22 December ‘06
Friday
We stayed close by on Wednesday and Thursday, did some carpet cleaning in the coach, shopped for a 5 gallon water jug and had a couple of great meals in town. The Baja Cantina for lunch on Wednesday and one of our favorite taco stands for shrimp and fish tacos on Thursday. Then on Thursday evening, we took one of the couples from the campground and headed out to see the sunset. Unfortunately it was unimpressive…we were entertained by a young fellow that took his 4 wheel drive pickup too far into the sand. At one time he even had the water coming up to the tires…so close to loosing it. Finally with the help of the “authorities”, he got it out. It just so happens that the beaches are out of bounds for all motor vehicles…turtle lying beds are all around…he got himself a big fine. Louise has finished making her famous fudge. All of this will be going to the campground “Christmas Dinner Party”. I tried to talk my way into keeping a little for myself, but that didn’t work. This morning (Friday) I had to get the heck out of bed by 5am. I was invited to go fishing with Ricardo and Lee this morning. 5 years ago Louise, Leslee, Sid, and me met Ricardo (Richard) and his lovely wife Suzi at the Sand Bar restaurant and bar here on the beach. If you spend a few minutes with this couple, you become immediate friends. It just so happened that they have built their “Casita” here in this RV park and while walking around the first day we ran directly into them. A day later Ricardo asked me to go fishing with him, so how could I refuse. Ricardo brought his boat down from Oregon and this is going to be his first time fishing out of Baja. Lee, another neighbor, has been many times, so he was going to be our “leader”. We were fishing out by “El Faro Viejo” (The Old Lighthouse), which is about 5 miles up the Pacific coastline from San Lucas. We were out there before the sun rose out of the Eastern Sea. Ricardo was first to “hook-up”. He caught a real nice Dorado, about 25 to 28 pounds. Then it went dry for a couple of hours. A couple of miles off to the South, we saw a number of other boats that were huddled around some sea birds. This often means that there are fish in the area, so we headed over to see what was happening. It wasn’t but a minute and I was hooked up, but this time it was with a Marlin. I wasn’t too excited about it being a Marlin, as I knew I would just have to put it back, and besides the Dorado is sooo good, but that is what it was. Now for the next 45 minutes it beat the hell out of me. I must tell you, I am writing this with every bone and muscle in my body so tired that I’m not sure I will finish this journal tonight. We hadn’t set up for Marlin, so the pole and the line that I was using was too small and light for this struggle so I had to finesse it the whole time. When the struggle was over I couldn’t tell you who won, but this I know, I got it to the boat and was able to take the hook out of the bill. I also got a picture of this giant. Our guess for the weight was 120-130 pounds. Was it worth it? I’ll tell you tomorrow. Tonight however, we did enjoy a wonderful dinner of fresh caught Dorado.
Friday
We stayed close by on Wednesday and Thursday, did some carpet cleaning in the coach, shopped for a 5 gallon water jug and had a couple of great meals in town. The Baja Cantina for lunch on Wednesday and one of our favorite taco stands for shrimp and fish tacos on Thursday. Then on Thursday evening, we took one of the couples from the campground and headed out to see the sunset. Unfortunately it was unimpressive…we were entertained by a young fellow that took his 4 wheel drive pickup too far into the sand. At one time he even had the water coming up to the tires…so close to loosing it. Finally with the help of the “authorities”, he got it out. It just so happens that the beaches are out of bounds for all motor vehicles…turtle lying beds are all around…he got himself a big fine. Louise has finished making her famous fudge. All of this will be going to the campground “Christmas Dinner Party”. I tried to talk my way into keeping a little for myself, but that didn’t work. This morning (Friday) I had to get the heck out of bed by 5am. I was invited to go fishing with Ricardo and Lee this morning. 5 years ago Louise, Leslee, Sid, and me met Ricardo (Richard) and his lovely wife Suzi at the Sand Bar restaurant and bar here on the beach. If you spend a few minutes with this couple, you become immediate friends. It just so happened that they have built their “Casita” here in this RV park and while walking around the first day we ran directly into them. A day later Ricardo asked me to go fishing with him, so how could I refuse. Ricardo brought his boat down from Oregon and this is going to be his first time fishing out of Baja. Lee, another neighbor, has been many times, so he was going to be our “leader”. We were fishing out by “El Faro Viejo” (The Old Lighthouse), which is about 5 miles up the Pacific coastline from San Lucas. We were out there before the sun rose out of the Eastern Sea. Ricardo was first to “hook-up”. He caught a real nice Dorado, about 25 to 28 pounds. Then it went dry for a couple of hours. A couple of miles off to the South, we saw a number of other boats that were huddled around some sea birds. This often means that there are fish in the area, so we headed over to see what was happening. It wasn’t but a minute and I was hooked up, but this time it was with a Marlin. I wasn’t too excited about it being a Marlin, as I knew I would just have to put it back, and besides the Dorado is sooo good, but that is what it was. Now for the next 45 minutes it beat the hell out of me. I must tell you, I am writing this with every bone and muscle in my body so tired that I’m not sure I will finish this journal tonight. We hadn’t set up for Marlin, so the pole and the line that I was using was too small and light for this struggle so I had to finesse it the whole time. When the struggle was over I couldn’t tell you who won, but this I know, I got it to the boat and was able to take the hook out of the bill. I also got a picture of this giant. Our guess for the weight was 120-130 pounds. Was it worth it? I’ll tell you tomorrow. Tonight however, we did enjoy a wonderful dinner of fresh caught Dorado.