Leaving Dagget's Camp moving to Gonzaga Bay 12.13.21

 

     We were set to leave Daggett’s Camp at 9:00 am this morning but lots of events were to occur before we were on the road. At about 8:00 am Dave was out with Cleo as she was in the water at the edge of the beach doing her normal “fishing.” She dances on her long poodle legs, she is a Standard, and wags her tail furiously as she looks for the little fish who swim in schools at the most shallow parts of the bay. She pays no attention to other dogs, her only focus in her fishing. She has, at other beaches, caught fish 6 or 7 inches long, and deposits them on the beach for the stray beach dogs to eat. But this morning there were three other dogs on the beach, one we had seen the day before but the short legged pit bull was new. I assumed the third one belonged to someone walking the beach. They all seemed to be getting along but something did not seem right in the kind of stiff legged approach of the pitfall. Tucker started to move toward them to play and I called him back. He actually came! I didn’t notice Cleo out there at the time. It was later they came out of no where and two of them attacked her. Dave at least was close by and ran to knock them off of her. She is so gentle and surprised there was no fight. Cleo is 11 years old and had no chance. He kicked at the dogs who by now had Cleo down and had ripped the back her ear where it attaches to her head and punctured the top of her other ear. When Dave kicked the dogs, one grabbed his foot cutting the top with it’s top teeth and puncturing the bottom of his foot about 1/2 inch in the arch of his foot. He finally got them to leave and rushed Cleo to the safety of his trailer. She was bleeding and acted in shock. Dave said when she was about 1 year old she was attacked by three pit bulls and mauled. It took her about 3 years to have any confidence in other dogs and changed her through she survived. Dave has a sprained foot and some swelling that may need a doctor’s attendance. Cleo looks as though the ear, which was cut fairly deeply but they don”t think will cause lasting damage. On this beach we are probably 100 miles or more from any vet or doctor. 

     There is a “caretaker” here who judging by the looks of things does not do much caretaking. He had about 3 different stories. First the dogs are strays, he had never seen them before, next they must belong to a somebody around here, then he says he will go talk to said neighbor then roars off on his quad and returns in minutes saying the neighbor will kill the dogs. He had not idea if they were vaccinated. We had seen at least one of the dogs sleeping on his doorstep the day before so who knows what the truth is. 

     There was more interaction with the “caretaker” by our fisherman. They went to settle up their bill which was $100 a person plus $50 for bait. Daggett’s owned the boat and engaged the guide. The caretaker said they also need to pay for the rescue. What, Kirk, Euclid and Bill said. We are going to propose we pay you $75 instead of $100 as your boat broke down in the middle of the bay leaving us adrift. The fellow blew up and shouted like a child then don”t pay me anything. I was not there for the interchange but it got heated. The boat like the bathrooms, the promised water and dump where either none existent or unusable. The group did not want the guide who had done his job to go unpaid so they paid the $75 dollars and a good tip to him and told him to pay the caretaker what he thought the boat rental was worth. All this had occurred before the dog incident. 

As we checked in at the little store across the highway from the RV park, this monument to our Lady of Guadalupe greeted us. It was well attended and cared for. 

This was also in the entrance to the store as well as many Christmas decorations. It was an odd little place. 

     By 9:00 we gladly moved out caravan out. All of us going to recommend to Bajas Amigos they never return to this camp unless major improvements happen. We will never know the truth or the fate of the dogs and hope both Dave and Cleo are going to have no lasting effects. 

The drive was much more uneventful than our morning start. We are headed for Gonzaga Bay to Rancho Grande palapa #5 for the Tischers. A joy of our drive was discovering that Highway 5 as opposed to 1 has wide shoulders. Sweet shoulders we call them where you have room to move over when someone passes. We will will be driving Highway 5, completed in 2020 all the way to Mexicali. 

     We arrived about 1:30 pm to a bay with a battering wind of a least 25 knots with higher gusts. The park is a flat built up plain with huge palapas at each spot. They are wood walls in the back and sides, covered by palms fronds, and help up by a central pole and rafters. They open to the sea and protect from the continuous wind. All afternoon the wind continued gusting harder during the night with a short period of rain. There is no activity in the bay except a shrimp boat a way out. It is quite comfortable in the palapa protected from the wind and it is not cold. 

This was our palapa #5 which like everyone else's except ours had a special hole in the roof to "increase ventilation." The blue towel you see on the chair drying took a flying leap into the Sea of Cortez during the night and has not been seen since!

The walk on the beach also is protected by a wall which in places has almost disappeared under sand dunes. We could still walk along visiting with each other in our palapas. This afternoon is about naps, reading and beach walks. We are all trying to use up our food we brought along, especially the meat, in anticipation of the border crossing which is getting closer.