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Skydiver
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: 8-4-2006
Location: Azusa, CA
Member Is Offline
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As soon as I turned 16 and got my driver’s license, April, 68. First destination: Surfing in Baja. We all grew up on surfboards. My cousin JR,
my brother Dennis, myself, and a bunch of our friends. We’d surfed up and down the California coast and had heard stories about Baja. It was harder
for Dennis and I because we lived further inland. Finally I didn’t have to rely on someone else for a ride to the beach. Dennis, JR and I planned a
week- long trip during Easter break from school. Back then all you needed was notarized permission from your parents to cross the border if you were
under 18. (Don’t think I’d let my 16 year old daughter go down now by herself.) So Friday afternoon, armed with surfboards, sleeping bags, a tent
and an ice chest we were off and the adventure began. We ended up spending pennies a day to camp on the bluff between K38 and K 39 (now it’s a high
rise). We surfed there and explored the coast as far south as we could, searching for “ The Wave”. We had a blast. Tuesday was my girlfriend’s
birthday and I had a hot date that night back in Azusa. I left JR and my brother at the campsite and promised to be back the next afternoon. Well….
Somehow I didn’t get back down there till Friday. No JR, No Dennis, No surfboards, just the tent and my sleeping bag. Crap! What had I done?
Left two 14-year-old kids in a foreign country with nothing but the clothes on their back. There was no one around to ask any questions so I just
decided to wait. Around sunset, an old beat up truck pulls out onto the Bluff with Dennis and JR in the back screaming their lungs out at me. I’ve
never been called so many names in my life. Leave it to JR. He’d made friends with some of the locals and they took care of the two till I got
back.
The next day the WAR started! There was an old out house on the bluff. I was inside taking care of business. JR some how managed to block the door
so it wouldn’t open. He then dropped in about a brick of firecrackers. Besides the burns on my legs, I don’t think I could hear a thing for about a
week. It took me over 10 years to pay him back for that one, but that’s another story. That was our first trip to Baja and JR’s introduction to the
land and people he came to love.
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capt. mike
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8085
Registered: 11-26-2002
Location: Bat Cave
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sling time!
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rented a club plane - piper 180 - for $23.50 an hour (wet!!) and blindly started hopping dirt strips north to south in 1981 for 10 days, camping all
the way from San felipe to cabo. both sides, hooked immediately. been doing it ever since.
will never drive it again, takes too long to get anywhere...........
formerly Ordained in Rev. Ewing\'s Church by Mail - busted on tax fraud.......
Now joined L. Ron Hoover\'s church of Appliantology
\"Remember there is a big difference between kneeling down and bending over....\"
www.facebook.com/michael.l.goering |
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Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
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We were moving back to the States, L.A., after two years on the Mexican mainland, living in Cuernavaca. My mom (dad had passed on) loved Mexico and
the people there, the less complex life style and the ruggedness. She took my younger brother and me south of Rosarito Beach, camping, for many
years. I met my second girlfriend (she never knew it), Judy from Alhambra CA, at Estero Beach. Even in those young years there was a warmth I
recognized and shared with the Mexican people. So many years later we're still here and nothing has changed.
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jettygirl
Junior Nomad
Posts: 44
Registered: 9-1-2006
Member Is Offline
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It was 1983 and I worked for Fedex who had companion fares with other airlines. I had just broken up with my boyfriend and had a 2 week vacation
coming up. So for $25 each way, I booked a flight into Cabo. The airport was still a palapa then. I jumped into a cab and gave the name of what I
thought was the correct hotel, but found out upon arrival I was at the wrong place. No problemo the front desk said. Stay the night, on us, and we
will get you to your correct hotel in the morning. Nice start to say the least. Hit my hotel the next day, checked in and went straight to the
beach. c-cktail in hand I was soon making friends with a charter boat captian. Out to fish the next day when I met a sailor who was sailing the sea
of cortez. Needless to say I spent the next 2 weeks sailing up the sea and caught a flight out of La Paz when the journey was over. I was not only
hooked on Baja but hooked on sailing. New doors open when old doors close 
\" If your lucky enough to live by the sea .....
Your lucky enough\"
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Oso
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2637
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
Member Is Offline
Mood: wait and see
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Does a visit to the Blue Fox in TJ on the back of a stolen Harley at 17 count?
That was beginning of the 60's. I have a photo of my first "stuck" in the sands of San Felipe, mid-70's, that I'll post someday when I get a scanner.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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Skeet/Loreto
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4709
Registered: 9-2-2003
Member Is Offline
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Oct 1968-Living in Bishop Calif.-Sister-in-Law gave me Ray Cannon's "The Sea of Cortez-Could not beleive the Fishin Stories- Had a New Cessna 172-
Flew to San Felipe-Bay of Los Angeles- La Paz- Cabo -
Back to Loreto where I met/fished with Alvaro Murillo. Was Hooked!
