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jamiec
Junior Nomad
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Surf Trip
As one of my high school teachers used to say, "Better never than late".
Been lurking around here for a while and this site helped get me back to Baja. I haven't been to Mexico for about 17 years and I missed it. Living in
San Diego in the late 90's and early 2000s made it easy to run down the coast for surfing, fishing, and camping.
This trip is from July 2019. My son and I packed up the truck for a 10ish day trip with the plan of hitting a bunch of Pacific surf spots.
Took off from Central California and made Carlsbad by night, up early to check the surf, then on to my old stomping grounds Ocean Beach San Diego for
a lunchtime paddle out. South swell just starting to fill in.
Cross at San Ysidro about 2 pm which still gave us plenty of time to get to our first spot. Maybe. Pull into the INM office to pick up an FMM and get
our first taste of Mexico weirdness. We are in line with a single agent slowly processing a group of college kids going into TJ for the night. I am
starting to get worried about my boards on top of the truck, but telling myself all is ok. After about 20 minutes, another agent comes up and starts
asking people in line where they are going, when he gets to use, I tell him we are going to a spot about 4 hours south maybe 8 or 9 days or 10, maybe
we will head further south, not sure. He says, "you don't need an FMM, get going." I'm surprised, though I need one. He says "no, your good, next!"
Ok, off we go, while in the back of my head the entire trip I am thinking, we should have got one. I will definitely get one next time.
Good old K38
An easy drive down Hwy 1, at the time all the toll booths had been taken over by protesters, no problems. Hoping for a quick trip through Ensenada
and we run into all kinds of traffic. Once we clear Ensenada, it was smooth sailing.
Santo Tomas
Never follow Google Maps, we got a bit lost going to a place that I knew would be good for a night or two as long as there were waves. Pulled in just
at sundown.
And we wake up to waves!
After the 3rd surf of the day, I asked the kid how he was feeling.
Hard to leave a spot when there is surf, but after a couple of days we started to get the itch to explore. We met up with a couple from Santa Cruz, a
guy from the Riverside area, and a guy from England that had driven down from Canada. All good people, they were heading to a spot further south so
agreed to caravan. Stop at Moma Espinosas for lunch and gas then south we all go. I tend to drive like a grandpa in Baja to try and avoid La Mordida
so I lost all our new friends, we would meet up later in the trip.
Middle of nowhere
On the road
Stop in GN for the night, stayed at the Terrasal. Nice place, it was quiet and relatively cheap, had A/C and it was good to get a shower. Don't
really recommend their restaurant though, not horrible but not great either. I hear there is a really good fish taco truck in GN but by the time we
got into town, they must have closed up for the night, bummed we missed them.
Search for surf continues the next day, after looking at point that we heard might have surf, but didn't, we kept driving. We came upon this cool
beach, blinding white with all the shells that made up the beach.
Good place for a beer, but I can say that about most places.
Wasn't really worth paddling out, very small.
Fishing boat
Still looking for surf, I see a point up in the distance and as we get closer I swear I see waves break. My son thinks I am crazy, he doesn't see any
waves. As we get closer it becomes clear there are no waves here but it is low tide with tidepools and we need to stretch our legs. So we jump out of
the truck to poke around in the tidepools.
Locals
Hard to post to Instagram when you are in the middle of the desert
I think at this point, we are many miles away from everything and everyone. We haven't seen any towns or vehicles or people in quite a while, we just
checking out the tidepools. After about twenty minutes of looking at crabs and the kid collecting empty abalone shells, I happen to look back towards
my truck and I am a little startled to see a young guy standing outside of his pickup truck that is parked right next to my truck. He is staring at
us and doesn't seem too happy. I tell the kid that we might need to get going and we slowly walk back toward our truck. In my limited Spanish, I say
good afternoon and I just get a nod back. I say that we are heading to another fishing town and ask him if we are on the right track. He looks us up
and down and then points south and just says "Si". With that, he gets in his truck and drives off. I just look at the kid and say something about how
that was a bit weird. Not sure where the guy came from, did he just happen across us? Did he know we were there? Coming from California, I know that
sometimes hiking up in the Sierra's you can stumble across someone's farm plot and they tend to be upset. Was this one of those type circumstances, I
wondered.
Later, we were camping at a spot with a really good wave. We met a guy named Mike and his girlfriend Heidi from Los Angeles. Really good people. They
invited us over for a bonfire one night and we told them the story. Mike said that the guy was most likely with the local fishing collective and that
he was just making sure we were not poaching Abalone on the low tide. This made sense. He also talked about how the collective watches over the
fishing grounds at night to make sure no one is out poaching lobsters. Very cool.
To be continued in part 2
We found a pretty consistent wave with only a couple of people around. We set up camp for 4 or 5 days.
Baja, land of the rights.
The kid locked in on a fun one. He tried my longboard out a couple of times but kept going back to the sponge. Always had a smile on his face.
Days started to blend together: wake up, coffee and a bite to eat. Surf. Rest up for a while. Surf again. Have a beer. Maybe paddle out again. Watch
the sunset. Bonfire. Beer. Maybe a taste of tequila. The good life.
Baja sunset
After a few days, we got the itch to go exploring. Drove into a fishing village and found, what the kid described as, the 2nd best fish tacos in Baja.
So far.
Ice cold Negra Modelo and great food.
