Stuff To Do Around The East Cape

 Some folks have the idea that there's nothing to do out here but fish and kite. In fact a buddy in San Jose del Cabo calls our area "Los BORE-ilas." Hardly.  Maybe a little slower paced but there's plenty to do.

How about I start with the obvious:  Fishing!!! Of course there's fishing. World class it is. You can charter a boat from several different hotels and private operators. Here's a list that I compiled in a few minutes with Google. It's pretty good and I've undoubtedly left folks off.

Agave Hotel
Baja Marlin
Hotel Buena Vista
East Cape Resorts
East Cape RV
Los Pescadores
Martin Verdugo’s
The Reel Baja

Several restaurants around town will cook your fish for you. (Googly, Googly Batman, I'm not going to do ALL the work for you.) You can also get your fish smoked over at Smokey's Cantina.

I'll tell you where the good hot springs are, where to dig a hot tub on the beach, where to kite, where to ride horses, where to rent quads, where to ride bikes, where to find the waterfalls and where to rock and roll. Just don't hold your breath; I'm a slow poster.....

Storm Season

It's that time of year again.  There's a tropical storm below us that looks pretty harmless at this point. Check out progress at Wunderground among other sites.

However, now is the time to start thinking about storm shutters and preparing for hurricanes.  If you don't use storm shutters (many don't here in Baja) and you don't have a generator (see last parenthesis) at least do the basic things that will help make a storm a little more bearable.  I've been through several and never had wind damage that amounted to anything until JOHN.  Nasty storm. Took out 6 sliders and a couple of windows.

Bad things that can happen sometimes as the result of a hurricane:
1. We lose power
2. A bridge or critical arroyo gets washed out
3. A water main breaks
4. Stuff breaks including windows (think about water damage)
5. The gas stations run out of gas
6. The food stations run out of food
7. It gets hotter and more humid afterward than is bearable
Etc etc

On the bright side of this is that in the last few years, Baja California Sur has made big improvements to the infrastructure.  We have bridges over all the major arroyos.  We have many more gas stations than just a few years ago. The power company is taking a more active role in storm preparation.  We have many more grocery stores. More hardware, more everything. More cows on the highway. I just threw that last one in there for free. So recovery from a storm these days is in many ways, easier to handle.

But you could be stuck at your house with no gas, no electricity, no food, no flashlights or candles or A/C and so on. Picture this if you will:  It's 8pm.  There's no power. You have no lights, no refrigerator, no TV, NO A/C!  Waddya gonna do? It's WAY too hot to snuggle. You can't play cards in the dark. So picture clearly all these things and decide the level of protection you need and then the level you want and make some decisions.

Or buy airline tickets at the first sign of trouble.
Where's the fun in that you COWARDS!

Have some stuff ahead of time:
Gasoline:  Nothing worse than not being able to drive around after a storm and look at broken stuff. I think we won't run out of gas so quickly any more since the proliferation of gas stations in the area.  We even have 2 in Los Barriles now!   But remember: just because you're paranoid doesn't mean we WON'T run out of gas.
Food:  Same deal. We have enough stores around that if you have a car (and gas) you might be ok.
Propane:  If you're using a gas stove or gas water heater, check your gas NOW.
Electricity:  Small generators are getting cheaper and cheaper. A generator that costs under $1000 can even run an small A/C unit if you're careful.
Kayaks:  Several years ago, a bunch of enthusiastic Buena Vista/Los Barriles fellas lead by Steve Chism took their kayaks down one of the raging arroyos. Sounds like fun.......kinda........in a self-destructive suicidal way.  Forget the kayaks.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list but if you go to the National Hurricane Center site, they have a BUNCH of good stuff for you.

Get ready or not. Here they come.

After The Rain

The storm didn't amount to much but we got a lot of well-needed rain in absorbable doses. (is "absorbable" a word? IS NOW.) We'll be green here for several months and the transition to dryness is very gradual. Sometimes we get some rain in January or February that will prolong the change to dryness.

The top photo was taken yesterday. I'm standing next to the highway above Hotel Rancho Buena Vista; Los Barriles is in the distance.

The bottom photo was taken in the spring of about 1971 from the beach just a short walk from Hotel Rancho Buena Vista and looking towards Los Barriles.

East Cape Bisbee Tournament is in the books

Well the fish are all caught, there's nothin' left but the shoutin'. My neighbor's boat had the second biggest Blue Marlin which was caught the second day. Since no marlin were caught the first day, his boat took 2 days worth of prize money worth over 100,000. Gary Graham has a nice write-up at his blog "Baja Fly."

This tournament is held every year about the last week in July at the Hotel Buena Vista which is about 100 yards from my house. If you're near the East Cape during this time, it's well worth coming down around 3 to 4 pm to watch the boats come in.

My wife Donna and I are going to the awards banquet tonight. It's always a nice affair with good food, great ambiance and a few yucks.

I had a chance to visit with Bob Bisbee for a while and I'm not sure you can find many more people with as much blue-water fishing experience. That's not to mention his dedication and time spent organizing the various bill fish tournaments that are held around the world. Nice man too.

The next one up is the Bisbee's Black and Blue that is held every fall in Cabo San Lucas.