Author: That Baja Guy-Gary Graham

Que Pasa Dolphin Incident Incredible Dolphin Rescue in La Paz! “Congratulations ROC, Jose Luis and everyone who helped save the dolphins (dolphin rescues) today Near Pichilingue! On St. John’s beach, close to Pichilingue, 54 short-beaked dolphins were found stranded. That was the information provided by PROFEPA through a call made to the network of citizen observers requesting support to rescue the specimen. Thus, our captain, José Luis Cesena, aboard the boat, “Dueno DEL Noche,” went to attend the request. https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/38-dolphins-rescued-on-la-paz-beach/ When they arrived, they found 21 dolphin already dead, so the primary objective was to rescue the 33 who were…

I met with Bobby Van Wormer patriarch of Van Wormer Resorts  decades ago to discuss the Van Wormer dynasty. There, once he began, he entertained me with story after story and I was fascinated with his account of the beginnings of Rancho Buena Vista. He began, “In 1957 the two-year-old Palmilla Hotel, located on the dirt road to San José del Cabo, was the only hotel at that time. Its sole competitor Rancho Buena Vista had been an old goat ranch called “Buena Vista,” fifty miles up into the Sea of Cortés near Los Barriles. Herb Tansey, the first owner…

Que Pasa Stargazing Night Sky Baja Star Finder, Low-tech planisphere for Baja (20- to-30 degrees latitude). We make much ado about our Dark Sky Communities in the U.S. and Europe, but Baja gives them both a run for their money. I love the Night Sky app on my iPhone, but it doesn’t work out of range of Wi-Fi or a cell tower. I used to travel with a round cardboard celestial map, long lost, like this one for Baja. https://tinyurl.com/ybduyqy5 Coronado Islands On the drop offs and boulder piles around North Island and up to Coronado Canyon, there are mostly…

Que Pasa https://youtu.be/MGBYVZx8nFI Sea Shepherd Conservation Society “We fight for life … for biodiversity … #ForTheOceans! Every single life matters. Because in the end, “If the Oceans Die, we die!” …Captain Paul Watson. Baja Norte Lower 9 Mile Bank Great cod fishing on the lower 9-Mile Bank. Lots of boats were done in 1.5 to 2 hours with limits of reds and coppers, but hardly any salmon grouper. Using strips of squid worked very well compared to using a whole live squid for bait…fishdope.com Coronado Islands The Islands got a good look again today. Dirty water in the flats, middle…

Que Pasa Unprompted Generosities: Being a guest on the Baja Divide Words by Emma Rehm, photos by Mike Q Roth Since I finished riding the Baja Divide — 1400 miles of dirt and sand from San Diego, CA to La Paz, Baja California Sur — I’ve been waiting for its lessons to reveal themselves to me. Some are obvious: Don’t be in a hurry. See what unfolds instead of dreading or hoping things will shake out in some particular way. Sand isn’t all that bad if somebody’s ridden on it before you get there. But the lessons I seek are…

Que Pasa Governor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid announced that the Carretera Transpeninsular particularly in central Baja California, will be maintained. MEXICALI – Governor Francisco Vega de Lamadrid announced Monday that after a meeting with Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Secretary of Communications and Transportation (SCT), the Carretera Transpeninsular will be maintained, particularly in central Baja California. “In that sense, we were informed that the federal agency will invest resources this year in the order of 92 million pesos, in addition to the 74 million pesos invested in 2017, with the aim of improving the conditions and safety of this important highway in…

H&m Landing,SAC‘s and U.S. Coast Guard’s, Whales’ Tale Couples, families with small children, and individuals all shared a common interest in an exciting whale watching adventure last week. Judging from the number of boats – sail to power, large to small – offering daily trips, locals and visitors alike find going a few miles offshore in search of the majestic giants to be an enchanting experience. According to local marine biologist and SAC scientific advisor Steve Crooke, more than 20,000 gray whales journey from Alaska’s Bering Sea south to several different lagoons and bays that dot the Pacific Baja coastline.…

When commercial fishermen from Agua Verde lost a cow-sized tuna at Isla Santa Catalan near Loreto in the Gulf of California and spotted others crashing at dusk on Jan. 5, they shared the knowledge – resulting in a valiant angling effort and a pending IGFA record. Robert Ross, an American off-road racer and resident of nearby Playa San Cosme, with sons-in-law, Jorge Lazo, Tijuana, and Jay Yadon, owner of Outpost Charters in Loreto, joined by deckhand Tony Winkler responded to the news. They set course on Jan. 6 in Ross’s 37 Boston Whaler Rampage for the often-fertile waters not far from the…

