Slow Baja - Sean Jansen Paddling With Porpoise A 1,000-Mile Stand-up Paddle Journey Down Baja

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Sean Jansen spent the first 25 years of his life in Southern California. Growing up as a surfer, he endeavored to spend every waking minute in the ocean. By 26, he had travelled to 26 countries and lived internationally in both China and Colombia. Upon returning to the US, Sean moved to Montana, where he guides clients in Yellowstone National Park and writes about the great outdoors. In this conversation, we focus on his passion to raise awareness of the plight of the highly endangered Vaquita Porpoise through his 1000-mile stand-up paddleboard expedition down the length of the Gulf of California. Jansen survived the perilous journey with the help of Slow Baja Alums, Michael Younghusband and Graham Mackintosh. He’s written a beautiful account of the voyage titled, Paddling With Porpoise, which is available on Amazon. After more than a year in the works, I am delighted to share this conversation about Jansen’s journey through recovery, discovery, and conservation, paddling down the second-longest peninsula on the planet.100% of the proceeds from this book will be donated to conservation.Learn more about Sean Jansen here:https://www.jansenjournals.com/Follow Sean on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/jansen_journals/Mentioned in this episode: Slow Baja Vintage Expedition:https://www.slowbaja.com/adventures/slow-baja-vintage-expedition-1Buy Baja Bound Insurance here:https://www.bajabound.com/quote/?r=fl9vypdv2t

Have you ever had a show that you forgot to record? Not as far as you know. Okay. Maybe. I'm starting to like your sense of humor there, Michael. Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza,

handmade in small batches, and hands down, my favorite tequila. Well, if you've been listening to me for a while, You know, I'm an absolute minimalist when it comes to Baja travel. But the one thing I never leave home without is a good old paper map. And my favorite is the beautiful. And I mean beautiful Baja Road and Recreation Atlas by benchmark maps. It's an oversized 72-page book jam-packed with details.

And now you can get it from me at slowbaha.com. That's right. You can get it in the Slow Baja shop. and in fact, you better get two, one for your trip planning at home and one for your Baja rig. And if you love maps and you can't get enough of them like me, let me tell you about two sites I am absolutely obsessed with.

Eastview MapLink and LongitudeMaps.com, whatever you're looking for in Maps, it's there. From the entire benchmark collection to Baja Wall Maps to custom maps, you'll find it all at LongitudeMaps.com or EV. maplink.com. You know I've long said it, ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. Well, if you've been hankering to get down to Slow Baja with me, you've got to check out the Adventures tab at Slowbaha.com.

All my trips are there, from my famed fall vintage extravaganza to my winter and summer expeditions, which are open to trucks of any age. You know, on a Slow Baja expedition, your meals are always included, which really does take the sting out of camping. And when we get off the trail, let me tell you, we have the happiest of happy hours. If good dirt roads, private campsites,

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And folks, just so you know, I am always here for you for your Baja trip planning questions. One question, 100 questions. The easy way to get me is slowbaha.com slash contact. And if you'd like to go to Baja and you don't want to go by yourself, you don't have a vintage vehicle, my winter trip doesn't work out for you, I am happy to talk to you about organizing and leading a private guided tour. I've done it. I've loved it. The pictures are over there at slowbaha.com slash adventures.

And you can check them out. And if you've got some questions, let's talk. from the shield man recording booth at slow bahaw studios thanks for tuning in to today's slow bahaw podcast my heaping dose of gratitude goes out to sal fish that's right you just heard a podcast with sal and i cannot believe that at 85 years old he is going to spend a week camping with me on the slow bahaw vintage so sal can't wait to show you show you and share slow Baja with you. And I can't believe you're coming.

Okay, today's show is with Sean Jansen. Now, Sean has written an amazing book and has pulled off an amazing feat of endurance. What we talk about today in the podcast is Sean's 1,000-mile stand-up paddleboard journey down the coast of the Baja Peninsula on the Gulf of California, the Sea of Cortez, if you will. It's truly an amazing story, and Sean gets right into his battle with alcoholism and his recovery and what this voyage put him through mentally, physically, all that. So without further ado, Sean Jansen paddling with Porpoise today on the Slow Baja podcast. Hey, Sean, welcome to Slow Baja. Thanks, Michael.

Appreciate it. It's pleasure to be here. We are at the OCC Orange Coast College Crew Boathouse on PCH in Newport. Thanks, shout out to Cam and Big Steve and Little Steve for opening the boat base. We can get this nice background, and then when it starts pouring in about 10 minutes, we'll be in shelter. We're in Southern California. Yeah, with an atmospheric river. Yeah, atmospheric river yesterday.

30-mile-an-hour wind sheeting rain across my truck. and my phone let me know that moisture had been detected. Yes, it had. Got to love technology. Hey, enough about that BS. Sean, man, alive, it's been like a year that I've been trying to sit down with you in person. Our journey has been kind of a comedic one, honestly, because you and I have had multiple phone conversations leading up to us sitting down.

