So, today is my 70^th birthday. As The Grateful Dead said, “What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been”! Born into a WWII War zone in Tallinn, Estonia, refuge camp in Sweden, New York, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Tucson, Sebastopol, Palo Alto, Ukiah and now El Cardonal (Mexico), and this is where I make my “stand”; working with The Cetacean Nation, swimming with The Critters and very literally living the simple life. My thanks to all of you that graced my years during this journey, none of you are forgotten. May The Great Mystery bless you all.

This is not my pic but I had to put it in. The “ART” of nature!

We received some blessed rain a while back and the desert responded in every imaginable color of green. Later on the 25^th we got some real rain and the desert went ballistic. I love to watch this transformation, it’s breath taking……and the smell, hoohah!!

The desert behind "Shangri-La

One of the young girls in town, now a woman (?), had her Quincenera on the 12^th. Big affair, music, costumes, dancers, food, tequila…..amazing! Each year I notice the families trying to outdo each other on the extravaganza. It’s tradition, and I honor that but the money spent is ludicrous. No different than HS graduation in The US but these folks are village people. The “lucky” girl gets one of these on her 15^th birthday. Of course not ALL the girls get one…..ah, same old, same old.

The young "woman"

Last blog post I talked about my Scorpion friend in my bootie (no, not that kind of bootie), a couple of days ago I was putting some kayaking gear into my ditty bag and when I stuck my hand in I felt something soft and hairy…..BIG spider! Not a Tarantula but definitely one of our bigger spiders. No bite though, so I let him go.

By the 19^th of the month I had been out in my kayak 5 times to The WZ without any critters of any kind to swim with. Totally cool though because I love the solitude and QUIET out there. On the 24^th however I finally came across some of my Cetacean friends. As usual I went out to the 2 mile mark and greeted the Four Sacred Directions and their guides. Then I waited. After about an hour I started a slow paddle in, Sea was flat, took my time, stopping every now and again to listen for a blow. About a mile in I heard the faintest blow. For a while I couldn’t figure where it was coming from. Definitely Dolphin, not Whale…..but where? As it got louder I finally saw their dorsal fins coming toward me from the north and well within intercept distance. At first I thought there were only 2 or 3 but then I saw that it was a good sized herd of maybe 20. I kayaked into their midst and they playfully scooted under my kayak and seemed perfectly happy to have me kayaking along with them. After they picked up speed I decided to go in and on the way ran into 2 more. I dove in with these two but was only able to swim with them for a short while. EACH time it is delightful and new.

Common Pacific Dolphins as my kayaking buddies

The Humpbacks are coming. My friend Ian who runs Exotikite down here said he saw 3 HBs while kite surfing off Los Barriles a couple of days ago. I expect to see them any time here in El Cardonal.

Urmas vs Scorpions, 125 to 4.

I’m going to dinner tonight with a few friends at our local gourmet restaurant here in El Cardonal to celebrate my birthday. While I was there the other day to make reservations I struck up a conversation with a couple of guys who had just had a Cajun Gumbo for lunch. When they heard that my birthday was coming up they bought me a take out order of the gumbo so I wouldn't miss it. Turned out I had met these same guys at a party in Cabo Pulmo 8 years ago, how cool is that? BTW, the gumbo was OUTSTANDING.

Once again, thank you for your kindnesses, support, love and respect. Que les vaya bien!

Oh, BTW, I have moved my entire website onto this blog. It’s my record of the past 35 years of research and adventure. Lots of pictures, stories, whale facts etc. The pages are to the right of the beginning of the blog under “From My MioSah Website”.

The other morning I was preparing to go to the beach for my morning exercise and putting on my rubber dive booties. I gathered up my other gear and started across the flat to descend the bluff to the beach. About halfway across the flat I felt a sharp pain on the side of my left foot. I suspected I had stepped on a thorn (always a possibility in the desert). This was one mean ass thorn though and I couldn’t see it sticking outside the bootie so I pulled the bootie off and out comes a good sized scorpion. I was real lucky he didn’t sting me more than once. After squishing him with a handy rock, I continued to the beach and did my workout. The sting swoll up a little and then in the afternoon it really began to hurt. The pain traveled up my leg to my knee and then just throbbed there until cocktail time. About half way through my cocktail the pain just disappeared; hah, yet another gift from The Vodka God! Score is now 115 to 4.

On the 18^th of October a good sized contingent of Mendocino County folks arrived. Though there were good times to be had, there was also work to be done and then a celebration of the grand opening of THE MEDICAL CLINIC in El Cardonal that Lynn Dress-Meadows et al have strived and succeeded in putting together during the last 10 years. Congratulations Lynn et al…..WELL DONE!

Work well done!

Play well deserved!

I was asked to give a small slide show of my whale work to some of the visitors and it was a treat for me as always to talk about The Whale People.

Always ready to talk about The Whale People

I was sent a wonderful gift from my daughter Kersti and her husband Bill; a visitation by a group of ArchAngels that were to stay with me for a few days. The picture below is the altar I was asked to prepare for them. I am always open to gentle, loving energy from wherever it comes. Thanks Kersti and Bill, I enjoyed their visit.

Altar for my "Angel" visitors

On the 26^th I kayaked out to The WZ and came across a couple of Dolphins and two Sea Turtles. No encounters, The Dolphins were moving too fast and The Turtles dove too deep; always nice to see some of my critters though.

Had another terrific dinner and conversation with Alan and Marilyn the other night, I do enjoy their company so much.

Also on the 26^th some Humpbacks were spotted just off El Cardonal but I missed them.

Saw my first Tarantula for the year a couple of days ago, a good sized female on my top step near the trailer door. I’m sure glad they are not aggressive or poisonous because they look like HELL.

First cool night on the 28^th, actually used a thicker blanket.

I have found, and destroyed, 10 Wasps nests to date. Score: mas o menos 230 to 3, one got me on the arm while I was working in my bodega.

On the 2^nd of Nov. I decided to do a full on kayak out to the far edge of The WZ. I hadn’t done that since I hurt my back 3 months ago. Did fine, great confidence builder but didn’t see any action…..nada. I went out a couple of days later and took a nice swim in THE DEEP but again no action, even very little plankton to see. I did notice lots of Cormorants heading north, I did today too.

Part of my extended family from Quebec is here; Jean-Luc and Brigitte. They joined me in a kayak this morning and though yet again we didn’t see anything, it was a delight for me to just have them with me in the zone.

Brigitte & Jean-Luc

The following is not my picture nor do I know if it is REAL. People are photo shopping all kinds of things and I have been taken in more than once. Nevertheless, I am putting this in as a metaphor for how I FEEL when I swim with members of The Cetacean Nation. I am anticipating lots of water time with my Whale and Dolphin friends again this season.

Grateful & Honored

And last, but the proverbial, “not least”, how bout them Niners?