Bahia Tortugas

After a rugged night we were excited to arrive at Bahia Tortugas, the 1st port of call on the Baja Haha and the last place to buy fuel until we reach Cabo San Lucas.

This sleepy fishing town really puts on a party for the Haha every year (I'm told) and the friendly locals were happy to relieve us of our dollars in exchange for diesel (about $8/gal), tacos (about $3/ea) and beer (dealer's choice: I paid $5 and $3 at the same bar within an hour, for the same beer).

One could feel taken advantage of, buy I think that spreading some currency from the wealthy to those struggling is a fair way for things to go. Purified water, for instance, was very reasonably priced at $1 for five gallons. And the mini-tienda sold canned foods at perfectly normal prices. It's just luxury/optional/indulgences that seem to get the gringo mark-up.

Prices aside- folks were friendly. Even the dogs wandering the streets were happy to get a scritch or two. The Haha org puts on a giant baseball game each year that is optimized for kids hitting balls- much/most of the town turns out and everyone seemed happy. We donated quite a few bats/balls/gloves as well as a few thousand dollars to help pay for children's lunches.

The whole fleet also worked together to get everyone's boats ship-shape for the next leg of our journey, and we had a fun beach party - food, libations, music, tug of war, and general "feels good to walk on dry land" sorta stuff.

A highlight for me was tasting some local abalone (delicious) and chatting w/ the fisherman who caught it. He was well educated about the importance of conservation and told me about their regenerative abalone hatchery! Great news, indeed.

Zack, from our boat, buried a dolphin head that he found a few years ago so we hunted it down and had a little biology lesson. Nifty.

The landscape is rugged: dry rugged hills that descend directly into an abundant sea.

The people are correspondingly rugged and also quick to help each other and visitors as it's the only way to survive. Perhaps a good lesson for all of us to remember: nobody is truly an island.

I took advantage of being in town to get my head fur trimmed up. $6 for a decent cut and a hilarious conversation. I wish that Kequi had a shop nearer to home. I'll plan to visit him again, for sure.Read more