wsdunc - 10-31-2011 at 09:52 AM
I finally got to go back to East Cape for a 10 day trip. The purpose of the trip was to relax, and influence my wife Marcia relative to the idea of
building a Casita on our lot there (in La Ribera). Here are some details of the trip:
• Travel- flew Alaska from LAX to Cabo, painless. One interesting thing on the return flight where we cleared immigration in San Diego was that you
no longer needed to fill out a form. You did however need your passport and another photo ID. My wife didn’t have a second ID, but they said not to
worry. I understand this paperless system is a pilot program being tried out in San Diego.
• Money exchange-used the ATM on SJD airport. I will need to get my statement to know the exact change rate, but even with the small fee ($2.25?) I
expect the exchange rate to be favorable when compared to paying with dollars at small markets etc where they still list the exchange rate at 12/1.
• Car Rental-Looked around for a while on line without a lot of success, trying to find a 4x4 (preferably Jeep) with an auto transmission. Sent email
to several companies asking for clarification of their website description of vehicles offered. No response from anyone. I then somehow Googled
Cancun Discounts @travelnow.com, and found a good deal for a jeep 4x4 with an automatic transmission. This reservation would be serviced by Dollar
Rent a Car, but the price I got from Cancun Discounts was cheaper than anything on Dollars website. Plus it guaranteed an automatic transmission.
While picking up luggage there are a row of car rental places, and they descend on you trying to steal your business, but when I told them the rate,
and that it was an auto transmission jeep no one could touch it. When I got to Dollar there was a little hiccup when they tried to give me a 2 wheel
drive Jeep Patriot with an auto, but when I showed them my reservation they switched it for an almost brand new 4 door Jeep Wrangler 4x4. This was a
nice vehicle, and we had no trouble with it, using the 4 wheel drive in loose sand a couple of times. The longer wheelbase of the 4 door made the
ride a lot nicer.
• The Rental-The purpose of this visit at least in part was to let my wife see if East Cape was livable. This meant staying in a rental rather than
being catered to at a resort. My wife found a simple casita on VRBO which we rented for a week. This place was perfect for us. It was a small
palapa with half walls and screens. There were two sleeping lofts, and on the ground floor a fridge, stove and sink, as well as a coffee table and
futon/couch. There was a covered porch, as well as a separate bath house (brand new and squeaky clean)with toilet, sink and shower. The casita was
~150 yards from the beach, in a small depression to shelter it from the wind, surrounded by tall palms which shaded it well. The property was owned
by gringos Jim (father, and long time Baja resident) and Josh (son), as well as Josh’s Mexican wife Patty, her son Obed (12 years old) and the new
baby Jake (4 mos). There were also 3 dogs and a few cats. Walking from the casita to the beach you passed Josh’s trailer and palapa, and then on the
beach Jim’s trailer and palapa. At the beach you find the lagoon. The lagoon is a cool thing; 10 years ago it didn’t exist. But a wet hurricane
(Julietta?) changed that a few years ago. Prior to Julietta there was an underground river that ran through the area, and dumped into the Sea of
Cortez (under water). After Julietta the path to the sea was blocked by washed down sand, and the lagoon was formed. The lagoon is full of life
today, with several varieties of crabs, and lots of fish. Most evenings locals come to catch dinner with their cast net, I saw several pargos in the
3 lb range. There is also a picture at the casita of a 24 lb snook that they caught with their bare hands, chasing it into a corner and flipping it
onto the bank. When making bait in the lagoon we found (and freed) several tiny snook. Some of the other pictures in the casita included, big
roosters, a big tune from the beach, and an oarfish. If you don’t know what that is you’ll have to Google it, but it’s impressive. To get to the real
beach you crossed over the lagoon on a 50 ft plank bridge with hand rails, quite easy and just wobbly enough to keep you paying attention. Most
mornings found me at dawn fishing the beach with light tackle, not great fishing, but enough action to keep you interested. I caught a couple of fish
each time, micro roosters, small jacks, ladyfish, needlefish etc. One nice thing was that one of the dogs, Chito, was a fishing fanatic, so pretty
much anytime anyone went to the beach he followed, and when I was walking the beach he joined me, me fishing, and him hunting ghost crabs. A few
times during the afternoon there were large (larger?) roosters crashing the beach. I got to sprint down the beach and make one or two casts before
they disappeared. The closest I came was having one big rooster follow my lure but not take it. But I’m convinced that given a couple more weeks on
that beach I would get a big rooster from the shore. Chito is an interesting factor here, one time I sprinted down the beach, he sprinted with me, I
cast, and he dove in and started swimming out to the boil. So I held up future casts to avoid snagging a boxer/pitbull mix. I was way too busy
laughing to be annoyed. Most of the dogs would join us at the beach at one time or another and they loved to play in the lagoon. Being dog people
having them around was a big plus for us.
