Dive Trip to Baja California #3

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Dive trip to Baja.
Estero Beach/Punta Banda then to Bahia de los Angeles.

Advisory: This will take some time to read the whole story, the Diver's bubbles sound only repeats 10 times, all sound controls are at the bottom of the page.
WHEN:
June 9 to June 16, 2000. We met up at the "Rest Area" on Camp Pendleton at 7:30 PM and returned from BOLA at 10:30 PM on Friday, most people were home around midnight.

WHERE:
At Estero Beach, we stayed at Dennis' place in the resort area. With the camp ground not far away, the restrooms and showers were right nearby.
At Bahia de los Angeles, we stayed at
Larry & Raquel's On the beach.<==Email link
To see my maps of these areas Click here.
To see pictures of my boat Click here.

WHO:
Rich, Dennis, Brandon, Shauna, Christy, Bob, Rob, Tim B, Tim T, Sergio, Konrad, John, Rene, Todd & Harvey.

My Story:
Everyone got to the "Meeting place" (The Camp Pendleton Rest area) on time, with Sergio calling to say "I'll be there" at about 7:30PM. After stopping for GAS and the "Last meal" in San Diego, we crossed the border at about 9 PM. One member of our group got the "RED LIGHT" for secondary inspection and once they cleared him (About 10 minutes or so) he got nailed for an "Unsafe lane change" attempting to get to the TOLL ROAD turn off, unfortunately, he did NOT know the "Take me to the station and I will pay the fine", so he paid the officer $40.

Brandon's Picture

One note about the Tourist Visas: While we were there, we were never asked for our Visas, even at the Maneadero check point, but I did require everyone to at least have them filled out. While in BOLA, "Clamdigger Bob" went to Guerro Negro and got all the Visas "Stamped" and paid for, at least for those who had not paid yet, with a $3 charge for his efforts with the local offical. I tipped him a bit more for his efforts, thanks Bob! The check point at the turn off to Bay of LA isn't there anymore either, this was strange, it goes to show you how things do change in Baja. So the only check point along our trip was at Maneadero, but I heard there was still the usual one at Guerro Negro, and I was hearing stories that some people were being "Turned back" to Ensenada to get the "Papers", but I think there maybe more to that one, like the wrong attitude with the local officials [Not bribing them, just using a bad attitude]. So playing the "Dumb Gringo" role always seems to work, but have your paperwork at least filled out, that's my advice.
Road conditions: The Road (Mex 1) is in the best shape I have ever seen it, there was a slight "Rough area" just north of Catavina and the usual "Narrow areas", but there wasn't a single "Pot hole" all the way to BayOfLA turn off, we did see a wrecked big rig or 2, but that's not unusual. The road to BOLA isn't too bad, there was the occassional "Rough spot" but we didn't run into "Pot hole mine fields" until around KM53 or so, then it was slower going, as I remember, there were about 3-5 "Mine Fields" before getting to BOLA. The center of town has changed somewhat and the "Topes" are gone [Speed bumps]. The only road advice I have is to pay attention coming into San Quitin and El Rosario for the local cop waiting for anyone speeding, now if you want to call that a "Speed trap" so be it, but I think it is just a "Presence" that they are attempting to show, not a speed trap, so the speeds in these areas are lower, they will allow 40 MPH in these areas. Just pay attention.
We all met up at the back of the first TOLL gate and we were on our way to Estero Beach, Dennis' place. We arrived after 1 AM, Dennis woke up to get us all set up.
Here's an interesting side note: I asked that everyone use CB radios so we could stay in contact with each other. Well, it turned out that not everyone had a CB, so we had some different combinations going on here, CBs, VHF Marine, and FM Walkie-talkies. For course in my rig we had ALL of these radios, so I had whoever was riding shot-gun had to run the communications, it was really something to see, the lead vehicle (Running on one of the FM radios) would report what was coming up ahead, then this would be relayed to everyone else, and since the lead vehicle wasn't getting a response fast enough, they would be saying things like, "Did you get that?" before the message was relayed and then the "Communications person" would get confused which radio was what. It is was very enjoyable watching the chaos. Thanks to Brandon and Shauna for putting up with that. Next time, I will require everyone to have a CB so there won't be this kind of mess. Come-on, they're cheap and I will help setting it up for those who don't know how.
Diving was at Arbolitos Cove, Hell, that was an adventure just getting there, I don't think we made the trip THAT fast ever!
Right ON, Sergio & Dennis for the wild ride. But something just wasn't right... I've never been off roading at about 30-50 mph with Leather seats and the A/C on, just not quite the way I've ever imagined it, somehow. I'm not complaining here!
Abolitos Cove was it's normal very COLD water with decent VIZ (15 or so) and everyone seemed to get decent bottom time and enjoy the whole experience. Dennis kept calling the place "Rich's Dive spot". Those who have been there before know how nice it is to be "Away from it all there". The reason we did a beach dive was because the tides were against us and we couldn't launch the boats and make our plan for getting to BOLA, which was more important. When we returned from Diving, Todd, Christy & John had arrived, it was "A good day" at that point, now everyone was here!!