And I was thinking about it on the drive here, it's like every phone call we've had has been an hour to too long. Like we've had our own podcast without even recording. That's the problem. I hope you have some things to remember. Yeah, hopefully we didn't spoil it. But you're here because you had an epic, epic solo journey expedition. I don't know how you frame it in your mind,

but a thousand miles on a stand-up paddleboard down the sea of Cortez, I mean, it's kind of, I hate to say, you probably got from many folks, you know, the old, it won't work, we're all going to die. Like, you're going to get eaten by a shark, you're going to get marooned, you're going to die, you're going to, you know, all this stuff. You did it, though. Well, that stuff fuels me. You know how many times I've heard, like, I can't do something or it's impossible?

Like, that literally is jet fuel to me. I heard it when I was a kid with my parents, and now I'm 36, and I heard it with this paddle trip. And honestly, the most doubt I received was from myself. You know, honest, that's where most of the question marks came up. And I was lucky in that I've had 20 years of Baja experience under my belt, so I'm familiar with the peninsula as far as drivable terrain. and the coastlines, but as far as the sea goes, it was a giant question mark. And so there was the bittersweet, you know, it was the yin and yang of, yeah, you can't do it or the curiosity side as well, though.

Like, I was obviously fascinated by it. You were calling attention to the plight of the Vakita porpoise, which is a truly tragic story. And that was your driving force, if I'm not mistaken. It was, I'm not going to. sit here and lie to you, of course, a big part of the trip was selfishly I wanted to do it. You know, I wanted to paddle the Sea of Cortez. To my knowledge, I know people that have kayaked the Sea of Cortez, but no one has ever stand up paddled the whole coastline. So on a selfish level, of course, I wanted to paddle it, I wanted to camp on these beautiful beaches.

I wanted to take pictures. I wanted to write stories, but I'd say 90 plus percent of my trip was dedicated for the Bekita Porpoise. Obviously the biggest hurdle in this is putting whatever you were doing in your life on hold to make this journey. And then the mental side of tackling it, researching it, figuring it out to the best of your ability. And I don't know if you can even figure that stuff out until you really get after it and get going. Yeah. So how much paddle boarding had you done before this? I don't want to say a ton, but I wasn't. it wasn't my first rodeo for sure. Like I grew up in San Clemente, California, so I grew up as a surfer,

diehard surfer. I was in the ocean two to three times a day before school after school. And then as a senior in high school, my next door neighbor started stand-up paddling. And at the time, it was a brand new sport, at least in Southern California. And I was so fascinated by it. But then I bought one like a year later, and I started doing it. And then, you know, literally almost 15 years later, I'd do this trip. So it wasn't a super foreign concept, and I did do one expedition up in Montana, where I currently live in Yellowstone National Park, circumnavigating a lake that has 147 miles of shoreline. Okay. So that was like, that was the appetizer for this meal of the Baja thing, was I got my feet wet doing that,

packing on camping gear on top of a paddleboard and going into Crisly Bear territory and camping for the night. So that's where I got my feet wet with expedition stand-up paddleboarding. And then there's a lot more of the story building up to the Baja trip, like metaphorically in a way, like I needed to do it. I had so much, so much fog in my brain and my heart wasn't in the right place with where in that particular direction I was going with my life, that the Sia-Cortez paddle trip was like an escape for me to go. And I don't want to say find myself. I think that's such a cliche, weird thing. but you could arguably say in a way I needed to do it for that reason. But by no means, standup paddling wasn't a super foreign concept,

let alone the ocean is not a foreign concept. You know, I've been very familiar with reading the ocean. Yeah, but Sea Cortez. You can't predict. That ocean, that wind comes up, you know, in a second. I have never been so humbled in my life. The Sea Cortez, that is the most fierce sea I've ever been in. Wow.

I've been, I don't want to gloat, but I've surfed decently large waves in the sea. Thea Cortez has never made me tremble like that before. It was unbelievable. Like absolutely horrifying those windstorms. Well, let's just jump into it. Tell us where you put in. I'm assuming north end of the Bay Rio Hardy somewhere up there. Let's just break it down for me.

Yeah. So, it's a 104 miles. It's a 100.50 exactly. Like I had a GPS watch, so I clocked to the 100th of a mile. But I literally started in San Felipe up near the Colorado River, up in the upper part of the Gulf of California. And the reason I started there and not, you know, Puerto Paniasco across the Bay or anything like that was just logistically, this trip was kind of a nightmare in order for me to get

my stuff down there, do a one-way trip and then find a way home. You know, so, and I don't know, yeah, we're going to probably break a few things down because this trip was hell on earth in a way. But yeah, I started in San Felipe and I basically, the end goal was Cabos and Lucas, you know. I kind of ballparked it to be 900 to 1,000 miles, and it turned out to be just over 1,000 to get there. I didn't skip any bays. I didn't skip ahead.

I didn't miss a single quarter mile less than that of coastline. I wanted to see every ounce of it. But I also didn't go very far out to sea. I think the farthest ever went out was 100 yards. So let's talk about that for a little bit. How do you prepare? I mean, did you read Graham's book about that? I mean, because there are some stretches of that coastline, which,

just very inaccessible cliffs right down to the sea, can't get around. What sort of research were you able to do about what you were going to face? And how detailed did you have your plan to put in how many miles you had to make each day, et cetera, et cetera? So the process of planning, it was more mental. So I'm very fortunate in my life that I have quite a bit of experience in the outdoor space. Like I, in 2015, I backpacked the entire Pacific Crest Trail, which is California, Oregon, and Washington six months. So I was very familiar with camping gear, how to pack.

