RR: Los Barriles, Baja

Mamba wrote:

Need to meet your buddy ;-) We are already trying to plan a return trip.
Although we are mainly focused on windsurfing there, the wind is often light
or uncooperative in other ways. Having great trails nearby removes the
"skunk" factor from trips like this.

The El Nortes can be like that. Years ago the same buddy and
spent 17 days on a windsurfari, driving from Norcal and ending
up at Punta Chivato and we were skunked way more than expected.

If you know that you're going to be skunked another cool thing
to do is to head up to La Paz for a day and do a trip out to
Espirtu Santu and Partida. There are a bunch of guys in larger
pangas that will run you out for pretty cheap.

wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 20, 12:26 pm, "Mamba" wrote:
Although we are mainly focused on windsurfing there, the wind is often
light
or uncooperative in other ways. Having great trails nearby removes the
"skunk" factor from trips like this.

Do they have any kiteboarding there? If I can ride, windsurf &
kiteboard there I'll start the vacation fund right now, with the jar
on my office bookcase and the money in my pockets at the moment. In
fact, I'm off to see just how long of a flight that is, and what it'd
set us back in airfare.

Yeah, kiting is pretty big, as in most areas where the wind blows 15K more
than 15K. The season for el Norte is usually November to March.
Several guys we met with during our trip were getting a daily shuttle (or
two) about a mile up the shore to a big open "kite" beach. Then they do the
downwinder to the hotel to finish (or start over). On the two days it blew
harder, they windsurfed. On the days when it was less than 10 knots, they
biked. We mostly biked early and sailed starting around lunch. This
matches the wind pattern if it's gonna blow.

Dunno about the other hotel operations there, but Vela was reasonable for
food/gear included. You could opt out of the gear cost and buy it daily if
you don't plan to windsurf much. Bring your own kite stuff. Bikes are 30
or 35$ a day I think. Windsurfing stuff probably $50/day.

The hotel rooms are, shall we say, rustic, but it sounds like you spend
mostly sleep time there, as we do.

If you're west coast based, there are lots of flight options to Cabo. We
went on points, direct from Portland.

Gary

"pete fagerlin" wrote in message
. ..
Mamba wrote:

Need to meet your buddy ;-) We are already trying to plan a return trip.
Although we are mainly focused on windsurfing there, the wind is often
light or uncooperative in other ways. Having great trails nearby removes
the "skunk" factor from trips like this.

The El Nortes can be like that. Years ago the same buddy and spent 17 days
on a windsurfari, driving from Norcal and ending up at Punta Chivato and
we were skunked way more than expected.

If you know that you're going to be skunked another cool thing to do is to
head up to La Paz for a day and do a trip out to Espirtu Santu and
Partida. There are a bunch of guys in larger pangas that will run you out
for pretty cheap.

Sounds excellent. We tried to get to La Paz two years ago from La Ventana
during a skunk period. The hurricane had made roads really ****ty and we
didn't have a rental car (shared a ride from Cabo). Had hoped to spend some
time in the town and the water - maybe next trip.

On Feb 21, 8:22 pm, "Mamba" wrote:
Yeah, kiting is pretty big, as in most areas where the wind blows 15K more
than 15K. The season for el Norte is usually November to March.
Several guys we met with during our trip were getting a daily shuttle (or
two) about a mile up the shore to a big open "kite" beach. Then they do the
downwinder to the hotel to finish (or start over). On the two days it blew
harder, they windsurfed. On the days when it was less than 10 knots, they
biked. We mostly biked early and sailed starting around lunch. This
matches the wind pattern if it's gonna blow.

Dunno about the other hotel operations there, but Vela was reasonable for
food/gear included. You could opt out of the gear cost and buy it daily if
you don't plan to windsurf much. Bring your own kite stuff. Bikes are 30
or 35$ a day I think. Windsurfing stuff probably $50/day.

The hotel rooms are, shall we say, rustic, but it sounds like you spend
mostly sleep time there, as we do.

If you're west coast based, there are lots of flight options to Cabo. We
went on points, direct from Portland.

Gary


Sweet, sounds like a dream spot. We actually started a vacation fund
last night, though it will be a while before that materializes into
enough to actually vacation. How long depends on the vacation,
naturally. We've got a month or two before we buy tickets, and even
then we'll be buying them for far enough out to save vacation money in
the meantime.

November would be good, as it's far enough out to save up and still on
the '07 vacation-day year. We'll look into Vela for sure; you're dead-
on about hotels being for sleeping and nothing more.

We're in New Hampshire, so anything on the west coast is going to set
us back quite a bit. I have not seen anything on our side that can
rival all that's there, however, with a possible exception somewhere
in the keys. I hear there's better sand out west, so we'll see.

Thanks again,

Dan