After a short diversion to the mainland, Baja was our destination in mid-March. The San Diego weather had been cold, well, cool at least. The trip to Baja was a nice warmup. Pandro and Dan joined us, and Baja Bruce went down too. We ran through the standard drill in San Felipe, and headed down toward Puertecitos at around 2:00 PM. The Puertecitos road is the same, no better, no worse. That means it's pretty crappy, all-in-all. The potholes are getting old. I really wonder if the government is ever going to fix them. Getting to Puertecitos took about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I tripped my odometer at the rooftop boat in Puertecitos, and we were off on the Gonzaga road. The Gonzaga road is still in very good condition. I aired down about 30% a few miles before Campo La Costilla. The road is very nicely graded all the way to the Cinco Islas Cafe. After that, it roughens a bit, but in the grand scheme of things, we hauled ass. The whole trip took 1 hour and 10 minutes. We hit 45 mph in places.
We arrived in camp at around 4:30 PM. Our camp was intact, although we had heard from Juan Pablo and Loncho that Bruce's had been burglarized. Bruce rolled in about 2 beers (a couple hours) later. The sea was flat and the winds weren't windy. The temperature was heavenly. We hooked up everything essential, radio, cell phone, water pumps, tables, and lanterns. We were ready to relax. We fired up some frozen eggplant parmigiana I'd made a few nights earlier and had dinner.
The next day, we checked the tides on the old trusty 80486 laptop and discovered that the flattest tides of the month were upon us. Oh well. We grabbed Cathy's boat and hauled it down the road to Bruce's ramp. I left the Leaking Lena (my boat) on shore for drydock repairs. These repairs had been deferred (better known as procrastinated) for several years. We got Cathy's ship ready to launch and dragged it downhill to Roger's Bay, in front of Bruce's. Dan, Pandro, and I were going to fish for some bass offshore. As we pushed her into the sea, water came up like a gusher from amidship. That was odd, as that boat had been extremely watertight. A closer inspection revealed corrosion had pitted her and the dragdown to Bruce's had opened the pits. A heavy dose of Scotchkote 3465 Urethane and a piece of aluminum had her patched in a jiffy, but a full cure required sitting overnight. So much for fishing. We spent the rest of the day contemplating the beautiful scenery and looking out at the glasslike sea. A Bullock's Oriole came to visit, the first one I've ever seen at the campo. The bird tried to avoid the camera, but didn't quite make it.
Later that evening, the setting sun lit up Isla San Luis.
On Monday, we were ready for a run out to the islands. The action was slow. The fish were there, but scattered. Eventually, I hooked a nice Yellowtail. We never did locate any good schools that day. We decided to dunk some lures down deep on our secret spot. We dredged up numerous Goldspotted Bass. Here, Pandro winches one up. We released most of them, but got plenty for a fish taco dinner.
Out by the islands, I noted some small Alcids (members of the Auk family) swimming about. I'd never seen them before. The birds seemed to be in family groups, with two adults and a juvenile. They breed on the islands. Onshore research revealed them to be Craveri's Murrelets. Mom and Pop are on the outside and Junior is in the middle.
After tiring of bottom fishing, we set back trolling, eventually making way around Punta Cabeza de Pato over to the Halibut hole. As we crossed La Barra, the tidal rip was impressive. The outgoing tide looked and sounded like rapids on a river.
No Halibut were there,but we caught the usual bass and triggers with a Stone Scorpionfish or two thrown in. On the way back, I shot the guys motoring with Punta Bufeo village in the background..
Pandro cooked dinner that night.
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