Family Travel Other
KAYAKING: Sharing at San Nicolas
The next few days were tough paddling with choppy water and headwinds as we rounded Punta El Medano Blanco. We had to be alert for rapid changes in sea conditions. A Norte blew in and conditions began to deteriorate. The best landing we could find was on this rocky shore just north of San Nicolas.
With all the rocks and the
wave action, landing was tricky, but we made it ashore without any
accidents.
We spent the rest of the day recovering, learning more first aid, and
celebrating Bobby's birthday.
Conditions remained too dangerous to travel, so we slept in till 5:30AM the next morning and then headed off by foot to the desert oasis community of San Nicolas.
We emptied our water jugs and brought them along to refill at Chico's. After so many days of being at sea, it was a little odd to be walking again. But it was a pleasant hour walk to San Nicolas.
The oasis was amazing. Through years of hard work, Chico had transformed the desert into a thriving community. He and his family had an orchard with apples, oranges, figs, and many other fruits and vegetables (including a crop of cactus).
Chico gave us a tour and generously shared his home with us. He proudly showed us the old fishing boat he had carved with his own hands from a giant guanacaste tree. In its prime it could carry 2000 pounds of fish to market. Today, it formed the centerpiece of his yard and was covered with beautiful flowers.
After a delicious feast of fresh fish and
home-grown vegetables, Chico's wife Francesca taught us how to make
tortillas from scratch. She certainly made it look easy, but it was
tougher than it looked as we soon discovered.
We took a stroll through the rest of town and saw the church, school, and medical facilities -- all built through the hard work of the community. We spent a little while relaxing by the beach, looking at the village fishing boats and the whale skeleton carefully laid out nearby. The waves hitting the beach were of pretty good size and we were glad that we hadn't attempted to land here the day before.
Then it was time to head back to our rocky camp. We were hoping to get back on the water the next day, but conditions continued to be too rough for safe passage.Instead, a group of volunteers went back to Chico's and helped him with various tasks around the compound. It was very rewarding to interact and be able to give back to him and his family for their hospitality.
Conditions were still uncertain the following day, so we sent out scouting parties by kayak and by foot to see how conditions were outside our sheltered cove. After assessing the risks carefully, we decided to move and shortly thereafter were on the water.
For more on sea kayaking, choose a segment below