Que Pasa If you are reconsidering your travel plans to Mexico, you might want to check out this forum: https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/are-you-guys-reconsidering-your-travel-plans-to-mexico-with-new-advisory.675434/ Baja Norte Coronado Islands There were a few smallish 5- to 10-pound yellowtail found late yesterday on the flats above and inside the Islands, but we haven’t heard much from the area today. Most likely these were meter marked fish down in the lower half of the water column, as was the case when the yellows were on the flats above the border last weekend…fishdope.com Tijuana Bull Ring Although fishing has been slow, those who did fish discovered the key…

Merriam-Webster defines “bilge” as stale or worthless remarks or ideas. The world’s boaters know differently. The U.S. alone has 15 million recreational vessels; most equipped with automatic or manual bilge pumps intended to discharge water from inside a vessel directly into a waterway. Often, oil or fuel is accidentally discharged, causing spills contaminating the surrounding waterways and habitat. The spills demand daily responses by the U.S. Coast Guard, law enforcement and civil patrols. An untold loss of time and money is caused by these spills. Fines, clean-up costs and environmental damage are all harmful effects. It happens more or less…

Continued from last week’s Skipjack Boats History Part 1:”Skipjack – Taking it to the Limit” By the late ’70s the offices and the production facility had grown to more than 48,000-square feet to accommodate more boats at different stages of construction. Skipjack had grown to its peak during this period. Even with a workforce approaching 50, Skipjack was unable keep up with the demand. They rolled out several thousand boats to anxiously awaiting customers from the busy factory in Costa Mesa, but the team’s hard work failed to satisfy the demand. Beginning in 1977 and continuing through 1979, in order…

Many young WWII veterans returned home to Southern California during the mid-1940s to join others who had never left, competing for jobs that would allow them to make a living. All of them stepped onto an empty stage filled with many different props, depending on the path they chose. While the stage varied, the backdrop was connected to the world’s largest ocean. Fishermen, sailors and even surfers, either recreationally or professionally helped weave a fabric related to the Pacific that remains at the core of Southern California’s DNA today. For young Jack Cole, a native Californian, it began with a…

Que Pasa Jay Yadon, Outpost Charters, Loreto (loreto mexico fishing calendar), BCS along with Robert Ross found  huge  cow-sized yellowfin including this 319 pounder as the north winds swirled this week. Road Noise Driver beware: For the past year, the potholes on Mex One from Catavina to Guerrero Negro have become increasingly bad. Lots of damage reported on suspension, rims and tires…BE CAREFUL! “I drove the 216SM from El Rosario to Guerrero Negro on 12/3/17 … dually, G-rated tires, 110psi. I drove 25- to 30-mph and still experienced a bone-jarring, teeth-clenching drive.” “Horrendous. I’m going to take the ferry from…

Que Pasa Baja Norte Coronado Islands At the border and below, most anglers spent their time either slow-trolling Rapalas or X-Raps for the yellowtail that have not done the usual December disappearing act as sea temps continued to drop. Most YT that were caught were in the small- to medium-range not exceeding 15-pounds and mostly they were found in ‘no man’s land’ between the Bull Ring and South Island. Some did venture down to the Rockpile and were rewarded with lingcod, sheepshead and other bottom rockfish, while a few more creative anglers trolled all the way down catching mostly bonito…

http://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-special-features/article/underwater-photographer-week-leonardo-gonzalez For decades, the Sea of Cortez’s reefs and reef fisheries were declining at an alarming rate as fishermen using compressed air ravaged them. Then, 20 years ago, residents of a small fishing community took matters into their own hands and with community-wide commitment, stopped the fishing that was killing the reefs and reef fish populations by providing 24-hour citizen-driven vigilance and community commitment to stop killing any reef fish in their area. Their success in reversing the decline and the spectacular recovery in fish populations is a remarkable accomplishment that has been recognized universally. Nowhere else in the Sea…

