Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge - San Carlos Mothership Trip Pt. 1

Ten of us went to San Carlos last week for an OEX sponsored mothership trip aboard the El Duque. The weather and fishing were a little challenging, but we had a good group of anglers who made the best of what Baja had to offer.

We loaded up our kayaks and gear on the trailer at OEX on Tuesday and left for San Carlos early Wednesday morning. The plan was to get to Tucson Airport at 1pm to meet up with Seamus, co-owner of the dive boat El Duque. We got a good start, but Tyler and his peanut-sized bladder had us stopping at every rest stop and gas station. Just when we got past El Centro, Adi had a client emergency and had to stop to talk him down off the ledge. So what do nine guys do while standing in the middle of the desert waiting for somebody to get off the phone? That's right; throw rocks at a metal road sign (right in front of the Caltrans service yard). After several hundred rocks were chucked in the general vicinity of the sign some lucky bastard finally hit it. Hooray; buy that man a beer. After Adi finished his call, nine guys with sore shoulders climbed back into the vehicles and we're off again. Passing through El Centro we see a promising sight.....lots of lamb

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That's got to be a sign. We've already heard several hours of Adi telling us about the Mother Of All Lamb that he caught down in Baja. Maybe we'll all get some lamb.
We get to Tuscon a couple of hours late and meet Seamus at the long-term parking. My peanut-size bladder caused the last couple of stops, so Tyler was off the hook for making us late. We quickly shift the trailer over to the van and were off.

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The trip to the border goes quickly, but the crossing takes a little time due to....who knows. Seamus knows how to drive the f**k out of the van/trailer combo. He gets to demonstrate his turning and backing skills multiple times at the border check point. Thanks to the dude in the hat we almost nearly don't get killed in a traffic accident. He was very helpful (I think) and it only cost a few pesos for his services.

I must have dozed off as we were crossing the border. When I woke up the van was full of drunk-ass bastards. I didn't see that coming.

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Somebody put Appetite For Destruction in the CD player and that was all she wrote. Who knew that Axl Rose was sitting back in the third row? WTF? Corey knows every damn word to every song and sounds just like him too. That was some fun crap. :cheers1:

Once in Mexico we stopped at every taqueria and gas station that we saw. Seamus started grumbling about us losing time. It wouldn't get any better. After a long and crazy ride we finally got close to San Carlos. On the outskirts of town, we get flagged down by some guy with a badge and an FBI hat. Despite our urging Seamus to keep going (or run over him), he stops and gives him a ride. I was trying to see if he was armed (gun or sling shot). He speaks no English, but Mike acts as our translator. He starts giving driving directions. None of us think that this is going to end well. We all have visions of us getting kidnapped or being sold into white slavery. A rather well refreshed Corey makes an alcohol induced suggestion that we just kill the guy and dump the body. Now he speaks English. He perked up a little with that comment. We drop our new friend off at a hotel and proceed to the marina. Not so fast. We have to make one more stop.

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We need some provisions for the trip

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Ten cases should last three days, right? Only nine guys drinking. We'll see.
We get to the Marina and unload some of our gear. Hunger calls and we have to head to the nearest taco stand.

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We return to the marina around midnight and continue unloading our kayaks and stowing our gear. There are a couple of problems already. The slings that the boat owner made aren't going to work for all the yaks. Adjustments need to be made. The bait tank is tits up and they only have dead mullet in the live well. Eventually everything gets sorted out. It's now almost 2am and we are starting to get some strong, gusty winds. We'll be heading out at 5am so all hit their sleeping bags for a much needed rest.....
As I need to do right now. Part two will be posted tomorrow