El Cid Marina..
Step from your room at the Marina, to our 37 foot boat. Low-priced surf trips
to Mazatlan offer the kind of luxury few others can match.
A near-tragedy in Baja - click
Information in the first section covers :
d
.............................................1. Logistics and access to Sinaloa's reefs.
.............................................2. Renting a vehicle and exploring Sinaloa on your own.
.............................................3. Swells, hurricane surf, etc....
Information in the second section covers :
d
.............................................4. Water temps, equipment.
.............................................5. Bad surf trips, crowds, locals...
.............................................6. Final checklist before your departure.
Mazatlan is a bay - protected by six offshore islands...
.
..................................Short of a large, southern-hemi, or big, hurricane swell -- you can
..................................expect to see surf, mostly, in the small/crappy range around the hotels,
..................................w/ tourists on boogie boards, and anyone else not [in-the-know] will be
..................................left fighting the local youths over marginally-surfable 1-2 foot JUNK.
,
Jacarandas is one of the better closeouts to fight over in Mazatlan...
..................................Due to a lack of quality spots around town,
..................................it becomes necessary to vacate Party Central for surfing.
..................................Go away from town and the wonder begins -
..................................But, outside of Mazatlan, going for 60 to 100 miles in either direction,
..................................there is very limited beach access. -- Visitors will soon discover
..................................a maze of locked, cattle gates and private, ranch roads
..................................covering fertile savannahs -- and extending off to infinity.
..................................Here in Sinaloa, access to perfect, unspoiled waves is much
..................................more difficult than surfers are used to in places like Baja --
..................................where large, open spaces and well-travelled, dirt roads will
..................................easily lead even the Baja novice straight to decent waves...
.
..................................-- Sinaloa is different.
..................................Our incredible rivermouths, reefs and numerous points mostly,
..................................are hidden by forests, hills, blocked by estuaries, and endless mud
..................................once the seasonal rains begin - washing out the ranch roads...
..................................
..................................There is a much-larger-than-usual, learning curve here
..................................because the forests have so many winding roads ending
..................................in little bays, totally impassable, or just more winding roads
..................................blocked by even more, endless mud, and rocks.
Somewhere in Sinaloa during the dry season.
..................................We see people rent cars [every month]...
..................................They come calling us after their first day saying,
.................................."We saw the ocean from the highway, and after we finally found a road
..................................leading to a beach, we got there 'man' - and it was just shitty closeouts,
..................................but a place we thought would be better had it's entrance locked...
.................................."Can you save us ?"
..................................Yes, [they knew] you were coming...
..................................The indemnity you assume by renting a car and then TAKING IT OFF-ROAD
..................................is not to be underestimated either -- when you discover it's all in the [fine print]
..................................inside your rental contract -- and the added charges amount to nothing less
..................................than a horrific fine that can easily top two or three thousand dollars.
..................................It's a clever scam practiced by rental agencies - and where will you go to complain ?
..................................If you do manage to avoid the aforementioned nightmare, your surf trip
..................................may still end up worse than all the money you spent getting to Sinaloa
..................................and renting an expensive, VW van [ill-equipped to handle the terrain] --
..................................Now you've thrown away your valuable time and not found much surf.
..................................We see "this" repeated over and over...
Bird Island, Mazatlan has a hidden right ledge that goes XXL.
I know this CONVENIENTLY works toward our
advantage but, we're giving it to you STRAIGHT.
The cost of going with us adds only a few percentage points to the total cost
of your next trip. The guessing will be removed and the maximum potential of
our hidden coastline will be made available to you in the least amount of time.
You will end up with much more time for yourself after surfing.
Surfing students from the University of Kansas at Tequila's Restaurant.
Azucena and Claudia outside Sumbawa disco.
..................................A small swell may not always produce good surf at our area pointbreaks...
..................................This "less-than-desireable" scenario is always a possibility... or maybe,
..................................surf might be coming from the east end of the South Pacific [ closer to
..................................Chile than would be "ideal" ] - and either of these cases - combined with
..................................the bizzare, tidal patterns of the Sea of Cortez - will be enough to do it -
Most of the area WAS TOTALLY FLAT this day in August 2006.
..................................Visitors searching on their own might even depart Sinaloa, sure in their belief
..................................[Sam George is one such person] that there is little-or-no good surf around here.
..................................The swell models on Surfline or Buoy Weather, etc, may have indicated
..................................there was plenty of decent swell in the water but visiting surfers will fail
..................................when they try to find the best waves for that particular day on their own.
..................................No matter what the swell-direction or tides, we basically, always
..................................make the right call and score head-high and overhead surf peeling off...
..................................With next to zero deep-water swell in the area, we'll be able
..................................to find some decent waves and hopefully, a rising swell.
The surf on this day was so micro - that even the break shown in the [previous photo] was
flat... Surfline had the whole coast at 1.0 - 1.5 feet, all the way from Baja to Oaxaca.
But, at this ultra-secret spot with a deep canyon offshore, we scored chest-high surf.
..................................We have permission to access 100 % of private property with the best surf.
..................................When it gets big, paddling out through heavy shore-break can be a problem.
