# BCN, MEX: Pura Vida



## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

I took a trip down into Baja California Norte, MEX with my dad. We left SoCal at 0230 Tuesday and crossed over into MEX at Mexicali at daybreak. On the drive it was very windy, with the Nortes blowin' hard all the way. Nortes are a winter wind and can keep you off the water for days. Typically it's 3days blowing then 2 calm then repeat. So it's best to plan accordingly to ensure you get a window. We gave ourselves 8 days. That oughtta cover it.
Geared up the evening before and ready to roll.









The drive down is through desert paralleling the mouth of the Colorado River.


















First view of the Sea of Cortes.









Some vistas from the road. These are Las Islas Encantadas. (Enchanted Isles)


















We arrived at camp about 1000, and the N's were still blowing 20-30kts driving sand up the beach, making setting up difficult. We set up in between gusts and took in the sights.
Looking NNE at our main target island. It is essentially a peninsula w 3 isthmuses that are awash at high tides and or wind driven surge. We gave the R hand islet the name Verga de Caballo. Horse Cock.


















Camp as it was.









Up the beach to the NWward. The tides were about 5m w the full moon, with the morning launches on the ebb just after high, leaving landings at almost full low, but on the flow. My dad marked his landing one day and it was 700ft from the waypooint for camp. There were bands of sand, cobbles and hard conglomerate reef between camp and the water depending on tide.









Looking E at Punta Final.









SELFIE! Yes that is Tecate Light. When we were stocking up on beer, my dad asked if Light was OK. I said, "Well, as the Aussies say, it's all _canoe beer_ anyway."









Rossman (Dad)









A pair of frigate birds and a pair of turkey vultures soaring in the winds.









Camp visitor.
No matter where I go, animals are drawn to me. Since it was a cat, it was probably just using me as a windbreak.









We hunkered down and dealt w the driving drifting sand until around 1300 when it eased up a bit. We quick made some brats (snags) and readied for a launch by 1430 to the farthest E tip of the island 2.1mi away. We had a good lull for the paddle and the sierra mackerel (close to a spotty mack, but smaller I'd say) were up and boiling on pinner baits. Some were even rocketing out of the water. My first fish was an average size sierra and it made me happy and hungry. It was followed by about a dozen others.









I also got some small Cortes barracuda. They are generally shorter and stockier than CA barracuda. These were small, and just as smelly, slimy and spastic. Nuisance really.









I also managed a lizardfish (grinner).









This trip is a lure throwers dream. I did not use one bit of bait at any time, but my lost jig bill is excessive.
After just a couple hours at the island the N's started again in earnest and gave us a sporty downwind paddle with very short period wind waves. I was basically taking R after R of cresting waves with an occasional couple L's to tack back on course. It was fun, but the switch from R to L made it feel like it wanted to broach in the ditch. You had to be on it, and commit to the turn.

Wednesday dawned w the same wind blowing maybe even harder. I cannot believe how much sand ingress occurs in a completely closed tent. My bag was drifted every day from the driving wind. Between 0500 and 1000 it was brutal. My dad commented, "I don't mind not being able to fish every day, but not being able to live is a problem. The propane stove was near useless with the rudimentary windbreaks we had to that point. 
Sunrise


















The break came earlier in the day and we were ready, though. We grubbed and hit the water by 1300 and headed out to the island again. This was a bit different --as every day turned out to be. The sierra weren't as active. We worked in tight to the island for some bottom grabbers like this gold-spotted sandbass.









And this Cortes grunt.









It was slow fishing, though overall. Off the island to the SE is a pinnacle coming up from about 35m to roughly 20m. We went out to fish that. I don't have a sounder, so my dad was able to pinpoint on it better at first. I continued my slow afternoon. Finally I hooked the reef and plugged in a waypoint on that for reference and that got me better results eventually.

At the reef I watched my dad get repeatedly corn-holed by big grouper or pargo (true snapper) and he would whip the water with his rod in a tantrum before cooling down and re-tying. Don't know where he picked up that behavior. I still wasn't getting much love. My dad finally gave up and headed back to camp, not wanting to deal with the same wind as the day before. His Trident13 does not have the rocker my Prowler does, and he did not have the "fun" factor I did on that downwind. I stuck it out at the reef and finally got the hit I wanted on a heavy double cut (thick) Krocodile spoon.

