Baja Road Trip

I finally decided to head down to Baja this weekend for a taste of south-of-the-border surfing. I normally surf San Onofre, fun but crowded Californian surf, but I decided it was time for a few waves to myself. So a couple of pals and I packed up tents and headed to a secluded little cliff on a desolate coastline in Baja. Way South, just past Ensenada and then off into the back country.

I was a little nervous to tell the truth - I've heard horror story after horror story about corrupt cops, crime ridden campgrounds, machine gun toting federales and drug dealers, pollution, trash and pretty much every other stereotype of Mexico: 'Costa Ricas older, drunker, meaner brother' but how was I going to know for sure? Time to see with my own eyes.

Well - let me say that without exception we had the perfect surf trip. The countryside was clean, and desolate in a way that puts you back in time a couple of hundred years. Cowboys on horseback would tip their hats as we drove by, Victor the local fisherman who ran the campground came by our fire and we shared tales in broken Spanish about his barley crop and how a few more inches of rain would set him right. We watched the stars come up and heard the waves boom all night as we sat around a fire drinking Jack Daniels by the light of the flames.

The surf? Perfection - 8 foot of peeling glassy right point break. The crowd? 10 guys sharing a line up about half a mile from the first point all the way in through two or three intermediate peaks to an inside wall that would finally smack against the cliff. Each wave was a series of smooth snaps and cutbacks, that went on as long as you wanted it too, and how close to the cliff you wanted to end up!

The vibe in the water was as cool as the water itself - a bunch of guys happy that they'd scored a southern swell almost to themselves and happy to share with the others who'd made the effort to get there. Every wave caught was accompanied by the hooting of complete strangers, people who's only connection to you was that you'd grinned and hollered at them as they flew by you on oil-slick glassy shoulders.

I've come back cleansed and refreshed, and looking forward to my next trip south.

Muchas gracias Victor y Viva Mexico!

From your description of the break and the name of the rancher who owns the land you gave me enough info to know where you went and let me tell you, you were real lucky to have ten guys out. The norm is about 20+ CARS! Glad you caught it good with no crowds. You shoulda seen it 30yrs ago!

Glad you scored! It sounds like alt.surfing was well-represented in Baja this past weekend. I went on a non-camping road trip with Ben Rak and a non-ASer. We stayed at a very well-known Baja surf destination, where we also scored outstanding surf, with super glassy conditions and a pretty light crowd (by SoCal standards) from Friday through Sunday. It was a great way to finish up an incredible week of surf!

Great trip, Graeme... but don't you miss those primitive trips up towards the wilderness of cape canaveral? Hope you score many more southern swells.

Rod Rodgers

homepage: http://www.bcpl.net/~rrodgers/rodpage1.html

Indeed we scored! Fri was head high, Sat was 1-1.5x overhead and Sun was 1.5x - 2x overhead and barreling!!! The waves were great ( they stayed glassy almost the whole time we were there) and we stayed at this great little motel right on the beach (the only way to go on a surf trip)... I've got tons of good pictures, you can see some of them at : surf-israel.terrashare.com/mexico/mexico.html

Enjoy!

Ben, Carson and I were at k38 on Sunday. Were you guys out a Theresa's that day? I hung out there after surfing and took some photos from the restaraunt.

Nice photos, I personally like http://surf-israel.terrashare.com/mexico/k38-14.jpg little tuck, and plenty of face.

It still blows me away, the form of the waves, none of the death drops we would experience with waves of that size! Glad you guys are scoring,

Andy (I gotta get the hell outa here!)

Great pix, Ben. Wish I'd been there.

I slept in a little bit on Sunday, and woke up to a pounding hangover and pounding surf. Right away I found two broken longboards in the parking lot, courtesy of Teresa's. After mucho cafe, the hangover diminished slightly, the right at Teresa's started to look makeable, and the paddle down to the point didn't look any shorter. So I hit Teresa's for a couple of hours. My arms and legs were doing their best overcooked macaroni impressions, due to 6 hours of great surf at the point on Saturday, so it was not a very good session for me. The highlight was when the whole lineup got cleaned a quarter mile down the beach by a heavy set with too many waves to count. Spin-cycle deluxe!

What time? I got out of the water around 11:15 AM and hung around until around 12:15. I'd be surprised if we didn't run into each other on Sunday.

When we were hitting the water (7:30) a guy angrily threw the two halves of his board down on the dirt lot. Turns out it was someone I surf with at Sunset Cliffs.

I was shooting pictures from the restaurant patio around 9:30 when one of the sets you described cleaned EVERYONE out and swept them all South.

Some guy paddled out wearing a white helmet around the time I was shooting pics (9:30)

Small world. He borrowed a board paddled back out.

I was the guy at the top of the steps that asked you how long your board was right before you went out. How was your session at the point?

You must've been right next to Ben, he was also shooting pictures from the patio at that time. I was one of the guys getting worked.

Does this count as AS points?