Mexico Joe
Cholla Bay 4 Life
I'm skating on thin ice with Stu over in another thread so I better get this out now before you boy goes off to ban camp. I haven't been in years, I wonder how the weather is this time of year? Anyways, back to the trip report...
This trip was to take some coworkers my girlfriend works with. None of the 4 had ever been to Rocky Point. One couple was from SD, that's San Diego not South Dakota so they had some experience with Baja and TJ/Ensenada. They had never been to the SOC before however. The other couple, neither one of them had ever been to Mexico at all. My concern with that was that Sonoyta at night isn't the best first impression. However, we had to be at the boat dock at 7am Saturday morning for a trip to Bird Island so leaving Saturday morning was out of the question.
We headed down Friday afternoon, leaving Phoenix at about 345 ish. I couldn't tell you the approximate travel time south because I had too much going with taking newbs, we left late and I wasn't paying attention. I think it was about 4 hours... We arrived at the border right before dark. To our surprise we got the green light and NO guardia national stop. Next stop was the old circle culo at the Y where Mex 2 goes west towards San Luis. Another coworker from Nash Powersports was also making it down in their own vehicle and needed to stop at that VIP market for beer. We all got out and some of Claudias friends got their first taste of Mexico! LOLLLLLLLLLLL VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVAAAAAAAAAA MEXICOOOOOOOO!!!!! They were dying to go into the gas station. Just that experience alone put a smile on their face! LOL.... But I remember my first time in Sonoyta so I thought it was funny. We arrived in Rocky Point about 730pm. Straight to the resort to unload. We then met the other employee who was staying with family in Cholla Bay at Wrecked. He was the one that got the boat the next morning so we met the family for the first time, had some beers and then retreated back to the condo by 11pm to get shuteye.
Next morning we departed the dock promptly at 7am. Captain was dead on when he said 3 hours to Bird Island. It was 3 exactly. As we approached Bird Island from the West, North West we could see all kinds of birds dive bombing and working bait in an area you're allowed to fish. Because it wasn't my boat we just sat there biting our lip hoping the captain might indulge us a bit as we brought a SHIT LOAD of tackle and gear... None of the others on board were fishermen/women so it wasn't a priority and we motored on by what was likely a YELLOWTAIL feed if I had to guess. With tears in our eyes we pulled up to the anchorage spot in the North Bay of Bird Island. It was my first time out there ever. 4 people were getting BI on their first trip. I had waited 22 years so after that amount of time I had to go swimming with these animals. A little sketchy but it was worth it. The water clarity wasn't ideal from the previous days wind and the water temp was still in the 60's but fortunately I brought my snorkel gear just in case. I only got about 3 minutes of video because I forgot the GoPro floaty and didn't want to accidentally drop the camera. Definitely a fun experience for sure. The captain did swing around to the South East side of the island for an hour or so to fish but we couldn't catch a cold with cut bait so I doubted the spot entirely. The wind started to turn and it started blowing 15 to 20 out of the SouthWest. The 3 hour ride home was weeeeeeeeeet. Well, the area behind the pilot house on the stern wasn't too bad. Just a little sea mist and the boat was so big we didn't feel the 3ft chop too bad. All in all we had a great day and back at the dock by 5pm. I would definitely consider doing an all day trip like that again. When you have 10 or more people spending $1200 for the day isn't that bad.
The next day we loaded everyone up into our new Mexico overland rig and I toured everyone around town. I felt like Russ for a bit. Fish market, Tekila Bar, Manny's and then we went out to EL BARCO oyster farm at exactly high tide and that was pretty epic seeing the estuary that full. It was a big boy tide last weekend. 5.3m on the high I believe Sunday or Monday.
After Sunday day we never went out again. Just kept it quaint at the resort. Monday came and the water was absolutely glass in the morning. Unfortunately, the couple from SD wanted to leave at about noon but the good thing was they were comfortable driving back to the border on their own as we had actually caravanned from Phx. We stayed and took the kayaks over to Cholla Bay and then paddled around to Tucson Beach and did some chillen and fishing. I really only got to fish for about an hour but we struck out hard. At one point I was trying to put one of our guests on to some rock bass or Trigger fish on Pelican point with cut bait and we couldn't catch a damn thing lol. It was tough. The 5.2m incoming tide was not helping. I think I may be done fishing these extreme tides. I never have luck. Too much water moving. I enjoy the slack tides for some reason.
