Cabo San Lucas Night One

Wow this place is interesting. Here we have visited Walmart, Home Depot, McDonalds and Starbucks! Yep, Whit, there is a Starbucks here.
In this order, we went out big:
Mar De Cortes (our hotel) good for a poolside beer.
No Worries: bar on marina and buckets of beer
Sol Mar: fancy hotel and sunset cocktails
Squid Roe: similar to Papas and Beer, Senor Frogs, etc. many adult beverages
Giggling Marlin: Loud bar where Garen got sucked into a push up, arm wrestling, beer swilling competition and forced to dance on the bar after losing to their ringer. shots, beers, margaritas
Cabo Wabo: MET THE CHAMP!!

Yes that blurry guy is The Iceman Chuck Liddell.
As if things were not getting fuzzy enough, we somehow managed to walk into a free, unscheduled Toby Keith concert with Sammy Hagar.

We were all under the impression that Toby Keith was a total douche, but he was pretty entertaining. Even played some Creedence and SRV!
A

Surfing through the holidays! 12/26-30

Well, the swell finally came. We drove up to La Pastora for a night, where a fun little right kept us occupied until Sat, when the waves were scheduled. An executive decision was passed that brought us back to Los Cerritos, where we figured to score the highest. Pre-advertised as 4.5 ft with 10 sec intervals, the surf was heavier than predicted, There were overhead sets and calls of outside all day. The shape wasn't the best and some sets were fast and hard to catch up with but it was fun. I took a beautifully orchestrated shot to the ear from my pointy 6'4'' that rang my bell pretty good one day and is still sore.

I promised to throw an outright tantrum if not permitted to watch the Chargers- Broncos game on Sunday night, so we drove into Todos again. The rules: two beers per quarter. Bolts TD equals a shot of tequila, FG means slamming whatever is in front of you. Final score 52-21 Chargers. Me? Annihilated

We had already planned to spend New Years Eve and New Years Eve Eve in Cabo, so we headed back to that general direction. Found another fun wave at Migrino and camped on the beach for free, again. It was fun between tides, but non existent at high tide, and perilously rocky at low. Garen broke a fin off on his back, and we all hit rocks at some point. His back is okay Mom.
We saw our first scorpions! They were small and would not fight a spider in a death match even in our hastily created Thunderdome (noodle box).
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Merry Christmas from Los Cerritos!

After a stop at Art & Beer, a strange restaurant/ art gallery just off Mex 19,

We've headed north to Los Cerritos, which is a 'beach club.' We camped behind a sand dune for two nights and enjoyed the small surf and some kayak fishing for a spell. This place seems like it would go off with some good swell (coming tomorrow!), but it was pretty much non-existent this time, so we went fishing. Alex comes out victorious with a well deserved Dorado!



From here it's on to Todos Santos and still north in search of waves, which we finally found on Christmas day at a beach called la Pastora. Alex made the most of them, James sat it out, and I nearly froze out there in the wind whilst not catching any waves. We had a triggerfish taco Christmas feast and called it a night...
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that there is good snow for all this year!
Adios!

GB

San Jose del Cabo DEC 22,23

I am relieved to be off that stretch of beach because, frankly, I'm not sure how much longer I can fend off the raiding jackasses. Wild donkeys continued to pillage our campsite, despite having been driven off with sticks and pelted with boulders.

So we stayed at La Playita just outside of San Jose, neighboring a busy marina.

We walked around the downtown area in time for sunset. Christmas celebrations are in full swing and to the delight of bar owners, the air is thick with the smell of our Pesos. We watched the Packers/ Bears monday night game and got BLASTED off tequila shots, beer, and margaritas. I chose to sit here Go Bolts


James was the big winner last night. Between tequila shots, James somehow managed to lose 6 consecutive arm wrestling matches to the same guy....outstanding!

