The people down here are hugely resourceful- especially the fishermen who live way out in the desert far from the availability of mechanics or replacement parts for their trucks and boats. Here's an example of that resourcefulness:

When we pulled into the Old Mill I noticed that there was a fisherman with a compressor and hookah rig on the deck of his boat tied up along the rock wall in front of the Old Mill.

The boat, the chamber and it's patient. You do what you have to with what little you have when you're a Baja fisherman.

The hookah rig is common down here. The local urchin and sea cucumber divers use them for gathering their product which is then shipped to Japan. Typically these guys dive offshore so it was surprising to see the line snaking over the side and into the harbor. It turns out that the diver at the other end was in a Baja hyperbaric chamber. That means that he was sitting at the bottom of the harbor recovering from decompression sickness he experienced during the day's dive. The story is that he started feeling the effects of the so-called Bends after a day of working under the water out on the reefs. Since there's no hyperbaric chamber for hundreds of miles the only thing they could do for the guy is send him back down to offgas slowly and the only spot they had was at the bottom of the murky bay. Resourceful- and smart; the guy came up two hours later feeling much better. Crazy, but that's Baja.

Surfed the beach break this morning...

I had to alter my surf plans- the point just wasn't working; too high tide and bump, disjointed peaks. I decided to run up to the beach break and check it since high tide usually opens up the break a little bit. I was right- the place wasn't going off but there were definitely more surfing opportunities up there.

The place is usually pretty closed out during the winter. In the summer south swells bounce of the rock point to the north and create wedges up and down the beach. It can get really good  here.

I ended up paddlesurfing for about two hours. I was stoked to run into my friend Mario. Mario is the king of the beach down there.  He runs a surf school that's the best on the sand. I've known Mario for four years, he was there when I brought my first stando to the beach.  He's a hard worker who switches hats at night and becomes the bartender at a cool boutique hotel in Todos Santos call El Hotelito. Mario has got big plans for developing a piece of land behind the beach break- a real cool vision of a pool, a bar and a surf shop. I'm stoked for him- he's a hard working local making his dream happen.

Filling the blanks: A typical Baja motel room

We stay in motels two nights each way when driving down to Cabo. Typically, you'll spend around 400 pesos (32 dollars) for a room. The quality varies, that's why we have our favorites and we stick to them. Here's what a room in the The Old Mill looks like:

Obviously, it isn't the Four Seasons. What it is, however, is clean and bright and a bargain for a one night stopover- especially since the room fee comes with one free beer for each person staying. Help yourself.

Some motels are now offering free wi-fi which is cool if you're hooked on the net like me. The Old Mill hasn't quite taken that step yet. It does offer views like this:

Steps from your door- San Quintin's back bay. If you get there early enough you could definitely get in a nice flatwater paddle before dinner.

Filling in the blanks: The Old Mill is a cool place...

There are a couple of things that I really like about The Old Mill in addition to the dog friendly policy and the security.

First of all, the place is quirky. Check out this huge piece of wood used to hold up the roof of the outdoor fireplace/gathering area. Just behind that chunk of wood is a killer fireplace with comfy chairs all around it- it's a great spot to mellow out on the first night.

Here's the killer fireplace. Baja Tip: Bring firewood for the first night's fire at The Old Mill. Just chuck a couple of dry 2x4 pieces into the back of your truck or go buy one of those Duraflame logs, you'll be glad you did- fire's go perfect with cold beer or a nice glass of wine.

Filling in the blanks: On the road to San Quintin

We make our first day of driving an easy one. Since the day's are shorter and we don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere when night falls, we always stop at San Quintin. We travel with our dog Lilly so we like to stay at The Old Mill which is totally dog friendly and is a cool place to spend a night. Check it out:

Pulling into The Old Mill motel. It's a tight fit if you've got a full sized truck. We like it because the courtyard is a secure place to park for the night which gives you piece of mind if you've got a couple thousand dollars of stand up boards on top of your vehicle.

Driving from the border to The Old Mill takes about five hours. You will also need to stop and get your tourist card paid for and stamped as you cross the border at San Ysidro- so figure a couple more hours into your day. If you want to stay at The Old Mill just look for the big signs as you drive out of San Quintin- follow the directions and you'll find it easily.

