...Fresh Swell...

Finally. Swell has arrived. Bought a new (2nd hand) Sakoda longboard and spent the day doing repairs to get it ready. Was a heart attack morning, lifted the surfboards and found a rattlesnake underneath; then stepped on a stingray in the water. Took a turn for the better when I shot this quick video clip of Alyssa riding a beautiful little wave, not bad for her 3rd day. 1 minute 5 seconds. Unbelievable. Hope all is well.

Rest day in Scorpion Bay

Spent yesterday three miles offshore with Sergio and Armando, 2 local fishermen, who agreed to take us out for tuna in their panga. 4 good sized yellow-fins, a dorado (first fish of the day landed by Wilson), and 2 sierras (1 great big sucka that Kris caught!) later, we must have been good customers because Sergio gave us 2 nice lobsters as well. The left over tuna from the day before was turned into ceviche and Alyssa dazzled us with fish tacos made from fresh dorado and salsa that she had learned under expert tutoring by Armando Sr. The video clips show the mood pretty accurately...

As we put our lines in the water, Dave and I had a little wager on who could land the first yellowfin. I hooked into a fish first, but the double header took on some frest urgency!!! Thats two beer you owe me, you hear me Lundine??!! I'm pretty sure you can see my fish was a bit mas grande as well....

Life is very leisurely, morning coffee, surf, kayak, lunch, go fishing, surf, siesta, surf, dinner, pacificos.. The last few photos here tell the tale of life around here. Swell has gotten a bit small, but great longboarding; waves are forecasted again for tonight. Will keep you posted. Check out the octopus in the last photo... We let him go, only because we hadn't discovered how tasty they were yet!!!!

San Juanico and Scorpion Bay

It took a long time to get these pictures uploaded......

We have been in Scorpion Bay for about 10 days, almost didn't make it when we saw the road had been washed out after Hurricane Rick, but we walked through the river and inspected a safe passage. No problemo! Couldn't say the same for the guy driving the propane truck in the first picture.


The set up for waves here is unlike anything I have ever seen before, a right hand break that goes past 3, sometimes 4, points and on a good day can link together into one ride. I haven't hit any waves like that yet, but i have been able to surf the longest waves in my career.30-45 seconds easy.

Our camp is about 20 steps from the ocean, the water is super warm and we usually spend 3-4 hours in the water every day. Spent the morning snorkling and fishing, will go for a surf in about 15 minutes, as soon as I finish this little project :)

Will try to get some surfing photos up, nobody wants to get stuck with the job when they could be out surfing. Did the epic drive to pick up Dave Lundine and his brother Kris on friday 12 hours return when they flew into Loreto.

We have made friends with a couple of local guys and they usually come out with a bag of prawns, a fat tuna, or octopus and we cook it up on the beach with them over lots of cold pacificos.

Have been eating fresh prawns, octopus last night, lots of fish, and lobster that we caught with our neighbor Greg. Big suckers, the lobster tails are sitting on a pillow case for size reference!!

San Ignacio

Beautiful place, but pretty smashed by hurricane Rick. San Ignacio is an oasis in the middle of Baja, fresh water, plam trees, kids splashing in the river. Because it is located deep in an arroyo, all you can see is a fluff of palm tree tops and then you descend into a forest.... After San Ignacio, we drove across the salt flats for ages as you can see......

Abreojoes, nice, but not quite as I remember it. Met some good guys though, also reconnected with people I met 10 years ago. Lots of ski bums who spend the fall down here windsurfing and Kite boarding. We got to try our hands at kiting. Are thinking of heading to Los Barrilles and trying it out. Looks pretty fun.

Typical mexi style, got our propane tanks filled by some guy with a tank in the back of his truck. Relief valves are screaming now, have to drain out some of the volume before we press on. Heading to the Bay of Concepcion tonight if we get moving. Will update again later. Saw a big pod of dolphins as we drove past Concepcion Bay and had to pull over to take some phots! I'm suprised they came as close to shore as they did with Alyssa screaming as loud as she was :)

Have to get to the south west quick as a swell is forecasted for the weekend.

Hablamos pronto.

dc

Acsuncion to San Rocque

Spent most of today fishing, here in Acsuncion and then north 10 miles outside a small pueblo called San Rocque. Beautiful beach, swimming all day and a couple of small halibut brought home for dinner. Yesterday I was throwing them back because they were so easy to catch.....then I lost the blue crocidile spoon. Tragedy. It fell of of my hat and into the surf....poof....gone.

Ahhhhh. That was not good.

