Amazingly, I find myself with an unexpected trip to Cabo San Lucas. I have 10 days of commitments then around a month of surf time by myself to do with as i will.
I’m arriving round 20 april. Can anyone advise me of some cheap safe options with relatively uncrowded good waves that I can access without too much expense. I’m thinking of travel without hiring a car.
I’ve done a bit of travel in Indo over the last 12 years but thats all my travelling experience. Any Mex advice or tips will be gratefully accepted.
Howzit Lazarus, Where will you be staying while there. I used to go there a lot back when it was still safe to drive down but it’s been years now and things are always changing down there. Best bet if no car is to meet as many gringos who surf as possible and try to catch rides to where ever they are headed.Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Todd, Cabo is on the tip of Baja and you were on mainland Mexico. 2 different countries in some ways but I have traveled them both and love them both.Aloha,Kokua
Cabo is good geography, touph to keep it cheap, its a glitsy zone, wheels mandatory but there are mucho young short term trippers ripping up the highways in rental vans and bugs, a surf rider from Oz will get plenty of rides. The Pacific side is called Todos Santos, wind bomb in the spring during your stay. Cape San Lucas is a nice lands end location but center of the glitz, very expensive, nice to cruise the hotel pools and patios for an afternoon and evening. San Jose del Cabo is sistership to San Lucas. Up the gulf from San Jose is called East Cape, desert beautiful and hot, bring shade. Standard good surf is in the Cape region looking south, strong swells run up into east cape area, spring is not the best south swell time but it can happen. Start learning about mainland, it’ll give you the best surf in your time period but there is travel involved so make a plan so you don’t waste surf time, wheels not mandatory on mainland, busses get used commonly by surfers. Many Mex. travelers get hung up with airline tickets requiring a departure from where you’re not, watch out. Guadalajara is a good reference point for mainland airline travel unless you want to get to the real bone crushing neck breakers at Puerto Escondido, much further south, which uses a different airline city.
QUE PASA…i lived in northern baja for a while…military check points exsist…no worries…things do get stolen so be smart have someone watch your stuff if your in the water or be able to see it from the water…mexico is a poor country…and there are banditos…traveling without a car, never done it, a lot of surf spots are remote and 4x4’s are nice to have, i would take the suggestion of meeting other surfers with CARS…scorpion bay is north of you…google scorpion bay and check it out…that part of baja does well with southern hemis…picks-up big norths too…theres alot of kidnapping right now…but a surfer with out a car…well i think there are better pickins…bien olas por tu mi amigo…ps i also agree that the swellwindow is not going to be the best but as GTFD said it can happen.
Cabo Pulmo (diving snorkeling) is just north of the area called the East Cape. Only south swells make it in. All rights. I would want a car. Very infrequent traffic makes hitching a tough proposition. When the swell gets in, it is fabuloso. Clean clear warm water. Many happy memories for me. Roads are awful. I don’t think you can camp there anymore. Sadly. Most of the good spots can be seen from the road. Bring water. And shade. You are about 1.5 hours from the Los Cabos area. I would spend as little time as possible there. Hadn’t thought about this before, but you might consider boating it from Cabo Pulmo or the fishing village just to the south. I think “wannasurf” website has already exposed this area. Check it out.
As for local crime, I don’t think the Mexican people there even know there is a drug war going on. The crime and safety issues are mostly at the borders and the cities.
i was in a very remote area of baja far from any major city…in the middle of nowhere…watching some lobster fisherman come to shore …we conversed in spanish…the topic quickly turned to DRUGS AND IF I NEEDE ANY…i was camping in another remote spot and around midnite the policia came down to check on me …basaically to see if i was waiting for a smugalling boat …baja is infested with methamphatimne SUPER LABS…and remote costal areas are used for clandestine smuggaling operations…the mexican people do know there is a drug war going on…the people are poor and you better have some street smarts if yout dont want to get ripped off…unless of course you spend all your time in some posh 5 star resort associating with other tourists…
If you don’t yet have a place to stay in Cabo Pulmo check out “http://www.bajabungalows.com/index.html” The owner (Kent Ryan) is a friend of mine and a surfer. He makes surf runs to the East Cape when ever there is surf. He will make sure you have a great time.
Howzit Todd, By any chance was the girls name Marla Steffens. She is an old friend who has lived in all parts of Mexico down through the years and I know she spent quite a few years in the Tracones area staying with a friend who had a house on the beach there. Aloha,Kokua
If you rent a car in Cabo they will ask where your are going/staying. This really means “are you going to take our car out on the east cape roads and beat the fuck out of it?” So don’t say east cape- because they will then give you their biggest piece of junk car. Keep in mind that the car rental will be cheap- like $10 a day. However the insurance will be like $40 a day. On Mainland there are plenty of buses but really only in town buses in Cabo.
Having traveled Indo I think you’ll more enjoy the waves on mainland which have a lot more juice and are generally more hollow. A good option is to fly into Puerta Vallarta. If there is a big swell coming head about 3hrs north to San Blas- kinda a Mexican Kirra (I said “Mexican” Kirra) but its still a pretty good rt point with hollow sections. If it is going to be small head about 3hrs south to Pasquales which is a really juicy beach break and usually well overhead on a small swell. Onshore winds are alot worse in Cabo in April than they are in the Mainland. I wouldn’t waste your time with scorpion bay unless the swell of the decade is coming- its a fickle pickle.
Im sure Cabo and surround areas are probably pretty safe. I would plan on staying somewhere as opposed to camping though unless you’re around a bunch of other campers. There are plenty of places to stay at in Cabo but not necessarily cheap… but Pasquales has cheap accommodation.
Oh yeah…In Cabo check the beach break out at the El Presidente hotel. Walk the trail around the east end of the hotel along the estuary. Can be really thumpy and fun. Have fun!!
Howzit flatlands,VW’s used to rent for $30 a day ( VW vans $70) and can’t remember what insuance was but you want to make sure you have it because if you don’t and you have an accident the policia will take you straight to jail and let you sit it out. Down there you are guilty until proven innocent. Don’t have a clue what the East Cape road is like now but can say it was one of the nastiest washboard roads I have ever been on. There is an alternate way in that takes you to what was Tres Palmas but the turn off was past the San Jose airport and it was esy to get lost if you didn’t know which turns to take but it was a flat road right up where it came in at the East Cape about 100 yds north of Tres Palmas.Aloha.Kokua
Bing, I haven’t been in that area for about 5 years (OK, Irsmaui, time has obviously glossed over my recollections, ha) but that place could be a good alternative to being able to surf the E Cape without day triping out of Los Cabos area ( a brutal trip). Thanks for the tip.
