I had all sorts of good intentions to get up and go for a surf at sunrise to try and beat the crowds, but nothing of the sort happened. It was too tempting to stay in bed when a marine layer of fog had fallen over the beach. We were late risers this morning, with everyone up and about relatively early. Dan and I jumped straight into the water. It had been a warm, muggy morning inside the van and we were happy to refresh our bodies with cold water. When we got out, Dan found the carcus of an eel on the shore. Eeewwww.

We joined everyone in making breakfast, Dan making burritos this time while I sat by the car writing. As I sat, we noticed a bunch of cows crossing the beach. After some encouragement, Cleo chased after them full tilt, managing to scare one of the calves.

There were lots of different plans this morning, the first being to drive a few miles down the beach in search of another break. Charlie and Jazz head off to find it with Hectar, one of the British lads, while the rest of the Astro boys went into town to find some Wifi. The ambulance had arrived overnight with Ian, Dillan and Dino and was running like a charm. Ian rode his 650 Suzuki motorbike down the beach just for fun as we ate breakfast. Charlie, Jazz and Hectar returned after a while having found a meagre swell at the beach not good enough for surfing. That was the end of Charlie and Jazz’s time at Scorpion Bay, they head off to find bigger waves south down the peninsula.

As we all stood around chatting on the beach, Dan mentioned how good a skimboarding beach this was, with a long, slow tide that provided a narrow layer of water that stayed on the beach a good while. Questions about removable fins on surfboards were thrown and before we knew it, there was a rope attached to the back of the motorbike and Hectar had his finless surfboard in hand. Ian started slow, trying to pull Hectar along on his board in the shallow water. After a couple of attempts, they were off at a cracking pace, Hectar holding on and managing to style it. The first run had no accidents or falls, but the falls came soon enough. They went faster and faster and Hectar tried to jump a few waves, but it mostly ended with him rolling along the ground.

As all this was happening, Jackie and Sam emerged from their van and Sam was keen as mustard from the get go. He retrieved his shortboard quicksmart and patiently waited his turn. When Hectar had enough, he was right into it and he was a natural. He was weaving this way and that, even managing a 720 degree turn at the end of one run. He ended it all with a huge stack that threw him across the sand and pulled his pants right down past his bum. He was all smiles, as were the rest of us for such good entertainment.

Dan and I had a quick ride on Ian’s bike, then he took it for a spin solo. It had been a while since he’d been on a dirt bike so he got a lot out of it. Not long after, camp was split.

The Astro boys were heading north to Guerrero Negro to have some work done on their car and the Ambo boys were continuing their trip south to the Panama. Cleo was sad to lose her best friend, Dino and it showed. We all swapped details before we part, keen to see where everyone ended up at the end of their travels. It was just us, Sam and Jackie left and the sun was nearly coming out so we were keen for a surf. We packed up and drove over to the beach spot, further back from the point we’d been camping on. When we parked, we found the Canadians so they parked up with us. Petra, Cam and Ben had spent the night on the edge of the campground and managed to avoid the fee.

Me and Dan rocked off for first surf and despite me losing, I went in first anyway. I was keen to get in again after the success of yesterday. I had a good run, standing up consistently, but the waves didn’t have the power they had so I found it hard to get a long run in. My body was also fatigued from the trials of yesterday so I only had a short session of about an hour. Dan happily took over, going out with Sam and Jackie and after a shower, I picked up a beer and sat down with the Canadians and got to know them.

They’d been travelling about nine months, same as me, but had started from Victoria, BC and travelled down to Central America. They were now on their way back home via the California coast. We chatted away non stop swapping stories as we watched our mates in the water. Jackie was very new to surfing like me and it was great to see her have some success. Dan was impressing everyone surfing backwards on the board and allsorts.

Dan swapped boards with Sam so he could longboard for a bit, then came back in. He was hungry, I was hungry so I put together some rice, steak and pesto, which got rid of most of our food. We sat with the Canadians a while longer, then I did the dishes and cleaned the van. Since we were both newly clean from showers, it was hard to go back into a dirty van, but after a good clean, it was a brand new apartment. At about 3 in the afternoon, we decided we were ready to leave Scorpion Bay. The waters were crowded with a new group of people that had rolled in, camping all the way along the point, and we figured it wouldn’t get any better over the weekend. We said goodbye to our new mates and were off. We stopped in town looking for water since our drinking supply was out, but we didn’t have any luck. When we tried to find ice creams, we had the same luck, nearly buying from a store that looked like they’d stocked the two Cornettos we’d picked up for months, but we couldn’t purchase when they couldn’t break a 500 Peso note.