I was yo-yoing the spoon, hitting bottom and ripping it up 1/2-2/3 then kicking out of gear and dropping it back. Well just as I was about to drop it again I got smacked and it made a run straight down. I thought, "No way bitch, you aren't making it home to your hole," and thumbed the spool. BTW, by this time I was out of leader on board, so I was straight tied to 40llb PowerPro. I stopped the fish, but then it took off again, but this time laterally and up. Well that's no grouper. I hope that isn't a shark. I went back and forth for a while, thinking it was, but finally up came my PB sierra mackerel!

Oh yeah, baby! Mexican Spanish?









He came on board and I was doin' the happy paddle back to camp. On the way back I saw a huge fin and stopped dead before I realized I was seeing a whaleshark. In my frantic zeal to get out my camera I slid up a bit too close and he cavitated his tail to jet away a bit and it scared the crap outta me. I thought I was going in. But it was very docile and just did lazy circles with it's giant gob open slurping up those same pinner baits.


















Back at camp I got the measurements of my mack. With length for you Aussies and weight for me. It was 10lb on the dot and not quite a meter.



























Why they are called sierra (saw).









It was cooked up with some lime juice, onion, serrano chile, cilantro, salt n peppa, and diced tom as ceviche, and also marinated in a butter/cajun spice mix for a couple days on ice then cooked over a wood fire when the rest of the Armada Plastica arrived.

The afternoon was shot for fishing due to wind, so we just explored some.
Whale bones.









Desert track down below as close to Punta Final as we could get.









At this point my phone, acting as a camera only, on plane mode, decided it didn't want to take a charge via cable. So rather than waste the remaining ~10% battery, I shut it down to have enough juice to retrieve the pix by mailing them to myself. My dad still had his phone and a camera so we _should_ be good.

Thursday was dead glass and I wanted to take advantage of it. My goal was to circumnavigate the island(s). I had aspirations to do so while planning the trip, but once there, I realized it was bigger than I thought and the wind was scarier. I didn't take any shots on Thursday as I was just trolling a few different rapalas around the island and throwing lures at jumping sierra. Catching wasn't the goal. Once around most of the island, I only had to cross one sand spit before heading back to camp. Rounding the final point, I saw the spit and saw my route. As I got closer, the scale became clear and at the current tide, I was looking at 300yds of mud flats before the portage across the spit. I saw locals clamming and could judge the distance beyond them was significant. I followed a channel up as far as I could go, with water still draining out against me. I figured I was well screwed as I had hours until the tide changed enough. I beached the yak and walked around digging clams. MEX has a weird law that gringos can't take invertebrates. No clams, snails, shrimp, lobster, squid, crab etc. They can be bought and possessed but not collected. It's unlikely to be enforced, but most Americanos don't want to go to a MEX jail over a few clams if it came to it.

I killed some time honing my skill, anyway. It was actually pretty easy, and I found a half dozen of 3 different kinds, plus some large conch-like snails. After that I walked over to the local family that was collecting and inquired about the types and techniques they used. There were chocolates, blancas (pismos) and a big, deep, ridged ones he didn't know the name of other than the generic almejas for clams, and the conchs were just snails to him (caracol). After killing about an hour and a half the tide started coming in rapidly and it pushed my kayak up to the sand where I made an easy portage for the 3-mile paddle to camp. All-in it was about 10 miles of paddling in glassy, hot (~35C) conditions.

Once at camp I got confirmation about something I had got vague details of by radio. My dad had a nice grouper that he wanted a pic of, but it went nutz on the yak and knocked his phone into the deep blue. So 2 cameras down in 2 daze. I took charge of the camera after that to keep track of more species caught, but he still has the camera and will be sending me the pix. So here ends part 1 of this TR. In the mean time, enjoy this slideshow made by one of the other guys. Cameos by rossman and me.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Part2
Thursday afternoon brought 2 more of the Armada to camp, with 6 more due Friday afternoon, then 2 more Saturday.

Friday we awoke to a cool offshore breeze from the W. Cool enough that I put on a fleece and beanie coming out the tent. We were up between 0400 and 0500 every day to get the cowboy coffee perking and "...took a look around, see which way the wind blow". We watered up, and packed some bars to munch on on the water and off we went before sunrise for the 30-45min commute depending on conditions. The weather was nice and the 4 of us scattered to see what we could find. It turned out to be another good, yet average day. We had to work to find fish, but the same suspects were around. The baitfish were tiny, and the fish were keyed on them, making lure choice key. I started at the pinnacle and my dad started shallower by the island. We both had some success with my dad getting the first yellow.