Driving Baja: Let's fill in the blanks

A few days ago when we began this trip I posted that I'd "fill in the blanks" about the drive and general Baja travel once I'd found a place with reliable wi-fi. Well I'm here and it's time (and I've got to come up with a hundred posts in ten days... wow). So let's call this Part I and get started.

There's a few things that you can do and a little bit of information that you can know ahead of time that will make a trip down to the tip of Baja a lot more fun and safe. I'll be giving you a play-by-play of our most recent trip down, some of the posts will be travelouge-ish type posts, others will offer some of my hard won tips for Baja travel. Hope you enjoy them.

The rally point. We always pick one person's home to act as the meeting point for the morning departure. We all agreed to meet at 9am on Saturday. This is a huge tip: Everybody should agree to meet at the assigned place and time and understand that if you're even a minute late, you'll be left behind. Definitely do not drive around rounding everybody up- if you're not there, you're not going. The only person missing from our group was Wally but he gave us a heads up and we were ready to roll at the assigned departure time of 9:30 am.

Baja Tip: Assign a rally point and time. If you're late, you're on your own. Everybody should understand that from the rally point you are heading directly to the border. That means that each vehicle should be fully fueled and every other detail taken care of. There'll be no stopping for additional groceries or snacks. This keeps you on schedule and saves you a lot of frustration when one person in your group isn't totally organized (that's not you, right?).

Number 94... on the radar!

Yeah Number 94... creeping up there. Will it be a battle for number 1000? I'm holding my breath!!!

Number 93! We're getting there...

Thanks number 93 whoever you are and wherever you are... let me know and I'll post you up. Also Jeff aka PaddleJones and Steve Bell (did you order the Vike Bump yet...?) chimed in with some nice words. I'm on it guys- I'm posting up the minutae of Baja life, let me know if you need anything specific.

Another San Quintin flatwater shot- it'd be fun to poke around here.

Sometimes bad things happen on the Baja highway...

This is one dangerous road, you've got to be alert and you've got to be extremely careful if you're going to make the journey down to the tip of Baja. We came up on this accident a half hour or so after it happened:

The first indication that you'll have that all is not well up ahead are the blinking hazard lights of vehicles coming your way. When you see those lights, slow way down. You could be coming up on cows or goats in the road or you could be approaching an accident. In this case we came up on an overturned truck. You can see that people were already leaving the highway and figuring out desert detours to get around the traffic jam.

All along the highway you'll see little white crosses or small enclosed monuments with candles in them or old flowers. These mark where someone died in an accident. The monuments are cold reminders to slow it down and to be careful. Never take your eyes off the road and SLOW DOWN. It looked like this truck driver ran off the side of the highway into an arroyo and flipped his truck. Rescuers were trying to lift the cab with their hands to get the trapped driver out.

Number 92 Hops on Board!

Okay guys- thanks for stepping up: Number 92, I salute you! I've got this thing set to put up new posts all day long... and I'm churning away at more. Basically, I've decided to start describing how to do a trip like the one I'm on from start to finish. You'll see posts called "Filling in the Blanks:..." those are the ones that will chronicle in chronological order this current surf adventure.

Thanks Clayton for the vote of confidence:

"John, you know I'm new to this sport. I appreciate your blog to help me understand everything about and around this sport. So please keep on keeping on with your blogs."

I had a moment of doubt last night when I called it quits. The thought ran through my head that it wasn't possible to get the 1000th post up by the 1st. When I see positive comments like Clayton's it fires me up- so let me know people... Personally I think the challenge will be to keep the quality of the posts up- I'll try my best.
 

Same Spot... last year... firing!

Here's what this spot looks like when it's firing:



Hoping that it'll do it again- cameras are rolling for Part II!

The Challenge: Break 1000 posts and 100 Followers by Jan. 1, 2011... ARE YOU WITH ME?

