The Cactus Trip Diaries

S2984 and S2985 were along the road from Bahia de Los Angeles back to MEX1, particularly on the hunt for the red flowers of Ferocactus gracilis, about the only cacti in flower. Unlike the UK, California was in the middle of a severe drought which seems to extend south into Baja. There might have been some recent rain, to encourage the Fouqueria and Pachycormus discolor to leaf up, but the cacti had not joined in so far, except F. gracilis.

S2986 was a leg-stretch stop and S2987 records our arrival in Guerrero Negro with the impressive giant flag that marks the border between Baja Norte and Sur. It is also a prompt to change your clocks by an hour.

We took a drive to the old lighthouse but again did not see the millions of birds, mostly waders, that we had seen here around the same time in February, 2008. These must have been migrating birds and although the timing was the same, weather conditions must be different. I wonder which one is the norm.

Tomorrow we’ll study the other succulents – whales!