Leopard grouper off the pinnacle.









Rose snapper (pargo rosado). Both these fish were caught on the fast retrieve about half way up over the reef early in the morning.









Little story about leopard grouper. The locals call them sardineras. Like a vaquero is a cow driver and a caballero is a horseman a garopa sardinera is a sardina herder. It was an amazing sight to watch, but frustrating as an angler. The S face of Horse Cock was just plugged w the pinners right up tight to the sargasso --a type of kelp that grows dense but is fine enough to pull lures through. It grows to about 25ft from the mean low tide line outward. The grouper would mill around in groups in the weed in full view, and under the bait and suddenly, w/o notice they would bolt through the bait and then through the air in a concerted group of 3-10 fish up to 10kg. The sound was like a truckload of bowling balls dropped in the water. And the sight was awesome.

You could cast and cast and cast w nothing but weed hookups, then make a small move away to work another area and the groupers would erupt right where you were. It was jaw dropping stuff. We fished hard and landed about 1400 to swap stories, make the main meal of the day, take a siesta and maybe go out for an afternoon session followed by a lighter snack and crash out by 2000 or 2100 for the next day.

A little later my dad was the hot stick fooling one of the shallow grouper and the first rat.









Raton!









We reported to the next 6 arrivals of the days fishing and the sightings and rumors of more species like yellowtail around. Most of the new group opted for an evening sess, but most days I was too beat to go. I think I only went out twice on 2 days, and the second trip was always to the SE to a low cobbley point about a mile away rather than the trek out to the island again.

Friday night the cool offshore was replaced by a hot dry offshore that changed like a switch. The temp went from 25-27C to 32C in minutes. Sleeping was uncomfortable.

Saturday everyone scattered and the fishing was varied. I don't have any pix of this day as I was lax. We got into a good bite on a fish called a totuava at the reef. It is a fish really similar to mulloway with a convex, diamond tail. They get very large up to around 100kg. Unfortunately overfishing has left them depleted and the MEX government, such that it is, has banned keeping them by anyone. The rub is, it is very similar to a fish called an orange-mouth corvina which only get to be about 20kg. Only a very trained eye can tell the difference so keeping either fish w a convex tail is a risk. Rub 2, so many local fishermen keep and kill them anyway it is a real joke. Rub 3, there is still a lot of inshore gill netting in MEX which indiscriminately kill everything too.

Anyway the fish caught, were from deep water and were from 7kg-20kg roughly. They don't depressurize well so any lag at the surface is bad for their health. I would get mine up after a good, deep, headshaking fight then unhook and grab the tail wrist and shoot them back down w no lag. I had very good results w this so no pix of those fish.

Saturday night brought that same hot dry desert wind but stronger. This is the bad wind while camping and fishing on the Cortes/E side of Baja. More people are lost and more boats blown off moorings or capsized by these than any other. They aren't predictable and they blow hard out to sea. It wasn't a good sign these were showing up stronger.

Sunday turned out nice again in the morning so most headed out to the island again keeping an weather eye. The totuavas were still on the reef for those that worked hard on the deep jigging. I started on them then went to the island and picked up a couple good size bonito. This is actually a small one I caught first. They were a real surprise as they got bigger but you know it's like having fun on mack tuna. Good fun; no payoff.









The strong W winds started about 1300 and everyone just got to shore before they caused any havoc. 


















Change in the weather coming. With stronger W winds.









They blew all night, hot, and were sown and diminished as you got farther offshore. My dad and I went out Monday as everyone else was packing up. Suckers. As we got to the tip of Horse Cock, birds were working just outside the weed, on those pinners. In the midst of it, groupers, yellows, sierra, and barracuda were boiling full speed. We went to town on the birdpile with many losses and some successes. We each scored several yellows up to about 7kg, but mostly 3-5kg. I could not stay hooked to any shallow water grouper this trip. They just weren't cooperating w me.
A rat and some haggard old dude I don't even recognize.









