Dodging weather and wingin' it Baja style. Long post.

[Dannowar]

After busting my ass almost seven days a week at work in December the only thing getting me through each late night was the thought of filling my freezer and getting some quality south of the border time in. The original plan was to hit gonzaga with my favorite BWE boys but as the date came closer, the forecast didn't look too in our favor (this would later be incorrect). After collecting some intel from some well traveled Baja anglers we decided to just drive past the low pressure system and take a gamble on a hotel or two being open.

First stop was Campo encantadas to say what's up to the boys and grab my copy of The Baja Catch. Bullshitted and laid out our plan to Rob and Bob and got a little hint that mayyyybe there might be some leftover pozole and tamales next door....



Confirmed. Necessary fuel up for the next 7 hours on the road.


The drive was a blast with the recent rains and had a ton of fun charging through puddles and pushing my Tacoma through the bumpy ride back to the freeway.


Cocos corner


Baja wax job

With our sights set on Punta chivato, we showed up in the dusky sun setting hours and pulled up to hotel prospect number one. Closed. Glad I downloaded the whole region on google maps.... Next option down the road,closed. Shit. Looks like we're camping. Threw the truck into 4wd and basically rock crawled down a steep hillside and attempted to set up camp on the north side of punta chivato on a nice little sand beach. Wind starts blowing. There goes our tent... Decision time. I walk up the rock and see that my phone has trace elements of some of the weakest reception I've ever seen. Better than nothing. I call up an ex girlfriend who went to high school with a dude who lives in Mulege. She comes through big time and gets us directions. We crawl through the dirt road almost an hour back to the pitch black main road and white knuckle drive down to Playa Buenaventura. We pull up to a bonfire full of travelers and a full bar. Things are looking up. We arrange a panga through our friends connection and after a few beers get some well needed rest.



Islands in Bahia Conception


morning view from our porch

The sad reality of this sleepy oasis town is that most of the reefs in the area are barren due to pangueros either netting or using hookah to commercially harvest grouper/snapper. Day one was a feel out day where we dove many beautiful spots and slammed some nice Coconaco. Or barred pargo.





Stoked but not satisfied we went in search of a panguero who could put us on some mean reef fish.


Wacky roadside installation

One of the many revealing curves in the winding road.

Day two and three we found a good reef and pushed our limits yanking some Pargo out of their holes. If you're not familiar with cubera snapper just know that they do not go quietly. If you dont kill the fish instantly, you're in for some spelunking to dig these escape artists back out of their caves. Even a ten pound fish will humble you.



...good thing I had my custom made (in the USA by hand) Snapper Slapper. Face shot.



DOG Pile



Leaving the mulege rivermouth


Windy and bumpy. Not to mention freezing. Not your typical Baja sur weather system.


Jeans, hoodies,parkas, glad we came prepared. Just gotta recover from my bruised ass after the long panga ride.

Time goes too fast when you're in Mexico. Here's some more misc. pics.


Cactus road just south of mulege



Breathtaking sunrise as usual.



When you're a six pack of tecate and 6 shots of mezcal deep, this is that your campfire looks like.



Said mezcal



Fog plus cows equal slowwww driving



Feliz Viaje! Feliz Ano!

Stopped at Bobs on the way up to vacuum our fish and lay out our Baja curriculum for next month. It can't come soon enough.






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