Magic Baja: I'm seriously preoccupied!

Now I've really messed myself up. I'm starting to get "Baja Dreamy", all I can think about are the waves that are peeling off right now somewhere down south. Mike Ashley, my brother, put together this little clip of the Baja Paddle/Surf/Kite trip we completed last summer. If you haven't had the time to go back and read about it, you'll have to click all the way back to the very first entries of this blog. Or maybe you just want to check out the video and imagine yourself fishing, kiting, surfing and paddling your brains out for two weeks all the way down to Cabo San Lucas. Free me!

Camera Grom Thanks You! For everybody who stuffed a little cash in Grom's coffee can this morning (and Gabe who dropped a twenty spot!) the video will be up tomorrow. If you don't know Grom is saving up for a new camera- so it's going to a good cause, how many kids do you know have the ballzack to save on their own? As for the clips, all I can say is Kiwi and Kraig Surplus exceeded their wave count. And, upon further video review, yes, Kraig- if you weren't right in the pit I would have been barreled. Foul!

Feeding the Blog: Original Content and Homegrown Photography

I'm back! The dust washed clean, the camping gear stowed and the boards racked. Check back for a full report of our Baja surf trip.

The surfing continues: Kiwi scored fun left handers while I was off dodging the Chupacabra (the "Goat Sucker"- Mexico's blood sucking Big Foot-like mystery creature). This photo and reports of fun November surf in town did spark a mild case of Greener Pasture-itis, in me. Oh, the human condition- can we ever be satisfied?
Photo: Spidey

Punta Mysteriosa wasn't exactly flat either. For the rabid stand up wave slider, fun could be had almost all day long. Usually, the smell of sizzling rib-eyes and the promise of an ice cold ration of Mexico's finest lager would do the trick for clearing the line up.
Photo: Senor Goofball

The Giapetto Report: The Santa Cruz Boardsmith continues to chip away at his all wood, hollow stand up board. The board's starting to take shape- looks like Andy's getting rib placement figured out- can planking it be that far away? Can't get enough of Giapetto's project? Be sure to check out SRFNFF's blog for thoughtful, well written reports of Andy's build.

Paddle Surfing Baja: Wrapping it up

Paddling at La Ventana was a great way to end our fifteen day Baja adventure. Our schedule was pretty much ridiculous on the fun-meter.

Standard Palapas Ventana Day:

5am: Pop up out of bed, walk down the arroyo and grab the SUP out of the sail shack conveniently located 15 yards from the water. Slide into the 80 degree, smooth as glass, clear-to-the-bottom water, wave at the pangeros as they make bait at the launch, wonder how the sky can light up like that as the sun rises above Isla Cerralvo.

7:00am: Walk back to the casita passing your buddies on the way as they jump into a waiting panga, wish them luck fishing, yell at them to come home with a dodo or don't come home at all- wonder if Lance actually packed enough cold beer with him.

7:30am: Rinse off in the casita, cross the arroyo to the restaurant, sit down to a fresh bowl of fruit and some hot coffee (real coffee, not the Baja standard Nescafe, which really should be called No-es-cafe), try to figure out how you're gonna finish the huge plate of chilaquiles that was just parked in front of your face, somehow work out your issue.

9:00am: Load up the rig with paddleboards and snorkel gear, head out to paddle Bahia de los Suenos (used to be Muertos but the PR on that wasn't so great).

9:45am: As your paddling over the reef ask yourself if that lightning blue streak that just passed under you was a dorado- realize that the place is full of fish. Smile.

11:30am: Finish the four mile flatwater, reef paddle. Decide that a cold margarita and some tacos sound pretty good- remember that there happens to be a brand new Cantina plopped down on the middle of this beach in the middle of nowhere- shake your head at Baja-logic but go all Pavlov at the thought of those tacos.

1:30pm: A nap is calling- head to the casita, turn on the A/C, drift off.

3:30pm: The fishermen return, two forty pound wahoo (eh brah, tastes real ono)- dinner could be interesting. Post up at the restaurant's bar, come to the conclusion that, yes, Tim wasn't lying when he said his beer cooler kicks ass: It's bottomless and sub-arctic in there (God gave us beer to show us he loves us- God gave us cold beer because he wants us to hang out awhile).

4:45pm: Fishing stories and beer.

5:45pm: Fishing stories (was the Marlin really that big?) and a round of ping pong on the restaurant's custom beer-pong table.

