BajaNomad

Trip report Los Barriles 4/15-21

cbuzzetti - 4-24-2009 at 09:19 AM

Great trip/ good weather.

Land in SJD at 3pm. They are widening the road north from the airport, about 10 miles of it is done at this point with another 5 miles being prepped.
Arrive at Palmas de Cortez at about 4:30 to a very nice 75 air temp and flat calm ocean. Only 2 boats fished today from Palmas with a few Dorado caught. Was put in Cabanas #3 near the lobby and pools. Room was fair beds suck. Decent Mex buffet that night.

4/16 get up early and shore fish in front of hotel (no wind) for two 10" Lizard fish. I thought these were only on the Pacific side. Breakfast buffet at hotel most of food cold (eggs, french toast, tortillas).
Rent car at Palmas for $79/day with all fees. Drive down to Cabo Pulmo and snorkel the south end of bay. Lots of fish, visibility was about 30'. Water and air both about 75, very nice. Have lunch at Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort. Fish and shrimp tacos (fair). Stop at Punta Arena and fish for 30 minutes for nada. Wind came up at 2pm. A few boats fished out of hotel for Dorado, thresher and 1 Marlin.
Checked in with fishing office at Palmas for our first day of fishing on Friday. I called before leaving Ca and talked to Josh in the Van Wormer resort office in Calabasas to verify that the price of the charter included the licenses and all permits for fishing. He confirmed that it did and I did not need to bring my own Mex fishing lic. This is also stated on their web site.
The fishing manager wanted us to buy licenses, I told him no and that these are provided at no cost to the customer according to the company and web site. After this point he became less friendly for the rest of the trip.

4/17 Breakfast buffet at hotel still cold (these guys got some work to do)
We were set up to fish the Champagne a 28' cruiser. Got about 5 minutes into the trip and boat developed a fuel delivery problem. We were quickly swithed to another boat and we were off. Windy all day with winds to 25 knots. Fished north towards Cerralvo Is. Saw at least 25 Marlin, had 2 blind strikes on jigs that did not stick and one fish took bait but the hook pulled. Very tough day of fishing. Capt and crew worked their butts off but we could not convert. Boats to the south did catch some Dorados but not many.
Dinner at Otra Vez was good. I had the Cammarones Mojo de Ajo, wife had the camarones with mango. Mine was better according to both of us. Excellant live music with Alex De Pue (violin) and Miguel De Hoyas (guitar). These guys were fantastic and played almost every kind of music.

4/18 Breakfast at Calebs (this is the place) food is fantastic especially compared to the Palmas. Great view from the upstairs patio.
Massages today at Palmas both very good.
Lunch at Palmas was Chicken Ceasar Salad (decent).
Wedding today at hotel. Large group of hard drinking Americans, total bummer for most of stay. Mex sit down dinner at Palmas was very good.
Only two boats fish today 6 Dorado (still windy).
Spoke to front office at 10:30 pm to see when they will be turning down music for wedding. She tells me 2-3 am. I ask and get another room in the garden section. Lower quality room that need updating but is alot quieter and has ocean view. Don't stay in cabanas unless you like to party!!!

4/19 Up early to fish, breaskfast at Palmas was better today since we were before the buffet and it was made to order. The Chiliquiles (sp) were good and food was hot.
Fish North on the Jukate. Wind still 15-20 all day. 1 Dorado about 15 lbs. Bait 7 Marlin and 1 Sail fish but no takers.
Seafood buffet at Palmas (beware) they do not know what they are doing. Everything was breaded, over cooked and cold. The seafood soup was good (and hot). The hotel was a little quieter today since the wedding party was very hung over.

Wind dies down in the afternoon.

4/20 Last day of fishing for us. wife decides she has had enough and chooses to not go so I get a super panga instead of cruiser. Ocean is flat calm in AM and we head North to get some sardinas up near Punta Pescadera.
Start fishing about five miles North of PP on a very nice and deserted sandy cove. Baits go in the water and we are bit within minutes by lots of Rooster Fish. Catch and release at least 10 Rooster fish to 15 lbs. As well as 5 nice Sierra Mackeral and 5 Pargo to 5 lbs.
We get a call on the radio that someone has found a whale carcas and it is loaded with Dorado. It is 24 miles from where we are but it is still flat calm and only noon. We make the trip in 1 hour and instantly hookup a Dorado. Fish are everywhere, jumping and breezing. I have never seen so many Dorado in one spot. We limit out in short order and head in early. Over all a great day of fishing. I was worried that my cooler would come home empty.
Dinner at Otra Vez again. I had the Coconut Shrimp and it was very good. I don't remember what my wife had but she did not really like it all that much.
Met some nice folks who have a Casitas in the East Cape RV park and we went over there to check it out. Very Clean and well cared for facility. Pool, Jauzzi lots of palm trees and vegitation. Wife thought it would be nice to park a trailer there for a year to see how it turns out. I was all for it.

4/21 last day :-( Incredible sunrise :-) take lots of pics, no wind. Breakfast at Calebs (I could go there everyday). Try the Calebs special (eggs, pancakes, sausage patty and bacon) very good. Great fresh squeezed OJ. Wife had the Huevos Rancheros, said it was pretty spicy but excellant.
Get to airport and find out we are not on Mexicana but a flight that is booked through Mexicana but operated by AA.
Ofcourse they do not honor the same rules as Mexican and want to charge us for two overweight bags at $50 each. We negociate (sp) it down to one bag at $50 and will make sure we are only on Mexican from now on. They never weigh bags, give you free beer in flight and lunch.

