Jer work up with the alarm after nearly 9 hours' sleep, but he let Jess get the full 9 hours. We got up and got ready to leave, since we'd promised to be at the Nautilus DiveTech shop by 8:15am. Sadly, this meant missing the Bungalows' famed breakfast (today, breakfast burritos), but the staff had promised to whip us up something quick to eat -- this turned out to be scrambled eggs with black beans and a tortilla, plus fruit, coffee and watermelon juice. Not a bad consolation prize!
Our tummies full, we headed down the hill into town, arriving at the dive shop right on schedule. After a bit of paperwork, we tried on wetsuits and boots, then jumped in Casey's car and headed to the Marina to board The Abyss. We had a full boat -- the two of us with CJ, plus six DSDers with their instructors. It was a quick boat ride to our first spot, North Wall; Jess was a little nervous about doing the roll-back from the boat, but she managed it and everyone cheered for her. The conditions were great: clear, warm water and no current. We saw lots of the old standards (surgeonfish, tangs, Moorish idols, triggerfish, angelfish, parrotfish, including bumpheads, etc.), plus three kinds of morays (green, jeweled and zebra), tons of starfish, huge schools of mackerel, balloon pufferfish, goatfish, garden eels and the local no touchie-touchie fish (scorpionfish). (Pictures are available on this great Baja fish ID website.) We also saw a little natural sandfall; the big ones were 80 feet down, so we were glad to see one at all! Jess used up her air after about 35 minutes, so Jer and CJ dropped her off at the boat and continued on for a bit, then it was time to rejoin her and the DSDers.
For our surface interval, the dive crew took us on an impromptu tour out to see the Arch. On the way, we saw the Window to the Pacific (a small hole where you can see the Pacific from the Sea of Cortez). We passed Lover's Beach and Divorce Beach (on opposite sides of the same peninsula, the former is on the Sea of Cortez side and near good snorkeling, while the latter is on the Pacific side and has undertow), as well as the rock that marks Land's End (which CJ recommended as a great dive site on calm days like that one), as well as the sea lion colony that lives nearby. It was an unexpected treat to have CJ give us a guided tour of the area!
Our second dive was at Pelican Rock. While we didn't feel the current, it was obviously there, because the visibility was much lower. The water was warm until we hit the thermocline near the bottom of our dive (around 50-60 feet). We saw a lot of the same old standards, as well as an eel, a flounder, balloon pufferfish, porcupinefish, schools of snapper and goatfish, and even an octopus! The top of the tiered sandfalls was around 65 feet, but they weren't flowing, so CJ gave them a little kick-start! He also brought a bottle of fish food to a big rock called the feeding table, where we were swarmed by king angelfish, among others. Once again, Jess had to go back to the boat early, Jer and CJ went back out and saw, among other things, an underwater cave holding a trapped bubble of air. There was also a lobster, but Jer didn't really see it.
After our second dive, we headed back to shore, where Casey drove us back to the shop, we rinsed ourselves and our gear and CJ helped us fill out our logbooks. We chatted with them about diving later in the week (at Land's End if we were lucky, or Los Moros if the conditions are better there. Then it was time to head back to the Bungalows for a shower. Erik, the innkeeper, had kindly saved us some breakfast burritos, which (together with some watermelon juice) made for a fantastic lunch!
We were chilling out back in our room when Cabo San Lucas Tours called to tell us that our trip to Espiritu Santo on Monday was cancelled, due to the weather in La Paz. We were pretty disappointed, but Jess immediately got online to check with other companies that might be offering trips later in the week and was told to check back on Tuesday to see if Wednesday trips might be running. Then we considered our other options and headed downstairs to talk to one of the innkeepers (Beto) about tours and dinner options. He made Jer coffee and Jess herbal tea, which we drank in our room while looking at pictures and updating this journal. Eventually, though, it was time to head back outside.
We headed down to the ritzier side of the Marina to walk along the seawall and enjoy the views. We stopped at La Nueva Michoacana for paletas (fresh fruit popsicles); Jer had mango-chile and Jess and strawberries-and-cream (which she dripped all over herself...oops). There was lots of good dog-watching (actually, it was better than the people-watching), and we found that the end connects to Cabo's main beach, Medano Beach. Jer convinced Jess to go for a walk on the beach, where we saw a beautiful sunset (over the Buccaneer Queen pseudo-pirate ship). Unfortunately, the beach was a bit too rocky for Jess's comfort, and we were getting hungry, so we decided to turn back.
After making our way back to the Marina, we headed to Maro's Shrimp House, one of Beto's recommendations (and also a popular favorite on TripAdvisor). The place was full of tourists and had live musicians playing crowd favorites from "Sweet Caroline" to "La Bamba", so we were a bit hesitant at first but decided that the team at the Bungalows wouldn't steer us wrong. We started with guacamole, followed by fabulous lobster-and-shrimp combos (the former boiled, the latter steamed) with butter and cocktail sauce. It was delicious, very filling and reasonably priced. We decided to forego the house drink (the bulldog - Corona, tequila and fizzy lemonade), but lots of other guests seemed to be enjoying them.
After dinner, we headed back to the Bungalows to update this journal and look at our photos. Jess decided to take a Benadryl to deal with all her bug bites, so it was an early night for us.