A little hello from Baja

This is just a quick hello from La Paz. I'm hoping to post a proper blog with nice photos of the diving trip to Socorro when I get back home.

Baja looks really nice and is largely unspoiled with lots of desert and semi desert and many mountains inland. Being alone I haven't justified hiring a car and have struggled a bit with the language barrier, which has made organising some things tricky, but I would have a better idea if I came back. It's a bit off season too with many Americans having finished their thanksgiving break and the seasonal cool wind starting to whip up and cool the Sea of Cortez. It could be a nice holiday destination for anyone.

It was very welcome to hear a good news story about the state of large pelagic sea life for a change. The captain of our dive boat, Nautilus Explorer, stated that the numbers of sharks and mantas they are seeing is improving year upon year. From the mid to late 70's unlimited fishing, (mainly by the environmentally catastrophic Taiwanese) destroyed the Sea of Cortez by long-lining it to death. The huge schools of Hammerheads and large mantas totally disappeared. Fishing also badly damaged Socorro and on one occasion in the mid 2000's the Nautilus Explorer highlighted a national scandal and cover up by filming gill netting of rare sharks, mantas and dolphins at a prized dive site (the one where we saw 5-7 mantas each dive!) The public outcry and prosecution that followed caused the government to implement proper patrols in the protected areas of Socorro and in the Sea of Cortez. Hopefully this can be aggressively maintained as the area has some stunning sealife. Sharks numbers have increased greatly over the last 5 years at Roca Partida and small numbers of hammerheads are again being seen at the original Sea of Cortez hotspots where they used to school in hundreds or thousands. It is thought they are both migrating and breeding there.

I'm going out on a boat to look for whalesharks in La Paz bay tomorrow. They come here seasonally to feed on plankton blooms in the shallow water. Most are smaller ones (still big for a fish!) but apparently there was a 10 metre one today.

Here are a few snaps I took on the iPod camera back in San Jose at a couple of colourful little restaurants, including a Mexican Christmas tree!