Back to the States traded the 172 for a TailDragger {170b} Started flying to every strip I could get to in Baja Sur- The Fantastic People, The Sea,
The Fishing.
Capt. George: How about telling "The Rest of the Story"".???
Skeet/Loreto
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Phil S
Super Nomad
Posts: 1205
Registered: 10-28-2003
Member Is Offline
Mood: After 34 years. Still in love w/ my wife
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My brother & I decided we need to find out why our 1st cousin was spending so much time in "mexico"!!!!!!!!!! Better known as Baja. So about l990
we caught a flight from Eugene Oregon to loreto BAja. to "check things out" Well, needless to say, that was in Oregon's winter time. When we walked
off the plane, we were met with 80 degree temps. Soft, warm breezes. A cousin with a margarita in each hand. Then two weeks at Rattlesnake beach just
south of Puerto Escondido in a tent for me and a Penthouse (canopy over a pickup bed pull trailer) for my brother. Soft, gentle sounds of the warm
waters of the Sea of Cortez, lapping on the sea shell laiden beaches. Local Mexican natives, driving by the campsites marketing their wares. Jewelry,
fresh vegitables, incredible carvings of eagles, marlin, dorado, quail, in ironwood. And freshly prepared tomales, prepared by Norma from
Junacalito. Believe me. It doesn't get any better. And here we are 2006, and anxiously waiting for the time to head south.
In the meantime, we came back every winter after that. One time with travel trailers for our own creature comforts on the beach at Rattlesnake.
Then eventually a home in Nopolo. A home that had sat empty for five years. Awaiting our first visit to fall in love with it. It had views from the
top sun deck of the Sea of Cortez. Views from the master bedroom deck looking west of the La Gigante Mts, and the most incredible sunsets you could
ever imagine. And not to forget the sun rising over Isla Carmen every morning. If you can find anywhere any better than this "way of life" please
let me know.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[Edited on 10-12-2006 by Phil S]
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BajaJim
Junior Nomad
Posts: 30
Registered: 9-25-2006
Location: Phoenix
Member Is Offline
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I was getting married and had a bachelor party in Yuma. All I know is the next morning I woke up in a motel room in San Felipe with a dollar in my
pocket and my pubic area shaved and sprayed fluorescent orange.
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westy
Junior Nomad
Posts: 41
Registered: 9-16-2003
Member Is Offline
Mood: some people call me the Space Cowboy
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| Quote: | Originally posted by BajaJim
I was getting married and had a bachelor party in Yuma. All I know is the next morning I woke up in a motel room in San Felipe with a dollar in my
pocket and my pubic area shaved and sprayed fluorescent orange.
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...........now THATS funny!
[Edited on 10-12-2006 by westy]
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Don Alley
Super Nomad
Posts: 1997
Registered: 12-4-2003
Location: Loreto
Member Is Offline
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My parents flew to Baja to fish in the late 1950s, and in 1961, when I was 10, they took me down to Rancho Las Cruces, near La Paz. I'd wanted to go
back to Baja ever since.
I posted some old photos earlier:
http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=18933
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Tomas Tierra
Super Nomad
Posts: 1281
Registered: 3-23-2005
Location: oxnard, ca
Member Is Offline
Mood: Tengo Flojera
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for me- high school surfing trips to k38 and "castillos" in the early eightys..
then in '88 jumped on my buddy's Catalina 34 sailboat for costa rica..thinking we would be about 6 weeks to CR....well we were 5 weeks to Cabo!
spending incredible time in the remote pac side anchorages...
the gringos we met along the way along the way (camping) were such cool people( but so dirty and dusty, I now know why) I wanted to get back and drive
down asap...what I really wanted was to get back to the desolate surf we had found along the way..Its been a love affair ever since!
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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Early 1950s, when I was 5 years old, my parents took us to the Bull Fights in Tijuana----HATED IT---never wanted to go back to Baja.
1960s in Los Angeles area, heard all the stories about the Blue Fox from the "guys" ---Baja was not where I wanted to go.
1980 divorced and with a date---went to Encenada for a weekend --- loved the place. It was still a fairly small city with all those wonderful
chicken places with the dirty windows. Returned through Tecate which was really a lot smaller than today.
1990, married that man and started traveling more of the mainland of Mexico and Baja with him. Love both Baja and the mainland.
Diane
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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Back in the early 60's in the Marines. We drove a buddy's old DeSoto with a bad water pump to TJ. The louder the pump got the more we turned up the
radio. Those were Long Bar days. We rode the bus back.
As a Vet in college we drove 12 hours round trip from Yuma to TJ and scored a "lid" of Oregano. Perfect justice.