So, like, I had that in my repertoire even before I started this paddle trip. And then with my other stand-up paddle trips I did in Yellowstone National Park, I had that expertise of knowing how to pack in a dry bag, how to strap stuff down, how to deal with wind. Because when you're a stand-up paddler in wind, your body is a sail. So depending on which direction the wind's blowing, you could either be screwed or you're stoked. And so I kind of knew I didn't have to research a ton about gear. I knew exactly what I wanted, how I was able to do it. I'd say the biggest gear question mark, though, was my portable desalinator. And as you mentioned with Graham, you know, Graham, I did read his book beforehand.

And I actually got to, I didn't, I haven't physically met Graham. I've actually had conversations with him on the phone. But, you know, he talked about needing a portable desalinator, which is essentially a device that turns sea water into fresh water. Because as anyone that listens to this podcast or knows anything about Baja, there are very little fresh waters along that peninsula. So it's not like I can pull up to a river and pump normal water. So that was a big deal. So my biggest worry with planning for this trip was not food, was not weather, was not animals, was not the locals, it was water, learning where I can get fresh water, how I can pump it. And then, you know, there was one section I was

carrying nine gallons of fresh water on my board. So that's a lot of weight. Is it eight pounds a gallon? Yeah, about that six. So 70 to 80 pounds of water alone. And I'm not a small dude. I'm, I'm 200 pounds as it is. So I'd say the second most technical thing I had to focus on was my board. I had to have a board that was literally a metaphorical tank. It could carry anything. And this board that I found can carry 500 pounds. So it worked out really well with that regard because I was a mouthful. I had a dry bag in front of me, a dry bag behind me. I had nine gallons of water. You know, people were, I would paddle up to destinations,

and people were like, what the hell are you doing? So it was really cool in that regard. And like I said, this trip, I really didn't want it to be about me. I was trying to raise awareness for the Vakita. I was just using my skill set in the outdoor space to try to promote that, because this purpose is going to go extinct before most people even know about it. So that was the whole goal, the project. And dare I say, with this method,

of doing it, I struck a chord with some people. Like, I feel, I can actually go to bed at night knowing that I think I did teach quite a few people about this. And I really hope that maybe they were inspired to do something, donate money to causes, or dare I say, do something on their own. You know, that was the whole point. And so, but I think the biggest hurdle was, it was mental. Like, I knew Baja really well.

I had 17 years of experience before I even started the trip. So it wasn't, it wasn't a foreign alien environment. It was, it's been my backyards in, I was literally 17, so I'm very familiar with it. But get back to some actual real detail details about did you know, did you have the coastline map? Were you checking Google Earth? Mike Young Husband, I know as a pal of yours. I mean, what did you actually know before you started out?

I guess in that respect, I didn't know a ton. So what I did is, you know, there isn't a map out there that would describe what I needed. and what I needed was I needed to know where there was sand. Yeah, where you can land. 90% of Baja is not beautiful sandy beaches. These are rocky, cliffy, gnarly sections of coasts. So what I did do, and forgive me for not answering this earlier, was I did, I would scroll into Google Earth to 20-mile sections of coastline and literally print out those pages.

And I would mark X's on the Google Maps, like, where a beach was. So I knew, it's like, oh, around this headline, there is a nice beach over there. Because I wasn't going completely blind down the coast. And I have nothing against any of the epic Baja maps out there. They're just not designed bethmetry-wise to do what I needed them to do. And there's a part of me that wants to maybe explore that further and create a map. But the point being is I did waste a lot of paper, a lot of ink, and I had to do it for my own well-being.

This could have been a deadly scenario if I didn't know where I was going, where I was going to end up that night. And as we've already discussed, the winds can come out of nowhere. So I always knew there was a beach right there. There's a beach this way. Or sometimes I knew it was 15 miles until the next beach. Yeah, that's what I was getting to. Just south of Gonzaga Bay, there's an area called the wall, and it is exactly what it sounds like.

It is cliffs for 60 miles. Right. So it was hell and horrifying. So I needed to know going into that. It's like, okay, you need a perfect forecast before I decide to tackle a coastline like that. And what would you say your capacity is under ideal circumstances, How many miles can you make in a day? So if you've got a 60-mile stretch of cliff front to paddle past, how do you tackle that?

Well, like this whole trip, I didn't think about, you know, the angle in my head. Funny enough, I should say this, when I started, I was like, okay, if I average 20 miles a day, I could finish in 45 days. That is some really dumb thinking. I could tell you that much right now. Baja backhanded me so fast with that regard. It was hysterical. But the point being, though, is like 20 miles. was always the goal every day. It was very doable. There were days where I would, my routine was I'd

wake up very early. I'd literally start paddling before the sun came up. I could literally hit 20 miles if the stars aligned by noon, you know, but 20 miles is exhausting. It is brutal, you know, and my longest day was just shy of a marathon. So 25.8, I think, was my very longest day. I always try to see if I can do 30, and I think logistically I could have, but I didn't want to. There were so many beautiful beaches. I wanted to just stop and frolic on the beach but naked and just enjoy it because there's no one around. 90% of my trip was in wilderness. You know, so it was just 20 miles was always the goal, but when I did the math at the end of the trip, I average 14.7. Well, if you'd like to average 14.7 miles down the coastline, you're going to need some insurance.