Alright, all of you out there who've been reading and following this blog- the gauntlet has been dropped, I've been challenged to put up my 1000th post by Jan. 1, 2011. And I've already challenged you to bring the number of Followers to 100 by the same date. So we're in this together- right? If you've been reading this site and digging the photos, content and stupidly opinionated content then step up and become a Follower. Let me clarify some myths about becoming a Follower:

1. No I get no monetary reward by enlisting Followers... so don't worry, you're not helping me to get rich. I make a little money every time one of you clicks on the Google ads I have on the site (scroll down and click away if you're feeling generous). So far in four years of existence, I've made close to three hundred dollars... which works out to about .001 cents per hour that I put into gathering content for you guys.

2. No, you won't get bombarded with spam from me or anybody else by becoming a Follower. But, now that I think of it, it'd be cool to put together an electronic newsletter just for the Followers of this site. Can that be done? Anybody? Or should I not do that?

3. Yes, it does make me happy to see the Follower number increase. Why? Because then I feel like somebody out there actually cares about what I'm putting up. After all, I'm spending way too much time sitting around in my boxers writing for you guys- I may as well feel good about all this computer time.

Anything else you need to know- drop me a comment. We're currently at 91 Followers- so 9 more of you guys need to step up and do your duty. Let's see it!

Sunset at the Rancho

Here's a couple of shots from my friend's ranch. This is the epicenter of activity for our crew- we all caravan down together and this is the gathering spot for fish tacos, wine tasting, Christmas gift exchanging (more on that to come) or sunset cocktails. Good people, good feelings- just good stuff:

See all those little casitas? Each one was built for one of my friend's kids. These things are cool, they're built up on stilts with little wooden decks out front and palapa roofs. The ranch spreads out over an acre and a half and features the main house with garage and a giant palapa that's big enough for all twenty of us to gather on Christmas Eve and pass out our gifts. Everything was built by my friend with a little work contracted out to local masons. If you luck out and get invited over you'll know why we all love it so much- lot of heart out here.

Out at the Ranch getting things ready for a fish taco feast.

I've looked at a lot of stars and put away a few beers around this campfire.

Sunsets from the second story deck are awesome. During the day, you can sit up there and listen to the wind blow through the palapa roof over you. It's a great spot to watch whales go swimming by- it's a legitimate beer drinking perch.

Southern Baja parking lot

Just like at home- you've always got to stand around, drink coffee and look at boards before you finally get around to paddling out and getting some work done. Down here the parking lot has just a little bit better of a view.

Southern Baja Paddle Surf Update: Surfable... but not epic.

Well, the fabled swell hasn't materialized but there is a noticeable bump in the water. Unfortunately there are a couple things working against our surf spot right now: tide and wind. The tide's been a little too high in the morning and by the afternoon the wind's been on it. If things work out and the wind doesn't come on too strong this afternoon, I'm predicting that it's going to be super fun. We'll see. Some shots from this morning:

There were still some fun ones out there. This is Jess from Colorado paddling his Pau Hana stand up board. We ended surfing a bit up the beach being goofy footed surfers we were seeking lefts. Not that I don't like riding on my backhand- my new 8'6 makes surfing backside super fun- I'm just waiting for the day when the point starts lining up to unleash the inner carve beast.

Everybody parks in assigned stalls at this beach parking lot... yeah right! The guy in the background was stand up surfing an 11'6 Laird longboard style and killing it.

Southern Baja Paddle Surf Report: It's coming... we hope!

Rumor has it that there will be surf here tomorrow. We're all waiting with crossed fingers. I first paddled this spot two years ago (I brought a stand up down here three years ago but I didn't surf the spot I'm at now- it wasn't happening)- at that time there were only two guys doing stand up paddle down here: Kiwi and me. Just today I ran into three other paddlers and I've been told that there are three other regulars who get out often. The two I've met were super cool, competent surfers. It's great to see that stand up paddling is being represented well down here. Here's a shot of what we surfed today:

This is our bread and butter spot (I can't name it... sorry... but if you're Baja-savvy at all you already know where I'm at). When it's big and out of the west-northwest solid lines will sweep across this cobble bump in the shore and put up fast, right hand waves. If it gets big, the spot can hold it- and it gets scary. I know my limits here. I lurk around the inside looking for the against-the-grain left handers which are often overlooked. The water is typically clear and blue- it's a great spot to stand up paddle as long as you know the rules and you're not a wave hog, kook.... that's not you, right?

