Jan
28
2014

Eating Seagulls

Posted in John's Musings by john

Some of the most outrageous adventures I have had in search of photographs happened during trips to the Gulf of California. With all my gear loaded in a kayak, I explored the desert near the coast in Baja California as well as a number of remote islands for up to a month at a time.  Some of the highlights of these trips included seeing desert bighorn sheep near the summit of Isla Tiburon and endangered chuckwallas on Isla San Esteban.  I paddled on mirror flat waters one magical day next to a fin whale and her calf. After weeks of living like a cave man, I met with a Japanese squid fishing boat, and was invited aboard for a steak dinner washed down with Japanese beer. It was strange to climb the ladder down to my boat in the dark and return to the stone age. On the last day of one of the longer trips I encountered a line of  dolphins swimming in the opposite direction. I passed them for hours and never saw the end when I pulled in to Santa Rosalia. There must have been thousands! I had to cope with intense storms, called chubascos, which instantly turn calm seas into treacherous white-capped waters.  I often hiked for miles in search of water. Before figuring out how to catch the local fish, I ate gulls to stay alivethumbs_0s1t8426dlab. I caught them with a handline baited with the guts of the the fish I had caught. I reeled them in by hand as they struggled to fly away. There must have been thousands! Instead of photography as I’de hoped, these trips usually involved mostly paddling and survival. Although the memories from these trips are vivid, there are few photographs to show for months of effort.