We're going to take a quick break here for a word from Baja Bound. We'll be right back with Sean Jansen on Slow Baja talking about the Vakita. Love Baja Baja Baja. Here it's Little Baja, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at BajaBound.com. That's Bajaubound.com, serving Mexico travelers since 1994.

A big thanks to those of you who've contributed to our Baja Baseball Project. You know, we launched our gear deliveries on my winter expedition. Michael and Matthew from Barbers for Baja were along for the ride, and we got to deliver that critically needed baseball gear up and down the peninsula. It was really, truly amazing. And on my last trip, I got to go to the state baseball championships and see some of our alums playing, some recipients of the Baja Baseball Gear deliveries.

And congratulations to Guerrera Negro and Mule Ha, the Austenaros and the Cardinalitos won silver and bronze at the state. championships, big stuff. It's really fun to be there and fun to see them. All right, well, please help us continue this vital work. Make your tax deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja. Click, barbers for Baja.org, click the Baseball and Baja link, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It is so amazingly gratifying to be able to give these kids this chance to keep playing this sport. Keep them on the field. Keep them out of trouble. Please check it out. Baseball in Baja link at barbers for Baja.org. Thank you.

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and for my sweeps radio, the Donovan Brothers. We were never out of contact. I can't say it strongly enough. Rocky Talki Radio's Rocky Talki.com. Check them out. Slow Baja approved. Hey, we're back with Sean Jansen. Paddling with Porpoise is the name of the book.

available on Amazon. There will be a link in the show notes. And Sean, I think it's the time of the show where I'm around his second base here. We need to hear a little bit about the juicy stuff. The gnarly. Yeah, so the winds.

The winds are just, they're so diabolical. It's really funny. Like, I had the windy app. There's two other apps that I use, but like I didn't have cell phone service. So a lot of it was just reading Braille going down the coast and hoping for the best. I did have one of those Garmin and Reach minis

minis. like a two-day forecast, but you don't trust it. You know, you just wake up early and hope for the best. But the wins, I can't. Can we talk about that wake-up early part? Sure. You're up early. You meditate.

On purpose. You get your stuff together. You write, you meditate, and then you're going to tackle the day with a clean mind cup of coffee and off you go, right? Yeah. So, you know, a big part of my story is I'm in recovery from alcoholism. And this October will be five years. But the reason I bring that up is because I did have a very dead.

I would wake up at 4 a.m. in the pitch black because one thing I will never probably quit in my life and one thing I absolutely valued on my trip was coffee. I'm a huge coffee. And I don't like to rush it. I like to enjoy my coffee. So I'd wake up at 4, enjoy a cup of coffee and one of the most underrated, and you could probably attest to this too, underrated features of a Baja trip is the night sky. Yeah, stunning. The desert sky is unbelievable. So that was my routine. I'd wake up in the morning and I would look for sure. shooting stars and then I would know I'd have a good day if I saw shooting stars, which is almost guaranteed. But believe it or not, I did not see some shooting stars some mornings. And those were like some of the worst days of paddling I had on the entire trip. So I don't even know how to explain that. I'm not that spiritual of a person, but that was part of it. But then, yeah, the big part of waking up early too, though, was I'd meditate, coffee, star time. And then getting started early, the winds are typically calm in the morning, at least until 10 or 11 in the

morning. So I would always rush out of camp once everything's packed, get onto the water and try to crush as many miles as I could. And then anything after 11 or noon maybe is bonus time, you know. And but like I would try the night before. I'd look at those Google maps and printouts that I'd have and see like where the next potential beaches were and stuff like that. And very rarely did I get shut down before 10 miles. But like sometimes I got shut down right at 10 and I was like, okay, I guess I did 10 today, you know, kind of thing. But I'll do that, but then the winds. The winds would always, oh my God, I actually have nightmares every now.

I can't understate how brutal these winds are. And they're called El Norte, which is just simply the north. And these winds, they funnel down from the four corners region of the United States, and they enter through the Colorado River Delta, hit the Sea of Cortez, and they do nothing but gain strength while they rush due south to the Pacific Ocean. And you talk to any sailor, any fishermen, they all know what these winds are. and yeah, I capsize once. They're just, I don't even know how to explain them.

They're diabolical. So that was an everyday fear. So the only way you can really do this is north to south. You really can't paddle south to north against these winds. Well, there's seasons for these winds. Okay. Absolutely. So like in theory, I've never heard of anyone paddling north that I know of, even in a kayak.

