Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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Stuck in the mudflats: a tale of two jumper cables (and other tales of near-misses & close escapes in Baja)
30 years ago, when you could still drive up to the water's edge at Ojo de Liebre lagoon and launch a private boat into the water, we did- and the tide
came in behind our 71 VW Westy while we canoed with the whales.
It was an El Nino year, and the combination of high winter tides plus storm-driven winds made escape unlikely.
We returned to shore, exhilarated by the experience of being only a few feet from whales (only later would we learn how reckless our canoe voyage
was), and decided to wait it out rather attempt to leave and get stuck in the salt marsh, or damage the area (tire tracks were evident from previous
driving).
We pulled out some books, warmed up some food... but then the Germans arrived.
They were 2 men out for adventure, driving a beat up Chevy sedan they had purchased for a few hundred dollars in the states, intending to drive as
far south as possible, then sell/abandon the car somewhere in Mexico or Central America.
When they saw a familiar German car on the beach, they began driving into the marsh to say hello! We jumped out and waved wildly, and they stopped- in
the middle of the water. Then the Chevy's engine died and wouldn't start.
The two men exited the sedan, and came over to introduce themselves, wading through the mud. After a few pleasantries we walked off the distance from
VW to Chevy, and thought our jumper cables, clamped together, might reach from my rear-mounted battery to their front-mounted battery.
I cautiously backed up the van to the edge of the water, and: voila!: the engine started.
They gave us some cold beers as a thank you, backed out of the mud and began to drive back up the road. As they departed one waved and yelled
something like:
F#&@ing American car! We need a good GERMAN car!!
I often wonder if they made it off the peninsula...
[Edited on 3-15-2015 by Whale-ista]
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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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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You've reminded me of having my camper van parked for the night on the road to San Nicolas when we noticed a vaquero limping down the road, miles from
anything. His mule had thrown him and hurt his leg and run off with his rifle looking like it was going to fall out of the scabbard. He really didn't
want to lose that rifle. We packed-up, loaded him up, and even after several tries, down the road, with the three of us trying to get the mule close
to his lasso we still couldn't catch it. Finally he decided we should take him to the village to get his partner to help.
A mile from the beach we encountered his partner coming to look for him in a beat up Toyota. We handed off the appreciative cowboy and went down the
road looking for a place to turn around. When we headed back, there was the truck blocking the road trying to turn around and it wouldn't start. I got
within jumper cable reach and got them fired up. Gave them a beer, and my parting shot was: "Maybe you should get a mule!" Years later HE had the
opportunity to bail ME out of a fix!
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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vacaenbaja
Senior Nomad
Posts: 640
Registered: 4-4-2006
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Lets hear that story Vag!!
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BajaBlanca
Select Nomad
Posts: 13195
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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My surfer brother from Montauk, NY convinced my sister to head down to santa rosallillita one evening. My 70 year old mom was with them as well. They
were headed to La Bocana for our wedding.
It was dark and who knows where she was but the car got stuck in the sand. With the ocean creeping closer and closer.
Some drunks stopped by and tried to help. No go but they promised they would come back in the morning.
They knocked on a door and the family took them in - complete strangers fed them and gave them a bed for the night. Says my sis that she cried all
night as they were in her husband's land rover and she thought it would get carried away by the ocean. Come next morning, they go out to the car
-soon the Mexicans who had been drunk pull up and help them out!
All's well that ends well.
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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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Not much of a story really Vacaenbaja. I had bought and fixed up an old 16 foot aluminum Klamath with a 25 hp Evinrude. I took it to McCloud Res. in
NorCal and it tested fine, dragged it all the way to San Nicolas, got already for the first flat day to go fishing with my "new" boat and nothing on
this earth would make that motor start. I spent hours trouble shooting the thing. The "cowboy" and a buddy were down the beach a ways and I finally
asked them if they knew anything about outboards. I didn't know it was the guy I had helped, but he recognized me. It took him about 15 minutes to
find a problem with a wire in the tiller handle which was part of the circuitry to keep the engine from starting with the throttle wide open. (if I
remember right) Vibration for 1400 miles on the way down had screwed it up. We bypassed it and it started on the second pull. By that time of course
Bahia San Nicolas was whitecapping again!!!
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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Whale-ista
Super Nomad
Posts: 2009
Registered: 2-18-2013
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sunny with chance of whales
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^^Just proving what goes around/comes around.
Words to live by when going off the beaten path in Baja or anywhere else.
I'm enjoying these stories- anyone else want to contribute?
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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