Off to Cabo San Lucas to reserve New Years Eve accomodations, then back in the water to surf  Cerritos and Todos Santos

A

Trials and Tribulations

We stopped at a place called nine palms to see if it was suitable for camping, and our 4WD broke; we got STUCK...

no amount of digging was going to get this 2 wheel drive 8000 pound truck out of this hole, but we tried...

We soon flagged a local with a huge diesel 4x4 with 2 tons of water in the back to easily yank us out, but it was late, so we stayed the night right there...
Unfortunately, this was only the beginning:
The next morning, about 5 miles down to road, our front left wheel just about fell off. We'd obliterated the wheel bearing and the race it rides in, and broken the front hub. James took me into nearby (~25 miles) San Jose del Cabo where we found a tow truck who was luckily just finishing up a job. I got in with him and we tried to understand what each other was talking about. About half way back to the suburban, he told me that he couldn't make the tow as he had no secure place to get the truck to, but he knew of another towing company that had space in it's yard for the Suburban, so he kindly took me there. The other company did not actually have space, so we agreed to tow on Monday. I hopped a bus and a cab to the other side of town to meet a free tequila drunken James, and he and I went on back to the truck where almost black Alex had been waiting. Not a horrible place to be stuck...


The next day, we called the tow company and arranged for the tow, and they never came. James and I went into town to check out a hotel for the evening and the owner there said he knew some guys with a tow truck and they'd be by in 45 minutes with the rig with mecanicos in tow!
Perfect!
An hour and a half later I'm told they're here, only to walk out front to see two men in a tiny beaten toyota!! I cram in the car with them, not knowing why and wondering where the tow truck is, and we start off towards the stranded Suburban. This little truck broke down twice on the way there, and they fixed it with a kitchen knife and a hacksaw blade. Hours later, we arrive to an understandably confused Alex. The mecanicos agree, the truck is broken, and say they'll be back in two hours with the parts. Four hours later, they do show up, in the dark, and we get to working until we find that they don't have the right parts. They drive back into town and all they way back out there and at 10:30, after some very rudimentary, primitive, hammer bashing work, the truck is more or less ready to roll, and into town Alex and I go, about $200 poorer....
Adios playa zacatitos...

GB

South and into some fish!

Heading south again, we stopped at a restaurant (actually a 'country club') for a meal and met a bullshitter gringo and listened to him ramble for a bit before we took off, stopping at one of the many public beaches, this one south of a place called Vinorama. This is one healthy spot, and there are massive houses popping up all around. We had the place to ourselves except for one kid who happened to swim by as James was knocking some golf balls into the sea; a narrow miss.

We got out EARLY the next morning and James and I scored almost twin

DORADOS!!!; double hookup!

what an incredible looking, fighting, and tasting fish. Lucky us!

We all left happy and with full bellies...

Onto La Paz and southward

NOTICE: We've got a fast connection for the morning and have added some photos/ videos to past posts, check 'em!

We drove into La Paz and found it to be as predicted; huge, lots of traffic, tons of people. Time to leave, but not before we hit Walmart to stock up... Wierd seeing that there...
We headed south (or so we thought) looking for a coast road with a bunch of fishing but never found it and gave up to go south to Rancho Leonaro, which I thought was a little hotel / fish camp on the water. We showed up in the dark to a 5 star hotel; stunning. We slept in their dirt lot out front for a night before heading down the road which turned to dirt. First stop was Cabo Pulmo, and Mexican national park and the only living coral reef on the north american continent. People are dive crazy here. Camper ran about with 2 huge Rotts and a great little flat coated dog and Alex and I rid the restaurant of their bee infestation. We had lunch and a ton of beer but moved on as there is no killing (except for bees) allowed here, only looking. We soon hit Los Frailles,

a protected bay and a retirement settlement for Canadians. We heard one was loony and might come bother but luckily for him, he never did. This place has some great fishing and Alex kept catching these tuna style fish that apparently taste BAD, so he let them go...

