Baja California

Mexican federal police arrested Baja California's second-highest-ranking law enforcement official Tuesday in connection with a drug-related shootout between state and federal police two months ago. After Deputy Atty. Gen. Sergio Ortiz Lara was hustled from his office at gunpoint to federal police headquarters a few blocks away, about 100 black-jacketed federal police officers armed with automatic rifles were deployed onto surrounding streets and rooftops.

Louisiana-Pacific, the nation's second-largest producer of lumber, is in the final stages of negotiations to build a huge lumber processing plant near Ensenada in Baja California, 80 miles south of San Diego. The multimillion-dollar project may signal the start of a new migration of U.S. heavy industry to Mexico in response to liberalized foreign investment laws, observers say. So far, most of the plants that U.S.

The logo for Sven-Olof Lindblad's Special Expeditions is a giant eye in dark blue outlined on the white stack of his ship Polaris. "It stands for a different way of looking at the world, with more of an in-depth perspective," said Lindblad, whose father, Lars-Eric Lindblad, pioneered many of the now-staple adventure cruises to the Arctic, Antarctic, China and other exotic destinations. But the younger Lindblad has found still newer worlds to conquer.

The goal is to spot a blue whale and get close to it in a sea kayak. But even if whales are absent, there may be other wildlife to see in the Gulf of California in Mexico. Sea Kayak Adventures' tourgoers will meet in Loreto, Mexico, and will camp on Carmen and Danzante islands off Baja California in the Gulf of California and snorkel in Bay of Loreto National Marine Park. Eight-day guided kayaking trips depart weekly from Dec. 22 to April 28. A side trip to Magdalena Bay on the Pacific coast to see gray whales is $115 more.

The National Geographic Society has published two new travel maps of the Baja California region of Mexico, one for Baja North and one for Baja South. They are part of National Geographic's AdventureMaps series, which also cover Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Panama. A new map for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula will be released early this year. The Baja maps, which are printed on waterproof and tear-resistant material, provide details on terrain, local routes, ferry routes and even locations for gas stations.

There are few better ways to observe New Year's Eve than by sipping a frosty margarita at poolside in a Baja California hotel. There are several hotels just south of the border that give the holiday a decidedly Mexican twist. Rooms at the ever-popular Rosarito Beach Hotel are long gone for New Year's Eve, but there are still seats for that night's special Mexican cabaret. It's like Viva Las Vegas, Baja-style.

When I was 7 years old, my cousins and I waded into the surf in Baja California. I got caught in a riptide. When my toes could no longer find the sand, I swam. But the commotion of waves quickly drained my strength, so I rolled onto my back and floated. Each time I looked up, the shore was farther away and finally I didn't have the energy to lift my head, so I just stared at the blue sky. Then the color faded. My terror lifted. Time dissipated.

Hurricane Felix killed at least 18 people and damaged thousands of homes as it passed through the remote Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. But the storm failed to produce the massive flooding many had feared in neighboring Honduras, officials said Wednesday. Little more than a day after it came ashore as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, Felix was downgraded to a tropical depression.

Dipping one wing, the single-prop Piper Cherokee swooped around the towering sandstone pillars that stood guard over the rocky beach. We gazed out the window, five surfing buddies from Ventura. Three more followed in a chase plane with some seats removed to make room for our most crucial cargo: eight surfboards. This was it.