7:00pm: Load up and head out to the local taco stand- fillets in hand, time to negotiate dinner. Tim works his magic (they all love him down there)-the result: endless wahoo tacos three different ways (my favorite? a la plancha) and the price, for six hungry fat guys? Something like twenty bucks. Are you kidding me??? Hot tip 1: Bring your own beer and put it in their cooler- no problemo. Hot tip 2: Don't be afraid of the Torta Cubana (aka Torta Timoteo).

9:00pm: Baja midnight- head collides with pillow.

A day at La Ventana- not a bad way to go for a few days and I didn't even talk about the spearfishing (I personally saw twelve wahoo- didn't convert on them but they were there for those with better skills).

And so our Baja trip came to an end. We packed it up and pointed it north- the border and home were waiting. This was the trip that launched a thousand stories, good times with good friends- what more could you want in a Baja adventure?

Paddlesurfing Baja: Cerritos

We rolled into Todos Santos early in the afternoon and after checking in at the rancho WW (a friend owns a nice piece of property just to the North of town) and peeking at a local spot (no surf) we pointed the truck down the road to Playa Cerritos- the old standby.

The Good:
•Gin clear, warm, blue water.
•Knee to chest high peaks breaking left and right, the lefts into the channel which made it an easy paddle back outside.
•A cooler full of icy cold Pacificos, an umbrella and a bunch of buddies on the beach making for an interesting peanut gallery.

The Bad:
•The new roads cut into perfect quadrants in the desert just behind the beach- the houses are coming... the real question is: Where will the sewage go???
•Big ol' chainlink fence, with big wrought iron gates that you've got to drive through to park, hmmmm.
•Ranting, drunk gringa sitting at the beach bar. Bad, but also comical.

The Ugly:
•Gringo super-mansion being cut into the bluff directly over the beach. The local palapa that sat just inside the point is gone and will probably never return; too bad.


Change is inevitable but you don't have to like it. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy stand up surfing for 3 straight hours, walking up to the new beach bar, ordering a round of Don Julio blanco and still being able to sit on my tailgate and drink a beer- it's just that all this has taken a little of the magic away from the place. The lawlessness has been lost. Order has come to Cerritos, that and a pretty good lunch menu.

It's also taken away the dirt-bag, freeloading, littering, norteno, euro-trash, Bob and Doug Mckenzie clones that used to migrate there like maple leaf lemmings heading to the sea. Cerritos used to be the hepatitis hills, it's clean now. My opinion? I'll take clean over hippy beach.

Ranting aside, we had a great time surfing Cerritos. The place is made for high tide stand up paddling. On most waves you'd get in early, crank a turn, step it up to the nose, hold it and then back down fast for the inside close out. The best part was riding out the close out, stroking hard to angle across to the channel- and then paddling out with the rip- my kind of surfing.

If it's flat everywhere- Cerritos will provide entertainment (did I mention the excellent people watching?)- there is usually something to ride at Cerritos. Provided over course that you come equipped!

Coming soon: Surfing Cerritos Beach, the good, the bad, the ugly!

Paddlesurfing Baja: Flatwater paddling the Sea of Cortez

We put Abreojos behind us and headed south hoping to make Loreto and get in some flat water paddling before it got too dark to drive comfortably.

Bahia Concepcion is the part of Baja that all the postcards are about; beautiful little coves, white sandy beaches and ridiculously blue water. The bays are protected from most wind directions so the warm waters there are usually glassy and perfect for paddling.


We rolled through Mulege and stopped at the first beach we came onto, Playa Santispac. There are many other great beaches down the road but we were dying to get into the warm blue water there and cruise around. Even though I prefer paddling into waves, the coves of Bahia Concepcion with their small offshore islands were too inviting to pass up. We ended up spending a couple of hours just cruising around the beach- I made a circumnavigation of the whole cove and even crossed a channel to a nearby island. The water there is very clear and I could see down to the rock reef below, fish were everywhere- I think it would have been fun to snorkel that spot. I'll have to put that on my "To Do" list.

I think a group of SUP surfers could easily kill 3 - 5 days just hanging in the Bahia Concepcion and exploring the coves, islands and beaches there. Definitely worth considering if you're ever running down to the tip.

Paddlesurfing Baja: Punta Abreojos

We rolled into Punta Abreojos late in the afternoon. Winds were strong offshore, but flukey with lots of holes. The inconsistent offshore winds probably explain why I ended up having to paddle out to sea to rescue a kitesurfer who was headed for the horizon.