We stayed two nights before getting bored and skipping on..

Punta Conejo two nights

Passed thru Magdalena Bay with plans to fish, but the place was a dump and the wind was blowing anyways, so we continued on to Punta Conejo. This is another nice place to catch waves, especially if you prefer strong lefts. The swell had improved, but the direction was a little funky and the sets weren't too orderly at times. We went out early and had fun until the wind came up midday.
Met up with Chris and John again, before splitting ways for good.

Also went on a beach cruise in the truck at the lowest tide of 2008, and James wanted to ride up top! Some profanity here:

There were many strange carcasses to be found on this stretch. I think this was a big dog, but some voted coyote. Also a dolphin and birds. Back to the Cortes side next.
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Scorpion Bay

If there is a heaven....
Drove into Scorpion Bay, where an incredible series of point breaks await. We spent a few nights camping on the bluff with incredible views of a fabled surf spot. The swell was certainl not what it could have been but we had a blast anyways. Met up with friends Chris and John and drank many a beer. Even got some fishing in. James pulled in a halibut off the beach and we ate well.



This was my favorite spot thus far, but Punta Conejo is next...
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Mulege one nighter

Crossed the peninsula again. Mulege is a place where older white drunks converge and talk about fishing a lot but don't go that often because it is windy. We stayed in a field converted into a campground and surveyed lots of hurricane damage. That is when the pig tried to eat Camper.
Went to the bars. Left first thing the next morning because it is boring there.
Thought about Loreto next but figured it would be equally affected by the high winds.
Surfing sounds way better. we're out
A

PACIFIC! 12/7-8

We drove from Bahia de Los Angeles across the peninsula to the pacific side for the first time on this trip. It's nice to see and hear waves and watch the sun set on the ocean again. We found a GREAT little spot on coast near Santa Rosalitta and stayed for two nights at a wonderful little spot known for it's mellow right peeler....





Remote enough to be uncrowded, but well known enough to host a handful of surfer types. We all got in the water on surfboards and kayaks; me catching very little waves but a fair amount of fish.
James catches every single wave. Todos la olas.

What a great spot, and damn, it's nice to be on the pacific. Now, back to the cortez!
G

San Felipe to Punta Bufeo (huge fish!) to Campo Beluga to Bahia de Los Angeles 11/30-12/05

Disclaimer/ apology:

We want to post more, really, but every time we get to an internet cafe, we're stuck with these slow #$%^ing connections. We're looking at ~10 minutes PER PHOTO upload, and we have to pay the whole time. We have TONS of great p

hotos, but until we get a connection where we can upload them, we'll be at one photo per post. We will be returning to these posts to upload the necessary photos, and we'll let you know when we do that. Sorry.

Was along day of driving south of San Felipe, through Puertocitos to a place called Punta Bufeo, which is a small community of mexican fishermen and expats from the US of A. Fun bunch. Lots of nasty roads getting there, and we broke a rear shock and it's mount right off of the Suburban.

 Doesn't seem to matter much; she still drives great. Also got a flat.

 We all caught the first fish of the trip from the shore after getting there in the early evening,  and we ate them. Tasty! We spent the next two nights here, and I caught two incredible fish...

Yellowtail!

this white sea bass was 48" and heavier than Camper. 6 plastic bags full of fish, some of which we gave away, and some of which we're still eating!

The wind came in heavy so we packed it up to head south...

This was a great spot with great people, and we payed $5 per vehicle for the whole stay!

Wednesday, 12/03, we headed down to bahia de san luis gonsagas (actually spelled with the last letter of our alphabet, but the computer's keyboard is broke!)

where we thought we'd stay at Alphonsina's on the bay. It turned out that this was yet another deserted Baja resort looking to make a buck, so we went a bit further south and spent our bucks (ten of them! eeesh.) at Campo Beluga for a night. The wind was up, so no fishing here. We played with Campera la perra for a spell before 10 mexican military men toting submachine guns snuck up on us from the beach to 'make sure we were okay.' No harm no foul, and no $ spent. A quiet night!