Day 3: Welcome to Todos Santos!

We should be in Todos Santos by the time you're reading this! Hopefully, I'll be heading out for a nice little stando session in 75 degree, cobalt blue waters. Anyways, here's our progress on our final driving day.

That's us in purple on the final day of driving. This day is a pretty easy one but you're still in the bucket for close to five hours. Usually we pull into Todos right around 2pm, just enough time to get a proper surf session done.

Lunar Eclipse... wow!

I found out that this was going down while I was surfing today. My friend Mark paddled out and told me I'd better stay up and watch this since it wasn't going to get this good for at least thirty more years... So here I am, it's late (or early) and I'm fascinated by this eclipse business. Here are a couple of shots with my Canon point and shoot (S5 IS) and a tripod. I used the countdown timer to trip the shutter so I wouldn't shake the camera by pushing the button. Super cool seeing this down here.

It took awhile for it to get going but once things got up to speed- it was on!

It was really fun shooting the eclipse. It made me wish I had some better gear but I'm pretty happy with the results I got considering that my camera is three years old and my tripod is frozen in place.

Bonus Update: On the road to Mulege!

Made it through the biggest day of driving, San Quintin (pronounced: San keen-teen... gringo) to Mulege (pronounced: mool-uh-hay... whiteboy)- if you didn't check out the map from the previous post (Day 2) give it a look and you can see where we are. I just got done eating a giant bowl of pozole (a tasty mexican soup) and I am exhausted. Cool that this little hotel had wi-fi access because here I am with a bonus road update for you!

We did close to 9 hours of driving today, that's the longest stretch. Tomorrow we'll be on the road for about six hours and we should be surfing by 1 or 2pm. Can't wait to jump into that warm, blue water. The first surf is always the sweetest- you're reminded of what it's like to surf in trunks... and it's December!

This is a shot out the window of the truck as we zoomed by the harbor at Santa Rosalia. Santa Rosalia is the first town you come to as you cross the peninsula from Guerrero Negro to the Sea of Cortez. If Popeye was going to live in Baja, this is where he'd live. It's crusty and colorful and cool- someday I'll schedule in a couple more hang out days on the way down to paddle all these cool little spots. There's tons of flatwater paddling opportunities in Baja.

This is pretty standard in Baja. You can go zooming down the road for a hundred miles and then you're stuck behind a slow truck for twenty minutes. The road from TJ to Cabo is much narrower than any highway in the United States. If a truck is coming at you, there's a definite white knuckle moment right when it goes freight-training by you. You are separated by what seems like inches. It's really very close. Close enough, in fact, for people to have their mirrors swiped right off their vehicles- happened to me once and I don't even have the big ol' elephant ear mirrors that you see on big Ford or Dodge diesels. If I owned one of those trucks, the first thing I'd do would be to take those big old flappers right off. A friend in an F250 lost a mirror and the window of the back seat when his got smacked outside of Loreto. Not fun.

Here's the road through Catavina. Imagine traveling hundreds of miles through dry, hot, barren desert then working through a giant boulder garden and finding yourself driving over water running out of a desert spring in an old river bottom. It's weird to think that water just oozes out of the ground at some points in the desert. But it does and here in Catavina it comes out enough to support palm trees including the blue palm which is a Catavina specialty. You couldn't really call Catavina a town, there's probably twenty people who live there year round- but it's an interesting place to check out. There's an airstrip tucked back off the highway and there's an old timer who's been there for decades, living in his concrete home that's dug into the side of a mountain. Baja's full of odd stuff like that.

Day 2: The big push, San Quintin to Mulege.

This is a big driving day, ten hours at least behind the wheel. We start off on the Pacific side in San Quintin, run down the middle of the peninsula through the rock garden at Catavina and into the town of Guerrero Negro or G.N. as I like to call it. G.N. is on the border of the state of Baja Sur, once you pass through G.N. you're in southern Baja, a whole different state. After G.N. you run across the plains outside of town and across to the Sea of Cortez and the little sleepy town of Mulege. Check out our Day 2 progress:

Here we are, Day 2 in green. San Quintin to Mulege, 10 hours- lots of pretty sights but be careful, this road can be dangerous!