Skipjack Joe - 5-9-2005 at 07:13 PM
Can anyone who has fished from this cove give me some information?
I am considering launching my 14' aluminum boat by launching from the beach with launching wheels. Is this doable?
As I recall, the beach is very steep in this cove and am wondering if you can actually manually roll the boat up that incline. Also, the Baja Catch
says that the pebbles on the beach are so small that your feet and the launching wheels sink right in, making it difficult to roll anything on that
surface. My rig is pretty light and the wheels are probably about 10-12" wide.
Any suggestions or first hand experience would be appreciated.
4baja - 5-9-2005 at 07:32 PM
hey joe go to gonzaga and launch, much closer and easyier then calamuje. can be very windy and the beach is steep with north swells pounding the
beach. if you do go stay at the north end were theres wind protection and keep your boat high on the crown. great people and lots of shells on the
beach.
El Camote - 5-9-2005 at 08:04 PM
Also, the coyotes have very little fear and will come up to the edge of your camp - they nearly lured my pup out for who knows what kind of
shenanigans. The little tramp was certainly willing. 
Last time I was there, we camped next to a crazy man who set off gigantic fireworks, snored loudly all night and slept with his dog in the back of his
white Toyota truck. Just watch out for that guy is all I'm saying. 
David K - 5-9-2005 at 09:13 PM
Was this the guy at Puerto Calamajue? LOL! (photo by Bedman 12-31-01)
North end of the beach
Skipjack Joe - 5-9-2005 at 09:44 PM
You indicated that the north end is best due to wind protection.
Is it any easier to launch from that end of the beach (smaller incline and/or firmer ground for boat wheels)?
4baja:
If you have launched your boat in that cove, could you please share how you did it?
Thanks
Great Photo!
Mike Humfreville - 5-9-2005 at 10:34 PM
4baja at his best with a cubano en su boca. I only went to Calamajue once or twice but the beach I "remember" wasn't steep. What I would say is that
it's a fishing village and they have a simple way to launch pangas which are WAY more difficult than your wheeled boat. I would also say that I got
there with a problem (tires, who'da thought???) and the folks gathered around, fixed my problem, cautioned us about driving too fast on the lava
roadbed and sent us on our way. Good folks, willing to help with your launching. We need to look out for them too, in being helpful.
4baja - 5-10-2005 at 06:31 AM
joe i didnt launch a boat there(maybe a few bottle caps tho) but i do remember how rough it was there. me , mike and baja explorer campad there a few
years ago and it was very windy. good luck.
calamajue...
eetdrt88 - 5-10-2005 at 11:09 AM
when i was there about 2 yrs. ago it was perfectly calm and the fish were bitin...we paddled our kayaks outside the little bay and a little way
south,i have to say what i saw there was quite amazing including some insane cliff walls,some very aggresive birds,and a whale that let us paddle up
as close as we wanted to get....a very wild place indeed
Thank you
Skipjack Joe - 5-15-2005 at 07:04 AM
Thanks for the information regarding Calamajue.
Yes, Mike, those are great people there and they have helped me in the past.......
I was fishing for halibut in Laguna Bocana about 15 years ago when I see this toyota approaching my campsite. To make a long story short it turned out
to be Gene Kira who autographed my first edition of 'Baja Catch' and suggested I fish Calamajue - "the jacks are rampaging on the beach". He told me
about a nice isolated beach on the south end that my VW camper should have no problem getting to.
It was a beautiful drive, as I recall, with a section of ocotillo cactuses that was really exceptional. I found the side road to the beach and just
about sank my camper into this fine silt but kept my foot on the accelerator and reached firm ground in a cloud of red dust. On the descent to the
beach I realized that I was really driving on just a sand dune and would never make it back up.
The jacks were gone but the fishing was still good for local rocky shoreline fish. The water was warm and perfectly clear and I was having a great
time. My stomach started to feel 'funny' on about the second day, though. And by the third day I had the runs. It turned out to be the bottled water I
had bought at a Guerrero Negro supermarket - La Balena. It took a while going through the process of elimination and by that time I was in pretty bad
shape.
Between stomach cramps I managed to walk over to the fish camp down the beach and asked them if they could drag my sorry a** up that dirt road. "No
problema, amigo", was the answer. I went back to my camper and waited. Two hours later I went back to the shacks and asked again. They said they were
looking for the "bomba", or something or other. I sat around for awhile thinking what that could mean. I saw some diving equipment in the pangas and
decided that it was probably a dive tank. But how does that help me, I wondered.
Finally someone shows up with a hand pump and solves my riddle. We walk behind the shacks and there lies a rusty old truck with the hood up, no
batteries, and four flat tires. We start pumping the tires, one at a time, by hand. It takes, like an hour and a half, and sweat is pouring out of
every cell of my body. We then get a battery from a panga. The radiator is bone dry as well and they fill that up with water. Finally we are ready to
go.
We reach the top of the hill and they decide that they also don't want to drive down that soft road. They instruct me to drive up as far as I can and
they will tow me the rest of the way up. I get in the camper and gun it in second gear to about 35 mph on that salt flat until I reach the hill and
start climbing. About halfway up the wheels start spinning and it's over. They tie the rope to my undercarriage and start to pull. The truck wheels
also start to spin. Eventually, all four of us get on the back of the truck for weight, the wheels grab, and camper comes loose and I make it to the
top.
I drive to their camp and we spend a friendly hour or two together. The camp consists of seven men and a woman. The woman is married to one of them
who lives in the only dwelling that even resembles a house. The others sleep on old mattresses scattered around rusted metal shacks held together with
bailing wire. They offer me water to drink from a well down the road. My now, I am deeply suspicious of any water , but I can't refuse and politely
down the cup. Eventually, I pay the head guy $50 for the help and head back to the highway and a store carrying Lake Arrowhead water.
Several years later I tell Gene Kira about the people who helped me out at Calamajue.
"Oh yeah, I know them well. They're the ones that represent the main characters in my Baja novel, 'King of the Moon'. They inspired me to write that
book."
I'll be darned.
David K - 5-15-2005 at 08:20 AM
Neat story Joe... I recommend reading Graham Mackintosh's first book (Into a Desert Place) and his experiences at PUERTO CALAMAJUE! When the locals
took him, with them fishing... !!!
Great story Joe
Keri - 5-15-2005 at 08:59 AM
Thanks for sharing that with us. Gene's book is a great read also/ Nice to know that was about real folks. Now you make me want to go there, k
turtleandtoad - 5-15-2005 at 05:43 PM
A little tip on pulling wheeled boats (and other things) in soft sand. Pull from the axles, the wheels won't bog down as much (if at all).
Just tie a loose loop around each axle next to the wheel and pull away!
It's the force vectors that do it. You're pulling up at the same time as you're pulling horizontally.