Day2:

Waking up before sunrise, stoked to surf, we suited up and paddled out. As dawn began to break, we could see the sun crest the local mountains not too far away. The waves were really fun again but with a rapidly rising tide, the surf sesh was cut a bit short. I stayed out in the water anyways though, pumped on any wave I could get now that I was that one guy with a Baja wave all to myself. Finally coming in, Justin was headed back out, but with a spear gun in hand instead of a surfboard this time. Justin speared three fish that we saved for lunch while the rest of us made breakfast burritos.

After breakfast, we headed out in search for the next wave to ride. Racing down dirt roads, through the vast barren Baja desert, we couldn't wait to see what was around each new point. Following the coast through small village after village and contemplating multiple surf breaks, we finally decided on Punta Cabra. Our first look deemed it to be about chest high, but getting in the water, the sets started to build and soon

we had waves crashing on us that were nearly two feet over head. We weren't the only ones out there, but Punta Cabra supplied multiple peaks to choose from and each of us had our own wave to ourselves.

Surfing for hours until our bodies were sore and our faces were burnt, we all headed in, entirely exhausted. We decided to head back to Punta San Ysidro for a late lunch of ceviche which consisted of fresh fish caught that morning by Justin, avocado, local lime and cilantro. The rest of the afternoon we hung out and enjoyed the beauty of Baja around us, until Justin and Aaron decided to head back out for another spear.

    

Coming back with seven good sized fish, we filleted and cooked them up making fresh fish tacos with some homemade local tortillas that we picked up in a local village. A few beers later, the events of the day set in quickly as the warmth of the fire and the fullness of our bellies nearly lulled us to sleep. 

Baja

Day 1:

After a quick flight from San Francisco, I met up with my good buddies, Aaron Lanes, Justin Lewis, Matt Skenazi in San Diego. We had been planning this trip for months, however it has seemed like a lifetime as this has been a trip I have wanted to do since I first began surfing in San Diego as a young college student at PLNU. Something about being in a foreign country, searching for waves has always been more attractive to me than most anything else, and I was definitely due for an adventure as it has been nearly a year since my last mission to Guam. 

Before we crossed the border, we all decided to get a surf in at a break in San Diego, because we knew that we had a long day of travel ahead of us sitting in a car. It was just after sunrise and the water was much warmer than what I was used to way up North in San Francisco. The waves were small, but I didn't care because I was with my buddies, the sun was out and the optimism and excitement on this new adventure was high. 

Surfing for about an hour and a half, we all seemed to catch our last waves at the same time and headed for the trucks. We had two trucks, not because we had too much stuff, but because having two trucks was a solid plan in case anything happened while we were in Mexico. Heading down the I-5 our caravan neared the border. Not familiar with protocol, Justin and I crossed with ease and got right through, however Aaron and Matt got stopped. There was no stopping for us as we were herded and honked along like cattle. We were separated as soon as we crossed. 

Without cell service, we had no means to get in contact and no shoulder to pull off onto and wait. We had no choice but to move on until we were out of Tijuana. Not too frazzled by the situation, we eventually came to a spot in the road where we could pull off and still have a view of HWY 1. After about ten minutes or so, we spotted them, hopped back in the truck and with lights flashing and horns honking, we were sinked up again, ready to continue our adventure. 

We continued down the 1 seeing tons of surf breaks with one person, sometimes no one  at all at each break that we would pass, making us more and more eager to get in this Mexican water and surf our brains out. With the sun lazily hanging in the sky, we drove down past Ensenada to a small down called San Ysidro. We were the only gringos there and as we slowly drove through town, boony dogs barked at us, small children waved and people seemed to just stare as if we were a sideshow circus pulling into town with our surfboards strapped to the tops of our vehicles and our ear to ear grins beaming back at them. We stopped briefly to get minimal necessary supplies (beer) and then headed about five minutes out of town along a dirt road to catch a sunset surf session at a break just off of a point there called Punta San Ysidro. The surf was surprisingly fun as the tide began to dramatically drop and suddenly build to head high waves. After a beautiful sunset, we paddled in after dark and set up camp, cooked up some burritos, and then drank a few Mexican beers before retiring for the night, excited to see what tomorrow would bring us.