That evening, we all went to La Cueva de Los Tigres (The Cave of the Tigers), Dennis' favorite restaurant for fresh Abalone, which everyone seemed to enjoy.
Abalone prices were good also ($30 or so compared to over $80 here in the states), along with the fact that WE were the ONLY people in this "Beach front" place made this a very nice place indeed. And throw in a Dennis story or two, NOW you're talking... This place is located just on the way out of Ensenada, there is a little sign for it between Ensenada and Estero Beach (Near the big Corona sign), look for it on the Ocean side of the main road. Here is some info to get there and phone number:
Ave Las Palmas at the beach Playa Hermosa 1 mile south of Ensenada
Tel: (011-52-61)76-6450
Here's a group shot of everyone who went including Dennis' friend Bob on Dennis' left.

Christy's Picture

This is our plug for this restaurant, it is well worth the visit, so make an effort to stop in when down there, tell them Dennis sent you. It is also one of those few places that will take your Visa/MasterCard, so you can save your cash.
During dinner, we decided that we would leave for BOLA a day early, again, because we couldn't launch the boats.

Then some of the group ran off for a "Night on the town" in Ensenada while

Christy's Picture

myself and 5 others were tired from a good day of diving, so we went back to Estero Beach to crash. Good thing too, the others did not get back to Estero Beach until 4:30 AM!! And WE wanted to leave for BOLA at 7:30AM?? Guess again... Dennis had more good stories and I bet Sergio had more than he was letting on to us.
Here's Dennis doing his "Stripper" impersonation, and there's Christy telling him "No-no, don't do it", notice the dollar bill she's holding... So was Ensenada fun? Damn, I missed it... According to Dennis, he said, "I really had the 'Pole thing' going didn't I?".
(Hey Dennis, I could have put some of the other shots here...)
Next day it was off to BOLA, a LATE start, 11 AM. We got to the turn off to BOLA at about 8:30 PM or so, seems we got stuck at a restaurant in San Quitin longer than we expected, Taco Stands ONLY next time!! Sergio made the drive with only 1 hour of sleep, but that's part of his story.
Here's a funny follow-up to the "Partiers" from Ensenada: At the Maneadero check point the officiers asked several people about "Papas" and all those asked thought it was for "Papers/Visas" which it was not what the offical was looking for, instead he was commenting on the stamp on their arms for "Papas & Beer" and he was asking if they had a good time. Well, I thought that was funny anyway.
Gas was readily available up to El Rosario, then Catavina was out, but BOLA had plenty at the Diaz' place, a bit more money though ($2.60 or so per GAL, 120 Pesos for 5 gals).
We arrived at Larry & Raquel's in BOLA after negotiation the few "Mine Fields" at about KM53 at around 11 PM. Larry & Raquel weren't expecting us early, they did a terrific