But like starting this time of year, like around April or May, there's the switch. There's southern winds that go up. see a Cortez. So I can see it be impossible, and I know that through my project I've been reached out to by a couple other paddler enthusiasts, and one guide from England, I forget his name, but he does want to do it south and north. So I'm curious to see how that goes. But the winds, I can't, again, I can't say enough. I've never had it before where I'm paddling on sheet glass, sheet glass water. I could see my reflection, but right behind me, there is a sea of white caps marching at me. Like growing up here in Southern California, when it

calls for wind, it's very gentle. It starts at five, then it blows 10, and then it blows 20. I've never seen it where you can see your reflection and then look behind you and see a wall of white caps coming at you. And I actually got a little flack on some of the social media feeds were describing this event because people called BS when I described it. I'm like, I have 30 years experience on the ocean. I know exactly what I saw.

And I don't know if that was a one-hit wonder, but I, ever since that moment, that fear was every single day. You know, trying to beat the winds into the beach. Just on my trip last week, I pre-ran it. The first week came back the second week. But we finished at Bahaia de Los Viantos, and the wind was howling when I went through the week before. I'm like, well, this is really going to stink.

At least they have windows on the restaurant because the wind was howling. I don't know, 30, 40 miles an hour at least. White caps. Diabolical. Two to three feet in the bay. And then the next week we get there, and the wind's probably 10 miles an hour. There are no white caps on the water at all. Still felt windy, but it wasn't...

Completely different day. It wasn't going to threaten your life. And certainly if you're a paddleboarder or a kayaker, that kind of stuff really can change your life. It's arguably the most important thing. In the northern part of the Gulf, I had to deal with some pretty extreme tides. The tidal swings up in San Felipe are some of the biggest in the world. Exactly.

So I had to time the tides and be smart with that. So at the beginning part of the trip, there was nothing but speed bumps for a little bit, learning what I could do, learning about the fears. And I'm very comfortable in Baja. I think the local Mexicans there are some of the most kind, gentle, amazing humans ever. So I had no fear with them whatsoever. I did have one very unique encounter with a Mexican man down in La Paz, and it's probably not what people think I actually got hit on. Very aggressively, though. And hopefully people will read about that.

I think it's kind of funny. You're a handsome guy. I don't take offense to it at all, but I thought that was a very, very bizarre, and it rattled me a little bit. But to stay on the topic of fears, I had one shark encounter with a bull shark that kind of came out of nowhere. And, you know, it came out at torpedo speed. And within six inches of hitting my board, it actually turned away and disappeared into the blue. And I still think about it even to this day because I don't understand why it didn't just ram my board as hard as it wanted to. I've seen plenty of videos of bull sharks hitting kayakers for no reason whatsoever.

And, you know, bull sharks, I think, if I'm not mistaken, they have the highest testosterone rate out of any shark species. So they're so full of piss and vinegar compared to other shark species. Yeah, they're the dangerous ones. They cut them open and, you know, they have license plates in their stomach. They eat anything. Yeah, they're the dangerous ones for sure. They're the most dangerous ones, yeah. So I had one of those encounters that I don't think that was my scariest encounter of the trip, though.

The scariest thing that I had encountered. was I had an earthquake hit at 3 o'clock in the morning. And I didn't know what to do because I'm laying there in my tent. I'm passed out and this earthquake hit. And literally I'm bouncing up and down. Like it was a very, very strong earthquake. And I'm on a beach. Like, I don't know if tsunamis hit in Sierra Cortez, but like.

You're Californian so you know what an earthquake is. I know exactly what these things do. Yeah. And so, but I didn't know what to do. I'm in the middle of nowhere. There's nowhere. No one to help me. There's no high ground nearby.

Like I was just like, okay, this is going to sound really strange, but the only thing I knew with tsunamis is you run to the coastline, actually. You don't run inland yet. And before a tsunami hits, the water recedes, like it's tied. And so I would turn my high beam on as high as it could possibly go and wait for that water to recede.

It never did, luckily. But if I knew that thing was receding, it's like, okay, you have 30 seconds. Like, you better start running kind of thing. So that was literally what I did. And that was probably my scariest encounter, because I was, no pun intended, I was literally rattled. Yeah, for sure.

Fully, I've experienced dozens of earthquakes in my life, but to have one in the middle of nowhere. And when I eventually texted my friend Jackie through the Garmin, she went on the tsunami government website. She found out exactly where the earthquake was. It was 30 miles for me. And it was a 6.2. Wow. Like, not a small earthquake in any way, shape, or form. And in all the years, I've experienced Baja, I've never had an earthquake down there.

So that was, you know, that was probably my skisks. encounter just because I did I literally didn't know what to do the shark thing I kind of mentally prepared for seeing wildlife and having an encounter I'm very grateful that bull shark didn't do what it wanted to do because it came at me at torpedo speed like it was predatory speed yeah at what what part of the peninsula were you on or what part of the sea of Cortez were you on for the shark encounter yeah that was down in Cabo Polmo okay so way down almost to the tip and what is ironic about that is I was in a marine protected area and that is one of four sharks encounters I had the entire trip.

Two of them were on that day. So this is me praising this, by the way. I'm not anti-shark. No, I mean, I was just thinking, well, it's great to hear that there are actually some sharks still in the sea of porteds. You know, I actually saw more dead ones on this trip than I did live ones, unfortunately. I hate to say that. You know, I hate to say that. But my early trips to San Felipe and whatnot, yeah, there's a lot of sharks.

