The kids want to stay longer than two days at the Laguna, so we’re headed back to town for water.  I never imagined how beautiful it would be here.  It is so absolultely quiet in the morning and at night that you can hear the whales spouting and breathing but you can also hear the generator from the restaurant.  There are few insects (other than flies that only appear early in the morning or when the breeze falls away) or birds to distract us from the whales.  I woke early this morning; I saw the sunrise.  it is so very odd to see the sun rise over water and while I never actually made it out of bed and down to the beach for sunrise at San Felipe, now that I’ve experienced it (from bed, no less), I just might have to do it again.  I found that heading to the lagoon to camp was not only a beautiful experience but also a cheap one. 

I purchased tickets for a panga to take us out on the lagoon this morning; Ellen was free and the rest of the kids half price; the adults paid 150 pesos less than the price in town.  So, while we spent $145 on tickets here, in town we would have spent $$260.  When you have a large family, seemingly small discounts really add up.  My thoughts have been with Deb all day and I hope she feels the whale energy through my thoughts.  The whale trip was spectacular (though, how could it not be?).  Sissy said "it was like a dream" and both boys said it was "incredible".  Even Ellen loved it, but about 15 minutes before we headed back to shore she was ready to go. 

We headed out around 9:30 or so after having watched the whales breaching and spouting while we sat campside sipping our coffee.  hedonists; I know.  :)   I can’t begin to imagine or count the number of mama/baby pairs we saw or how many times a baby would pop up out of the water and eye us; there are no words…  We had one baby swim under the panga and Jamie actually copped a feel.  Of course, I have no picture. 

While digital cameras are wonderful, there is such a delay from the time you pres the button to take the picture to the actual taking of the picture that many were missed.  On the way back to the shore we were astonished to find dolphins racing the prow of the boat.  The kids were delighted and talked and talked about the dolphins for quite a while afterwards.  Pike said he was able to touch one.  The pictures are all from today’s whale excursion.  I loved your last sunset picture Dad, and took these with you in mind.  We’ll be at the lagoon (Scammon’s Lagoon) until we can tear the kids away, then off to San Ignacio.  Ciao to all, and Deb; we really missed you and the kids today.  I hope they enjoy the pictures.

We have been concerned about power for a while now but thought purchasing 2 additional RV batteries and the generator would solve them. 

We left Guerrero Negro last night, headed for the lagoon (and campground) at 6:30pm.  The sun was setting and looking West was a gorgeous sunset.  Looking south, however, was frightening.  The sky was absolutely black and curtains of black ran from grey clouds in areas where the black lightened to grey (mostly the west).  The drive from town to the campground runs 5 miles south of Guerrero Negro on the Transpenninsular and then 25km to the west on salt flats and dirt.  As we drove out of town we saw flashes of lightening.  As we continued south towards the campground road, we saw more lightening and we were headed directly into the center of the darkness. 

As we turned off the highway and onto our salt/dirt road, it was raining, the sky ahead was cloudy but not black, the sky to the south was frighteningly black and the sky to the north was a beautiful red sunset.  The landscape was flat and as we traveled west, towards camp, the lightening began to surround us.  We drove through countless lightening strikes and fishtailed through the sloppy sections of road and hit camp.  The road was frequently lit by lightening; it was surrounding us.  Thunder boomed as we got closer to camp and the wind picked up.  As we made for bed, it sounded like the winds were announcing the arrival of a hurricane; they were so loud, gusty and strong.  We replaced our batteries with the ones we’d charged in San Felipe (the 2 new ones we’d purchased) and while the monitor status changed from "fair" to "good", just before dawn, when light was just beginning to show in the sky, the LP alarm sounded.  This meant that the batteries were dead. 

Jamie connected the generator, filled it up with gas (as it had emptied in Cataviña) and after the generator kicked in, the alarm stopped.  For some reason (thankfully) the alarm never wakes the kids, but always wakes us.  We can’t imagine why we are only getting 1.5 days from our batteries and I’ve asked the experts at RV Forums to help us.  When we get to Mulege we’ll find out.  Since the new batteries only lasted 6-8 hours, we’re hoping they never received a full charge.  We are stymied as to why the Interstate batteries (the ones that came with the trailer) aren’t providing us with more than 1.5 days of juice.  We use only a few lights, no TV, no microwave, no furnace, nothing more than lights.

After our heads cleared from a bleary night of sleep, we found that our campsite is the only one not flooded.  What incredible luck!  The winds died in the middle of the night and the storm moved on.  The day dawned cloudy and soon cleared to bright sky and beautiful clouds.  It is as if the lightening and thunder and rain was simply a fig newton of our imagination.   The kids are playing in the other flooded (apparently by tide, which should maximize on Monday) campgrounds and getting completely wet and muddy.  The washing load is getting difficult to manage; we are down to 5 gallons but the kids seem to have a never ending need for mud and water play (and then to cleanup).