- Funny Picture -

job dealing with us tired travelers at the last minute, and that COLD Pacifico really tasted good after the drive. Their place is next to Dagget's not far from the Turtle Rescue center. The funny story here was when we got to the turn off for BOLA, it seemed Christy really had to make a pit stop. But all there is in this area were the Baja bushes, but she really had to go. Well, they radioed to us that she was "Running off to do her thing, please turn off the headlights..." You can just imagine how we handled that request, "HIGH BEAMS" all the way!! We did leave her alone after she told us who was "Numero Uno!!". Now that was funny!!! What a bunch of animals we are... Oh, I did ask Shauna if she was OK, from her response, there was no way she was going to use the Baja bushes.
The next day we launched boats at or near high tide, funny thing happened at this point, Tim B saw a school (Right word?) of squid, not those little guys, but giant squid, knee deep in the water!!! This made for easy catchings if you kept your hands away from those beaks! Calamari! Yummmmm, Raquel did a great job for us on that. Tim caught 2 that day and then I caught one the next day, each between 10-15 lbs!! Then it was time to Dive!
Our first Dive in BOLA was out at nearby La Ventana Island right over by the "Window" edge of the Island. VIZ was fair at about 15 feet, but the Sea Lions and different creatures made this a good dive as well. Then it was back to tank filling, I knew at this point we were going to do that a lot, Larry has dive compressors as well, he charges $6 a fill, but he's the ONLY air in town and if you don't have your own compressor or need him to pick up a few fills, then you don't have much choice. Doc Abrahams has a smaller compressor at Gecko's campground (Other side of Bay of LA), but he can only go to 2300, we had some high pressure tanks that needed 3500, so WE had the best game in town while we were there. Then it was dinner time and some cervas with Larry & Raquel AND more tank filling.
Before we went diving, we decided to head to South end of the bay looking for Senor Big, whale sharks! But since we really did not know what was involved, we didn't see any, instead we had to settle for a Fin Whale breaching many times, bummer!
Then we went to Isla Coronado (Smith Island) to do 2 dives, one on the North side and the other on the South side. VIZ on both dives was in the 15' range, but the water temp was nice (70's) and the picture taking was very good. The 2nd dive had a strong surface current, which made it a dive well planned to come up in front of the boats and then drift back to them. I was able to do both dives on 1 tank (Steel 95, overfilled), that's over 120 minutes on 1 tank, I was proud of myself, I was right up there with Shauna, for a change!
This is a shot of some of us at the 2nd dive spot at Smith Island.

Konrad's Picture

Then it was back to filling tanks again, a real chore. On this evening, we decided we would hit town for dinner, Guillermos for fresh fish, Magy's, and Joke & story telling. While we were there, one of the locals noticed that my Suburban was leaking oil, so I went to investigate the problem, amazing how that sobers you up, they were right! The oil coolant line had come loose at the radiator and I lost 4 quarts of oil, my off-roading days were over, bummer! I actually found the same Panga driver when I was there last time, Jose, even though he did not speak any English, I asked one of those with us to tell him the Duck story, THEN Jose remembered when I was there last time, so to say the least, my Burb was fixed on the spot, for only the 4 quarts of oil, I tipped him later, good man! Then it was back to Larry & Raquel's to relax, Dennis had just flown in and I was betting the stories were getting good, without me!! We finished tank filling aroung 11:30PM, hit the sack for some sleep, next day is going to be another long one.
Quick note here: For some reason I became the OFFICAL Baja Wake Up Caller, something everyone gave me a hard time about, HEY, I didn't ask for that one, I just wanted to go diving and WE had work to do (Remember the Baja Experience I told you about?), this wasn't Club Med!!
Here's a good example of our 'Assembly lines' moving tanks at low tide.

Konrad's Picture

The next day, I decided that I would rest my sinuses and not dive during the day and save my nose problems for the night dive instead. But the others went out to Horsehead Island and returned later so we could go night diving. Myself, I went to the Turtle Rescue Center. It's a real interesting place, there wasn't a sole there and I left my $20 donation. If you go there, please leave them something, you can REALLY tell they can use your donations and it is a worth while cause. They have 3 tanks with different types of Sea Turtles in each one. I had my camera with me, but I didn't shoot a single shot of it, for some reason, after reading the stories and seeing the small place, I felt it wasn't right for myself to take pictures, don't know why, just the feeling of the place. They had 4 Logger Head Turtles, 4-6 Green Turtles and a few others, really neat seeing them, you can actually lean over and touch them as they swim by, but don't touch their heads, unless you don't mind loosing a finger or two. Larry told me how to get there from his place, it's easy, look for the 4-5 inch PVC pipes running over the sand, that's how they get the water up to the turtles. It's a neat place. I told the others about the center and WE all went there again, the next day.
Then we did our planned Night Dive, yes we knew where those BIG bugs were but we really needed more gas to go out that far (At least a 50 mile round trip). We thought the better of it, since the area is unfamiliar to us, we decided it was fine to dive back at La Ventana, maybe next time, we will plan a bit better and head way out to the BUGs.
Here's a shot of Sergio, Tim T, & Harvey aboard Dennis' boat.
(Notice the MASK RING on Sergio's face, hehehehe...)