Now using sand crabs scrapped out of the ground and sticking them onto a big treble. Caught a corbina on this early in the day; pretty tasty. Will go again tomorrow to confirm my title as the halibut king of Baja, and then head south sunday morning.

No surf around here, some potential, but nothing to speak of. Did some body surfing in the shore break this afternoon just to fill the void.

Halloween! Last times I was here, the kids never really celebrated it, but they sure do now. The truck was surrounded by 20 ghoul ans ghoulettes just after dark and the louder the kids screamed the more the dog barked and the louder she barker the more the little ghoulettes shrieked.... haha, we had nothing to give them until Alyssa remembered, "THE SESAME SNAPS!!!!", so the kids got those and some stickers. Next time we'll be better prepared! Then we went up to a couple's house from Creston and learned how to NOT play the acordion. We tried pretty hard but were very, very terrible.

Hablamos pronto amigos!

Baja

We made it. First day out of San Diego, drove like maniacs until we reached San Quentin and stayed at a RV park beside the beach. Doesn't quite seem like the baja I remember because of the satellite radio and the air-con, but the roads are just as crazy narrow and the fish tacos just as tasty. All the bullshit circulating about how crazy it is down here has been overblown. Is as tranquillo as I remember it. I may be regretting the dirty little roadside taco stand we hit after the border. Flush toilet and a shower is pretty nice though. Yesterday morning up at 8 and a full 10 hours until we reached Bahia Ascuncion. 2 hours from Guerro Negro along some fantastic blacktop....until we hit washboard from hell. Snails pace for over an hour. Once we reached the pueblo though....back to ashphalt.

Where I promptly got the camper roof tangled in the telephone wires. Oh for fu*k sakes. That took a bit of time to pull off and the telephone pole is a bit tipped over down the road, but had some help from the first guy who came out of his in the pitch dark. Carlos just happens to be the buisness partner of Juan and Shari at the fishing camp we are staying at. Couldn't have worked out any better. Dad, Carlos got your giant package of fishhooks as a thank you gift. He was pretty pumped.

Today a well deserved rest day, hang out here for a few days before heading south to Abreojoes.

Santa Cruz

Spent the last two days in Napa Valley sampling a few different wineries and now at the beach in Santa Cruz. Lucy a big hit at the last winery we went to... Clos du Val maybe was the name?? Not sure, but one of the wine makers was a big Cattledog fan and invited us to his ranch on the way back to BC in dec. He has 9 Heelers at his place? Must be a complete zoo! Blew through San Fran pretty quick to get down to highway 1 along the coast, stopped briefly for coffees at Peet's (everybody comments on the dog). Stayed last night at Halfmoon Bay. So nice.

Today a slow day, a run along the beach, blueberry pancakes, and a shower. Alyssa said I was getting a bit ripe so I guess we came along this place at the right time. Haha.

Anyways, we are keeping track of hurricane Rick, looks like it went well south of where we are headed so no worries there. Try to get some phots up next stop. Taking the 101 from here south to LA and then the I5 until we reach San Diego tomorrow.

California

Spent day two traversing Oregon along the Columbia River and then south along the coastline to Cannon Beach. Very hilly country, is going to be very tough to cycle next spring; thank god for tandem bikes (you hear me Lundine??? Dodsworth is mine!!). Spent the night at Cannon Beach and breakfast at Indian Head overlooking Haystack rock




On to Tillamook (Cheese Factory). Winner of the Carmichael/Wilson taste test? #1 Sharp Cheddar followed by the Habenero Chedder. Delicious!




Boiler Bay near Depoe Bay Wilson got her first ever Whale sighting and damn near jumped out of the truck. Got clagged in with fog as we made our way through Dune City; couldn't see a thing.




Got the email about Hurricane Rick. Thanks Trev and Dad. Looks to be a big one, will check into it before we head across the border. Latest updates on Baja Nomad have it hitting just the tip of the penninsula and then heading west. http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=41946&page=5





Yesterday big day driving. Lots of swell on the coast, north of the Rogue River near Gold Beach were lots of points that had empty waves. Was unreal, peak after peak. From there, Port Oxford, across the Cali border through the Redwoods. Massive, holy shit, absolutely huge. You can't imagine how big those trees are..... Would be a massive chainsaw effort to fall one of those. But fun. Humboldt undercut on a stump versus Humboldt County and giant trees? Any connection? It would seem so....





Pushed on through to Ukiah to a small brew house. Terrible beer, don't stop there, tasted like old socks and burnt toenails. This morning at Sonoma County, headed to Napa Valley for some vino. Weather warm, shorts and T's.