It was overcast today but calm and I paddled the blue boat southward for a while, landing now and again to see if I could perfect the adjustment of the seat back. At one point there was a flurry of little fish at the surface and I mistook it for rain. Here is a picture of the phenomenon from the viewpoint of two King Angelfish (Holocanthus passer). There were also a couple of snapper who would have backed them up, but who didn’t want to be photographed.
The tide was out but I stayed close to the shore and eventually came to the rock we have been calling Bird Rock, near the shore just a bit north of Notrí. The birds seemed mostly to be elsewhere, and I circled the rock counter-clockwise and crossed inside one of its little satellites. All was quiet until the last moment, but cormorants are a tough crowd and I dipped a paddle blade to demonstrate a totally unnecessary running draw and one of them launched and then the rest of them did too. I paddled over to the shore and took a picture of the little rock and its neighbors.
That’s Isla del Carmen on the left, with the distant Isla Monserrat beyond its southern tip; and then the little rocks, and then Isla Danzante and then the coast by Puerto Escondido.
I loafed on the way back, too. The local sea lion was working harder than I was — I heard him a long time before seeing him. The breeze picked up a little bit and then calmed back down. The water got glassier and then I noticed little splashes on the surface. This time it really was rain — I took off my hat to make sure. Typically, it was just a few drops. The forecast probability for today had been zero.
Back at the beach, I drifted in as far as I could on some long but shallow waves, but the tide was still way out. As I unpacked the boat a familiar figure appeared. It was Chaly, whom I had not seen in probably a year. He has been busy in town, learning about working on cars. Don Jorge was there too (in the old days you never saw them together, because they took turns looking after the shack) and they were preparing to barbecue some fish for a guest. Jorge told me that he had worked out a deal with the homeowners association about facilities to store kayaks on the beach. I told him that I had just renewed my contract with the hotel, but that this was very good news for everyone.