Panterra :: MySchool Journal

Daily Journal

HW Pickup Junior High School

Day 5

First activity of the day. A visit to the salt
pans mined by the fishermen on Isla Pardito.

A closer look at the crystalline make up of sea salt.

Next lessons on cactus at cactus alley.

Then agate hunting at Agate beach.

On the shoreline we find an Oyster Catchers nest of eggs.

The dried remains of a Trigger Fish.

Once back at the boat, Victoria and
Graeham get into a friendly game of chess.

Fresh tuna for dinner.

The afternoon adventure takes us
through a mangrove leading into a lagoon.

We meander our way observing the cool bird life.

A couple of Snowy Egrets look on.

Once in the lagoon we find Brown Pelicans are
feeding on a large school of fish. Most likely sardines.

An unexpected part of the adventure (the wind)
forces us to change our exit route from the lagoon.
To much calmer seas. So it gives us more time to explore.

During this time we encountered a gopher snake.

After lunch we headed out to the town of
San Evaristo to distribute some of the gift bags.

As we hit the beach some of the local kids
see the bags and know exactly what it's about.
Check out the Baja Gifts Program page on this journal.

Our goal was to hike the town
exploring life in a small coastal community.

We walked through town and then
headed to the commercial salt pans.

The community also keeps livestock.

What are staring at? Sheesh!!!!
The wild donkeys in the area obviously have attitude.

We continue our trek to a great
beach for collecting all sorts of sea treasures.

Some beachcombed, some were
simply tired and others collected the treasures.

Finally the trek back to the ship. Yay!!!!!

Our little onboard gang of stubs. Don't ask!

Baked tuna dinner.

And to end the evening, an amazing sunset.
It doesn't get any better than this.

We got up at 7am and went on a 7am adventure. We explored cactus alley and we stopped to check out the small saltpans that the fishermen from Isla Pardito use. Then later on we went on a tour of the mangroves and we watched the pelicans and snowy egrets feed.

The water was getting rough by the boat so we found another place to leave the mangroves. It was much calmer. We had to get out of the panga onto the beach and walk to where the panga could go get us and the other group tried to go over and got stuck so some of them had to push it off the rocks because it was so shallow.

We saw a Gopher snake on the beach and found lots of sea creature skeletons, I found a skeleton of a lagoon fish with giant fangs.

Then we went and distributed the gifts in a small village and went for a very long hike to the commercial saltpans and we combed the beach looking for agates.

We then set sail for Lela’s beach. The sea was acting up and a few of us weren't feeling so good, then get this it was so exciting I threw up in the ocean because I am so great. So with a few people not feeling well we didn’t really do a lot that evening but overall it was a really fantastic day.

By Victoria K

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