Overview: Loved Los Barriles!!!!! Nice people everywhere, clean beaches. Won't stay at Palmas again, just not worth
the money. Resort is starting to get run down, lots of deferred maintenance going on. They do not know how to cook. Tons of low priced on the beach rentals available on VRBO.com
We will go back, just do it differently.

Thanks to the Nomads who sent us to Calebs.

[Edited on 4-24-2009 by cbuzzetti]

LB - 4-24-2009 at 09:50 AM

Thanks for the report. Any local could have told you about the food at
Palmas! Always ask a local where the best food is!! Did not know
Palmas was getting run down again. They were trying to become a fancy
resort.:?:

cbuzzetti - 4-24-2009 at 10:20 AM

Oops I posted this in the wrong spot and can't seem to be able to move it.

Any help?

bajalorena - 4-24-2009 at 03:27 PM

Don't know how to change it, but maybe copy text and paste it into trip reports?
Anyone that reads "Today's posts" will see it.

BajaDanD - 4-24-2009 at 11:57 PM

Well I guess I'm glad I didn't ride in your carry on luggage. You would have had to leave me there so you cold bring your fish home. WAIT A MINUTE What am I thinking.



You gonna park your MoHO down there



Asuncion in Oct or Nov

capt. mike - 4-25-2009 at 07:26 AM

Sad to hear negatives about the Palmas - it used to be THE place back in days gone by. Did you check ou the Sol next door? Van Wormer has that one. Next time - if you like fishing, go to Punta colorado. they treat you like kings. another Van Wormer place further south but latest reviews on BBP are good.

were you on the american plan with all meals incl in your rate thence had to eat there? or pay extra for outside meals.

i have landed right in front of that hotel in 1990. what a gas. :spingrin:

bajalorena - 4-25-2009 at 07:32 AM

Good comprehensive report..........

You might also check out the Jen Wren for sportfishing.
http://web.mac.com/vseasport/Jen_Wren/JEN_WREN_home.html
They are an independent operator, although the resorts sometimes hire them, too.

Vicki at Caleb's will appreciate the plug, she and her crew do a great job.

ArroyoTaxi - 4-26-2009 at 04:50 PM

Great report. We eat breakfast at Caleb's almost every morning when we are in LB. There is a reason Bobby Van Wormer eats dinner at Otra Vez: The food at the Palmas is hideous and is always cold. Also, the industrial cleaning solution that the Palmas staff slops around the rooms is so toxic, we've had friends move out after one day.

cbuzzetti - 4-27-2009 at 10:21 AM

I stayed at Punta Colorada last November. Gotta say the food was not any better. They know how to do Mex food, just not anything else.
I will say that at PC they were able to sevre the food hot everytime. Not so at Palmas.
We will rent a house next time and cook our own meals (except breakfast of course). Lots of places on the beach for rent in VRBO.com

The old man (Bobby) sat at our table for dinner one night when they were serving Lasagna and Spagetti. He seemed to be enjoying it so I did not think he would understand if I tried to let him know how awful it was.

Thanks for the tip on Jen Wren bajalorena I will check it out next time down.

dtbushpilot - 4-27-2009 at 12:01 PM

For sport fishing it's hard to beat Verdugo's. I think they have the best prices and captains. I have gone out with them many times and have never had a bad trip. I always try to get Ronny Verdugo but the other captians that I have gone out with were good also.....dt

24baja - 4-28-2009 at 10:13 AM

We stayed at the Punta Colorado several times as have a few of our friends and we have always been treated with great respect and kindness. The food was very good, much more than I expected at the time. The only thing we would have like more was to be served Mexican food each day instead of American, we get enough of that at home and prefer to eat authentic when in Mexico.

The rooms were clean and no horrible sanitizer smells, and the fishing boats & crews were fantastic.

Eddie Van Wormer runs a good hotel.

cbuzzetti - 4-28-2009 at 11:10 AM

I will agree that all other aspects of Punta Colorada were good.

They just don't do American food very well except breakfast. And the location is great if you do not want to be in town. Plenty of fishing right in front of the hotel.

renting a house next time

BajaDanD - 4-28-2009 at 06:14 PM

SO when we going

fishbuck - 4-28-2009 at 06:27 PM

Excellent report! Honest and frank. I've stayed at Palmas a few time. Caught a marlin there.
Nice enough place but they do seem a little insincere.

fishbuck - 4-28-2009 at 06:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by capt. mike
Sad to hear negatives about the Palmas - it used to be THE place back in days gone by. Did you check ou the Sol next door? Van Wormer has that one. Next time - if you like fishing, go to Punta colorado. they treat you like kings. another Van Wormer place further south but latest reviews on BBP are good.

were you on the american plan with all meals incl in your rate thence had to eat there? or pay extra for outside meals.

i have landed right in front of that hotel in 1990. what a gas. :spingrin:


Flew in there twice myself Mike. That was the life!

[Edited on 4-29-2009 by fishbuck]

cbuzzetti - 4-29-2009 at 08:23 AM

Hi Dan, maybe this fall. Lori and I really enjoyed the area and want to spend some additional time there.
Homes on the beach are very reasonable at $150-250/night. Lots of them for rent. With 4 people that is doable.