A needlefish. Free tip: 
When trying to untangle braid from the toothy beaks of these fish, keep your fingers out of their mouth. They snap shut! F'er tried to take the end of my finger off drawing blood on both sides.









Bait.









Between me and my dad was not a bait ball, but a bait wall. 20ft deep by 10ft wide by 100yds long. Just tons of the tiny stuff. The technique was to sit inside of it, over the weed, fan-casting out into about 10-20m and ripping back.









I got 4 yellows this way plus a few sierra and some XL bonito. I never stayed connected to any grouper. My dad did land one that he pulled up with a ton of weed, that had a lure and about 10yds of braid tangled in it from someone elses misfortune. Not a bad return for him on that fish. He got 6 more yellows too there.

Well we were having so much fun we overstayed out welcome and got caught w/ our pants down. We failed to leave when we first felt the W start and paid for it. The paddle back was up there with the worst ever for each of us. We were at full power doing 1.5mph for 2.25mi, with the last 0.25mi being the worst. Just a wallowing slog with camp right in front of us but not getting any closer. Top it off it was super low tide so any energy left was spent getting the yaks back above the high tide line.

Monday night we decided to just do a quick morning sess on Tuesday, then pack up and drive up to San Felipe for a room, shower and bed. It sounded good. Tuesday morning the W never let up and it was driving sand from the other direction. The decision was easy and we packed it up in the sandstorm keeping things anchored as we worked as best we could.

Got to San Felipe about noon and showered, then went out for a meal and a walk around the malecon (boardwalk). Had a local w a bucket full of fish walk about and say in broken English. "Hey, ju want a mackerela? I got the freshest feesh of neone."
Sure guy. We really want a 35C bonito to take back to the room w us. lol

Hung around the room for the afternoon/eve watching MEX tv (FOUR channels of soccer! Too bad my dad hates the game) and crashed out early so we could get out of town to beat the rush at the border. Arrived home by 1000 Wednesday, and started laundry and pic sorting.

Here's a graphic from google illustrating where I fished.









And here is an appendix of fish caught but not photographed:
Sargo









Finescale triggerfish









Filescale triggerfish









Ribera cabrilla









Spotted sand bass









Totuava









Barred pargo









Humboldt squid A couple guys pulled up a couple of these from the reef area. Only about 3ft. Used as cut bait, they were very effective.









How'd that get in there?


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## Stealthfisha (Jul 21, 2009)

AWESOME


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Fantastic Zed, it looks an amazing place and the place names have such a romantic, Hemmingway-esque sound to them! Can't wait for part two.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

theyakshed.com


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## deestingray (Nov 6, 2013)

What a great trip!! That whaleshark experience would have been AMAZING!!! Looks like a lot of fun.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Been waiting for this one and it hasn't disappointed.


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## paulsod (Dec 28, 2008)

Thanks for the read and photos Zed. Really enjoyed the slideshow, some great photos there.


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Nice trip report Zed looking forward part 2


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Wow very similar to the fish here. Nice work.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Bump for edits to Part1 and addition of Part2



scater said:


> Fantastic Zed, it looks an amazing place and the place names have such a romantic, Hemmingway-esque sound to them! Can't wait for part two.


I almost looked like him by the end w/o a razor.


deestingray said:


> What a great trip!! That whaleshark experience would have been AMAZING!!! Looks like a lot of fun.


Whaleshark was a highlight. Soon they were found everywhere by everyone, so it wasn't as incredible. Funny how that works.


eric said:


> It's great so far, but who knows how you might stuff it up in part two?


Well less pix might just do it.
When whale bones are found in MEX they immediately become part of the landscape for the nearest landowner. All the little fishing villages have a set.


bertros said:


> FWIW, America does have some good beer... any of the big flavoured American IPAs are something i could taste test all day if I was allowed.


But we were in MEX and shopped for beer on the way down. You rarely see stores w/ mixed beer. It's a tecate store or a modelo store or a pacifico store. Corona is an Americanized beer, rarely found in Baja except at resorts Americans visit. Tecate is canned/bottled in N Baja so it is common and cheap. 50pesos/6 at ~13pesos/$1.


indiedog said:


> Those shade structures look like a leftover from an old resort. And the line up of loos is ...... different.