A lot of hammerhead shark killings. Yeah, a lot of things getting harvested there that go into our fish tacos or whatever. 100%. And my conversation with Ginny Callahan, legendary kayaker. I said, do you have fears about sharks? And she said, eh, I hate to say it, but, you know, they've been kind of fished out. But I'm glad to hear that in marine sanctuaries that you actually saw them. Yeah.

And they didn't eat you. They didn't eat me. And like I said, I'm praising this. Marine protected areas, we need them. And Cabo Polmo is one of those really special places that have completely turned their ethos around. You know, that was a village that, to my understanding, was overfished. And the local fishermen were like, no. And they stopped it.

No more fishing's allowed within the park boundary. And now I think they make more money on scuba diving too much. They absolutely must. It's incredible. Yeah. Hey, so let's get back to the porpoise part of the trip. Vakita, it's a really tough story. It's a very tragic story, and it's one that's going to disappear before we can even learn more about them.

Can you give us a background, the Slow Baja audience who may not know why the Vakita are in danger? Can you dive into, is it Tuaba? Totawa. Totawa. Can you dive into that a little bit? Of course. And break down what the threats are and what the threats were to you telling this story. Because there's some tension points.

You weren't exactly telling people where you were. Not at all. When you were in the Vakita grounds because you were worried. Worried is an understatement. Yeah. Well, exactly. So, and the main reason behind the fear with that is, you know, the Vakita, there's 10 left.

They're arguably on the verge of extinction. They are the most endangered marine mammal on the planet. And they only live in the upper part of the Sierra Cortez, hence right off the coast of San Felipe is where they typically live. And the reason that they are going extinct is because they're caught in nets as bycatch. Bycatch, meaning they're not intended. The nets are not intended to catch these creatures. They are caught on accident.

What these nets are intended for are what you mentioned, the Totoab. which is this giant sea bass-like creature. And the reason that the fishermen are targeting these fish is because their swim bladder is worth $10,000 a kilo on the black market to China for medicinal purposes. The kicker, the totoaba has been illegal to fish for in Mexican waters since the 70s, if I'm not mistaken. Now, the biggest part of this whole story is these aren't normal fishermen

targeting these totoawaba. The cartel is tariff. targeting these totawabit. And the fish has been jokingly called the cocaine of the sea because literally one fish could be worth $10,000. So that is the main culprit for why the Vakita are going extinct. They're caught as bycatch in these nets that are illegal for both the Vakita and the Toto Waba. And to my knowledge since the 1950s is when the Vakita was first discovered brand new to science. And they've literally been doing nothing but, you know, plummeting. Now the reason that the Chinese are involved with cartel in the Upper Gulf is because the Chinese had a native fish off their local waters in China called the Bahaba, which is almost identical to the Totoaba. Like same sea bass family, whole nine yards,

but, you know, they've literally overfished that fish to near extinction. So now they're here in, not here, but, you know, in the upper Gulf of the Sea of Cortez. And so it's still a very controversial, and there are plenty of organizations fighting it, you know, and just recently since I finished my trip, the Vakita are now not declining. They have plateaued. They discovered a mother with a calf. They've discovered a two other. So when I first started my trip, it was six to eight individuals.

Now there's roughly 12 to 15. So we'll see. And they monitor these creatures by acoustics. So they drop these little things called sea pods in the water, and they're basically just enhanced microphones. And they can, like a fingerprint for us, they could tell their unique clicks apart from each other. So they know how many individuals they are.

There are. So the story is definitely not, you know, the book's not closed on them. There's still tons of hope, and I wouldn't have even done this trip if it wasn't, if I didn't think that there was still hope. And to be honest, I wouldn't have done this trip if I couldn't have raised awareness for an endangered sea creature. And if it wasn't for the Vakita, I would have done it for the sea turtles. Because six out of the seven species of sea turtle live in the Sea of Cortez, and all seven of them are threatened.

So, Sean, get back to the concerns, the fear, the real threats to me personally. Yeah, to what you were doing while you were there. Can you break that down or unpack that a little bit? Yeah, so. Harry. What's that? Who's a little Harry?

Harry is another understatement for it. I partnered with an organization called Earth League International, and I'll go into them in a little bit. I'll answer this question first. Is, yeah, fear for my life was, actually real. I was not posting to social media. I was not telling a lot of people what I was doing for that first month I was on the trip because in that upper part of the Gulf, it's so interconnected with people in grocery stores and restaurants. Like everyone has a family member or is a member

themselves of the cartel. And funny enough, what I tried to do with this project too is I don't want cartel to be a bad word. These are human beings. They have their own worries. I do disagree with their ethics. They're doing something illegal, but we don't know what, you know, some of them could be held against their will. We don't know that story. And cartels are part of Baja, whether you like it or not. So, but the reason being, though, is should one of these members get wind of me raising awareness and trying to pinpoint what they're doing and spreading it globally, like, they could have had every opportunity to get rid of me at any time, you know, so I try to keep it as quiet as I could until I literally got into the southern parts of Baja. It wasn't until,

Loretto, which is the bottom third of the trip that I posted on the famous Facebook page, Talk Baja. I didn't want to. You know, I was genuinely worried about my health. Nobody wants to post on Talk Baja. No one. Yeah, it's not that popular. Yeah.

