Hilary - We met up at about 8 to head off to find breakfast. There are 2 main hotels in San Ignacio and both have restaurants so we though that might work. The downtown and around the Plaza was quiet this morning though I imagine it will be very busy later. Not far past the plaza and the mission, we found the La Huerta Inn & Suites Hotel. The restaurant was open but empty. There were a few staff around and we got menus and sat outside. No fresh orange juice like yesterday’s but okay huevos rancheros. Bob and I are resigned to the fact that we will never have huevos rancheros as good as those we had at the B&B hacienda we stayed at in Álamos 2 years ago on our way to the Mazatlán eclipse.
Bob wanted to go to the San Ignacio Lagoon. I thought he was talking about a small area of water near the town but no, we aren’t that far from the coast and what he meant is a huge lagoon off of the Pacific. I found the route on Google maps and we were almost on the right road right outside of the hotel restaurant. We drove through mostly scrub still with cardons though most were both smaller and less green than the ones near Cataviña. They seemed more dried up as well. Bob said that this area is a very dry desert area. There were also tree yuccas and a shrub that is related to ocotillo but bush like with curved branches and scarlet flowers.
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| Adam's Tree flowers |
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| Adam's Tree, relative of Ocotillo |
It only took about 45-50 minutes on a mostly paved road to get to the edges of the lagoon. There is a huge salt pan and occasional small open water ponds near the road. We stopped to look for birds at each open water area. Some of these were deep blue but some were pink to red (algae?) No birds in the pink ones so they must have something either toxic or contain something that the birds just don’t like. Perhaps just a lack of food organisms? In places the road deteriorates as there must have been mud that was driven through and then hardened. It is drivable but with care!
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| Hard mud area coming up! |
We kept along the road past a large sign Welcoming us to Laguna San Ignacio with a map, a big photo of a whale tail and 2 (real) ospreys sitting on top. This is one of the top whale watching spots in Baja. The boats look like large wooden dories but apparently you can get extremely close to whales. The main season is January through March. No spouts as we drove along though we were ever hopeful.
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| Two Ospreys on the sign! |
On the way back, we stopped to observe shorebirds in a couple of the open water areas including what we think were two Snowy Plover chicks. This isn’t a breeding area on the Merlin map, but maybe it is becoming one.
I stopped at the local OXXO so we could get some more water and maybe an ice cream for lunch. We were successful in that. Katy and I found small really good ice cream sandwiches with different flavors of ice cream between the chocolate cookies. She got coffee and I got caramel. Bob had an almond Magnum bar. Satisfaction all around. I started to back out of my parking spot which was right on the highway and a long line of traffic suddenly appeared behind me. It was quite amazing how many cars and huge trucks came lumbering along. I had to take my car out of reverse as the back up warning was buzzing constantly. Finally there was a break and I could get out.
We lounged in the afternoon as the temperature rose to 96. A little after 5 PM, we headed back into town as the sun was getting lower and the temps were slowly going down. We wanted to go into the church, wander a bit, eat dinner and Bob was hoping to find one of his two target birds - both of which are seen here. I was aiming for a parking spot near where I found one yesterday and the parking karma was good as someone was just starting to pull out. We decided to go back to the same restaurant as last night and try other items. We were the first to sit outside though there was a table of people inside. By the time we left, all of the outside tables were full. I ordered a cerveza artisanal -!AY AY IPA! It is a local Baja beer and tasty. Katy got a Cuba Libre and Bob had 2 more lemonades to quench his thirst. Katy and I both ordered Arranchera and Bob got Pechuga a la Plancha (chicken). The food was excellent. The arranchera here was a very tender piece of fairly thin steak with guacamole, refried beans, quesadilla with a grilled slice of tomato, onion and 1/2 a chile. Definitely more than one could eat but great. Bob said his chicken was really good as well.
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| Love the !AY AY! IPA label |
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| View of Mission from dinner |
We walked over to the church as the light was starting to fade. The church doors and the front gate were now closed though the gate to the side garden was still open. Bob took a look for his birds and then we went a bit further down the street to the far side of the church. Katy and Bob went down a dirt drive but I stayed by that gate just so we didn’t get locked in It was getting too dark to see much but Bob had some luck. He didn’t get either of the 2 birds he is hunting but did see a male Xantu’s Hummingbird. He had seen one once with my mother years ago in Ventura when it was obviously way off course, the first record for California. And, it was a life bird for Katy since of course she had been at work when Bob and my mother were birding in Ventura.
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| Enjoying the back patio at Rancho Espinosa |
We are off to Loreto tomorrow. This will be our southern-most point in Baja and then we will start heading north.
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