They're called palapas, w thatch made from palms. Land owners put up a few palapas and call it a campo to lure travelers. It's nice to have built-in shade for sure. In the background of the fillet pic you can see the owners house w/ an antenna. This place had flush toilets and showers! Every other loo was a dunny or a shower. The water in the shower (and I assume the toilets) was very saline. Personally I just used biodegradable soap out in the ocean.

Thanks for the compliments and comments, guys. Keeps me coming back.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Nice toe


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Enjoyable reading and pics Zed, and enjoyed the appendix of fish from over your side of the ocean.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

I'm a less evolved primate. I still have prehensile toes. I can still wiggle my pinky toes individually for no apparent benefit.


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

Thanks for that Zed, enjoyed the read - you obviously put a lot of effort into documenting your trip for us, cheers.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Zed I think you're turning Aussie
Comparing all the fish to our species then complaining about the beer


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks, all.
That's just a teaser eric. For a subscription you get so much more...

anselmo, I really have no problem drinking Tecate in the sun. I even sometimes put lime in it, directly opposed to my no fruity beer rule. With this years Spanish and spotty reports how could I not make the comparison. I think a totuava is closer to a mulloway than a white sea bass is.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Zed said:


> I'm a less evolved primate. I still have prehensile toes. I can still wiggle my pinky toes individually for no apparent benefit.


You're selling yourself short, there are many benefits to individual toe wiggling. However, this is not the place to be discussing them.....


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## Sprocket (Nov 19, 2008)

Top stuff Zed


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

indiedog said:


> Haven't tried them as lip grips yet, probably won't.


Not your own I hope, cause that would be weird.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Fabulous report Troy. Your Dad is a gem.

Those sierra mackerel look _very _much like our spotted mackerel. You, sir, _are a bastard_, as I have dreamed of visiting Baja for 35 years, but sadly cannot afford it ATM. I read about it in connection with sea kayaking that long ago. And now, to fish it from a yak, that would be amazing. Your report only increases the desire to go. Did I say 'Bastard?'

I do hope I live long enough to fit it in.

BTW, what's the weather like either end of summer?


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## RhubarbTheYeti (Oct 28, 2013)

Zed said:


> indiedog said:
> 
> 
> > Haven't tried them as lip grips yet, probably won't.
> ...


My toes aren't prehensile but I can get them in my mouth - is that weird


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

kayakone said:


> BTW, what's the weather like either end of summer?


May-June are good months, as is November. 
In May-June the Northerly's should be over for the Winter, and the wind is a bit more predictable. The W winds you always have to keep a keen eye out for, as they come up fast and hard. A good clue is when you see clouds starting to roll over the top of the ridge running down the peninsula, get to shore.

October-November is pretty much after the hurricane season, and before the N winds start for winter. It can still be hot and humid, though.

The farther S you go, the less the water itself changes, season to season. April for instance in the mid to N is very green, and cool. Tides are severe, so new and full moons will have vast tide spans, and currents. Overall I've had pretty good luck on all my trips either on the Pacific or Cortes side of Baja. Just be prepared to lose a couple days here or there to wind.



RhubarbTheYeti said:


> Zed said:
> 
> 
> > indiedog said:
> ...


Yes, you freak. Stick with the ACOI barrel-o-carp for your standard tow-sucking.


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## HardPlastic (Jul 2, 2007)

Wow Zed. I've read this twice now. Best report I think from anyone. Great to be able to see how you guys do it over there and the places. Loved the slide show too. There's a reason they call it the 'Unforgettable Sea of Cortez'.

Cheers mate

Greg


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Awesome report Zed. Looks like the report would have taken longer than the trip.
If your bonito are the same as ours, they are as good as sashimi gets.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

keza said:


> Awesome report Zed. Looks like the report would have taken longer than the trip.
> If your bonito are the same as ours, they are as good as sashimi gets.


Well that's a bit of exaggeration. It took about as much time to make cowboy coffee twice in a gale.
Yeah bonito are pretty good provided you can get and keep them cold. I think the hamachi would have bested it.


indiedog said:


> The landscape around this entire area is amazing, just so lunar looking and desolate. Incredible that people and others eek out a life there.


No doubt. I commented to my dad a couple times about overland travel there before roads. Who would want to do it? So many little villages seem like they just stopped because they couldn't go any further.
The town is named after Papa Fernandez. It's to the N of the "island". The vacation homes on the spit are around a stopover bar/restaurant called Alfonsinas. We traied to stay away from civilization as much as possible.


