Sea Kayak Baja Mexico
Expeditions, Instruction, Custom
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Sea Kayak Baja Mexico |
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 | About Sea Kayak Baja Mexico |
contact |
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Story |
Bios |
Certifications |
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The Baja Experience It is a place of new perspectives, not only personally, but scientifically as well. The Guaymas trench, in roughly the middle of the Sea, plunges nearly a mile deep, and belches volcanic and hydrothermal vents which support life based on hydrogen sulfide instead of sunlight. That discovery was a major shift in our understanding of what makes life possible. In the Sea of Cortez, the world's youngest, most nutrient-rich ocean meets the diverse Sonoran Desert. Colorful volcanic mountains rise from the waters to protect pockets of pebbled beach. Ancient shells are fossilized in white sediments that form 30ft tall waterfront cliffs and erode into soft white sand beaches. Tenacious plants and well-adapted animals thrive in challenging conditions. Several cacti and some lizards, mice, and snakes are endemic to the area and live nowhere else in the world. The sea is a plankton soup which supports colorful reef fish like the orange-tailed king angel, schools of pelagic fish like the dorado, mysterious creatures like the paper nautilus, playful dolphins, and enthusiastic jumping creatures like the mobula--a small manta ray that leaps from the water, flaps vigorously, and splashes back down. Blue whales, the largest animals ever to inhabit the earth, also visit these waters, along with fin whales, humpbacks, occasional gray whales, orcas, and others. The National Marine Park of the Bay of Loreto manages five islands--Coronado, Danzante, Carmen, Monserrrate, and Santa Catalina as well as the adjoining coast along the base of the Sierra la Giganta Mountains. Crossings of 4 miles or less make some of these islands accessible to nominally experienced kayakers in calm weather. Longer crossing routes, exposed coastlines, and temperamental Baja winds also challenge the expert. Paddling with Sea Kayak Baja Mexico, you experience this special place in a small group (4-8) of similarly experienced paddlers with the most experienced, enthusiastic, and highly certified guides or coach in Loreto. You also paddle a single Nigel Dennis or similar skeg kayak with a carbon Werner paddle or Don Beale Greenland paddle. If you are a paddler, join Sea Kayak Baja Mexico and come for a real kayak expedition! |
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Sea Kayak Baja's Story Although she'd led canoe trips for teens in the Adirondack Park for 3 summers and loved it, Ginni came to Baja the first year with no aspirations of a career in kayaking. It was purely for fun and the "Why not?" factor. Life turns on the finest of hinges. That spring, an opportunity opened up to guide at the newly opened Skamokawa Center in SW Washington. The following winter, Baja called again, and she went to paddle, surf, and explore. On one day's notice, she accepted her first paid Baja trip, with Sea Kayak Adventures. Ginni worked for SKA for the next 10 years, as assistant guide, then lead guide, then trainer of guides. Meanwhile, the newly formed National Marine Park of Loreto in which she was guiding was developing as well. The Park got an office in town and an employee. They named and renamed the beaches. They issued permits to camp. Eventually they got a boat and began enforcing the park permits. The old guides declared it the end of an era and reluctantly retired. Stormy years passed and calm years passed. Sand shifted on to some beaches and off of others. Chunks of rock broke and fell from Danzante Island's undercut perimeter and left scars in the cliffs where they had been, and the scars began to weather. Meanwhile, Ginni became an American Canoe Association Advanced Open Water Instructor, then a BCU (British Canoe Union) Level 4 Sea Coach and a 5-star Sea Leader. Students in classes in Washington state asked for trips in Baja in performance single kayaks; trips that would challenge their skills. Something different from the "no experience necessary" trips like all the other companies offered in big tandem kayaks. In February, 2004 Ginni ran a pilot trip with friends and began looking into what it would take to offer such trips legally to the general public and to provide training courses for guides from other companies. After sorting through misleading information several false starts, Sea Kayak Baja Mexico finally formed in May of 2007 with Mexican partner Ivette Granados. The first trip ran in November, 2007. Sea Kayak Baja Mexico remains a small company by choice--unique, passionate about what we do and good at it. Ivette maintains the paperwork and permits required to stay legal (almost a full time job!). Ginni runs the expeditions and courses and does publicity and communications. And plans the menus and maintains the gear. She works with other guides and coaches on certain events. Mark Whitaker, a co-owner with Ginni in the Washington state based company Columbia River Kayaking, helps by taking registrations and being a US point of contact. | 
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Ivette also has a keen interest in sustainable building and eco-friendly systems. She and friend David Maldonado from the sea turtle conservation organization Grupo Tortuguero are constructing a small, off-the-grid eco-B&B in the foothills of the spectacular Sierra la Giganta hear Loreto. They are building with recycled materials, using solar power, and featuring fresh, seasonal food. Ivette and her sister briefly operated a fresh-food delivery-based deli out of her home, and has since become a sought-after chef in town. Once her two daughters are old enough, Ivette plans on guiding again, offering both her geology background and her culinary expertise to Sea Kayak Baja paddlers. Meanwhile, she does most of the behind-the-scenes clerical work that keeps SKBM a viable Mexican business. She also runs the retail store, puts on a kids' summer kayak camp, organizes
the Loreto Kayak Symposium, and trains the university interns. In 2011
she organized the first long distance swimming competition in Loreto and
plans more for the future. * * * * * |
