Buddies

Every afternoon like clockwork he stops by and asks me if I’d like to go tide pooling with him. ‘You wanna go doncha? Doncha? It’d be real fun!’ His big brown eyes stare up at me; his tail wags side to side and he practically smiles. How can I resist? ‘Ok Rowdy, let’s head down to the beach.’

Rowdy is my neighbor Ed’s dog. A Mexi-mutt that is smart as a whip, sweet as molasses and a terror to all the local coyotes. He just loves to have company and attention. Compared to most dogs Rowdy has the idyllic life. Pets in Mexico are treated decidedly different than in the States. Most animals do not receive the care or attention like ours. To us they are part of the family. Not so here. It isn’t unusual to see sadly forgotten animals wandering around. However this is certainly not the case with Rowdy. He is an outdoor dog, but he has a bed – 2 in fact, regular meals provided for him and lots of company. As with practically all dogs here he gets to roam wherever he pleases, and his favorite place is the tide pools. He rushes right past the birds resting on the shoreline, couldn’t care a whit for the flock surrounding the pools. He goes straight for the fish. I’ve watched him stare into a pool waiting to see if any have been caught by the receding tide. Carefully he’ll circle the water until he deems it just the right time to launch himself off the edge and land with a big splash. ‘Yep, that’s certainly the way to sneak up on them boy. Very stealthy!’ Sometimes he wades in chest deep and chases them from side to side. Oh he is so happy! This will go on for as long as I am there with him. When I return he reluctantly follows. Ed says that when the water is warm he’ll dive below the surface to catch them and another neighbor attests to his success!

The exposed reef is a conglomerate of billions of rocks and shells ‘glued’ together with what seems like hardened mud. It is very textured and rough and the waves have sculpted it into otherworldly shapes that rise out of the sand, as if oozing from some primordial mass long ago. There are gazillions of tide pools filled with an overwhelming number of sea annenomies and small snails the size of my thumbnail, but I’ve yet to see a starfish. Maybe it’s just too rocky. There are bright orange growths, sponges I think, that cling to the undersides of rocky ledges, beautiful magenta seaweed and bright green sea lettuce. When the waves are big the beach is strewn with pink and green plants. It is quite colorful.

The cooperativa de pescadores (fish co-op) in town controls the waters here and they are very serious about keeping the abalone and lobster population healthy and intact. (It is illegal for anyone to dive here, unless you belong to the co-op.) Members regularly patrol the area keeping a close eye on all happenings, meeting any campers and picking up lobster traps that may have washed ashore. Abreojos is part of a national biosphere in Baja, and because of this they are ahead of much of the country when it comes to eco-awareness. They are even beginning a recycling program, pushed forward by a local women’s group, MEAPA (Mujeres en Acion Punta Abreojos- Women in Action Punta Abreojos). The women have formed this group to insist on social change. Events like sponsoring local clean ups with the school children, or bringing down life guards from the States to educate the community in water safety are just a couple of examples of their fine work. Each member has pledged to keep a certain area clean, or has taken on some special project to assist the area in its progress forward. It’s wonderful to see a change in consciousness in regard to conserving the pristine beauty of this area.

Just across the bay, Bahia de las Ballenas (Bay of the Whales), I can see the entrance to Laguna San Ignacio, where grey whales come to calf each year. It is marked by a massive sand dune called Big Sandy. Some days the dune is surrounded by ever changing mirages that morph from huge white cliffs to multi story high rises. The Lagoon is also a part of the Biosphere and they are even more progressive in their eco-awareness. Tourists flock there to pet the whales (yes, pet the whales) and the influx of money is a wonderful incentive to keep it clean and intact. Nothing can compare to touching a full grown grey whale, looking it in the eye and then petting its baby. Whale watching boats just don’t cut it after that.

The other morning at dawn we watched a pod of at least 50 dolphins feed and play just outside our front door. The boiling water signaled a school of fish that must have been their breakfast. A few leapt out of the water delighting us with their play. Occasionally in the winter and spring a whale is spotted headed to or from the Lagoon. Sometimes I find a sea lion watching me as I wander along the shoreline. They are famously curious.

And no matter where I am along the shore Rowdy is somewhere nearby, running in wild abandon, covering 10 times as much ground as me. He is just so happy to be sharing his favorite place. Who can blame him? Abreojos is pretty extraordinary.