Loreto and hiking

 

This was a really lovely day! Karen and I booked a hiking tour, and it was quite an early start. I was up at 6:45am to get up to have breakfast and get ready to meet for 7:45am. Loreto was a tender port so it took some time to get us off the ship to shore for our 8:30am start. Only 10 on our tour, our guide Santos took us in a mini van about 30 minutes south on the only highway, then off road a bit for the start of our hike. We were following a stream bed up into the Sierra Giganta. The scenery is beautiful, and the temperature is a lovely 20 C with a light breeze. Because of being in a stream bed it's a bit scrambly, a few of the people find it challenging. Not at all technical though. Our guide kept stopping to tell us about the different plants and gave people a chance to catch their breath. During the wet season in September there can be a lot of water coming down, but now it's nearly dry. At the top of our hike there was a chance to do a little rock climbing which I took advantage of. It's been a while, but I really enjoyed it! Going down the creek bed was easier, about a 2 hour hike all together. We stopped at a Marina on the way back, full of American and Canadian boats.I can see it would be popular to leave your boat here and cruise in the Sea of Cortez!

We arrived back at the ship and tendered out for lunch. Connected with Ian and Aaron on the pool deck. Afterwards we took a very bouncy tender ride back to shore. The town of Loreto is charming. Quite small, with some nice looking hotels and restaurants, and a pedestrian street with shops leading to the oldest Mission in Baja California. We had another bouncy tender ride back to the ship. I needed to do a bit of work before a quick pre-dinner drink before dinner. The local special was Lamb Barbacoa which was delicious! I really like having the local specialties available on the menu.

The show tonight was a dance show, with each dance interpreting an instrument. Innovative and good. Then on to the Piano lounge for an early Beatles session. By that time the day was catching up with me so time for bed.










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