hi lisadale -

I never did get a reply. I decided to do a kayaking trip out of Vancouver BC this summer instead of the sea of cortez from la paz. I could not find good plane connections to la paz from SFO (without multiple stops and long waits in airports).

You can't go wrong kayaking in the Canadian Gulf Islands. However, I would suggest starting from one of the many islands which you can reach by the excellent BC Ferry system out of Vancouver BC.

We will be Kayaking next week in Baja, from Loreto, and will post our experience on this forum.

Bill

How was it?

Hi,

I have done a Sea of Cortez trip with my daughter, a second yoga/islands trip with my husband and the Loreto to La Paz trip, too. SKA has amazing guides, wonderful food and runs a very professional and fun trip. We love them so much, we plan on doing a spring 2010 Baja trip again! We also have done their Johnstone Straits, BC,Canada trip which was great, but you can't beat the weather & warm waters of the Sea of Cortez. We would all highly recommend them.

Judy & John

Hola! Mimi,

I just returned from a SKA trip to Baja (12/28-1/4). I traveled solo and this was the first "tour" group tour i have done. I was a little nervous about the group and spending a week with strangers.

We set out from Loreto and camped on Isla Danzante and Isla Carmen. The trip was absolutely fantastic-the only drawback-I had to come home!

I'll tell you more about the trip, but to start the SKA provides a detailed itinerary, including food, packing lists everything you need to be prepared beforehand, including suggestions on flights and logistics to make sure your connections are smooth and timely.

Upon arrival in Baja we were met by the transfer service taken to the hotel and then met our guides (Charro, Manuel and Edgar) that evening for a pre-trip briefing, introductions, and final packing instructions.

The next morning we set out from the hotel with our group 12 guests/3 guides and divvied up geear (sleeping bags, tents, etc) loaded up the kayaks had a final briefing and set out.

Baja is beautiful and dramatic, the mountains rise up out of aquamarine seas, and it is peaceful.

We had our first crossing that day and stopped for lunch on Isla Danzante. Upon arrival the guides set up lunch while some guests explored and snorkeled and simply hung out on the beach.

After lunch we packed up and paddled for about an hour to our first night's campsite. On arrival the guests set up tents (we had a great group of people, people were there to help set up if you needed it) and then did some swimming, snorkeling, beachcombing, reading. about 4pm the guides announced happy hour and snacks and dinner followed. The days followed this routine and we all fell into an easy rhythym of paddling, exploring, napping, reading, bird-wathching, stargazing (unbelieveable stargazing!) and staring out to sea as the stress of daily life melted away.

The food was unbelievably good. We had fresh baked cakes three nights for dessert after dinner; ceviche; chile rellenos. The guides did a great job of working around a couple of dietary requirements for guests. We joked that the food was so good and regularly scheduled that we were paddling from meal to meal. All the more impressive because it was all done from what we carried with us.

There was a balance between paddling, breaks for rest and snorkeling and on days when we were not mving camp, we'd set out for hikes, snorkeling or new beaches.

It is just as you describe, an active trip without being too exerting. The trip was balanced for all levels within our group. There is always more activity and physical exercise opportunity, but Charro, our lead guide was very good at reading the group and balancing things.

Lastly, we saw sea turtles, whales, dolphins, paddled (some folks swam amongst) manta rays, sea lion, osprey, pelicans, cormorants, grebes, and lots of sea life.

I recommend SKA without reservation, in fact, as soon as their winter 2009 trip schedule is up I'm going to book another trip. Stay as long as you can, but whatever you do, give this trip to yourself. It was fantastic. All you're looking for in your description and more. Call if you want to hear more 203.506.0875(m) Clif

We just returned two weeks ago from a five night trip with SKA and rated it a 9.8 out of ten. The water could have been warmer, but it was fine.

The staff was excellent, knew how to set a relaxing pace, but not so kick-back that we missed opportunities. We focused on snorkling in all the free time because the weather was so good. Only had time for one sunrise guided hike/botanical tour, but that's because the ocean was there.

Kayaking difficulty was higher when the wind was up, but otherwise very easy. The length of kayak trips was about right...two hours or so each day of mostly continuous paddling.

The hardest part of the whole adventure is pulling the kayaks out, and hauling them back in, but we became a well oiled crew with the staff's guidance.

It was a lot of fun, rewarding with Modulo rays, Fin whales, turles, and all kinds of beautiful fish, schooling fish, sea stars of many kinds. The cacti and other plants were explained by the staff too.

Birds were plentiful in type and number too. We were most excited by oystercatchers and Frigate birds

Hi

My husband and I have been on 7 trips with SKA and we can guarantee that you will have a wonderful time - great food, great guides, great kayaking instruction, great weather, sun and fun. After our first trip we were sold - and, in fact, we are bringing ten of our friends down in April 2009 to kayak the coastline!!

The kayaking is great for beginners, active kayaking for part of the day, and the rest of the day is spent swimming and snorkeling.

You'll love it!! You'll get everything you're looking for.

Joanne

We're just back from a week with them and the trip was exactly what you described: it was glorious! The outfitter and the environment exceeded our high expectations, and we were unable to offer any criticism at all when we filled out their post-trip evaluation form. The only thing I can think to say that could possibly be disappointing to you is that there isn't a lot of interior hiking available...not the kind of geology to have safe trails, but the beach walks more than make up for it. Food outstanding, leadership superior, and we found that the people who signed up for this trip were the sort that you could relish spending time with, not a difficult sort of person in the whole lot. The campsites were very private, gorgeous, all with sea views, and the tents zip back to have so much netting that you are sleeping under the star-lacey sky. This was one of the best trips we've ever taken, and we've been taking them for 40 years. It was not too exerting for us sixty year olds.

Jennifer

Mimi

I'm not an unbiased source because I was invited on the trip by Sea Kayak Adventures to take pictures, but my recent Islands Adventure trip out of Loreto was fantastic, and probably about the level of adventure you're looking for, with full days of kayaking, snorkeling and hiking but no demanding exertion. I just posted a story and photos of the trip on my website at: http://www.garyluhm.net/bio/baja2.html

Good luck,

Gary