman: $1595
- SUP Family Adventure with Leigh Claxton: $1450
- Special Whale Watching Week: $1350
The Log from the Sea of Cortez
written by American author John Steinbeck was published in 1951. It details a six-week (March 11 – April 20) marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the Sea of Cortez, with his friend, the marine biologist Ed Ricketts. It is regarded as one of Steinbeck's most important works of non-fiction chiefly because of the involvement of Ricketts, who shaped Steinbeck's thinking and provided the prototype for many of the pivotal characters in his fiction, and the insights it gives into the philosophies of the two men.
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is the narrative portion of an unsuccessful earlier work, Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which was published by Steinbeck and Ricketts shortly after their return from the Gulf of California, and combined the journals of the collecting expedition, reworked by Steinbeck, with Ricketts' species catalogue. After Ricketts' death in 1948, Steinbeck dropped the species catalogue from the earlier work and republished it with a eulogy to his friend added as a foreword.
Taking a break in the Sea of Cortez
In a shop window
Loreto



Odds are you will see frigates gliding overhead. These birds, also called man-o'-war, are magnificant; their wing spans are so great (about 8 feet) that they launch from the edge of cliffs. This bird is perhaps the most aerial of all birds except the swift and alights only to sleep or to tend its nest. The adult, with insufficient preening oil to waterproof its plumage, never willingly alights on the water, but it is unbelievably fast and skillful in the air, soaring effortlessly and often diving to recover falling fish dropped aloft by panic-stricken boobies or other seabirds. It also courses low over the water to seize fish.
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude