Julie C

Our family of 3 were in Loreto for a few days early May after a sea kayak trip and only had time to do one canyon hike. We tried several tour companies but they all required a minimum of 4 people and were not offering the hike we wanted being the end of the season. Until we stumbled on to Sea and Land Tours. Juvenal and Irene were super helpful and recommended Mesquite Canyon. We started at 6 am - a good call as it got very hot later in the day. Our guide, Luis, came ready with a delicious burrito lunch and we ate half of them for breakfast, which gave us lots of energy for the hike ahead. At times the rock was quite sheer and the rocks in the water slippery, but Luis took care to tell us where to step in the more difficult spots. Along the way Luis gave us great information about the plants and animal life around, and showed us puma tracks near the water. By the end of the hike we opted not to swim in the pool since we had gotten quite soaked wading through chest-high water already. Good thing, because Luis jumped up suddenly and said, “Puma.” We quickly gathered together about 100 feet away and the puma crossed the pool and hid in the trees up the slope. Luis thought the puma was waiting there for animals stopping to drink. It was huge and looked well fed. Luis told us pumas avoid humans and he sees 5 pumas out of the 100 or so hikes that he makes per season, so this was a rare occurrence. It was a surreal, once-in-a-lifetime experience. The owner, Juve, used to guide sea kayak tours like circumnavigating Carmen Island in 7 days. I would go with this tour company next time.