In the early seventies while wrenching at dirt bike shops in San Diego we camped and rode in the Sierra Juarez as often as possible. Lucky Yamaha.
After driving to Belize on our honeymoon in '92, we decided that Baja was better because it was closer. After 3800 miles in a 78 E-150 camper van we
had found our future and I had put down a cash deposit on a rental "solar" in San Nicolas.
A dozen years later, I can't wait for November 15th. !!!
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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MrBillM
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 21656
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Out and About
Member Is Offline
Mood: It's a Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Day
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Yeah
I can understand why most gals wouldn't appreciate the Blue Fox, although we were there with a large mixed group one evening in the late 60s coming
back from a big Motorcycle race on the beach just below Halfway House and those gals seemed to have a good time. In fact, I found out later that
night just how much it had turned on the gal I was with.
For Tecate and Ensenada to seem like a small town in 1980, I'm assuming that Diane must come from the Big City. Having seen both in the early 60s,
they seemed pretty far gone to me by 1980.
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: |
For Tecate and Ensenada to seem like a small town in 1980, I'm assuming that Diane must come from the Big City. Having seen both in the early 60s,
they seemed pretty far gone to me by 1980.
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You are correct----and since John had been there in the 60s and 70s, he would agree with you.
Diane
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pargo
Nomad
Posts: 162
Registered: 9-14-2006
Location: Burbank Ca.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Baja Nomas
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Visited my Tio in La Paz. At the time he was a pilot out of the airport there. Love Baja ever since....nuff said!
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motoged
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6481
Registered: 7-31-2006
Location: Kamloops, BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Gettin' Better
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Desert Dreams
It was 1989 and my sister and her partner invited me down to kayak off Isla Espiritu Santu for 10 days. My sister and her partner guided kayaks out of
Loreto for 15 years or so and knew what was what...although much more conservative in their adventuring than I.
I had heard of the Baja through vehicle ads on tv teasing "You're not gonna drive THAT thing in the Baja", I had already a desire to spend time in
deserts, and my favourite places have desert, ocean shores, and palm trees....little did I know that fish tacos would soon be added to the "Must Have"
list.
That first trip was, including the kayaking at Espiritu Santu, 6 weeks camping around the south cape area (one week with a VW bug....the rest was
hitchhiking. I returned in 1994 on a motorcycle and have continued that way of travel on various motorcycles since....camping and some motels....
One trip was a truck trip only as far south as San Quintin with my brother....a taste of Ensenada with some surprises at some seedy bars.....
I live in BC norte (in Canada, eh) and have a bunch of dirtbike friends who have and continue to race there. My preference is more leisurely exploring
outback with some cervezas and tacos as daily nourishment.
This list is my most valued info source as well as contact with new and familiar faces.
I would hope someday to hook up with a pilot and spend some time above Baja as Google earth is only a tease...(I would pay for the gas and Tecates, no
problemo)....fishing is less of an interest but exploring the coastlines (Sea of Cortez first) by boat is also another wish.....
My wife is less interested in Baja than me...perhaps because she was robbed at knifepoint by her taxi driver in San Jose del Cabo on way to airport in
2000....and then dumped on the highway by the airport with no money and only some of her luggage....a painful lesson that we won't forget when
travelling.....no solo taxi trips for her in ANY country.
I used to think I would retire in Baja with an Airstream....that dream has run its course, but as long as I can get around, I will be back every other
year or so....and hopefully for a winter (or five) when I can figure out how to retire before I run out of steam.
Ged
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Eli
Super Nomad
Posts: 1471
Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: L.B. Baja Sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: Some times Observing, sometimes Oblivious.
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First trip down was to Gonzaga bay about "58", camping with Don Jimmy out of an old army truck that we called Esmarelda. I remember being 7 years old
sitting on the beach digging my toes into the sand thinking this is where I want to be the rest of my life.
Spent a good many years trying to make the dream stick and it finally stuck in "89". Even though I am on the mainland for awhile, I would most
certainly call Los Barriles home. That is after all where my Papa is buried,and my grandchildren were born and in the end where my heart belongs.
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pappy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 679
Registered: 12-10-2003
Member Is Offline
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parents took us down in '68 for vacation.thatwas it-love was in the air....
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow
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Inthe early 70's ,trips to Ensenada, then San Quentin ( 5 guys in rented M/H ) then San Felipe ( 4 guys in a van ). Then in the second half of the
70's all the way to Cabo in a newly acquired M/H. Little fishing village then. Very charming. Was invited on a sailboat in Escondido and really fell
in love with the place. Bought a palapa in Tripui ( waiting list and $ 2000.00 deposit at that time ), spend 4 wonderful years there. Then built a
home in Nopolo and have made this our permanent home ever since. Going on 16 years. Dreading every minute when we have to go back to California to
look after health or business.
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