Why
It started with a simple love of the outdoors and grew into a belief that connecting people with nature helps both the people and the planet.
How
Because we are fulfilled by working with inspired people for a common purpose, we hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and quality.
What
Sea Kayak Baja Mexico fosters vibrant human communities in healthy natural ecosystems through outdoor recreation.
Our mission is to develop a lasting community of paddlesports professionals who are active in the care of the environment and each other so that their work creates opportunities for people to connect with the natural world, build relationships, recharge the spirit, and further personal growth.
To this end, we provide our clients top quality programs in world-class locations, supported by a passionate and prepared team and excellent equipment.
Connecting people and nature, we believe, is essential now more than ever before. (38min video opens in new tab).
Current activities
Multi-day expeditions provide the bulk of our revenue and provide a context for small mobile communities of people in nature.
Our Loreto Paddle Club offers free training and access to the water for local residents, as well as opportunity for our coaches to develop their coaching skills using their native language.
Instructional courses give further mentorship opportunities for our coaches as they progress from observing, to coaching sessions within a course, to running the course and receiving professional feedback, to working together and receiving feedback from their peers.
Day trips and rentals connect tourists intimately to the sea and islands.
Vision
Our vision is to create a Training and Expedition Center whose programs provide sufficient depth to train and mentor the sea kayak guides and coaches of tomorrow, and whose layout supports the healthy workflow of all programs.
Our expedition programs are robust. Our trainings have a long and successful history, and we continue the process of mentoring coaches to develop depth of capacity. We have been running it all out of a few of houses not well suited to the work. We’ve bought a property for the construction of the Center. Due to financial challenges brought by COVID-19, construction is posponed indefinitely, but we continue to paddle with enthusiasm and share our passion with others!
Importance
When SKBM owner Ginni Callahan first arrived in Loreto in 1998, almost all the kayak guides were foreigners and the Loreto National Marine Park was just forming. Since then, tourism in Loreto has experienced boom and bust cycles, but increased dramatically on the whole. Loreto used to receive one flight a week, and now there are several a day in the peak season. Two giant resort complexes have blossomed south of town, and La Mision Hotel which stood abandoned on the waterfront for years is now a booming luxury hotel with 67 rooms.
In the early 2000s the federal government mandated the hiring of Mexican guides. The company Ginni worked for contracted several teenage sons of fishermen and conscripted her into teaching them to kayak. She has since run training programs for other companies in La Paz, Cabo and Loreto, as well as had a hand in training many of the individual guides who now work throughout Baja.
Training has been essential not only for safety on the water, but for appropriate interaction with the environment. On his first trip, one of the new guides found a rattlesnake on the beach and reacted by killing it. We have come a long way! But there is still a need.
The government is responding to the increase in ecotourism by requiring guides to hold certifications, which is appropriate. However, they do not recognize international certifications. The ones they do recognize are their own, SECTUR NOM 08 (general cultural guide) and NOM 09 (specialty guide). There is a sea kayaking specialty, in theory. Nobody in the country has it because there is nobody qualified to deliver it. Kayak guides have been certified with rafting or cultural or hiking specialties, which are all very different environments from the sea, where we actually work.
During the Guides’ Gatherings where we’ve been inviting all kayak guides from Loreto to come play on the water, we’ve been noticing a low level of paddling skills among many guides in the community. They haven’t had access or encouragement to train. Through free outings, such as playdays in the surf when the wind is up, we’ve continued to raise the skill set of Loreto guides, as well as formed friendships which support cooperation in the field instead of the conflict for beaches which was increasingly happening.
To meet the need
SKBM owner Ginni Callahan is qualified under British Canoeing (the international gold standard of paddlesports coaching) to train and certify Sea Leaders, and to co-train coaches. She is also qualified by the American Canoe Association to teach kayaking in “advanced open coast” conditions and to train leaders. She has been teaching sea kayaking in Mexico and abroad for 18 years, and is a highly respected international sea kayaking coach. All of this exceeds the requirements for certain aspects of SECTUR’s requirements to deliver training courses.
What remains are some thousands of hours of Mexican training courses to become part of this system. These she plans on taking together with other core members of SKBM staff so that we form a broad base of instructors which will serve the training needs of Mexican sea kayaking guides into the future, and through them, serve paddlers, eco-tourists, and ultimately the environment itself by supporting safe, responsible, and heart-touching experiences.
What also remains is a facility appropriate to house the operations, which have sprawled onto 3 separate properties as we’ve grown, and has created a challenging work-flow.
Successes so far
Team
Company
Community
Building the Facility
Dimensions
A nearly-waterfront piece of property in Loreto is planned to house the Sea Kayak Baja Mexico Training and Expedition Center.
Owned land: 1479sq meters (51×29) bare land, filled, leveled, and partially walled; no utilities.
Lot across the street: 1040sq meters (26×39) with a bodega 9x12m and unfinished foundation in abandoned condition.
Location
3/4km from Loreto’s center, .6km from our Malecon storefront, adjacent to a small wetland, 100m walk to the sea at a municipal beach.
Stage One: the minimum to eliminate one rental property
Stage 2: all operations onsite
Stage 3: full capacity for training programs with ideal workflow
Please show your support by coming to paddle with us, spreading the word and, if you are moved to do so, by donating. Thank you!
Based out of Loreto on the Baja California Peninsula, Sea Kayak Baja Mexico provides small group adventures, customized courses, and quality equipment for hire on the planet’s richest ocean. Through these programs, we promote perspectives that deeply value culture, ethics, and the natural world, fostering vibrant human communities in healthy ecosystems.
