Mike, Carol, Grammy and I got up for an early morning hike up to Flattop, a beautiful rock formation overlooking this whole area. When we returned we decided to take the van and go looking for sea lions! We followed the only road that parallels the water to the south, and saw amazing views as the Sea of Cortez went in and out of sight. Mike had decided he'd rather be a passenger this day, so I had the pleasure of driving the 15 passenger van on the washboard Mexican roads...with 8 vocal passengers freely offering advice and concern with each passing kilometer.

We went through La Ribera again, made a quick stop at the tortillarilla and then proceeded to Cabo Pulmo, about an hour away. Eventually, we found Cabo Pulmo, an amazing stretch of beach with a surfer town flare. I went down to the beach and found a guy with a boat. I asked him what he would charge to take us to the sea lions and eventually negotiated a deal that included 9 life jackets and a visit to a secluded beach. He found 2 kid-sized life jackets, but the rest were medium and didn't quite stretch across Grampy's shoulders. We weren't quite sure how the boat was going to get in the water, but followed the instructions of Kiki, our captain. We each climbed aboard the boat as it sat on the shore. Soon we saw this yellow truck appear over the crest of the shore and descend toward us. Curious, we thought. Notice the flat plate on the bumper. Oh, this is the nudge boat - he's going to nudge us into the water. So, he gave us a little force, a little more...the boat wasn't moving and his tires spun in the sand. He tried again, again, but no luck. Then he backed up. Curious. Kiki told us to hold on, which we all did without question. The yellow truck driver gained speed and CRASHED into us! Yes, we moved. So did the fiberglass corner of the boat as it fell toward the sand. We were a little startled, but now in the water.

After a short boat ride we found ourselves beside a large rock filled with barking sea lions. Carol and I jumped in with our snorkeling gear, then I took Kenzie and Mason each for a swim. The sea lions were amazing and undeterred by us turistos swimming in their living room. Kenzie still wasn't feeling well, but let me hold onto her in the water for a while before asking to go back to the boat. Mason, on the other hand, did not want to return. "No back boat, no back boat!!"

We then went to a remote beach with white sand and incredible snorkeling. We saw huge parrot fish, needlenose thingies, starfish, angel fish, and other things we can't quite identify.

Then on the way back we stopped at La Ribera again and drove past a sign that said "Farmacia." Because this was Kenzie's third day with a cough and she seemed to be getting worse we decided to stop. We went inside and had to knock on the house that was connected to find anyone. A woman, presumably the doctor's wife, opened the door and escorted us to the waiting area. I think the doctor had to go change into fresh scrubs (they were neatly pressed). He was the nicest man and was very thorough with Kenzie. She has an infection of some sort in her throat, so he gave her some medicine after spending some time with us. Two prescriptions plus the office visit was $70.

On the way home we stopped at a roadside stand for the shrimp that Mike's been coveting. We came home just in time for Noe to arrive to cook dinner. I don't think she was too happy with us that we bought our own shrimp because she's been excited all week about tonight's dinner: shrimp soup. She found our little shrimp in the sink and has been asking me all sorts of questions about them, then telling me why they're not as good as the ones she bought. Plus she bought exactly 70 for us, 10 per adult. She was definitely upset, then we gave them to her and all is well.