You know, Ron Hoff, I don't know what you're doing with that thing. Shout out. Talk Baja. Well, I mean, I have to thank him a little bit. The only reason I'm sitting next to you is because of Talk Baja. So, you know, I'm very grateful for it. But the point being is, like, I was not going to post on there when I was in San Felipe, when I was in the Bay of L.A.

There was no way because it was too interconnected and one fisherman gets word of that and I'm in trouble kind of thing. And out of respect, I'm not pinpointing the cartel for anything. It was just more, I didn't want to ruffle too many feathers when I'm in someone's backyard. Yeah, and it's real. And that's honest and real. And it could have just gotten down to that. So you got down to Loretto. You saw your old friend Mike Young husband, Slobaha alum.

He walked the peninsula and did a book about it. Graham helped him. You sure did, yeah. Remarkable story. You decided you needed to take a break. Was that right? Yeah, so my Baja paddle trip was not one go. I wanted it to be, but Baja said no, you know.

And so essentially I made it to Santa Rosa Leia on part one. And again, this trip took me three tries to do. And what I mean by that is I would pick up exactly where I left off. It wasn't like I started from San Felipe all three times. There's three parts. It was three parts. Yeah. So part one was I paddled from San Felipe to Santa Rosalia.

I make it to Santa Rosalia by the skin of my teeth. You know, I ran out of food. I had to buy food from shark fishermen just north of Santa Rosa Leah because the winds kicked in so severely. And these winds typically kick in in winter months. So I started in October. I make it to Santa Rosalia the week before Thanksgiving. And I was looking at a seven-day forecast of 30 to 40 not.

winds. And according to the locals I was talking to, this is the new trend. This is the new normal, you know, for the rest of the winter kind of thing. And I had a decision to make. It's like, do I wait seven days in a hotel paying lots of money or do I come back in the spring maybe when maybe the winds are calmer? And so I reached out to Graham, who I met, Graham McIntosh, who I met in Bay of L.A. And through an article I read of Grams where he kayaked from San Felipe to La pause, he knew Michael Young husband. I didn't know Michael at the time. Okay. I didn't know Graham at the time. I didn't know anyone.

I met so many legends, you know, while I was doing this trip. But essentially, I reached out to Graham through Facebook Messenger and he got me in contact with Michael and he's like, hey, if you need a place, he's got a bodega. He lives in Loretto, you could fly home. Like, you go do your thing kind of thing. And so

I very hesitantly reached out to Michael Young husband and he, I jokingly started calling him dad because he's great. And that man, I I am pressuring him so hard to write a book about his journey with his borough, which he called Don Kaye, which I thought was hysterical. Because he has quite the story himself as a Baja legend, you know, walking from Takate to Cabo.

Yeah, that's an incredible journey. Quick, quick sidebar about Mike Young husband. I stayed there and we talked after that, the legends room, as you called it. The legends room. I don't think of that as that. Do you stay in that magical room up there? Yeah, but what I was getting to is folks who will remain nameless who know boroughs, who are a mule and burrow people

said that he couldn't have picked a worse borough. Like it was a very obstinate, very ornery burrow, and he got through it with that burrow. Stubborn is a matter statement from this donkey, you know. Enough about Mike. We're back to you. Well, Michael's a big part of this. Yeah, so you're in Loretto.

He picks you up. He picks me up, lets me store my gear at his house, and then I flew home. Home being Los Angeles. I'm from San Clemente. And then what I did is I went home and I worked for a couple months, and I returned March 1st, just four or five months later. And so I pick up exactly where I left off.

Michael, you know, I actually drove down to Loretto, left my car in storage. Michael drove me up to Santa Rosa Rita, restart my trip, and I start paddling again. And for five days, I kind of got into the groove again. I was doing okay. But mentally, I was having some issues. Like I was starting to doubt myself. As I've mentioned, I was when I started this trip, I was already two years sober from alcoholism.

And for whatever reason, on this little one week stretch that I had in March, I was contemplating relapsing. Yeah, you're dreaming about beers on the beach. I was dreaming about beers and the beach and a babe, yeah. And so I had some issues. And I make it all the way to Behiya Concepcion, which is arguably a place that you could say inspired the trip because I wanted to see these beautiful beaches. And I get there and I'm just miserable. I don't want to be a wise ass, but that's a great place to have a beer on the beach. I know.

Sorry. I mean, why do you think I was craving it? You know? And I've had plenty of beers on that beach, you know? Yeah. But the point being is I knew mentally I wasn't ready. And at the same time, the winds kicked in again and the winds were brutal. And I'm just like, I threw my hands to the sky because I literally can't paddle when it's 20 plus not to win.

Sure. It's impossible. Or it's not, I shouldn't say it's impossible. It's just with what I have, I could be in a survival situation very fast. And that's not a risk I was willing to take. And not prudent. So once again, I reach out to Michael. He comes and picks me up and I leave my stuff at his house yet again.

And I literally wait all summer and I come back in October again. Start exactly where I left off at Pliasanisbach is where he picked me up. And I took off and I finished a trip in Cabo a month and a half later. So I was able to put my head down. And on that time off, I was able to double down on my meditation, make some money, figure out what I needed to do. And I was still invested. I was looking at windy.com every day. Like, you know, my Baja trip throughout all three parts, I was never unwavered.

