Totally unrelated to board design but I thought I’d go ahead and ask anyway…
I was thinking of taking a trip to Mexico next year and (here’s the complicated part) taking my wife and two year old boy. I’m hoping to find a place with a cool town (restaurants, culture?), good hotel (not the Ritz but not a campground either) and good, nearby surf. Anyone have a suggestion or two?
Jeff
puerto escondido…bring extra boards…you’re bound to snap a few.
What part of Mexico did you want to go? Mainland mex, Baja? What time of year?
If you’re flying from the west coast, Cabo is a good bet for surf and a sure bet for a family trip. Direct out of LA on Aero California is cheap & easy. No problem to find boards there, since your hands will be full with child seats, diaper bags, books & toys, etc. I’ve been there, brother.
Never been to mainland Mexico. Probably lots of similar set-ups there, too.
Chadapotamus - I’m pretty much completely flexible on what part of Mexico and when to go there. I’d be going there from the east coast (Florida) so I don’t think it would make much difference in terms of getting to either Mainland or Baja.
Jeff
Depends on where you can get cheap airfare. Cabo is always nice but can be crowded. What are your surfing abilities? Puerto Escondido can be a little too much. Puerto Vallarta and drive north. Truncones.
Troncones is nice. Fly into Zihuatanejo and drive 30 minutes north. The wife and I have been before with our 18 month old and had a great time.
Zihuat is a bustling OLD Mexican city (evidence of human inhabitance for some 5000 years) with tons of restaraunts, shopping, a beautful harbor, etc. Minutes away is the tourist “town” of Ixtapa. Complete with high-rise hotels, nice beaches and the like…
Troncones is more of a sleepy little villiage. Beautiful beaches, quaint restaraunts and decent waves. I’d say do some research on that area.
Good luck.
kirk
what time of year do you expect to go?
I’d recommend Los Cabos…maybe San Jose instead of Cabo San Lucas. I’ve been to Cabo twice, once in college with some buddies and this past May for my honeymoon. Cabo San Lucas is great for partying like that E! Wild On show, but you might want something a little different with the wife and kid. On the outskirts of San Jose is Costa Azul surfshop. They’ll rent you longboards, shortboards, funboards, and throw in racks for your rental car (if you get one) or a beach chair and umbrella. The boards are the nicest rental boards I’ve ever come across, too…custom shapes, not popouts. The best part is that Zippers, the Rock, and Old Man’s are just across the street. The Cabo Surf Hotel is right in front of Old Man’s. If you did decide to stay in Cabo, you can take the bus (very safe) for less than 2 bucks each way to and from the breaks.
We also took a day trip up to Todos Santos. It’s a really cool little town of expatriated American, Canadian, and Italian surfers, artists, and organic farmers. I didn’t surf there, but you definitely can. If you go there, check out Tequila Sunrise (accross the street from Hotel California…seriously) and have their Chile Rellenos and a Damiana Margarita (I got the bartender to give me the recipe. It’s the best margarita I’ve ever had.).
Anyway, lots of possibilities in very close proximity to one another. Man, you got me wanting to go back, now. If only I lived in S. Califorinia instead of S. Carolina…
I’d second the Zihuatanejo trip… about 3 years ago I spent two weeks exploring that area…nice waves up past Troncones,mostly long lefts The Ranch and the “Secret spot” were the hot spot then…but lots of good surf… good times …have fun
Howzit Shipman, That’s a great surf area, did it in 98’ staying at Playa Khandahar since the owners then were good friends. We had the whole place to our selves, surfed Trancones(right spelling), took a boat to the ranch since there was no other entrance at that time. Surfed the secret spot at least 10 times with nobody out except for one day when a Mexican surf club showed up, but there were no hassles just fun surfing with them. There’s now cabanas you can rent now on the beach. Should we tell him which town to turn off at to get there,I’m not sure just how secret it is now. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Kokua. I’ve heard that there is now a PAVED ROAD to the ranch. Funny how things change, eh? Apparently, there’s another “ranch like” setup farther up the coast that’s still only accessible by boat. Is that the ‘secret spot’ you mentioned??