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Through the years of guiding in Baja, Ginni has taken great interest in learning about desert plants, marine biology, geology, and the night sky. She thoroughly enjoys sharing these with people. Ginni also founded the Columbia River Kayaking cooperative in Washington, tends Slow Boat Farm in the summer, and organized the annual Lower Columbia Kayak Roundup for 5 years. She has traveled to Florida, Chicago, Baltimore, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Michigan, Tasmania, and Port Townsend to coach. Coaching invitations for the future include Alaska, Chile, and the Venezuela. She is certified by the BCU as a 5* Sea Leader and a Level 4 Sea Coach, and by the ACA as an Advanced Open Coastal Instructor (Level 5). Remote paddling destinations without bears, bugs, or ice intrigue her. In 2008 she paddled to the Pacific Baja islands of Cedros and Natividad with Axel Schoevers, and went solo in 2009 to Santa Catalina, the most remote island in the Loreto National Marine park, renowned for its endemic rattleless rattlesnakes, of which she saw none. Ginni built two wooden boats, Pygmy Boats' Arctic Tern and Arctic Tern 14. She has been featured in the original "This is the Sea" video and in several magazine articles. Published writing includes a Baja trip planner for Adventure Kayak magazine, a Baja article in Ocean Paddler, a piece in Steady as She Goes: Women's Adventures at Sea, and an intermittent blog. She is also a breast cancer survivor who wants to give hope to others undergoing that journey. * * * * * |
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Santiago grew up in the Mexican Pacific coast where he developed an addiction to the sea. He is been paddling the Gulf of California since 2006, leading commercial expeditions as well as personal trips. His kayaking adventures have taken him to places like Northern California, The Columbia River, East Canada and the Mexican coast. He is committed to paddling and guiding and coaching. Santiago is a graduate of the NOLS kayaking program, a BCU 4 star sea leader and a Level coach 1. Santiago's sense of humor complements his many talents and makes him one of Baja's best guides. Last summer he paddled almost the entire length of the Baja peninsula in a 42 day kayak trip and now is looking out for the next adventure. * * * * * |
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At one time, like much of Baja, the waters off of Loreto were a free-for-all. Sport fishing and commercial fishing were completely unregulated. Shrimpers dragged the bottom and obliterated underwater landscapes. Some concerned people took note that Loreto was beginning to grow, and would certainly see more pressure on the marine resources in the future. Fernando Arcas was one of those people. The final motivation was a boat that had run aground in Salinas Bay near Carmen Island. It was simply abandoned, and began to leak diesel into the water. Fernando and concerned citizens began what would be a four year effort asking the federal government of Mexico to protect these waters. The Bay of Loreto National Marine Park was created by a Presidential Decree and approved by the Mexican Federal Congress on July 19, 1996. This community effort was significant because it was the first national park in Mexico that had been petitioned by the residents of the area. Since then, the people of Cabo Pulmo and Bahia de Los Angeles have followed Loreto's lead and successfully petitioned the government for parks in their area. On July 14, 2005, the National Marine Park of Loreto, along with all of the islands of the Sea of Cortez, was inscribed to the United Nation's list of protected World Heritage Sites, which states, "The property is of striking natural beauty and provides a dramatic setting due to the rugged forms of the islands, with high cliffs and sandy beaches contrasting with the brilliant reflection from the desert and the surrounding turquoise waters. The diversity of forms and colours is complemented by a wealth of birds and marine life. ...[The Sea of Cortez] is home to 695 vascular plant species, more than in any marine and insular property on the World Heritage List. Equally exceptional is the number of fish species: 891, 90 of them endemic. The site, moreover, contains 39% of the world’s total number of species of marine mammals and a third of the world’s marine cetacean species." The Park covers 2,065 square kilometers in the Sea of Cortez ranging from Isla Coronado in the north to Isla Catalana in the south. Shortly after the Marine Park was created, the U.S.-based Nature Conservancy raised funds to help with the conservation of the Park and created Grupo Ecologista Antares (GEA), a "non-governmental, non-profit organization whose main purpose is to protect the wildlife, the vital processs, and the elements of the marine and terrestrial ecosystems of the Loreto municipality in order to achieve a harmonic and sustainable development." Governed by a board of directors, GEA now consists of 3 staff, Fernando Arcas, Jose Luis, and Maria Elena. They are helped by an average of 16 volunteers who come and go throughout the year. There are various opportunities for volunteers, depending on the skills and time of the volunteer. GEA documents the populations of a number of key animals in the park including whales, dolphins, sea lions, and sea turtles. They do photo-ID on blue whales using the shape of the fin and the pigmentation to identify a whale. They note how many breaths a whale takes, how long it sounds, how long it tends to stay in an area, and its behavior while there. One of Fernando's goals is to get a baseline for determining how increased attention of whale watching affects them. Fernando has documented some individuals in the area for over 30 years.
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Sea Kayak Baja Mexico is the only Nigel Dennis Expedition Centre in Mexico. From the Sea Kayaking UK website, "People utilizing the Expeditions Centres can be sure to get the quality and reliability of kayaks from Seakayaking UK. And a similarly high standard of leadership and coaching from staff, right across the board at every Centre." Sea Kayak Baja Mexico is the only company in Mexico to offer courses and assessments in the British Canoe Union system of training, which is the most recognised international standard. Ginni Callahan, head coach on all courses and lead guide on most trips is one of only 3 women in North America to attain the British Canoe Union's highest skill and leadership award, the 5-Star Sea Leader. She is also a BCU Level 4 Sea Coach and an American Canoe Association Advanced Open Coastal Kayaking Instructor. Santiago Berrueta is a BCU 4-Star Sea Leader and Level 1 Coach. Ivette Granados is a Level 1 Coach. Other guest coaches such as Axel Scheovers from the Netherlands,
Jen Kleck from California, and Phil Hadley from the UK come to offer special
courses. * * * * * |
