Aqsurfer
Junior Nomad
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2014 ISLA BAJA LIFEGUARD PROGRAM - TRIP REPORT
Hola Nomads,
Just wanted to share a report of the International Surf Lifesaving Association’s (ISLA) trip to Baja but first I want to thank everyone that made the
trip and our Bahia Asuncion Lifeguard and Jr. Lifeguard program possible:
Asuncion: Jaime and Elide, Jean, Pulga, Kristal, and the other gentleman that let us stay at his house (apologies your name is not in my notes, will
edit in later), and all the participants. I also want to recognize the instrumental role that Stan played in getting us to BA, RIP amigo.
Bahia de los Angeles: Antonio Resendiz, Joel Prieto, ranch owners Matilde and Andrea plus the other big horn sheep guides Ramon, Chato and Jorge, and
finally Febe.
Izzy and family, owners of Surf Diva Surf School based in La Jolla, CA. Surf Diva Donated 20 soft-top surf boards, boogie boards, lots of rash guards
and wetsuits. The kids in Asuncion were stoked.
Antonio at Baja Cactus Pemex in El Rosario. Thank you so much for your in-kind donation of fuel. It really helped especially since our fundraising
did not meet our goals/needs.
Katy Fallon owner of Katy’s Café in Imperial Beach for the great coffee and breakfast. when in IB stop by for great eats and coffee. If you do,
please thank her for supporting our efforts.
Big thanks to folks that donated in helping cover our costs. We are all volunteers and take time off work and school to help save lives. No salaries
or offices here, we just get it done. Gracias.
Also special thanks to documentary filmmaker Lorena Santana and her crew, husband Robin and cinematographer Rick. Lorena is putting together a series
entitled “Barefoot in Baja” keep an eye out for it in the future.
Ok on Oct. 2, 21 lifeguards from as far away as Monterrey CA met in IB for our final load up, breakfast at Katy’s Cafe, and driver’s meeting. The
group did a great job securing donations for both the lifeguard program and for folks hit by hurricane Odile (clothes for men, women and kids,
household items, camping stoves, toys and stuffed animals, etc). Once ready, the seven vehicle caravan headed south on our full day drive to Punta
Abreojos. The road was in very good shape despite the recent damage caused by Odile – hats off to the road crews.
Our caravan stopped for fish tacos in San Quintin at Tacos El Parque. Good stuff! They used to be located in the park on the corner and are now
located across the street next to the Pemex (west side of blvd). Many tacos later our caravan continued south for our first fuel stop at Baja Cactus
Pemex in El Rosario. I got the opportunity to talk to Isela, a volunteer with the Halcones del Desierto, about our respective all-volunteer
organizations. We plan on establishing a working relationship with the Halcones in order to help them meet equipment and training needs. Gracias
Antonio and Isela for the donation and for the great work you are doing.
Our caravan was now set for a long run from El Rosario to Guerrero Negro. Again the roads were in great shape. We were treated to an amazingly lush
and vibrant central desert with lots of standing water. If heading south, keep an eye for the cows near the water and eating fresh vegetation on the
side of the road. The desert matched the greenest I have ever seen it since my first trip to Cabo overland with my parents in ’69. Amazing!
We stopped to refuel in Vizcaino. Not happy with the exchange rate of 12:1 and let the guys know it. We had the same BS with the guys in Asuncion.
Ni modo, viva Mexico (should of got pesos). We then set off for the Abreojos turn off. Our caravan stopped to celebrate our safe arrival at the
Abreojos turn off and acknowledge that we were close to our first destination. The Abreojos road used to have some of the toughest washboard in Baja,
nice to move at highway speeds. Love that town.
I chose Abreojos as our first stop for a couple of reasons: first, in order to surf those epic points; and second, to meet with local leaders about
re-starting the lifeguard program in Abreojos next year. Both of these goals were met. Surf was head-high with bomb southern-hemi sets every
20-minutes. Unfortunately for me, I broke my left hand on the 3rd wave of our first surf session. Oh well, so it goes. The group carried on
shredding some great waves without me. Local leaders are going to work with us to re-start the program next year. Success!
Early afternoon on Saturday, we headed out of Abreojos bound for Bahia Asuncion on the coastal dirt road. This road was in good shape but heads up on
arroyo/vado crossings. Quite a few of them had large amounts of water requiring our caravan to detour inland around them. On arrival in BA, it was
nice having kids recognize our caravan and wave/shout salvavidas! It was even better seeing that they retained the ocean safety lessons and skills
from the previous year’s training programs. But first, we continued on to meet local organizers Jean and Jaime. They secured free housing for us
which is very important in recruiting lifeguard volunteers. Gracias to the organizers and the folks that allowed us to stay in their homes. Once
settled in, we headed out for tacos at Conchitas. Nice way to finish off the day.