Konrad's Picture

As Sergio put it, night diving is SO relaxing, it was very easy to get 70-80 minutes of bottom time, the only problem with that kind of bottom time is that you can out last your dive lights, ask Brandon, he did it. We dove where it is a big wall of loose rocks, the sea life was really different to what we have been seeing and have seen around our local waters. I thought it was really an incredible dive, but alas, those who really wanted something to take back (Fish/bugs) were disappointed, sorry about that. I will plan the night better next time, but it will be a longer trip. Then we went back to just crash out. Funny note here: On this evening the GAME 4 of the NBA finals (Laker/Pacers, the one that went OT) was on, so we were getting radio updates while we were out there, so you see, we weren't completely cut off from everything, Hell, Larry even has his Satellite TV set up, so a bunch from Dagget's next door were over there watching/cheering the game, along with those from our group who wanted to watch rather than dive.
The next day, it was back to South Bay looking for Senor Big, Whale Sharks. This time we actually, shut off the motor and waited, but only for about 1/2 hour, again, all we saw was the breaching Fin Whale, bummer...
Then in the afternoon we decided to hit the farthest most Island, Piojo. It was a rough crossing going out there, but once we arrived, it turned out, we saved the BEST dive for the last one. The VIZ was 35+ feet and an incredible amount of Sea Life there. Sergio was also "Cleaning up" on his game collecting, and he was offering fresh Scallops (Underwater) to each of those interested, it was real funny seeing Brandon's reaction to eating Scallops u/w, but they were tasty. I must admit, it was my first time eating u/w. Well, we cut this dive a bit short (Only 70 minutes of bottom time, came back with about 1/2 a tank) because we had to get the boats OUT of the water during a semi high tide because we decided to leave early also. Now when WE decided things like this it WAS always a group decision and since it was safer staying with the group, everyone agreed, so communication was the key with a group this size and it worked very well indeed. Again, even at this point, there's a funny story even here, while I was moving my boat around I happened to be parked in a way where those going from Larry's & Raquel's to Dagget's couldn't get by very easily. In fact a guy in his late 90's long wheel based 4 door Chevy truck attempted to go by in the softer sand, and guess what? Yep, he got stuck. So the guys from Dagget's brought over their 1972 Ford pick up truck with a chain to pull 'em out. Now of course, Dennis (BIG Ford fan) ain't gonna let this go by unnoticed, he came running up from the other side of Larry/Raquel's saying, "WAIT, WAIT..." Of course everyone thought something serious was going on [I should have know better (Chevy fan I am)], he then said, "Wait, I need my video camera, a '72 Ford pullin' out a New Chevy..." Yep, he was right, but make such noise about it? You need to know Dennis to understand. By the way Dennis, how is your head after the night in Ensenada? Hmmmm??? But again, that's another story I just know someone else will cover.
That night, we went back to Guillermos, we heard they had Monster bugs for dinner at $16-$17 each, seemed like a real good deal. But after they showed us the tails (And we all got excited), it turned out each person got 1/2 of the tail (Cut long ways), but it was plenty for all of us, and of course, throw in a whole bunch of Margarita pitchers, some more great stories from everyone, and some more jokes like the other evening there, NOW we have a real fun, happening evening with good people and good times. The REAL funny part of this story was when Dennis was telling a rather derogatory joke and Shauna just happened to turn and appear to listen to what he was saying, but instead of laughing she got a real strange look on her face. This made Dennis & myself really shocked because everyone else were laughing. I made the comment to Dennis, "Did you SEE that look from her.." to which Dennis agreed and said, "I'm in BIG trouble now...", then Shauna turned back towards Dennis again with a "What's going ON look". So I asked Shauna IF she heard what Dennis had said, to which she said "What?". So Dennis was "Off the hook", so to speak. To get the full impact of this, you need to know both Shauna & Dennis, it was killingly funny. And you can't say I didn't warn the 2 women going with us, I mean, think about it, what 2 women in their right mind would go on vacation with 12 guys, who are overdue for a good time with excesses of testosterone (OBnosterone more like it) everywhere? I guess that meant Shauna & Christy, remember I warned them!!!
The next morning, again, I woke everyone up. Todd made a very funny observation about WHY I never told him the sunrises were so spectacular here... Well...?? He kept complaining about the times I was waking everyone up, so...??? But the reality is that the sunrise IS incredible here, coming up over the water and the Islands.
Here's a great sunrise shot, so, are they incredible or what?

Konrad's Picture

Here's another shot shorty after sunrise.

