Sea Kayaking Baja, MexicoRead Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.comRead this entire feature with photos at:http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/sports02/kayak/baja/baja.htmlEight days, two notebooks, three camcorder batteries.Would they be enough?"Bienvenidos a Mexico!" the sign at Loreto Airport announced.Balmy air wafted into the open-air room under the lovely "palapa" roof made from fan palms fronds. I wondered why there was a ceiling fan turning at exactly 12 r.p.m. above my head. At that point I was in "vacation mode," measuring time by the number of trips my duffel bag made around the nearby carousel as I waited for a new stamp in my passport.I had arrived for a weeklong "Islands Expedition" in the Sea of Cortez, offered by Sea Kayak Adventures, Inc.Owners Terry Prichard and Nancy Mertz have been running trips here since 1993, and their experience shows in the organized schedule and thorough pre-departure information provided to guests. They offer three other paddling trips here as well: an exploration of the sheltered lagoons along the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula, a strenuous twelve-day circumnavigation of Isla Carmen (the largest of the three islands east of Loreto), and, upon demand, a custom paddling trip from Loreto to La Paz.

SKA also arranges a special one-day whale-watching tour, which seven of the nine people in our group would be taking tomorrow. Whale activity is at its peak in the late winter as the Gray Whales calve, breed, and prepare to migrate north."You can't get lost in Loreto," said Judy, the tour guide who fetched our group at the airport and delivered us to the Hacienda Suites Hotel. A good starting point for sightseeing,she said, is the famous mission - the first in all the Californias. Another guest and I strolled down Avenida Salvatierra, named for the Jesuit padre who founded the mission in 1697, until we saw the bell tower rising above the rooftops in the late afternoon sun. The old clock on the tower, not original equipment, is correct twice each day at about 10:30.

Oh well - the rest of the place is still very much in use. Mass is held in the chapel, and the storehouse building next door is now the Museum of the Missions.We didn't exactly get lost, but after deciding to take a different route back to the hotel, we couldn't find our desired street. We saw a bit of the town, though, ending up on Loreto's waterfront street, with its broad walkway and shops and restaurants. Loreto is a city of over ten thousand people, but it feels smaller and very friendly. It would be much larger today if not for the European diseases that killed off the very people the missionaries were trying so hard to help.

Despite its sleepy, laid-back ambiance, Loreto contains two modern surprises. First, it has become a major tourism hub for kayakers and R.V. tourists. Dollars are widely accepted at a current rate of about ten pesos per dollar. Second, the town has several internet cafs.

In fact, the whole Baja Peninsula is wired with fiber-optic lines for modern communications. I utilized the internet caf, but I never turned on the television in my hotel room.People taking kayaking trips should understand that they can be somewhat strenuous. The next morning, after waiting twenty minutes for my breakfast at a small outdoor caf across town, I had to sprint a mile with a tummy full of chorizo and eggs to catch the tour van from the hotel. I think it was the toughest part of the trip. Many restaurateurs here seem also to be in "vacation mode."The van, with Judy as our guide, was taking us southwest to Magdalena Bay for whale watching.

The twenty-two-foot open boats, owned by the local fishing cooperative, are used for tours in the winter when the Gray Whales are in town. Our young boat captain, Jimmy, knew how to get close to the whales without crowding them. He loved his job and cooed over the calves as if they were his own children.I feel like I need to make a disclaimer here, something like "Results not typical and may vary." We were a lucky group. Jimmy drove us across the lagoon to La Boca de Soledad, where it opens to the sea. He placed us well ahead of a mother and female calf (another driver had noted the telltale ridges on the calf's head), and we waited to see if the two would come closer.

The mother, about 45 feet long, checked us out while the month-old calf, about 18 feet, playfully breached the surface nearby. Then the two sidled in close to the boat and lolled about in the calm water. We could hardly believe our eyes when the mother gently lifted the calf to the surface, as if to present her little girl for our approval. When the calf had lost all inhibition, she swam right up to me, lifted her head, and let me tickle her nose. She may have been attracted to the underwater camera I was holding below the surface as I leaned out over the gunwale, but I like to think she chose me in particular.

I'm usually not fond of spending my time on structured, organized tours, but this one was worth every minute and every peso.Judy has been living in Baja for over ten years. An English tourist traveling in British Columbia, she came down to escape winter's onset and never went back. Many people come south down the Peninsula in airplanes or R.V.s to get away from inclement weather or the bustle of civilization. We thought we were about to escape both, but things don't always go according to plan.Read this entire feature with photos at:http://www.jetsettersmagazine.com/archive/jetezine/sports02/kayak/baja/baja.htmlBy Rob LaGrone, Las Vegas Correspondent, Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com.