The roads get better south of Beluga, now we're up to 35mph; keeping her good and loose. Not so nasty.


We rolled into Bahia de Los Angeles 12/4, and ate at Alexandria's, which prompted a return visit on the way out of town. The bay of LA is absolutely stunning; offshore islands and clear water; but not a great deal of incredible fishing, at least while we were there.

Lots of barracudas caught here, and a great time was had camping at Campo Archelon. an ex turtle farm. Great people, again. We were given fresh oysters by our expat neighbor (running from the law!?) but didn't keep anything we caught. Alex and I found ourselves about 2-3 miles offshore and behind an island when some nasty wind came up. Long paddle back to camp, and Camper took some rogue waves in the face on the back of the kayak. Awesome. James left his kayak paddle here; bummed. Luckily, we're off to the pacific where we can surf! YEEEEEEEE!

Hope all is well back home

G

San Felipe 11/30 Pete's Camp

Well immediately after our last post, James crashed his truck into the truck of an old Mexican guy. He called his entire family out from their compound, who were all present for the payment negotiations. james walked away minus $60 bucks.haha

Camped that night at Pete's, just north of town. Planned to fish, but our northern location caused weird tides and extremely shallow water. we would have had to paddle out 8 miles to reach just 20 feet of water. So instead we spent the evening at the cantina.
A

First leg 11/30/08 SAN FELIPE!!

After two days at Campland on the Bay in San Diego, we've finally made our first border crossing, first military checkpoint, and first sight of the Sea of Cortez (and we're about to jump in)...



We just consumed 9 fish tacos and a few Tecates at Rice Y Beans...

Found a tiny internet cafe. Time to camp!
We crossed at Tijuana at around 7 this morning, and had zero issues al the way down to San Felipe, and we are damn surprised. It sure it nice to get out of Campland on the Bay, San Diego, and the USA. Our big trip has finally begun!
We're going to stay around San Felipe tonight and handle some more paperwork and possibly kill some fish tomorrow, and we'll be venturing further south shortly after towards Puertocitos, Bahia de San Luis Gonzagas and onward...

Thanksgiving Day production 11/27

took this rad action picture then lost my camera. stoked about that.
we just ate a huge Thanksgiving Day feast made by the worlds best grandma.
Tomorrow a.m. we will drive down to SD and hopefully camp out at Coronado or somewhere near water.
We put a lot time into the truck today. Glove box fixed. Inside hatches completely reorganised. yes that is spelled wrong because this craptop has an empty space where it should have the last letter of the alphabet. We also figured out how to play my Ipod thru the amplifier and .the sub is next
Garen just farted next to me and can now expect retribution.
Happy Thanskgiving friends!
A

Thank You

We're in Camarillo CA for Thanksgiving with our Grandma. The drive was safe, slow, and not too long. Wanted to thank friends, family, neighbors, and all who attended any of the fun events we had going this past weekend including, but not limited to the friday night Engfer's pizza and ping pong smackdown, the saturday night pickin', boozin' and Crepe Place farewell party, and finally, the Sunday night keg killin' jamdown at the house where I no longer live. A ton of people came though, and I wish I could spend more time with every one of them. Incredible gifts were given, contributions made, and tons o' beer drunk. A huge thanks to everyone. Also, huge thanks to those who are storing what little I did not throw away. I'm feeling very, very grateful to have the friends I do. Thank you.
Enough. Turkey comin' up, then San diego, then onto Baja. So far, the truck is running like a champ, and I'm $10 richer for it; thanks Alex.

Talk to ya'll soon, signing off here,
Garen

Thursday Reflection

This THURSDAY 9PM at the Bitter End on Clement and 6th Ave in foggy Friscotown. Going away party. Good times ahead, don't miss out!
A

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!