San Pedrito a San José del Cabo

After spending a few relaxing days just outside of Todos Santos in San Pedrito RV park, we decided to check out the cape and are now staying in Brisas del Mar, another RV park. Todos Santos was a really neat area to be in and we were able to walk through touristy markets and even attended a beachfront pig roast. Unfortunately, I suffered a severe case of food poisoning after the pig roast and spent over an hour throwing up, but I learned my lesson.

Over the last four or five days we were fortunate enough to neighbor next to some old friends, Dave and Sue, that we have bumped into on two prior occasions. They provided hours of entertaining stories and surfing advice for Jay. Jay was able to surf at San Pedrito but the waves were so big that he was never able to ride on one for very long. Most of the time he took a beating, but I have to hand it to him because he always went back out there. I spent most of the afternoons reading and trying to plan dinners from the vast array of dried goods available from the van. Jay made fast friends with a couple of Canadian C-boaters and was able to paddle out on the big waves and play for over an hour. I was getting pretty antsy to be back out on the water myself so we headed south today to smaller, friendlier waves. There has been rumors of a swell coming here sometime in the next three days...we are hoping.

For those of you who aren´t familiar, swells are created by storms in the ocean and make waves larger on-shore. For many surfers this is exciting news, but I like the smaller waves best.

Ligui, Ligui.

We are making our way down to the southern tip of Baja. We spent some time near Mulege (Bahia de Coyote), and a little south of Loreto in Ensenada Blanca. From there we jetted across the penninsula to Punta Conejo where we spent two nights and surfed a little bit. The point break there was an evil left with a rocky bottom. We stuck to the beach break nearby. This morning it looked as though it may storm so we packed up and made it the 13 miles to the highway. It didn't rain, but at least we had a good start on the day. We are heading to Todos Santos area today to hopefully find a nice place to surf and camp. We have also heard rumors of inexpensive incredible tomatoes.


Look how big they are!!! My gosh, they're gorgeous.

Jay getting his chance to feel the whale

brooke getting friendly with a whale

Moby Dick

Scammons lagoon was named after Charles Melville Scammons who discovered the lagoon where grey whales return every winter to have babies. He nearly slaughtered them all, but fortunately for us this was a long time ago and the whales have made a remarkable comeback. We boarded the pangas (little fiberglass fishing boats) and were taken out to where the whales where swimming around. We got our money´s worth. At one time there were whales all around us. We even got to see a little mating. A few times the whales got curious as to what was driving around them and came closer to get a peek. This is when we had our chances to pet them and be able to see just how massive they were.

Right now we are at San Ignacio, which is a neat little desert oasis/cathedral/palm tree grove and will continue on to the Sea of Cortez. Our plan is to camp near Mulege tonight.

Rough roads, easy living

one of the good roads, we went far left.

After leaving bahia de los angeles we crossed over to the pacific side to explore some point breaks. Upon getting to the little village of santa rosilillita we looked at our map and saw that a point a little north of the town was circled. we didn´t remember why but decided to give it a try. We were pretty darn lucky to get to Punta San Andres due to the roads, one gnarly hill and our low clearance. We pulled up to a beach and less than a minute later the couple that had circled the point a week earlier pulled up behind us in their VW van. We made our way up to the little camp area and settled in.

As we settled, so did the rain. That first night it sprinkled and we had to make the choice of leaving then or sticking it out. We went for the daring route and it proceeded to rain for the next two days! But luckily people brought us water and tortillas when the went into the town as our van couldn´t make it. We caught some great waves at a perfect right point break that everyone that was there kept telling us was perfect for learning. And that is what we did. We saw some squid, soaked in some sun, and were told that we couldn´t tell anyone about the spot. So no one is allowed to say anything about it, I guess. We told them that we were from Wisconsin, but they seemed worried that their little spot of solitude would get overun. This is from the group of 18 that showed up yesterday afternoon. We took an entirely different route out of the area and have no idea how that worked, but here we are in Guerrero Negro. Tomorrow we will go to watch whales, possibly pet them, I don´t even know if whales like to pet? Brooke is betting me to ride one, so we´ll see. From there we will head over to the Cortez side for some flat water relaxing. We deserve the rest.

Jay riding una ola

Brooke and the squid.

our home for a week

spina, not the one though

Jay vs. the Spina

As we get to Punta Cabra which is a little north of the hostel we stayed at I asked Brooke, "How adventurous are you feeling?" She shrugged, "let's do it?" and we attempted to make our way to the beach site that was just past that sand dune. We made it a whole two feet into the sand before we were stuck. And then kept getting ourselves more stuck. We dug, put boards under the tires, realized that we were backing up into a cactus(which we were later informed are called spinas). Luckily after a seemingly long time a local fisherman named Arnolfso came and started the process of teaching two gringos how to get out of the sand. I had a little fight with the spinas and came out licking my wounds, Brooke was able to avoid them for the most part. In retribution, we did end up removing a couple spinas to get out of the sand. The shovel method didn't work so Arnolfso came over with his truck and pulled us out. We proceeded to back out and try to turn around in the only part that was also sand. Arnolfso marched back and helped us dig out. Soon after this experience we parked and didn't move for two days.

After we settled in, I took a tweezers and pulled a half centimeter prick out of my toe, the local told us that it hits the nerves and that it would hurt even more tomorrow. Sweet. It's a couple days after now, and I still have a little fat toe. The spot was quite picturesque with two beaches right on either side of the point. We saw dolphins swimming by and heard sea lions argueing about who was more macho. Our first dolphin sighting had Brooke b-line-it for the beach where she had a closer look. We practiced surfing, ate, and played backgammon. We were awakened at about 2.30 in the morning to the sound of a truck rip roaring past us with a shining light. This was quite alarming since it was friday night and who knows what they were up to? Fortunately they cruised through the dunes and went back where they came from. The next day we asked Anfonsfo what that was all about and he said without thinking that there might be something strange about the whole ordeal that they were looking for wild pigs? Whatever gets them going. After two nights at Punta Cabra we packed up and drove the van to la bahia de los angeles. We have spent one night here probably one more to come. Nice people, beautiful views, the prospect of getting on a boat to see whale sharks (shouldn't it be one or the other?) and lots of wind. Next up, cruising over to the pacific side to check out the seven sisters point breaks which is pretty much straight west of here and then down to guerrero negro for a little whale watching.

Wanted: pavement

Well, we made it across the border without a hitch, bought turist visas and a permit for our van all before 1 o'clock. We had a four hour drive ahead of us on unknown roads and just a few hours of sun left but we decided to make a sprint for it. We arrived in Santo Thomas from the highway and discovered that the road to the coast was a gravel and dirt road that was washed out from the rains two weeks ago. It was a stressful two hours and after 1000's of potholes, going through running water, and a super scary bump we made it to our destination, Puerto San Jose. It is a small agricultural area on the coastline with a lighthouse and huge cliffs down to the ocean. We camped there for two days and paid a guy named Victor for the use of his land. He said there are usually tons of surfers there, yet we were the only ones. The surf was a bit intimidating because of a rocky reef and large boulders so we took it easy. Jay caught a few waves and even stood and rode one all the way through. It made the previous day's drive all worth it.
We got up early this morning and drove south to sandier beaches and safer swells. We should be in the Erendira area for a few days. We are going to have to re-think all of our plans because road conditions are really, really bad and we don't know how much the van can take...we have a long way to go. If anyone wants to donate an SUV we'll take it :).