Osprey and lobster traps
Fishing
I tried to talk the kid into staying another week but he had the Wharf to Wharf race to get back to in Santa Cruz. So we packed up, thanked Mike and
Heidi for all of their hospitality and headed home. Everyone told us to take the 5 instead the 1 all the back to California so we took the 5. This was
before much of the repairs to the road had been completed to it was slow going at times with some bumps that bounced us out of our seats. Overall we
were glad we took the 5.
Quick pit stop
Clouds
We had planned to stay overnight in San Felipe but arrived by 2 in the afternoon. The plan changed to lunch and then crossing over the border at
Mexicali before dark. The Moon Baja Guide listed Taqueria y Mariscos Adriana in the Malecon as a place not to be missed and we were very glad we
stopped here. A tiny place next that seemed out of place compared to all the large restaurant/night clubs that were blaring music. The kid rated
these fish tacos as the best we had in Baja. I agreed. When I was ordering from the woman the was cooking the tacos, I asked if I could buy a beer.
She said she didn't have any beer but there was a market just down the road where I could buy one. A couple of locals that were eating overheard me
asking her, and they offered up a beer from a 6 pack they had brought with them. I continue to be amazed by the hospitality and friendless of most
everyone we came across on our trip.
Being my first time crossing the border at Mexicali, I had Google Maps on trying to guide me in. Maybe a poor connection or maybe don't trust Google
Maps but we kept getting rerouted and turned around in downtown Mexicali. We finally turned down a street to see the concrete barriers, success!
Except I mistakenly got in the Sentri lane, without a Sentri card. I have never seen so many Border patrol agents just slowly shake their heads while
giving me the WTF look. Apparently doing this means an automatic vehicle search. We were lucky to get off with a warning but the agent that did the
search informed me that if I did it again I would be fined or have my truck impounded. No thanks, I'll be more careful next time.
Overall, a super fun trip.
Counting the days until we can make another surf trip, hoping to experience San Juanico later this summer and maybe another point that is rumored to
have a left to surf, us goofy footers don't mind going backside but sometimes it nice to go the other way too.
Cheers
[Edited on 4-24-2020 by jamiec]
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elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
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Location: Yes
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MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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Welcome back to Baja. It is the best.
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
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Tioloco
Ultra Nomad
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Nice report!
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Paco Facullo
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Mood: Abiding ..........
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Welcome jamiec,
Excellent write-up along with great photos !
Your Son will always remember that trip....
Since I've given up all hope, I feel much better
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Great way to join Nomad... with a photo filled trip report! Well done!
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Mulege Canuck
Nomad
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Gracias Jamiec
Great report !
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El Jefe
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Location: South East Cape
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Thank you. This is the kind of report I love to see here on Baja Nomad.
And there is nothing like a surf trip to Baja with your son. Some of my boys' best memories are surf trips with dad. I'm kind of fond of those
memories as well.
My 16 year old grandson was just here and expressed his hope that they can visit back down to our place on the east cape when the current dust settles
and we are all able to go south. Makes my heart sing.
No b-tchin\' in the Baja.
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Meany
Nomad
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Location: santa paula,calif
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Thanks for posting your trip. What a Great time.
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honda tom
Nomad
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Registered: 8-28-2003
Location: middle calif
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The fish and shrimp taco truck in GN is really good! It is like a lunchtime thing though.
super clean truck.... like a battleship gray color... highly recommended.
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jamiec
Junior Nomad
Posts: 69
Registered: 3-16-2020
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Thanks everyone, updated the rest of the trip. Yea Tom, that was the one we were looking for, we get them next time.
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
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Awesome! Great report and pics, thanks for that!
"When you catch a fish, you open the door of happiness."
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64852
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Location: San Diego County
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In Guerrero Negro...
Quote: Originally posted by honda tom  | The fish and shrimp taco truck in GN is really good! It is like a lunchtime thing though.
super clean truck.... like a battleship gray color... highly recommended. |
Curt LeDuc made a big deal that everyone on the TV show crew would find this the best fish taco truck in Baja... last May (2019):
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
Posts: 18380
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Location: San Diego
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| Quote: Originally posted by David K |
Curt LeDuc made a big deal that everyone on the TV show crew would find this the best fish taco truck in Baja... last May (2019)
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who is Curt the Duke?
Is he a real duke? Or just calls himself that?
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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mtgoat666
Select Nomad
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bigoted?
I find the name amusing, in french it means "the duke" The LeDuc spelling with large "D" is especially amusing. I think it is sort a cool at same
time amusing.
so wonder who is this guy, you seem to know who he is and found it worth posting his food recommendations (so maybe he is a food critic?), so who is
he? Is he a duke?
[Edited on 4-24-2020 by mtgoat666]
Woke!
“...ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America
will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Prefered gender pronoun: the royal we
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3718
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Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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One of the really fine posts/ and then in creeps the keyboard cowboy
| Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666 |
bigoted?
I find the name amusing, in french it means "the duke" The LeDuc spelling with large "D" is especially amusing. I think it is sort a cool at same
time amusing.
so wonder who is this guy, you seem to know who he is and found it worth posting his food recommendations (so maybe he is a food critic?), so who is
he? Is he a duke?
[Edited on 4-24-2020 by mtgoat666] |
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Paulina
Ultra Nomad
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Great trip, thanks for taking the time to post and share your adventures.
P>*)))>{
\"Well behaved women rarely make history.\" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
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Ateo
Elite Nomad
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Heaven................
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jwheel1970
Junior Nomad
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Location: San Diego
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Great write-up
Thanks for the write-up and pics
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StuckSucks
Super Nomad
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Loved the report, thanks. Is your truck 4x4? If so, I own the *other* 4x4 access cab.
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