Christy's Picture

After some delay, I started heading towards Catavina, where we all decided that we would get back together, which we all did. I will mention that Brandon & Christy decided to fly back with Dennis on Saturday, so they stayed behind and spent a day out Kayaking with the Sea Lions and Dolphins, what, not drive back with us??? What was wrong with them? But that is part of their story.
Here's a picture of Dennis' airplane with Dennis, Christy & Brandon.

Christy's Picture

And here's Christy ready to be co-pilot (Shouldn't the door be closed and the prop be turning?)

Christy's Picture

We stopped in El Rosario for food and gas before making the run for border, which was still a long ways off. Thanks to Shauna again for managing all the radios, she said her finger was sore from all the radio buttons.

Sergio got hassled somewhat at the check point just South of Maneadero. Part of me wonders IF it was because he spoke fluent Spanish to the officials, while in my case, acting like "Stupid Gringo" got me through these check points without any searches what so ever. We crossed the border back into the states around 10 PM, at 10:20 PM we were at IN & OUT Burger having the Great American meal. Again, there IS even a funny story here, I was making the comment to Sergio that our table in IN & OUT needed to be wiped down, he said, "Hey, Rich, you are complaining about this NOW? After being in Baja for a WEEK!", it was rather funny, you had to be there.
I have asked all the others to give me their stories/thoughts of the trip and I will add them here to this page.

Konrad's Picture

While in Bahia de los Angeles I was able to get a Hell of a lot of correct information on the deaths of the researchers from UC Davis in the Bay of LA that occurred a month or so before our arrival.
I asked Larry how he knew so much about this terrible accident, it was simple, they were all staying at Larry & Raquel's, small world. He told me (And showed me) the type of boat they went out on, turns out they weren't on a 22' Zodiac like the newspapers said, yes, there was a 22' Zodiac, in fact, that was the boat that made it back safely. The boat that overturned was a short panga style boat, according to Larry, it was 1/2 the size of the boat pictured above, (Between 10-14 feet) with an extremely low draft and tiller steering. According to Larry, he said YES they had 11 people in this small boat, but without a radio. He also said they did not go out to Isla Angel de la Guardia, but to one of the nearby islands less than 8 miles from shore [I can't remember the name but it was towards Horsehead]. Larry's main opinion was that the foriegn scientists were "Pushing" the UC Davis people to do things and go places which they knew weren't safe, knowing the conditions and how they change. The way his story went was like this: "...the lead researcher from UC Davis asked the person driving [Steering the small boat] to slow down because of the wind waves (3-5 feet). But instead of slowing down he stopped the boat and the boat wake hit from the rear while a wind wave hit the front, then the boat went over..." That was how Larry put it and to me it is almost first hand information.
What I find is amazing is a few things:
1) How people "In the know" can too easily be pushed into a bad situation,
2) How twisted the facts become so quickly from remote areas like this, and
3) Why didn't the Coast Guard land the C130 at LA Bay (5700 foot paved runway), everyone says C130's have landed before there, the common thinking is that it was the difference between the US Coast Guard and the Air Force or Navy.
Again, this is a very unfortunate accident that happened, but I get the feeling that human error had a lot to do with the results.
I want to thank the following people/organizations for their help on this deep Baja trip: The Dave & Manny @ Sea Stallion Scuba Outfitters in Lake Forest for the compressor rental. And another big Thanks to those at Amigos de Baja's General Discussion group for all the info we needed and the latest conditions. I am going to try to become a regular on their discussion groups, if they will allow me. And I can't forget to thank Pam for getting us all set up at her parents place (Larry & Raquel's), I hope no-one got "Out of hand" too badly while we were there, especially for dealing with us a day eariler than originally planned [See link at top for email info].
And I enjoyed every person on board with us, it was a NO problems trip and every person who attended helped with everything, from moving gear around, running the air compressor, running the boats, driving vehicles. There is just too many people to thank, especially Dennis, without him Estero Beach wouldn't have happened and none of the group could have gone out and experienced Ensenada Dennis' way, maybe next time we can get them back a bit earlier, right Sergio? Dennis? Hey, I didn't even mention without Dennis, we wouldn't have known about Larry & Raquel's, a REAL big thanks for that!!
One of my most memorable parts of the whole trip came down to something Shauna said when she nailed Todd about his pink tank protector and tank boot, but Hell, that's still another story.... Right Shauna?
So what about the next trip down there? Take a look at the Dive Trips page, I'm already thinking about another one, Wanna go make some more memories??

If YOU would like more info & want to go with us, respond via Email to info@southcoastdivers.com.
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