I slept VERY soundly and was awoke by a rap on the door at 6am as we were pulling into the port in Pichilingue.  Woohoo!!!!  The second morning of the trip and we were in La Paz!  The ferry was a great idea, though next time I will break that first drive into 2 days!

As soon as we drove off the ferry, there was a military checkpoint before you left the port.  I’m not sure how it happened, but Brian and I were pretty much the last 2 vehicles off the boat.  The military guys really just looked at our trucks and kayaks and didn't really care about any potential contraband.  The guys loved the fridge behind my seat and were asking me lots of questions like how I powered it. Guys are guys no matter what country you are in. :)

They searched this cargo truck pretty well though.

Once on the road we headed to the road that bypasses La Paz and then got onto BCS 286 that heads southeast from La Paz.  At San Juan de los Planes, we continued straight after the road turned to dirt.  The road soon turned to a steep track climbing over the small mountains along the coast.  Just a few hours off the boat and we were aired down in 4-low crawling up a steep grade!  What a great start! 

Once the road cleared the range, it dropped back down the other side a little and followed the coast.  The scenery was absolutely beautiful!!!!!!  We observed a group of sting rays launching themselves from the water.  We watched them for a while, wondering if something was chasing them. 

As we got closer to Los Barriles, homes started appearing, nicer and nicer homes.  Many of these homes had to have been in the million dollar range. 

We continued south from Los Barriles to La Ribera and then down to Cabo Pulmo.  Cabo Pulmo is home to the northernmost live corral reef in North America.  Much of the area is protected as a marine sanctuary and there was very little beach access.  One potential camping spot south of Pulmo was full of vehicles and wasn’t very promising.  We drove back north of Pulmo and found a really badly eroded track that went to the beach.  This track was in such poor shape from erosion that most stock vehicles would not have attempted it.  Of course, this was fine for us and we were the only ones in this little spot and it was perfect.  We stayed for 2 nights here. 

It wasn’t long and we were in the water.  This was my new boat’s christening and I broke her in right by quickly getting sideways when I launched and getting rolled by the surf!!!!  I’m such a dork!  It gave Brian and Marisa a good laugh though. I ended up doing it 3 times before I got the dang thing figured out.  Brian got a few pictures of me as I tried again.

Here I am getting the boat in position.

Now I wait for the surf to pick me up.

I paddled like hell and I made it!

It got better as we tried to land later. This is really small surf obviously, but it was enough to make me dump the boat a few times. The water was really warm though and it felt great, so I didn't care. Here I am trying to beach. Thanks for the images Brian.

My lame approach:

I took too long to get out the the wave started pulling me back out. Then I pretty much fell over. :)

Dinner tonight on our first night’s camp was a tasty taco salad prepared by Marisa.  Good stuff. 

This was our first chance to test out our Iridium Sat Phone we had rented for the trip.  The phone was meant to be a way to get help in an emergency if we needed it. It also received free text messages, which was cool. We all had text messages from friends and loved ones back home.

As I was heading to bed, I snapped a picture of Brian geeking out with his wireless keyboard and Palm Pilot. I made fun of him at first, but now I'm thinking that it is a great setup!