BAHIA DE LOS ANGELES KAYAKERS ENJOY
ENCOUNTER WITH WHALE SHARK

Sept. 27, 2004, Laura Mosqueda,Bahia de los Angeles kayak trip, Baja California, Mexico:

Here is a brief report on our trip to Bahia de los Angeles.

There were 4 people in our group: Hal Frankl, Mel Butler, Bob Mosqueda, and me, Laura Mosqueda, Bob's wife, all from the Los Angeles area. It took about 12 hours to drive to Bahia de los Angeles. We left home on Sunday, Sept. 26 and will return home on Fri, Oct. 1.

We were prepared to arrive at Bahia de los Angeles via a treacherous, bumpy road but instead were pleasantly surprised to find a newly paved road right into town. The drive from San Diego was easy and beautiful.

Why did we come? To see whale sharks!

When we arrived here we went straight to Raquel and Larry's, a very nice hotel located right on the beach and just north of town. Raquel greeted us and within 20 minutes she found a guide, Ricardo, who could take us on his panga the very next morning.

The next morning we enjoyed seeing a large pod of dolphins followed by a clamming expedition. Next, Ricardo took us to the most likely area to see the whale sharks. After about an hour of searching we found a beautiful, big whale shark. Jumping into the water with our snorkeling gear we had a wonderful encounter with this huge, plankton-eating fish. What an exciting way to spend a Monday!

We returned at lunch time to enjoy the clams we collected that morning. Raquel and her staff prepared them for us with a delicious sauce.

Bahia de los Angeles weather has been beautiful. We had a nice SCUBA dive just a 20 minute panga ride from Raquel and Larry's Hotel, a trip to the petroglyphs, which are in a stunningly beautiful valley, and another fantastic encounter with the whale sharks.

The water is nice and warm, probably around 80 degrees, and the air temp has been hot. Fortunately it cools down in the evenings to a very pleasant temperature. In the late afternoon when it was quite hot we went for a snorkel trip right off the beach of our hotel. We saw a wonderful variety of fish and it was a refreshing activity. Today was very windy which made for some white caps on the water in the bay, but we still managed to find the whale sharks and go swimming with them.

This is our first time at Bahia de los Angeles and we are already trying to figure out when we will return!