2003 was the most trips to Baja so far....7 in all for me.

Fishing was pretty good. The surface fish were around in May, but we couldn't get out to them most of the time. The Sierra were so think at Christmas time that Eddie and I had to get off them to avoid loosing too many lures. I found a new glory hole. Everyone who fished on it came up with a lot of nice fish, including some ones we'd never caught before.

Tracy, Dan and Zack came down in January. As usual, we had plenty of fish tacos. Deano caught a nice Spotted Cabrilla. Eddie caught a Burrito Grunt. Mike didn't make it this year and he was missed. No one caught his traditional Sicklefin Smoothhound Shark. Kerry and Geoff made an appearance in May. The Corvina were around occasionally, mostly when Eddie was fishing. That's the same thing I said last year! The fishing south of Punta Bufeo remained abysmal. We rarely even went down there.

The weather was pretty good, overall. March in Baja was nice and warm during the day and cold at night. The snakes were active. Memorial Day was pleasant, and the water was once again swimmable. Hurricane cum Tropical Storm Marty hit the camp during the Eastern Pacific hurricane season this fall, dumping a nice volume of rain over a few days. During the October trip, the desert was greener than I've ever seen it. Our camp looked like we had a yard. October was hot, and daily dips were the routine. The nighttime temperatures were always pleasant however. Bruce, Christine and I went down in early November. Substantial rain fell over that trip. I didn't fish, but caught up on chores. A light rain also fell over Christmas/New Year. Christmas was cold....real cold. Bruce even recorded a sub-freezing temperature, although the lowest my thermometer got was 39°. Ramona came down with Cathy and me. The three of us were less than well and we were just glad to be there. We had lots of birds in camp during our October trip again, which occurred a little later in the month than usual.

The road started out the year in atrocious shape, but the grader made a long-overdue visit in the fall. The Puertecitos road is good down to km 32, around Campo Santa Maria. Below that, it's first potholes and then no pavement at all into Puertecitos, little change from previous years. I wish they'd clean it up a bit. The Baja 1000 was again run on our stretch of the Gonzaga road in October. The race didn't mess the road up as much as it had in previous years.

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