And I was actually just talking to a friend yesterday. I don't think I can ever have that focus again. I had to be 100% on whether I was on the water or whether I was back in San Clemente or Montana or wherever I was, I was so focused at being successful on this project that there wasn't anything that was going to stop me. I had to deal with a hurricane on that third part too. And I was like, it's not stopping. me. You know, safely, I waited for the hurricane to pass, but I was like, you can, you can send waves my way. I'll wait. You know, like at that third, that third go, there was nothing.

If it took me 10 years, it was going to take me 10 years. I was going to finish the trip. So let's get back to the takeaways. Takeaways for you mentally, physically, um, what, how do you process it now? You're, you've written the book. You've brought some attention to the Vakita. It's still a work in progress. Where are you now? it's a weird feeling and i don't know how to safely describe it because leading up to me finishing the trip that last week i was teary-eyed almost every day like it was a very emotional experience but when i actually got to land's end when i got to the arch at cabliss and lucas and i was looking at it it was a very empty feeling like i almost wanted to keep going even though i was so relieved that the thing was over

because the project was such a nightmare logistically and weather-wise. Mentally, physically, and everything else, too. Oh, my gosh. And, you know, I lost 40 pounds on this trip. Physically, it was the most demanding thing I've ever done. And I've hiked 2,600 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail. And this was the most mentally, physically taxing endeavor I've ever done in my life. And I've run ultramarathons.

I've done all kinds of crazy stuff like that. This trip trumps all of them, 100%. But even now, sitting there. next to you it's like I know it's real I was successful but like I'm not done you know I have other projects I want to do and maybe that hunger hasn't let me sit back and enjoy what I've accomplished but yeah it just if anything it just fueled the fire from more projects down the road kind of thing but I am proud of what I've done I am proud like I've mentioned about I know that I have taught some people about this porpoise this purpose and I know that there's a few people that I've changed

their minds on certain topics. And I hope that if anyone does pick up my book and read the story that they understand, it was never about me. It was always about trying to do better in this world. And Baja, I used to take advantage of it. I used to go down there on surf trips and do nothing but score waves and leave and take. And take. This was the first trip that I actually felt like I gave back to Baja. That's given me so much because Baja has shaped the monster that's in front of you right now. 100%. Yeah. Well, we're going to leave it right there. But I I do want to ask you, where's the best place for people to find the book? And where's the best place for people to find where you are and what you're doing?

The best place to find the book is on Amazon.com. Paddling with Porpoise. My name is Sean Jansen, S-E-A-N, J-A-N-S-E-N. My website's Jansenjournals. And I am on Instagram and social media, but I'm not a huge advocate for it, to be honest. But I split my time between Bozeman, Montana, where I'm a guide in Yellowstone National park in the summers and winters and then the spring and the fall, I typically go to Baja. Well, there you go.

So I drive around in a van, and I'm no stranger. Like, you know, I happily would talk to anyone, you know, reach out to me. I love having conversations, especially about Baja because it's, anyone that goes down there is such a special place, and we all know that. Well, I've enjoyed the book. Links in the show notes, folks. Check it out. Support the Porpoise and support Sean's great work.

and I'm really glad we finally got a chance to sit down and get this story on Slow Baja. I'm very humbled by it, Michael. I appreciate it. Awesome, man. We did it. We did it. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. It was my pleasure. Thanks, Noah. We got Noah on the cameras, watching the sound. All right. Makes it all happen. Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation. That was a long, long time in the making. You know, I strive to record every podcast I can in person, and Sean and I had to work our schedules a long time before we were in the same place at the same time. And you know, I appreciate,

I believe he drove down from Montana to be in Southern California when I was going to be there. So he's an amazing guy and that's an amazing journey. You can read more about Sean at jansenjournals.com. You can find the book on Amazon paddling with porpoise and I hope you pick it up and I hope you support Sean's plight to raise awareness for the Vakita, the plight to raise awareness. of the Vakita. And to tell you a little bit about my plight, not kidding, my plate here on Slow Baja, you know, I need your support.

Go to Slowbaha.com slash donations. Please drop a tray of tacos in the tank. Things have been quite lean around here. I've been doing a lot of traveling, bringing you these podcasts, and that does not come for free. So if you are able, if you've got some tacos in your pocket,

please drop a few a combo platter a taco tray drop them in the tank i could use them all right while you're at slowbaha.com you're going to want to go want to go over to the store we've got some new white teas and we've got some black teas stickers are still in stock hats are still in stock all style so pick up some merch rep the show appreciate that i was love seeing the photographs that people send me uh of the stickers that they see here and there or somebody wearing a hat or a It really makes my day, so please support the show any way you can. Well, we're going to go out with Mary McGee's pal, Steve McQueen. That's right, off-road motorsports Hall of Famer, two-time podcast, Slow Baja alum, Mary

McGee. She had a pal, Steve McQueen. He loved Baja. You know, he said it. Baja is life. Everything else is just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to Slow Baja? Without a doubt, it's my share.

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