We loaded the kayaks up around 330pm and headed back to Bella Sirena. Because my girlfriend has been getting this Bella unit through one of her clients as guest of owner we can stay additional nights if the owner doesn't have anyone coming in behind us. He blocks the unit off during Semanta Santa which was starting the day we were supposed to have left. We decided we didn't want to drive back to the border at 5 or 6pm so we opted to enjoy one more afternoon on the beach and jacuzzi, relax watch a movie and get a good night sleep.
We ended up departing Bella Sirena around 11am and hit LA VACA CHENTA for our favorite Birria in Rocky Point before getting on the road to Phoenix. Drive home was mundane. Nothing to report. I bet we arrived at the border around 1pm ish and were 3 cars back, 2 lanes open. The ICE agent was extremely courteous and even told us to drive safe and have a nice day. That made everyone feel good and we told the guests that some are nice and some are business but usually it's all the same. Hand your ID card to the border guard as our AMIGO Roger would say....
All in all it was a hassle free weekend and the scared newbs were already making plans on their return so tour guide Joey must have come through again... I hadn't done it in years but I used to enjoy showing new tourists Rocky Point. I guess that's why Russ has done it for so long. We must be passionate about our little secret hole in the wall known as Rocky Point...
Until next time my friends, stay thirsty!
-Joe
Weekend Takeaways:
- Saw BrokenWave Sunday morning at our favorite breakfast spot Xochi's.
- Caught the Sonoyta radar gun going North Wednesday during the day and stared the guy down as he was bouncing radar off my forehead. I do not exceed 25kph. Speed limit is 40 and you want to play games, ok I'm doing 25kph. I'm still waiting for one of these assholes to pull me over for "going to slow amigo, no puedes manejar asi amigo" that's going to be $235 US...
- Water Temp Mid 60's (unconfirmed)
- Water Clarity - dogshit
- Beers Consumed - A MILLION
- Naps Claudia took each day - 2.3
- Accumulated Time Masks Worn - 30sec
- Ed B's house - GINORMOUS
By far the most important takeaway:
Oxxo wouldn't sell us beer at 11pm???????????????!!!!!!!!! WTFFFFFFF????? Was that just because Semana Santa?
This trip was to take some coworkers my girlfriend works with. None of the 4 had ever been to Rocky Point. One couple was from SD, that's San Diego not South Dakota so they had some experience with Baja and TJ/Ensenada. They had never been to the SOC before however. The other couple, neither one of them had ever been to Mexico at all. My concern with that was that Sonoyta at night isn't the best first impression. However, we had to be at the boat dock at 7am Saturday morning for a trip to Bird Island so leaving Saturday morning was out of the question.
We headed down Friday afternoon, leaving Phoenix at about 345 ish. I couldn't tell you the approximate travel time south because I had too much going with taking newbs, we left late and I wasn't paying attention. I think it was about 4 hours... We arrived at the border right before dark. To our surprise we got the green light and NO guardia national stop. Next stop was the old circle culo at the Y where Mex 2 goes west towards San Luis. Another coworker from Nash Powersports was also making it down in their own vehicle and needed to stop at that VIP market for beer. We all got out and some of Claudias friends got their first taste of Mexico! LOLLLLLLLLLLL VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVAAAAAAAAAA MEXICOOOOOOOO!!!!! They were dying to go into the gas station. Just that experience alone put a smile on their face! LOL.... But I remember my first time in Sonoyta so I thought it was funny. We arrived in Rocky Point about 730pm. Straight to the resort to unload. We then met the other employee who was staying with family in Cholla Bay at Wrecked. He was the one that got the boat the next morning so we met the family for the first time, had some beers and then retreated back to the condo by 11pm to get shuteye.
