The past several days were filled with strange weather. But the weather in Bahia de Los Angeles has always been unpredictable. Winds shifted from north to south and then a hot west wind blew in off the desert and heated everything up, sent things blowing and shutters slamming shut. But that goes with the territory.

Out our east-facing windows at this moment, 5:30 in the evening in mid-October, the sun is setting to the west over tall mountains and throwing crawling shadows across Punta Roja across the south-east end of the bay. Cumulous clouds are scattered here and there interfering with the work of our sun just for fun. The weather is pretty much back to normal.

The other night I heard a whale blow and hurried to the balcony to see him. They often come here and I have no idea why but they do. Bait I would guess, to fill their bellies if that's what they're called. Standing on the rail I heard another blow but it was dark and I had no hope of spotting him.

I went to bed.

During the night I was hearing or dreaming of the whale's blow I had heard. I wanted only to spot him and be rewarded. But for days I looked and never saw him.

On a calm morning later I was standing at the rail again and looking for whales. A pod of dolphins passed by in search of tiny fish; but no whale. Then the wind came up just a bit. In the morning light I was seeing the suns reflections onto the small waves that scrolled along the small sandy cove to our south. The sounds of the breakers gently falling on the sand made a sound very much like a whale blowing. What I had thought was a whale was simply sea and sand working in a unique configuration to fool me. Fool me? I think not. Humanity has such a small impact in the universal view of things that no one even knew I was here.

This morning there actually was a whale that passed by, a couple of hundred yards off shore.

Some things are worth waiting for.