Que Pasa Medical insurance in Mexico, tourist? I’ve had friends who were injured or became ill in Mexico and had big problems with payment for either getting in to see a doctor, or getting out of the hospital. When I was young, I never gave it a thought; it was something that would never happen to me. Now, I’ve been around long enough to see the value in having coverage. The cost up front isn’t really an issue, payments aren’t that costly; but not having insurance can really be a problem if you need it…Jody Wyse https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/medical-insurance-in-mexico-tourist.673767/ Baja Norte Coronado…

There is a rugged, forlorn island located nearly 200-miles south of the border, Isla Guadalupe, that is only 6-miles wide and 22-miles long where maybe 300 government employees, fishermen and their families call home. At present, 40 of those inhabitants in one village are children. One of the more frequent visitors to Isla Guadalupe are sportfishing boats in search of yellowfin tuna and yellowtail, along with the many other sportfish found there in the surrounding waters. The legendary Captain Frank Lo Preste, one of the patriarchs of the Long Range Sportfishing industry who operates out of the San Diego landing,…

Que Pasa Boat Goes Aground in Baja A boat that sailed in this year’s Baja Ha-Ha ran aground near Ensenada, about two weeks after the conclusion of the rally. Mr. Beefy — a Lagoon 440 catamaran from Newport Beach — was headed into San Quintín on her way back up from Cabo San Lucas. “I guess I’m not eager to tell the story, but if it can help anyone else . . .” Dan Rawitch told us this morning, as he was heading back into Mexico with his wife Sophia to tend to the aground Mr. Beefy, which is named…

My first exposure deploying a satellite tag was in the mid-1980s when my fishing team and I were racing back to San Diego from Avalon aboard my 42-foot Uniflyte, the “WaterCloset.” We had fished the three-day Avalon Billfish Tournament, hosted by the Los Angeles Billfish Club. On the last day, having not seen a striped marlin for the entire event, we had pulled the plug and were returning to our home port with our proverbial tail between our legs. As luck would have it, we spotted a feeder, baited it and hooked it. After we had called the Tournament Committee…

Que Pasa “We went for a drive on Sunday out to Santa Maria Bay, a little south of San Quintin and ran right into a “FISH MASSACRE” where four sardine seiners were working a small area of baitfish as close as 100-yards from shore. For several hours we watched as they set and reset, decimating the schooling sardine and anything else feeding on them. The coastal area from the border to Cedros Island is under siege! As the forage fish along with yellowtail, white seabass and anything else that happen to be attracted to the sardine are swept up in…

Que Pasa Count Mexico among the nations creating marine parks for the sole purpose of protecting maritime life. Recently, Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto designated the Revillagigedo Archipelago, a set of four volcanic islands as well as the surrounding waters, as the nation’s newest national park. The park, located approximately 250 miles south of Cabo San Lucas and 400 miles from Colima, serves as a feeding and migration area for whales, sharks, rays and other migratory species. Encompassing more than 57,000 square miles, it is the largest marine park in North America. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, the four…

Que Pasa For the very first time a striped marlin won the IGFA Great Marlin Race (IGMR)! For 216 days, the striped marlin which was tagged off the coast of Balboa, Calif. in October of 2016, swam an overall estimated track distance of 5,560 nautical miles to northeast of Hawaii where the tag popped off last May, 2017! Thank you Team Dana Angling Club for supporting billfish research with sponsoring a satellite tag, and congratulations for winning the 2016-2017 IGMR. All the data generated from the satellite tag data is open-source and is being used by universities and educational institutions…

The 2017 Bisbee Black & Blue Phenomenon began October 23 and concluded five days later with an incredible charity auction and raffle.  Topped off with a concert by six rock star legends whose 1970s and ‘80s hits shaped a generation’s lives! The Black & Blue was created 37 years ago on a bet that has carved an impressive niche in Cabo San Lucas’ rich history, growing over the years to now include the East Cape Offshore and Los Cabos Offshore. The tournament has become an opportunity for the hundreds of teams of anglers – newcomers and veterans alike – who…

Que Pasa Stolen Boat Bahia de Los Angeles As many of you know, Don Holden sold “Bella Gato” to Bill Vessels last week. Bill and his wife took the boat to L.A. Bay and last night, after they had anchored the boat near the launch ramp in L.A. Bay, someone stole the boat and trailer during the night! https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/stolen-boat-bahia-de-los-angeles.671172/ Baja Norte Coronado Islands There has been some good yellowtail and bonito action lately, with a very occasional bluefin in the mix. The yellowtail fishing has mostly been a sonar/meter-mark deal, so if you fish for them, you’ll want to motor…