Sunday: full lifeguard training day. ISLA lifeguard instructors met with trainees at the local school for lifeguard lectures/power point
presentations. The second half of the day had everyone on the beach. The lifeguard trainees did great on long ocean swims, water entries, and mock
rescues. It is clear that these guys and gal get it. The Junior Lifeguard group was smaller this year but very stoked to be on the beach and in the
water with us.
Monday the effects of Simon became present on the coast. The morning session with the lifeguards was conducted in windy and choppy head-high surf.
The challenging conditions were perfect because that is when a lifeguard response is going to needed most. We were informed after the morning
session that local leaders had prohibited all water and beach activity until further notice. The afternoon session on the beach with the kids was
cancelled. We got the word out to the kids asking them to meet us on the covered basketball court. We decided on playing kickball and split up into
two very large teams. everyone played from pee wees on up! Everyone had a blast – game went into extra innings and the bad guys won on a great
double play.
Next morning we met with civil protection and community leaders to discuss the final day of training. Conditions remained windy with head-high choppy
surf. The leaders refused to grant us permission to go in the water or on the beach and ordered us to wait 24-hours. The following morning (24 hours
later) the BA Lifeguards conducted a Code-X drill simulating the search for a submerged drowning person and a mass rescue. For the latter we had the
8 BA lifeguards rescue our entire group of 21 instructors. They handled everything we threw at them from combative victims to unconscious non
breathing/no pulse victims. Fantastic job by all the BA guards. Wednesday afternoon we said our goodbyes, thanked our hosts, and headed out for
Bahia de los Angeles in windy/light rain conditions. Four members of our group broke off and headed south towards Bahia Concepcion and San Juanico.
On the road we were treated to a beautiful moonrise over the mountains. We did one more stop on the overlook above the moonlit Bahia de los Angeles –
beautiful.
in town we had a great dinner at Costa del Sol and then headed off to Antonio Resendiz’ Campo Archelon for a good night’s sleep. Next day, we met
Joel Prieto, Ricardo and Marcos for a boat tour/swim with whalesharks. Great day on the water: lots of whalesharks (8’-37’), the wind never came up,
and good visibility at the south end of the bay. We then headed out to Puerto Don Juan for more swimming and exploring. Great day followed by a
great group dinner in camp. The following morning a big part of our group headed back to San Diego – work, weddings, other commitments. They were
sad to leave Baja, we were glad to be staying.
Next day the remaining crew was in for quite a treat. Antonio Resendiz invited us out to see big horn sheep with a group of local guides. We had an
amazing day. Our group left camp at 5:30am and headed south through the Valle de las Flores (again the desert was green, green, green). We saw a lot
of birds among the cardon cactus as we continued on towards our first big horn stop along the Sierra La Libertad. Our guides Matilde, Ramon, Chato,
and Jorge set up hi-powered binoculars and quickly spotted big horn miles away. These guys are amazing, we thought we had good eyes but the guides
did their initial big horn spot with the naked eye. The group then headed out for the charming ranch of Matilde and Andrea where we were warmly
received. Then everybody joined in to make lunch – fresh yellow tail tacos with all the fixings and sashimi. The star at lunch was the fresh ranch
cheese, oh my gosh it was good. Good stuff all around! Great vibe and fun cooking with the group – everyone had a great time and a fantastic meal.
We then set out on a short hike to a tinaja (water hole) in a deep cut canyon. All the guards immediately jumped in the water on reaching the tinaja
and then we noted that the walls were perfect for rock climbing and up we went. Again more fun.
The group then continued our hike up the trail to where the canyon split. Here again the guides quickly spotted big horn sheep. Lorena Santana and
her “Barefoot in Baja” crew was with us and her cinematographer Rick along with our lead guide Matilde set off scrambling up the canyon face to
photograph/video the big horn. The rest of the group watched from the opposite side of the canyon and I swear Matilde is so agile he could probably
run down a big horn. Great job by those guys on the canyon wall!
If you have never seen big horn in Baja, I highly recommend it. There are two big horn sheep trips planned in the near future: on October 31 and
November 15/16. The cost is $50 per person and includes transportation from BLA, food (amazing fresh yellow tail tacos), big horn sheep viewing,
birding, hiking, and guides. All the money goes to the guides, to cover costs, and to help in their efforts to protect big horn sheep. Lets help
these guys build ecotourism and protect big horn by going on a big horn day trip. Contact me if you would like more information or would like to go
on a big horn adventure at:
aqsurf@aol.com
Friday evening we met with Febe, a local woman, who is starting a community based non-profit, an Associacion Civil. The woman’s group hopes to
improve the lives of folks in BLA. They have some great ideas and I told them of my role helping Mujeres en Accion Para Abreojos (MEAPA) with Chelo.
