12/17/24-Tuesday-Day 11 “Fishing, Snorkeling, and The Hot Springs”

After our previous night spent in Loreto the tranquility of our new sea side camp is welcomed by all and everyone wakes ready for the days activities, whatever they may be. We spend the first part of the morning drinking our coffee while watching the water surface boil from predators of some sort chasing bait fish. All of the surface activity on the water spurs me to grab a pole and I try my luck fishing from the shore for a bit with no success before returning to the camper to make breakfast. 

With the lack of success on conventional tackle I returned to the water after breakfast with my snorkel and a pole spear in hand. Unfortunately the tide was still a bit high and visibility was minimal. I swam around the rocks for an hour or so before leaving the water empty handed and decided to try later in the afternoon at low tide. Josh however was a bit more successful and managed to stick a small Cabria which he promptly fried for lunch!

As the tide receded, slowly revealing the narrow spit of rocks leading to the hot springs, I returned to the water once again in hopes of spearing something for dinner. Being very near low tide, visibility was much better and I was able to see a lot more sea life than before although I still wasn’t spotting any fish worth taking. After nearly another hour in the water and still no success I bump into Josh and Mark and it seems Josh at least has been able to spear a large Mexican Hogfish. We swim around together for a bit and Josh points out another Hogfish that is hiding in the rocks about five feet below the surface. I dive down and barely spotting the fish my self release my spear into the opening. It is immediately apparent that I’ve stuck the fish and I resurface for air. At this point Josh, who is a much stronger swimmer and diver than either Mark or I, helps in retrieving the fish from within the rocks, which he is successful in. Unfortunately as soon as the fish is freed from the rocks it manages to escape the tip of the spear and after some searching we lose it for good. With the sun now set behind the mountains and the air temp rapidly dropping, a good soak in the hot springs before walking back up the hill to camp is hard to resist. The three of us ease into the spring, the water seeming much hotter than it truly is after being in the sea for the last hour or so. 

The one Hogfish that Josh managed to get is large enough to make a couple of tacos for each of us and everybody pitches in a bit for a community dinner. When the sun dips behind the mountains to the west of us we get a bit more time this evening to stargaze and spot meteors before another spectacular moonrise washes out the night sky.