The search for surf continues. While our surf guidebook did not make Turtle
Bay sound like one of the better spots along this coast – there was some swell
hitting, so we found someone to take us to a nearby break. Of course this entailed getting up early to
meet Ivan, the surfer/guide, at 7AM. We
were told it was about a 20-30 minute drive, so Tim had a hunch that it must be
a beach break in the bay we had sailed by two days earlier. After meeting Ivan’s friend Christian (fellow
surfer) and loading up his sparkly red PT Cruiser (is this really the car you
want to go on a surf exploration trip in?), we headed off through town over to
Ivan’s house (or fish shack) to grab Ivan’s board. There we also met his pit bull, who was
friendly until all of the sudden... when he started growling at me Ivan told us
the dog was *loco*. Tim quickly told me
to get in the car!
 |
| Ivan, Tim and Christian checkin the surf. |
Unfortunately we had
forgotten to bring the surf racks in from the boat, so the boards were strapped
to the roof with the rubber leashes that we use to tie the boards to our ankles
– we hoped they would survive whatever bouncy roads we covered unscathed. Then off to the edge of town, then driving
across the airstrip, past the lone little 4 seater plane that comes every few
days, and into the dunes. The dirt
tracks through the dunes and hills looked pretty well used, and obviously this
was at one point the town dump. Lots of
glass bottles were everywhere alongside.
Ivan told us that there were lots of whale fossils back in the dunes
there. Upon arriving at the beach – it
was a point break outside of the beach break – but it was super windy, so
didn’t look like much fun. Christian
warned that the current could be bad there – that’s why he didn’t like to surf
there. So we headed back to town to surf
the in-town break that had been working the day before. Rather than take us the way we came,
Christian took a ‘shortcut’ that entailed driving along the beach for a few
miles. A very scary few miles– Tim was
convinced we’d end up stuck in the sand, and you could see in Christian’s face
he shared that concern! Finally he
found the exit trail and mad a hard turn up into the dunes – over a big bump
and we were safely back onto harder packed sand. Phew.
Back in town, they toured us around a bit, and helped us
search out a part for our Yamaha outboard.
After stopping at four outboard mechanic shops (luckily Christian is a
mechanic so knew where to look!), we lucked out and found the part! Then we stopped to check the surf and the
tide was still to high, so we headed home with plans to meet up later at the
surf break. By the time the tide dropped
an hour or so later, it was Windy windy!
But we gamely got into the dinghy in our wetsuits with our boards and
headed over to surf the little point break right behind the boat. Ivan was in the water and coached us (and the
four local boys learning how to boogie board) on where to sit to catch the
little baby waves that only came through every 15 minutes or so… Needless to say, Tim caught one ankle biter,
and I caught none, but did get a chill that turned into sniffles and a cold for
the next day.
So much for surfing on the Baja so far! We’re hoping maybe there will be a bit of a
swell this weekend and we’ll be in a good spot to catch it.
Otherwise, we had some excitement the first night we were
anchored in Turtle Bay. After seeing a
somewhat scary looking small dark blue/black motorboat with a cabintop cruising
the anchorage and approaching the two powerboats anchored behind us, we
wondered what they were up to. The boat
had no ensignias, and we could make out the name La Nira on its side. After visiting the two powerboats, the boat
seemed to head back to its mooring. We
thought no more of it and headed down to eat dinner and head for bed. It was well after dark, and Tim was already
in bed, when we heard a voice outside calling us to come out. It was that same scary looking boat. They were not holding onto the boat, but were
alongside and spoke no English, but asked for our “papels”, our paperwork. I tried to speak to them to figure out if
they represented the port capitain, but they said no, and just kept repeating
wanting to see our paperwork. Finally
Tim went below to get his folder and handed the clearance paper from Ensenada
to them. They pulled away, and one of
the two young men took the paper inside the cabin. They were dressed in pants and t-shirts,
nothing official looking about them.
They said they were the vigilancia for the pueblo. Which didn’t have any specific meaning to us –
and they seemed more like the pirates that we should be protected from! After a minute, they came back alongside and
handed back the paper and thanked us and wished us good night. Very strange and unusual. The next day we heard from others that they
were trying to sell them candy and potatoes, one powerboat said they had asked
them for tshirts, all weird stuff. But the
locals at the fuel dock confirmed that that was the vigilancia – they are
checking for lobsters, abalone, and pirates (drugs). Why would two unarmed men be sent out in a
small cabin cruiser to harass sailboats after dark? It made no sense to us. Still doesn’t. And for the next two nights in Turtle Bay, I
woke Tim anytime I heard a strange noise – scared that someone was trying to
board us!
