We arrived at Los Cabos airport to so many people asking if we needed a taxi but those of us in our blue EPI shirts just sat waiting for our ride to La Paz. Once all 7 of us arrived we got in a van and headed to La Paz. We had to take the “curvy road” through the mountains and were greeted by forests of cacti a desert landscape and a clear sunset behind the mountains. Once we arrived at the EPI campus we had a quick meal and a debrief of what the three days ahead would look like. After closing our evening we headed off to the dorm for some rest before our adventures tomorrow began.

We woke up bright and early on Day 3 with a similar plan to Day 2, breakfast a little educational pedagogy talk and then off to snorkel. The most important thing about today was no sunscreen, even “reef safe” sunscreen could potentially damage the baby corals we would be working with and seeing today. We got to Efecto Arena’s dome and put on our student hats for a morning of learning and play. We got to learn about the anatomy of corals, the importance of corals in various ecosystems, how corals are being damaged and what’s being done to help them. 

Once we finished up, we got the chance to not only visit the coral nursery but plant a coral that would eventually be moved into that nursery. It was a very cold snorkel but worth it to both plant a coral and see the work that’s being done in this area to revive the reef. We packed up our gear and headed back to the EPI Campus first stopping at a bulk candy store to do a little shopping before a shower and a trip to town.

 After a short rest we got ready to head into town to do a little shopping and watch the sunset. There were some amazing statues and we were able to catch a beautiful sunset on the pier while watching pelicans dive for food. We stopped for a little gelato and headed back for dinner and our daily pedagogy discussion and debrief. 

We started day 4 with another presentation from a scientific partner, this time from ROC but on the animal tracking side. ROC works with volunteer citizens to help track wildlife and also catch and deter illegal fishers. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to control all the illegal fishing around Baja because it’s fairly unregulated. 

We took a quick walk with our gear over to meet our boat to head to San Rafaelito and snorkel with some sea lions. On the way there, we drove past a rock high above the water with the unmistakable smell of bird poop. This rock is home to hundreds of birds that use this rock as a vantage point to see over the ocean. When we made it to our first destination, San Rafaelito, we got out to snorkel with the sea lions that call the island home.  Most of them were in the water basking in the sun with one of their fins in the air, a few of them were swimming The reef below San Rafaelito is actually one of the reefs that Efecto Arena is working on restoring.  

After some snorkeling, we got back on the boat to head to a small quiet beach to have lunch and work on our lessons.  We did some exploring and found thousands of coral skeletons as well as bones, and even a turtle shell. We worked together to identify different parts of a 5E lesson and examples we have seen in the different activities we've done. After lunch, we explored the tide pools and found quite a few nudibranchs, sea stars, anemones, sea snails and even a few jellyfish.  It was a wonderful afternoon of lounging, learning, eating, and tide pooling. We were even to catch a couple humpback whales crest the surface! 

We headed back to the EPI campus to have our last discussion and to reflect on all we had seen and learned. We made time to share experiences and how we were going to use what we had learned to create engaging lessons for our students.