The kiter had crashed his kite and couldn't relaunch it, the wind was blowing him further and further from the shore. I was able to catch the guy after about a half hour of solid paddling. He was making it more difficult by trying to self rescue himself by holding the ends of his kite with his hands (you can see the kite in the photo- the self rescue attempt wasn't working out so well). When I finally caught up to him, it was getting dark, still blowing hard offshore and I did feel a little bit of, "What the F... am I doing out here?"

Fortunately I was able to roll up his kite, lay on top of it and get him to paddle himself in behind me. He came in at Razors- I paddled a quarter mile up the coast to the sand beach since walking in over barnacle encrusted lava rock lugging a waterlogged kite and my 11'11" paddleboard wasn't sounding so hot.


Abreojos is a sweet spot. I ended up paddlesurfing it for two days- we camped right in the dunes in front of Burgers (the mushy point, most people camp here). The water was low 60's but with the SUP, trunks are possible. There are other spots to camp at further from the point, and there are multiple points on the inside and further south- all await someone like you to haul your ass down there and paddlesurf it.

SUP Baja: Punta San Carlos

Punta San Carlos is beautiful and worth going to for some point break paddling. It does get wind though and since it's blows pretty much straight to side-offshore from noon on, it pays to be a multi-dimensional water creature (ie learn to kite or windsurf to extend the fun zone).


We rolled into San Carlos early in the morning and it was still relatively glassy, totally do-able for the stand up board. I was able to surf the Chili Bowl which is an inside right point. The wave is well known to kite and windsurfers who fly down the line cranking huge top turns and basically carving the shit out of it. It's a fun stand up wave, fat and pretty slow but a long ride with some steeper sections on the inside for nose riding. It's worth the hour and a half dirt road in, which I'm naming Camino de los llantes- I've never seen so many discarded tires on one Baja road.

There are other wave options in the area in addition to the Chili Bowl. Before it got too windy I SUP'd out to the outside Bombora and snagged a wave from the outside all the way to the inside beach break but I had to crouch down to keep from getting blown back off the wave by the strong offshore winds. Even better, I think there are more points inside of the Chili Bowl that'd be great on a big south swell- but you'd need to get on them before the wind comes up.

We did try to kitesurf it. I needed a smaller kite. I was able to make a couple of reaches on my 9m Caution Answer, but I was out too early and the wind was hit and miss. Later, I relaunched the 9m again, dove the kite once and the chicken loop snapped- on inspection, there was only one piece of webbing holding it together- pretty cheesy construction. Luckily it broke on the beach and not out to sea, it would've been a long ride back in with offshore winds blowing me further out to sea and down the rocky coast.

Little did I know that this scenario would occur all over again at a different point break with almost disastrous results.

Paddle Surfing Baja: The Whole Story II

We crossed the border by 6am, spent a half an hour at the border getting tourist cards stamped and paying the visa fee at the bank that is conveniently not located next to the immigration post. The fee is twenty bucks for a 6 month tourist visa- be ready with your passport or birth certificate.

Our first day was spent kitesurfing in San Quintin- I know we're focused on stand up paddlesurfing (SUP) here but our interests cross over into other areas that are also really fun so we'll mention them from time to time. We kitesurfed some fun waves and spent the night at the campo de WindCult at Cielito Lindo- thanks Alexis!

Then next morning we fired up the F250 and rolled down the road to Punta San Carlos with two goals: 1. To paddlesurf the inside point, known to windsurfers as the Chili Bowl and 2. To kitesurf the place on small gear.

Short story: one goal was completed the other kicked our ass!

Paddle Surfing Baja: The Whole Story

A two week window of opportunity opened up for my brother and me in mid-June, 2007. We had fifteen days to paddle surf, surf and kitesurf some spots we hadn't hit in a few years. A plan was quickly pulled together.

We'd start off by kitesurfing San Quintin, follow that by visiting Punta San Carlos, Punta Abreojos, Punta Conejo and then wrap it up with a week of stand up surfing La Pastora, Cerritos and some flat water paddling at El Sargento. A good friend lives in El Sargento and there was an invitation for some fishing and spearfishing- sounded too good to be true so we jumped at the opportunity.

Fun Waves in Baja

Good Times in Baja- full story soon!

Stand Up Paddle Surf Baja

I just got back from a two week trip to Baja, stand up paddle surfing over 2,500 miles (round trip) of beautiful Baja. Will write more after I get some rest.