Kayaking the Vermilion Sea: Eight Hundred Miles Down the Baja

Those who criticize this book as too "whiny" might be the type of person that is turned off by books without a Disneyesque happy ending. This book does contain a lot of darkness and has a existentialist tone throughout. The final sentance (a lyric) is "Life is worth nothing." If you are not comfortable reading a book that delves into the darker realms of our existence then you might not like it. If however, you enjoy reading an author who is brilliant and able to bare their soul, you'll like this. The author is very knowledgeable about history, science, culture, etc... and I found his observations to be spot on. His politics are to the Left of course... How many environmentalists and anti-racists are Rightists? If you are demented enough to have voted for George Bush forget about this book.

It's very well written and full of interesting information. but it's one of these misanthropic ecology tracts. Much of what he says is well justified but, considered as entertainment, it was so full of grouching about the adverse effects of everything on the environment that it ended up with too many sour notes. I was struck by how close his moral attutudes were to those of the early missionaries he describes. He extols the virtues of mortifying the flesh, and relishes describing the hardships he has inflicted on himself. He keeps encountering residents who do not share his beliefs about how life should be lived. They commit such crimes as fishing and using toilet paper. They are not the original inhabitants of the country.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jonathan Waterman during his kayak trip in Baja and have found him to be as interesting in book form as in person. In Kayaking the Vermilion Sea Jonathan provides us with more than just an adventure into the rugged Baja Peninsula. He allows us to view the Sea of Cortez, the isolated villages, the Mexican people, and a beautiful, but oftern hostile, landscape in a way seldom experienced by the visitor. And he occasionally holds up a mirror for us to look into.

This surprisingly captivating book is not as much about kayaking as you might think. A select, but very useful, coverage of Baja's history, and observations on the current human culture and ecology, are continually mixed with philosophical thoughts on the human condition. I am not a kayaker but read the book essentially in one sitting. I'll be reading more of Waterman's work, hoping for the same spare but effective movement through interrelated and complex subjects.

Kayaking The Vermillion Sea, by John Waterman was my inspiration for a superb seakayaking holiday in Baja. During my solo trip I had some close encounters with whales, met some wonderful people(native and non-native), had some superb experiences and learnt a word of Spanish or two. Waterman's wonderful book should be on the "must read" list of every intending traveller to this remarkable part of the world. David Cregan Canberra Australia