Seeing the lifestyle of the villagers was equally incredible.
PHOTO ANDY CHENGTwo days after rough sailing conditions, our sailboat entered Magdalena Bay, we anchored outside a tiny village called Man-o-War Cove. We spent the next morning repairing the boat while a trader from the village sold us water and fuel. He was extremely pleased with the “gifts” comprising of a couple of cigars and longneck beers. While those items were of low value to me, it was a treat to these villagers in comparison. Even though I couldn’t understand Spanish, I was captivated by the captain’s interactions with the man.
We spent the remainder of the day taking the sailboat deeper into the bay. After an adventurous afternoon of walking through a marshland, collecting sand dollars in a remote beachhead, and getting lost in a sand dune, we backtracked towards the mouth of the bay. During this time, a sea of clouds crawled above the nearby mountain range. It looked like an avalanche was in the process of engulfing the mountain. I had never seen anything like it.
The abandoned whaling harbor. PHOTO ANDY CHENGWe anchored next to an abandoned whaling harbor for the night. Because we were hundreds of miles away from any large civilization, the absence of light pollution made for perfect stargazing. The Milky Way band was clearly visible, and I spotted over ten meteors in an hour. I also saw many satellites for the first time; before then, I didn’t know that spotting them with the unaided eye was possible. Space and the ocean are amongst two of my biggest curiosities, and I couldn’t have been happier being immersed in both.
At five in the morning, we prepared to disembark from the bay. As I exited the cockpit to raise the anchors, I noticed several dozen lights in the water. I then discovered that the villagers set out early in the morning in small motorboats to catch lobsters. The captain informed me that each lobster was sold to large companies for an average of two cents per pound. It was quite disheartening hearing that the people were exploited for their cheap labor.
Man-o-War Cove. PHOTO ANDY CHENGThe sun rose shortly after exiting Magdalena Bay. It may be one thing watching a sunrise from inside a house or atop a hill. However, it’s a completely different feeling witnessing it in the ocean. With every passing minute, I could see how quickly the sun ascended relative to the same mountain range from the previous day.
I was humbled by these two days. From a sea of clouds crawling above a mountain range, to the Milky Way Galaxy and meteors, to a calm sunrise from the ocean, Mother Nature has a knack for being incredible. On the other hand, seeing the lifestyle of the villagers was equally incredible, albeit in a different sense. It’s these moments in time, away from home and in the middle of nowhere, where I realize just how fortunate I am to have traveled to these kinds of places and seen these kinds of things.
Sunrise. PHOTO ANDY CHENG