Even though we haven’t had the horrible, snowy winter we experienced last year anything colder than about 40 degrees, especially when the wind blows, feels frigid to me. The below zero temperatures of early February made me dive under a down comforter and stay there until they rose. I know this about myself, so I made sure to book a warm getaway that would begin just about the time I’d start whining. Steve didn’t want as much of an extended stay, so he chose to join me after I’d been there a couple of weeks, but for the first two weeks I was going to be by myself in Cabo Pulmo.

The dirt road and the crazy Mexican drivers had her holding tight and wondering if her kidneys and adrenal glands would survive the trip.

I’ve written of the place before; remote, located on the Sea of Cortez a couple of hours from the Cabo San Lucas airport, 6 miles down a dirt road. You bring in what you need as there isn’t much you can get there, but there are a few dining options if your food or beverages run low. And sometimes you just need a fish taco hit, which they do really well here. Everyone is friendly, and there are enough U.S. and Canadian visitors as well as local ex pats that there is always someone to have a conversation with. Other than the travel between Cabo San Lucas and Cabo Pulmo I wasn’t worried about being on my own. And I rented a 4-wheel drive vehicle to try to lessen the chance of an incident while on the road by myself. But it’s always more fun having company, so I extended the invitation to join me to my cousin Matt’s wife Melissa, who sorely needed a holiday after a rough year and would be happy with potentially doing a whole bunch of nothing. She accepted and on the drive from the airport immediately began to wonder what she’d gotten herself into.

The mountains, the varying shades of blue of the Sea of Cortez and the bright sky eased her mind a bit even as the dirt road and the crazy Mexican drivers had her holding tight and wondering if her kidneys and adrenal glands would survive the trip. She relaxed when we got to the rental house.

Photos and descriptions of a place sometimes fail to do them justice. Cabo Pulmo is such a place. And what typically happens is that all the marvels described from past trips never surface when you bring someone to share them with. We were lucky this time. My favorites here are the birds and the fish. It’s amazing what a show the birds will put on for half of an orange and a handful of birdseed. Orange-yellow orioles, cactus wrens, Gila woodpeckers, Mexican blue jays, mockingbirds, vireos, pyrrhuloxia, cardinals, redstarts, and hummingbirds kept us entertained over morning coffee and tea. A Jackrabbit showed himself on a walk, a roadrunner darted in front of us on a drive to a nearby beach, a caracara joined the turkey vultures dining on a washed up puffer fish, and a family of California quail noisily walked through our garden. A gecko fell on my head while I was making dinner one night. The local birds and beasts pulled out all the stops for Melissa’s visit.

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But the best part, at least for me, was when we sat on the beach at Los Frailles and I lamented to Melissa that this beach was the last place I’d seen stingrays. The area used to be full of them, layer on layer of them if you looked into the amazingly clear water from a boat or a kayak. They’d fly out of the water as though they’d been launched from a cannon and slap themselves down. Whether for food or just for fun, no one knows; my money’s on just for fun. But as the water temperature has warmed the rays have gone further north, following their food source. But on this day, just a few moments after my lament, rays began jumping off the point, putting on a wonderful show for us.

Do you think they heard me?

Deborah