Dan was behind the wheel as we drove out of town. It seemed like a new road to him since he’d slept or closed his eyes most of the way in. He had fun with the potholes, trying as I had to avoid them and tensing his whole body in sympathy for the poor car when he couldn’t. We had a near miss at a section of roadworks when we came over a rise to find a car in the middle of the road coming straight for us. He didn’t seem to see us to the last minute as Dan moved over to his side of the road as far as he could. Thankfully, the car moved out of the way last second. We both had hot flushes. We passed goats and cows by the road and managed to avoid all the major holes and piles of roadworks materials.

As we got close to Ciudad Insurgentes, it was my turn to nap. I closed my eyes for twenty minutes or so after the potholes had gone away. When I woke up, we were only half an hour out of town. Everything looked so familiar as we drove in. We were excited to hit the 12 Peso taco place for a second time. We stopped at the first Pemex we saw. While we didn’t have to resort to using the jerry can, we were all the way on empty. We were happy to see petrol was relatively cheap so splurged on the premium stuff for 17 Pesos ($0.85) a liter. Our server changed my 500 Peso note too so that we could buy tacos.

Onwards to the taco stand, to our great disappointment, it was closed because it was so late in the day (5pm). We drove on a little further and when we stopped to give a few coins to the boys on the road raising money for charity, we asked them where we could go. They pointed us in the direction we’d come from and we found a spot. It didn’t look like they had pescado tacos, but again, our standards had been lowered. The father/son shop didn’t have fish, but he let us try the chicken lung before we ordered a round of asada (beef) and cerdo (pork). They were delicious, so much so that we ordered another asada taco each. The young son attended to us with great attention, collecting our plates and washing the table with diligence. He was keen to please and was gravious when we handed him a tip before leaving.

We still had a couple of hours of daylight so we pushed on towards Loreto with me driving. Dan suggested another round of Elon so we listened with his headphones as I drove on the twisted highway. Halfway along the fresh tarmac, I realised when we’d passed this way earlier, the road was still under construction but now we were enjoying the finished product. Nice to have the scenery change in such a short time. When we came up on the Loreto Bay, we both shouted “El Mar!” (the sea) in unison. No matter how many times we cross the desert, we’re always happy to see some blue water again.

The sun was going down and we were both ready for camp. After seeing a couple of dirt roads leading off towards the bay, I suggested we try find a camp beachside, even though the Moon book suggested that most of this section of land has been reserved by resorts and hotels. Dan found us a road on the map but before we got to it, I saw a dirt road that looked decent leading off the highway. I drove a little further, flipped a bitch, a drove on down the road. We saw trimmed palm trees ahead so knew we would probably end up at a property and have to turn around but I carried on.

“Get the fuck out,” is what Dan said when he saw the private beach at the end of the road and I shared his sentiment. There was no evidence that this was someone’s property, just a piece of beauty that we had all to ourselves. We couldn’t believe our luck. Dan went for an explore along the beach while I got naked immediately and jumped in the water. If we had the whole place to ourselves, why not? Dan nearly followed me in, but he went to inspect the bushes instead. I sat on the rocky beach and admired the view in front of me. There were huge islands out in the bay and the sun was shining bright yellow over the mountains behind us. I could see dozens of sail boats moored somewhere near Loreto in the distance, barely more than white specks bobbing up and down on the blue water. This was gorgeous.

As the sun set, I felt like a kid again playing naked on the beach building a circle out of these beautiful hard shells that formed perfect cones. I’d never seen anything like it but the beach was absolutely covered in them. When Dan came to sit with me, he went in the water to cool off then made fun of my beach art. Cleo was coaxed into the water with Dan, then we all sat on the beach. We had ourselves a rock skimming competition, in which I lost very poorly. When we got sick of that, we started trying to skim rocks with our left arms, finding ourselves in absolute fits of laughter that had Dan crying it was so bloody funny to watch and do. Perfect dirtbag entertainment.

