Damn wind

Some people take tranquilizers to relax. We just watch our cats.

Couldn't stand it any longer today. I had to take the boat out and drag some lures in the water. There is a spot down the bay about two miles, just off shore, that has some nice fish structure. Mostly Triggers. Much of the shoreline looks the same, and the wind was at my back, so I merrily motored south..on and on. Soon I spotted some buildings on shore, and could see the highway. Uh uh, that must be Buena Ventura. Waaay to far south. As I turned into the wind, the waves started pounding on the little Portabote. "Please don't fold-up on me now!" as I throttled down to trolling speed. What took me 20 minutes going south took an hour for the return trip. Of course the wind kept increasing as time passed. Made it back OK, but lesson learned.

Don't underestimate the danger down here! The wind has been a PIA all week. The day starts out with a nice breeze, but picks up midmorning to almost gale force later. The other fooler is geography. The waves build in this long bay, and get bigger the further south you go.

Just yesterday I watched as two guys took off from the beach in a Hobbie catamaran. The wind was picking up, and I thought to myself that these must be pretty experienced sailors. They headed straight out, towards the uninhabited shore about two miles across the bay. After a while I lost sight of them and drifted off into siesta. As I was fighting my way back home today, a larger boat pulled by me as asked if I had seen a Hobbie cat turned-over anywhere. Nope. Turns out those two guys flipped the boat over yesterday, and couldn't get it righted. They were still on the other side of the bay, and swam across it to Buena Ventura, taking several hours. They crawled onto shore exhausted and fighting hypothermia. After recovering, they got a ride back to Burro Beach, and took their truck into town. We are still looking for the catamaran.

I'd like to introduce you to some of the folks that stay or live down here in the next few blogs.

A good person to start out with is Geary, known as the "Mayor of Burro Beach". He lives here full time - even through the hurricanes and sweltering summers. Been here for years, but originally from California. Geary was on the search boat this morning. He is heavily involved in nautical aspects of the Baja, having a website (see the Links section) and doing the weather forecasting also. Geary likes to have everyone up-and-at-em in the morning, so he plays bagpipe music for the beach over his P.A. system. Also has a short wave and marine radio news/weather forecast.

Here is Geary at his control console. (It's OK Geary, all those Wants and Warrants from the States are probably expired by now.) He has internet satellite as well as several radio transmitters available. Probably the most sophisticated private communication station in the Baja.

Geary has a modest, but very nicely finished palapa, located towards the north end of the beach. That camera on upper left portion of the porch is a webcam that shows the bay in real time. Check out his website for more details.