Baja 2014 is a wrap, damn much fun was had - Whale sharks, sea turtles, great fishing, fine food, all that!

 Man, what an awesome couple weeks!
It started off with picking out pomegranates in CV

 Then through the Colorado Delta, where they make bricks just like Bert Loper used to………

 And on to El Guero, where they actually did invent the fish taco as it is currently known - a religious pilgrimage.

 Oh, hell yeah! - octopus & shimp cocktail with an ice cold Pacifico.

 And shrimp tacos that just rock.

 The best little part

 This guy was getting heckled, bad.

 Had to buy my wife some love songs, of course.

 Then, all stocked up, onwards.

 Conditions are perfect - get up - let's go!

 Say "ah" for a quick pick - a baby gulf grouper.

 Afternoons are almost always windy.

 Hunker down!

 A daily double, and a wounded needle fish - what a strange feature, they get almost 6' long, whole mouth of needles.
A two meter one would be muy escary……..

 So grateful for my new gaff

 Shade up, and zillions of baby flying fish boiling.

 This fish is BAD NEWS - a very serious envenomation from any on those spines.

 And another day rises - you loose track real fast.

 Hell, I'll even grab barracudas - really carefully……..and as little as possible.

 Spotted Cabrilla - the main fish of northern Baja.

 Osa just loves it.

 Brunch with tarps.

 D. got a nice green jack - real nice eating fish there.

 Pretty damn good water clarity

 Trigger fish, trigger fish tacos - "Conchitas"

 The desert was really greened up from Hurucan Odile

 The final vestiges of unpaved highway 5.

 Sad to see it go, really - a whole new place with the pavement, a lost era I quite enjoyed for over two decades.

 If you can't move it, at least paint it orange.

 Roadside cocktails - shrimp, scallop, octopus - soooooo damn good - i looked for these two hot sauces all over, thick soy with chiletepin & chile arbol - real nice flavor.

 We were worried about our friend after the hurricane so we end to Baja Sur to check on him.

 Our worst fear were true, hid place was destroyed, 20 feet of water & debris destroyed his campground & his date crop, leaving him with no way to make a living - he was cleaning it up with a rake - it was never going to happen, so we payed for a backhoe to come in and save his place for the up & coming tourist season.

 Making a flat place just to stay.

 They are making lumber from scratch

 Headed down to the zocalo for breakfast

 ……And met the owner of the closed hardware store - he's 99!

 ……And he had hats…….glorious ones……

 Stoked!

 Gotta keep the maiz out of the harina

 These are all over now, when I started coming down it was use the faucet in the town square & hope for the best.

 Manuel & myself

 We were damn glad to be able to help.

 Then we went to a little fishing paradise over on the Pacific side.

 Indeed.
Awesome.

 Fishing totally did not suck!
That is a corvina, and as you see below, they were running like crazy!

 Nice fish!
biggest were right at 27+" long, the one below may be D's biggest fish in a kayak.

 They have 40 bottled of Sol now!

 Digging on the Pacific.

If I had a boat…….

 Mangrove mazes…….very cool.

 Yep, there are jelly fish.
Below, a typical corvina strike.

 Bam!

 Time to clean the fish.

 Jim, animal lover.

 Well thanks!

 Onwards to the land of the Boogum.

 Quite strange creatures.

 Hurucan Odile walloped this place but good.

 Feeding frenzy - tunas.

 That one broke my rod, but I caught another on the stub - luckily I had three more spares.

 There were dozens of loggerhead sea turtles, but we could not photograph them - stunning creatures!

 Dos Tunas!
We also rented a sweet house for a couple days.

 I met Graham Macintosh, who among other things walked the length of both shored of Baja & led a burro from Teacte to La Paz and spen two moths of Isla Angel - I had read his books years ago - a couple old Baja hands comparing notes.
 

 It's the ones who don't look gnarly who will surprise you……

 Once again we went out on a panga with our friend Marco - what a blast!
D. got to swim with he Whale Sharks, and we filled up on a full cooler of Yellowfins.

 Dolphins are so damn hard to photograph - saw a big whale too.

 1st one in the cooler!

 Great action - Osa was STOKED - she would attack them as they came over the rail.

 NICE!
Several more please.

 Pinche Doble!

 We caught them until our arms burned.

 No, Osa - Noooooooo!

 And then there were the whale sharks……..wow……just wow.
Biggest was bigger then the 26' panga, with a head well over 6' wide.

 A 3-meter long "baby"

 Then D. went overboard with the camera!

 Holy cow - world's largest fish!

 We saw up to four at once.

 We agreed that needed a re-do for sure.

 Perfect.

 Before……

 After……

 After the flood.

 It's a dog's life.

 Our casita.

 Back through more Boogum

 Perfectly good desert.

 I knew this would happen.

 The last way was a damn fine one.
Stunning.

 It just doesn't get any better.

 Sporty.

 Fish on!

 You will release many 100's of these.

 Bam!
Nice Sierra - thanks!

 They can lacerate you quite badly.

 Osa wants it - it's made of fish.

 Beautiful.

 Final day.

 Fresh hot tortillas.

 Street legal.

Welcome to CA!
Back to work tomorrow.