As the sun dipped behind the mountains, Dan was on for a massage to relax his aching surf muscles so he set up a mattress on the sand, got the baby oil and lay down. This is something people would pay top dollar for – a private massage on a private beach. I admired the sunset as I worked on Dan’s back, thinking how lucky I am to be here. The sky was properly turning orange by the time I was done and the clouds were lighting up in pink. We lay on the mattress, just looking up at the sky, Dan noticing a ripple in the clouds, almost as if we were seeing the sky under a layer of water or through a heat wave. Either way, it was perfect.

The beach was too good for us to sleep in the van and it was a perfect temperature out so we set ourselves up to sleep on the beach. We put a couple of tarps and a mattress down and made the bed. Cleo was humbugging around wanting us to go to bed because she was scared of the dark. We did feel a little cautious about sleeping in the open, but putting Cleo’s bed next to ours made us feel better. Just as we were about to get into bed and spend a while star watching, Dan heard and only just saw the shadow of a boat crossing the water. It was almost fully dark by now so I really had to strain to see it when he pointed it out, but I could definitely hear it. He wasn’t far off shore and had no lights whatsoever. We thought that a bit dodgy and decided it was really sketch when he turned his motor off after passing us by. Our light in the van was on so he’d definitely seen us. I couldn’t see him in the dark, but Dan could still make out his shadow so kept a keen eye on him. I went back to the van and turned the light off and we both put some clothes on. Why would someone be out here in the middle of the night, no lights and turn their motor off?

We saw some lights come from the boat, the first a cell phone being moved around, then we saw him light a cigarette. We were feeling more and more uncomfortable as time went on, but we kept watching, not wanting to give up our beautiful spot. Another cigarette was lit but still no noise or lights. After what seemed like half an hour just standing there and watching, we heard the motor again. Great, maybe he was leaving, that would make us feel better. Instead, we saw that he was coming towards us and for just a few seconds, he turned a bright white light on and shined it directly at us. Not cool. I was ready to get out of there. Dan told me to get in the car and shut all the doors and I did so. I got in the driver’s seat and put the keys in the ignition, fearing the worst. Dan and Cleo stayed out to watch what the boat was doing. This was not a comfortable situation at all. Of all the scenarios we talked about, we couldn’t think of any friendly ones that made any sense. I heard the boat come ashore on the rocks and Dan must have seen it as well as heard it. I heard a voice and moments later, Dan had opened the rear door and threw our bedding inside, saying “let’s get out of here”. He quietly called to Cleo, collected the rest of our things and threw them in the car, then I sidled over to the passenger side as he got in the driver’s. All this we did as quietly as we could. I cringed when the car beeped as the driver’s door opened. Dan started the car, turned the lights on, had one last look out the window, then we drove away.

There’d been two men in the boat. Dan said he maybe would have confronted one guy, but when he saw two, he was happy to leave. He said that when he took that last look out the window, he heard someone walking through the bushes. I don’t think we had another moment to spare. I’m sure whoever it was did not have good intentions. We drove back out along the dirt road and onto the highway. We were quiet, going over the different scenarios in our head of what could have happened and glad that none of them did. We’d never driven at night before, but we were only 25 km out of Loreto, a town we were familiar with, and the highway though narrow, was a safe enough one to drive at night. It wasn’t a comfortable drive with both of us on edge, we were just keen to get to Loreto and camp in one of the safest cities we’d visited.

I gave Dan directions as we came into town and we stopped at a convenience store for some nerve-relaxing beers before heading down to the water where we’d heard you could park by the lighthouse without being disturbed. We found a carpark that had signs allowing 24 hour parking and stopped. It was Friday night in Loreto and people were cruising up and down the main street in their cars playing loud music. We didn’t care, we’d rather have loud music than be robbed or dead. Out of the car, we had a big hug and tried to calm down. We got on to remaking our bed after Dan had hurriedly shoved everything in. Partway through this process, a security guard came over and told us the carpark was closing, so we finished repacking then drove a little further down the road. We found sweet street parking a little further down, right by the beach complete with Tiki huts. Yes, this would do.

We sat outside on the brick wall at the back of the beach talking about the experience we’d just had. I didn’t stay out long, it was past 11pm and all that excitement had got me tired, so I crawled into the van and fell asleep almost instantly, despite the loud music that kept passing by. I hardly registered when Dan came into the van and climbed into bed beside me.