That community group has done great things in Abreojos, I am hoping for the same in Bahia. We then asked Febe to come by our camp in order to pick up
donations. At Campo Archelon she gave us a very moving and heartfelt thank you and informed us that we were providing her group’s first donation. We
then filled the entire bed of a full size truck with clothing, household items, camp stoves, tools, and toys. I am certain that the donations will go
to people truly in need especially those hit hard by Odile. Thank you to everyone that donated.
On Friday night our now smaller group decided to go up to the Festival de San Borja. We all piled in to a truck and off we went. The road up was
tough and when we were almost to the mission we realized that we were almost out of gas. No problem we could just refuel at one of the three new
Pemex’s at the mission for the best service go to the one near the Hardrock Cafe – kidding of course. Faced with this situation there was only one
thing that our lifeguard group could do. We bought beers and danced to norteno music. Great fun meeting new people and dancin’ with local gals.
Only after beers-n-dancin did we begin asking if anyone had some gas they could sell us. We finally located a gentleman who was in charge of the
generator powering up lights and music, he had 5 gallons he was willing to sell. Muchisimas gracias, hope we didn’t cause the festival to run short.
Next day, we cleaned camp, said our goodbyes and headed north. I want to thank everyone that volunteered, donated and or helped make this trip a huge
success. We are looking into formally inviting four BA Lifeguards to attend a California lifeguard academy next year. We look forward to improving
the program in BA and re-starting Punta Abreojos. I sincerely hope that folks will support the fledgling big horn sheep group and Febe's woman's
group in Bahia de los Angeles – they are doing great work. Finally thank you for supporting ISLA.
See you in Baja.
Peace,
Aaron
[Edited on 10-16-2014 by Aqsurfer]
[Edited on 10-16-2014 by Aqsurfer]
[Edited on 10-16-2014 by Aqsurfer]
[Edited on 10-16-2014 by Aqsurfer]
[Edited on 10-17-2014 by Aqsurfer]
[Edited on 10-17-2014 by Aqsurfer]
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
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you're a good man, Charlie Brown!
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5901
Registered: 7-18-2011
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Thanks for the report! Good on you!
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MMc
Super Nomad
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Registered: 6-29-2011
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Nice report! Thanks for helping out and making that piece of the world a little safer. Please post up next year.
"Never teach a pig to sing it frustrates you and annoys the pig" - W.C.Fields
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DianaT
Select Nomad
Posts: 10020
Registered: 12-17-2004
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GREAT Report and such great work you are doing
Loved seeing all the pictures of you in Bahia Asuncion on facebook, and so proud of our special young friend, Camila.
While we are no longer there, we are very happy that the new owner of our home is participating!
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Aqsurfer
Junior Nomad
Posts: 78
Registered: 7-6-2004
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Gracias Woody, Ateo, NMc, and DianaT,
This program's success is thanks to a big team effort including folks like you that help make it happen. The Baja lifeguard programs that I have
helped established have saved thousands of lives, have positively changed the lives of local guards and communities, and have left lasting legacies in
Baja. Our efforts are not one and done, next up is Todos Santos in January.
I am very proud of the core group of young Asuncion lifeguards including Camila that has emerged. They rock!
Gracias and Peace,
Aaron
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5901
Registered: 7-18-2011
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How's your hand? Did you guys just bandage it up and proceed or was there a hospital involved?
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rts551
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6699
Registered: 9-5-2003
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Great job guys. Glad you stopped and got the program restarted in Abreojos. Its been a help for many years. Sounds like the program in Asuncion is
going well. Nice to see the community pulling together to give you support including food and shelter. Nice touch.
I saw someone racing in to the clinic last month with their hand held out of the window of the car. Figured it was the rocks????????
[Edited on 10-18-2014 by rts551]
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TMW
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Excellent, thanks.
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Aqsurfer
Junior Nomad
Posts: 78
Registered: 7-6-2004
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Hola Ateo,
Thanks for asking. I initially tried to keep surfing but it was no place for a one-handed surfer - the tide was dropping and the take-offs were
pretty heavy at La Palapa. Relegated to injured reserve but glad the group and other surfers in Abre were getting some sick barrels.
I was examined by an LA County Lifeguard that also works as a physical therapist. She determined I had a "boxer's" fracture (metacarpal). I was out
of the water the next couple of days with my hand in ice. I was able to participate in all the swims and rescues in BA's training program. I figure
I need about a week in order to surf again.
rts551 - I hope that the other person you mentioned heading in to the clinic is ok. Any word?
Peace,
Aaron
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BajaBlanca
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great report! you packed in a lot of adventure and spread good vibes. you ARE a good man, Charlie Brown!
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