Next morning we departed the dock promptly at 7am. Captain was dead on when he said 3 hours to Bird Island. It was 3 exactly. As we approached Bird Island from the West, North West we could see all kinds of birds dive bombing and working bait in an area you're allowed to fish. Because it wasn't my boat we just sat there biting our lip hoping the captain might indulge us a bit as we brought a SHIT LOAD of tackle and gear... None of the others on board were fishermen/women so it wasn't a priority and we motored on by what was likely a YELLOWTAIL feed if I had to guess. With tears in our eyes we pulled up to the anchorage spot in the North Bay of Bird Island. It was my first time out there ever. 4 people were getting BI on their first trip. I had waited 22 years so after that amount of time I had to go swimming with these animals. A little sketchy but it was worth it. The water clarity wasn't ideal from the previous days wind and the water temp was still in the 60's but fortunately I brought my snorkel gear just in case. I only got about 3 minutes of video because I forgot the GoPro floaty and didn't want to accidentally drop the camera. Definitely a fun experience for sure. The captain did swing around to the South East side of the island for an hour or so to fish but we couldn't catch a cold with cut bait so I doubted the spot entirely. The wind started to turn and it started blowing 15 to 20 out of the SouthWest. The 3 hour ride home was weeeeeeeeeet. Well, the area behind the pilot house on the stern wasn't too bad. Just a little sea mist and the boat was so big we didn't feel the 3ft chop too bad. All in all we had a great day and back at the dock by 5pm. I would definitely consider doing an all day trip like that again. When you have 10 or more people spending $1200 for the day isn't that bad.
The next day we loaded everyone up into our new Mexico overland rig and I toured everyone around town. I felt like Russ for a bit. Fish market, Tekila Bar, Manny's and then we went out to EL BARCO oyster farm at exactly high tide and that was pretty epic seeing the estuary that full. It was a big boy tide last weekend. 5.3m on the high I believe Sunday or Monday.
After Sunday day we never went out again. Just kept it quaint at the resort. Monday came and the water was absolutely glass in the morning. Unfortunately, the couple from SD wanted to leave at about noon but the good thing was they were comfortable driving back to the border on their own as we had actually caravanned from Phx. We stayed and took the kayaks over to Cholla Bay and then paddled around to Tucson Beach and did some chillen and fishing. I really only got to fish for about an hour but we struck out hard. At one point I was trying to put one of our guests on to some rock bass or Trigger fish on Pelican point with cut bait and we couldn't catch a damn thing lol. It was tough. The 5.2m incoming tide was not helping. I think I may be done fishing these extreme tides. I never have luck. Too much water moving. I enjoy the slack tides for some reason.
We loaded the kayaks up around 330pm and headed back to Bella Sirena. Because my girlfriend has been getting this Bella unit through one of her clients as guest of owner we can stay additional nights if the owner doesn't have anyone coming in behind us. He blocks the unit off during Semanta Santa which was starting the day we were supposed to have left. We decided we didn't want to drive back to the border at 5 or 6pm so we opted to enjoy one more afternoon on the beach and jacuzzi, relax watch a movie and get a good night sleep.
We ended up departing Bella Sirena around 11am and hit LA VACA CHENTA for our favorite Birria in Rocky Point before getting on the road to Phoenix. Drive home was mundane. Nothing to report. I bet we arrived at the border around 1pm ish and were 3 cars back, 2 lanes open. The ICE agent was extremely courteous and even told us to drive safe and have a nice day. That made everyone feel good and we told the guests that some are nice and some are business but usually it's all the same. Hand your ID card to the border guard as our AMIGO Roger would say....
All in all it was a hassle free weekend and the scared newbs were already making plans on their return so tour guide Joey must have come through again... I hadn't done it in years but I used to enjoy showing new tourists Rocky Point. I guess that's why Russ has done it for so long. We must be passionate about our little secret hole in the wall known as Rocky Point...
Until next time my friends, stay thirsty!
-Joe
Weekend Takeaways:
- Saw BrokenWave Sunday morning at our favorite breakfast spot Xochi's.
- Caught the Sonoyta radar gun going North Wednesday during the day and stared the guy down as he was bouncing radar off my forehead. I do not exceed 25kph. Speed limit is 40 and you want to play games, ok I'm doing 25kph. I'm still waiting for one of these assholes to pull me over for "going to slow amigo, no puedes manejar asi amigo" that's going to be $235 US...
- Water Temp Mid 60's (unconfirmed)
- Water Clarity - dogshit
- Beers Consumed - A MILLION
- Naps Claudia took each day - 2.3
- Accumulated Time Masks Worn - 30sec
- Ed B's house - GINORMOUS
By far the most important takeaway:
Oxxo wouldn't sell us beer at 11pm???????????????!!!!!!!!! WTFFFFFFF????? Was that just because Semana Santa?