Good memory story: some buddies and I commisioned a boat out of Majagua (the tiny little villiage north of Troncones) and went to the Ranch where we scored good, empty waves for a few hours before the winds came up. One of our guys stayed in the boat and spent the morning trolling for anything that would hit a top water lure. When the boat picked us up, he greeted us with numerous fish. We took them back to Majagua and immediately found ourselves at the closest restaraunt where the cook cleaned 'em and proceeded to make the most delicious feast of fried fish and fresh ceviche you could imagine! Complete with all the Sol’s we could drink! Gotta love Mex.
kirk
Kokua. I heard about the cabanas. I stayed at Playa Khandahar for 5 days. a 16 y/o kid named Francisco was running the place then… had it pretty much to ourself until a van load unfriendly dudes from Torrance showed up…I had a car so I could drive to the ranch and the secret spot… poor car… In 1999-00 I drove from San Diego all the way to Rio Nexpa and back. took 2 months.
Howzit kirk, We scored at the Ranch big time and my friends upset because all the good sets came right to me and I was not feeling well that day. The secret spot is not past the Ranch, it's north of Trancones by a few miles, but finding the turn off is the trick. We took our boat out of the same town.Aloha,Kokua
Kokua. actually the the “secret spot” is north of the Ranch and the Ranch(reef break) is north of Saladita which is the first good surf spot north of Trancones and north up and around the point from Playa Khandahar. Saladita is the long left point break where the new cabanas are. Saladita is like Malibu but go’s left. the secret spot can be had by truck but a boat from Saladita would be better. it’s all good whatever the name .I am so stoked thinking about this and how much fun I had down there that I just might hop on a airplane and get some… the five days I was at Playa Khandahar my food+beer tab was something like $150. for two people … Sweet!
Howzit Shipman, Saladita is the secret left point that they refer to. It's one of Pat Tobin's favorite spots and we surfed it with him a couple of times. Pat spent some time on Kauai back in the early 70's so he was glad to see us.You must have a different secret spot that we don't know about. Aloha,Kokua
Shipman - Out of curiosity, what is the airport that you fly into for this area? Getting married in Costa Rica in April, thinking of stopping off somewhere in Mex on the way home for Honeymoon Part II…
As Parise said, “Ha! What a scam!”
-Matt.
Matt. Congratulations… Zihuatenejo is where the aero puerto is… also called Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa international airport.
Kokua… Saladita aint no secret spot…it might have been 20 years ago…it’s the main reason why people go to the Zihuatanejo area to surf…last time I was down there the rumor was that the Long Beach Surf Club had or was going to purchase the point for development of surf camps and whatnot… I am glad I got to experience the place before they F***ed it up…
Ahh yeah, Ixtapa. So do you think the area is gonna be just choked with Southern Californians?
On the topic of mainland Mex spots - anybody stayed at Costa Azul? I think it’s near Puerto Vallarta… supposedly has some good surf spots, certainly nice looking place on the website…
Howzit Shipman, I guess all secret spots become not a secret after a while, but Surfers Journal Vol 7 # 4 still called Saladita the secret point in their story about " In search of the Secret Point ". All you have to do is look at the picture and it’s Saladita and like I said we surfed it with Pat Tobin who considered it one of his secret stash waves. When we were there they tried to sell us a lot on the point. There were some Germans who were trying to buy it all but the locals weren’t going for it and since the community has a say so in the sale it didn’t happen. You’ve got to admit if you don’t know where to turn off at it’s not the easiest place to find or at least not when we were there in 98’, great spot to perfect your round house cut backs. A couple of friends were there 2 years ago and the place was swarming with Killer Bees, they tried to start a hive right in my friends cabana and the next day the whole bunch swarmed out over the break and everybody dove under water and hid under their boards til is was over. Aloha,Kokua