> The tiny settlement know as Papa Fernández takes it's name from its centenarian founder Gorgonio (Papa) Fernández who first established a fish camp there in the 1950's. Later he moved there with his family (from Loreto in a rowboat), and has provided a welcome stop-over for Baja adventurers traveling the rugged dirt track which leads south along the Sea of Cortez from San Felipe to Calamajue Canyon and beyond. Papa passed away on February 20, 2001 at the age of 104 years. The location also goes by the names Punta Willard, Bahia Willard, Bahia San Luis Gonzaga, Papa Fernández Landing and Papa Fernández Resort.
> 
> Early Spanish explorers recognized that the well-protected bay formed by Isla San Luis Gonzaga and the Punta Willard peninsula was a unique natural resource. The bay was first noted in written history in a report to the King of Spain by Fernando P. Consag, a Jesuit Missionary from Mission San Igancio who, with 6 soldiers and a few Indians in 1746, explored the Baja peninsula coast from the south up to the Colorado River Delta. As large ships were very scarce, this was done with four sail canoes.
> 
> The original Spanish-dug well still supplies water to the Papa Fernández settlement. Remains of the Jesuit storehouse that was used by Spanish ships to supply Mission Santa Maria near Cataviña can be found nearby.


http://www.papafernandez.com/


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Brilliant. Thank you so much for a window into your world.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Another magic adventure with Troy and his Dad in north America. Thanks, mate. really appreciate the effort that went into that.

Many years ago I stayed a couple of days in a Mexican beach shack somewhere a few road hours south of the border. While strolling the beach I noticed some crustaceans clustering in partly buried groups in the surf line and dug a few out. They were like crayfish without tails and presumably eke out an existence in the zone where we have beach worms here. Did you have them where you were?

Kev


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

sunshiner said:


> Many years ago I stayed a couple of days in a Mexican beach shack somewhere a few road hours south of the border. While strolling the beach I noticed some crustaceans clustering in partly buried groups in the surf line and dug a few out. They were like crayfish without tails and presumably eke out an existence in the zone where we have beach worms here. Did you have them where you were?


Not that I noticed. I did see some swimmer crabs while wading out for a dip.

Were you on the Pacific side or the Cortes side of Baja? Its vastly different. Or were you on the mainland MEX?

I was on a surf trip once, a couple hours S on the PAC side with some friends and I was fishing while they were down the beach at a crappy peak. I waded out a broad beach out to my knees and caught a few barred surf perch on mussels I harvested (shhh). When I turned around to go back I was surrounded by large sheep crabs, about a foot across w legs. It was like I blundered into a minefield. Those things could take off a toe!

We/they do have sandcrabs and mole crabs on the PAC side. Sandcrabs dig in the sand and get to be about as big as a walnut. They sortta look like round gray cockroaches. Their antennae leave Vs in the sand as the water recedes, and there is usually colonies of them. They make great surf fish bait. Mole crabs are about the same shape but as big as your fist. I can't say I know what you saw. What color were they?


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## guy88 (Feb 24, 2013)

Great report. Good to see new a new place.


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## wayneedden (May 19, 2012)

Epic Zed . Looks like a pretty amazing spot, great report and pix. Nice fish gallery too.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Zed said:


> sunshiner said:
> 
> 
> > Many years ago I stayed a couple of days in a Mexican beach shack somewhere a few road hours south of the border. While strolling the beach I noticed some crustaceans clustering in partly buried groups in the surf line and dug a few out. They were like crayfish without tails and presumably eke out an existence in the zone where we have beach worms here. Did you have them where you were?
> ...


Hi Troy

I was on the Pacific side but there was only a small surf. The critters I found were what you call sand crabs, as you say, about the size of a walnut. I hadn't seen them before but one day I caught one on my local beach here in Noosa while catching beach worms, the first I'd seen here. On researching I found they were not uncommon here (but are not generally known about among local surf fishers) and are called mole crabs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerita_(genus)

Those sheep crabs could be delicious. Tried them?

Kev


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Sheep get really large, and are often bycatch while hoopnetting for spiny lobster. They're our version of king crab in Alaska. They're kind of muddy tasting, and get their name from the shaggy algae all over. You have to practically pressure wash them to get them clean before you cook them. You'd have to be pretty hard up to want to make a meal of one, but people do.


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