Besides hanging out at the casita or the beach we did a few things. We drove up to San Bartolo and bought some fruit sweets. We snorkeled two days
at Cabo Pulmo, once by ourselves at Los Arbolitos just north of town, and then once with an outfitter who took us out in a panga. For the panga trip
we brought along Obed, our landlord’s son. Among other things we were taken to about 75 ft of water over a sand bottom where a school of big eye
jacks was milling about. We just floated above them and watched them swirl and ball up for probably 20 minutes. They were mostly 2-3 ft long, and I
tried hard to get a conservative count, which I think is near 1000 fish. It was very cool. The sea lions didn’t want to play at seal point, but back
at Arbolitos we found a trurle, maybe the same one Marcia and I had followed the day before. All in all it was good snorkeling, and Obed told us
later that it was his best day ever, which is certainly rewarding for us.
I also got to spend some time with some locals, and finally got to meet Osprey, which was a treat. As expected everyone we ran into treated us very
nicely, and assuaged my wife’s fears that she would never have any friends if we moved down.
How nice was the rental? Well after a week at the casita we were going to Rancho Leonero for 3 nights, but as we were packing up we both felt that we
would have preferred to stay at the casita for a couple more weeks. The casita was very comfortable, very quiet and very remote. The hosts were
great hosts, making sure you had everything you need, but also staying out of the way and allowing you to enjoy your experience. We came as clients,
and left as friends. For us the casita was perfect, it works well for a couple, or a couple with kids, or 2 couples (that are good friends). It’s a
simpler Baja.
• The Resort-We went to Rancho Leonero for 3 days, and enjoyed ourselves as well. Normally I have visited Punta Colorado, but decided on Rancho
Leonero for a change. It was very nice, as expected. The location is beautiful, and their skippers and deckhands are good, working hard to put you
on fish, and encouraging the release of all non-food fish. We fished 2 days, day 1 Marcia released an estimated 100 lb marlin, and then when we went
inshore she released a couple of small roosters (5-10 lbs)as well as a ~15lb toro which was pretty much a brute. The next day we had a double marlin
hookup, one on trolled dead bait, the second hit a lure. One nice thing about this was that the deckhand was busy with the first fish, so I got to
deal with the second marlin by myself from beginning to end. Marcia’s came unbuttoned after about 10 minutes. I think she was secretly glad as she
was pretty whupped from the day before. In about 40 minutes I released a ~120 lb marlin. When we went inshore Marcia continued her inshore
finessing, catching a couple more roosters, as well as a few palometas, while I kept getting bit by needlefish, and green jacks, and ladyfish. The
inshore fishing was just south of the Punta Colorado boat dock, where the 5-10 lb roosters were mixed in with the rest. There were lots of fish, and
continuous bites, but most of the roosters were small and there were lots of undesirables. So we also fished near the jetties of the new Cabo Riviera
development. This is one good thing about the development, the bait has been hanging around the jetties, and so have the smaller game fish. This is
where Marcia caught her big toro, and from a distance we watched a BIG rooster chase a 2 ft mullet for 50 ft parallel to the beach in shallow water.
• The Development-Cabo Riviera is a big deal. I was told that it is the largest earth moving project in Mexico’s history. They are building a big
Marina, with several man made islands, and plans for large hotels, golf courses etc. This isn’t my idea of what Baja’s all about; it will be
interesting to see how things develop. In my straw poll of residents it came out about 1/3 in favor of the development, thinking that it would
provide employment and an improved financial situation for the locals, both fishermen and people in the service industry. The next 1/3 were open
minded, but had some concerns that the project might collapse in the middle of construction from lack of funds. While we were there everything was
very active, and our talks with a friend who works for the development indicated that there were big money people involved who have finished big
projects in the past, and will finish this one. The final 1/3 was concerned about the development, believing that they would import workers from
mainland Mexico. This would do two bad things, keep the locals from benefiting from the new job opportunities, and bring in an influx of new people
that had no ties to the community. Today La Ribera is the classic small town, everybody knows everybody, and acts accordingly. There is very little
petty crime, and very little violence. Leaving doors unlocked is not unheard of. There is a fear that in influx of laborers might change all this.
As I said it will be interesting to watch how things develop.
• Summary- East Cape is still wonderful; the fishing (especially with the help of the fishing resorts) can still be very good. Snorkeling at Cabo
Pulmo is very nice. All the people we me,t both locals and gringo ex-pats, were unfailingly nice. Eating at the recommended restaurants was good and
reasonably priced (we ate at La Costa, on the beach road with a surfboard as advertisement, sopa de mariscos-yum), Donna Maria’s (monster burro shared
for lunch) and Evas(?) yellow orange place with a small sign mentioning al carbon in front (good seafood). Rancho Leonero was nice in a fishing
resort kind of way. The rental palapa (http://www.vrbo.com/324284 ) was super for us, and we wished we had stayed there longer. Highly recommended. All in all it would appear that
this trip moved my wife closer to the “Sure, let’s go ahead and try it” position relative to building a house.