..................................If the waves outside are reeling off like G-LAND -
..................................we've already switched over to heavy equipment.
.
..................................JUMP OFF...
..................................We have one the largest pongas [37 feet] in Mexico,
..................................equipped with an inboard DINOSAUR-BLOCK to get us
..................................anywhere we need to go in style, comfort and SAFETY.
..................................Beto Salazar - our boat captain - has over 40
..................................years experience, navagating Sinaloa's waters.
Doing it right is easier than you think !
Premium surf trips a reality...
A group of three guys had air and hotel here recently -- for less than $ 500 each...
Mazatlan is the most affordable in the tropics.
.............
El Cid "Moro" pool, and outside at Sumbawa Disco.
By taking advantage of our expertise and dedication,
you will have more free time to enjoy after surfing.
..................................Streaks:
..................................September 5th, 2001 to October 16th with 41 consecutive days of overhead surf.
,
..................................April 10th, 2002 to May 24th with 54 consecutive days of overhead surf.
..................................April 1st, 2003 to May 22nd with 52 days in a row of overhead surf.
..................................We stopped keeping track --
..................................If you're body is too wasted for surfing today, don't worry,
..................................it'll be good tomorrow -
.
..................................Swells:
..................................Giant storms blow up in the Roaring Forties
..................................[40 to 65 degrees south latitude] near New Zealand.
..................................They march across the Pacific sending out tons of swell.
..................................And in about 6-8 days these storms slam into southern Chile -
..................................about the same time as the swells are reaching Mexico.
..................................[If you're a new surfer - these are called Southern Hemi swells].
..................................Our season runs from March to November -
..................................[winter in the Southern Ocean]. But the wind near Antarctica
..................................never really calms, so our southwest groundswells
..................................appear throughout the year.
..................................Our magnificent points and reefs take a direct hit:
..................................[think Puerto Escondido] --
..................................First, from the Southwest.
..................................Then with each passing day, the swell comes
..................................slightly more out of the South.
..................................But before it has a chance to fade,
..................................a new swell has already begun to fill in
..................................from
the Southwest, taking the other's place.
..................................Here, an old, fading swell and a new swell often produce some
..................................very interesting effects, like twenty-minute lulls and fifteen, even
..................................twenty wave sets as the two swells go in and out of phase over the reefs.
..................................This is exactly why Chile, Peru, Central America and Mexico
..................................get the most consistent surf in this hemisphere...
..................................The North Atlantic, North Pacific and the South Atlantic Oceans
..................................are not large enough to provide this kind of continuous swell.
..................................West Australia and Indonesia are only other regions
..................................that
can compare to the Pacific coasts of South and Central America.
..................................Surf trips to the equatorial-Pacific or Indian Oceans require lots of
..................................moving around because the swell-angle changes so much each day.
..................................This can be a problem, as you have to keep hopping
..................................from island to island trying to get things right.
..................................But not here.
..................................For us, and with each passing day, the angle of swell hardly
..................................changes at all. So most likely, when you hop off the plane,
..................................you will likely hear Javier or me say something like -
.................................."A
good swell slammed in on Friday…"
..................................Hurricanes:
GOES East Pacific Satellite - E-Ranch taking a direct hit from "LANE".
Click the picture above for current East Pacific imagery...
..................................You've seen the Tropical Update on the Weather Channel and all those
..................................hurricanes forming off the Mexican coast. Hurricanes moving through
..................................the "ALLEY" send us more good surf than the southern coast of Mexico
..................................and it really turns some of our lousy surf spots into seriously-good waves.
Less "walled-up" surf where waves mostly close out.
Larger hurricanes score better as they squeeze well-formed
waves into spaces that usually just have junk surf.
. . . . . . .
Information in the following section covers :
d
.............................................4. Water temps, equipment.
.............................................5. Bad surf trips, crowds, locals...
.............................................6. Final checklist before your departure.
Capitano's Restaurant.
..................................Range from 68-86 degrees -- From mid-October until the end of March
..................................a short john and/or spring suit will get you through cool, morning sessions.
..................................In April, water temps rebound into the high 70's and tropical conditions
..................................return from May to October with temps ranging from about 82 to 86 degrees.
..................................Equipment:
..................................Bring your favorite board for your "normal' to "waves that have
..................................a little more punch," -- and a second board that works well for points.
..................................Maybe a bit thicker on this board. When your arms start wearing out --
..................................[boards with good forward drive work better on our long pointbreaks]
..................................adding about 3,4, or 5 inches of length up from your every day board.
..................................These
two boards are the basics for a great trip to Sinaloa, Mexico.
..................................Don't
forget to bring a six foot leash and an eight foot leash.
..................................If you bring a third surfboard, I would suggest a shape that
..................................would work for you in minor North Shore conditions... like
..................................5 to 7 foot Sunset,
..................................like maybe, 4-6 more inches of length and good rocker.
..................................For your big-wave quiver it is important to remember
..................................that wider stringers, and more glass is a way, under-rated
..................................feature in our "travel boards, " and can make a big difference on
..................................a surf trip where replacing broken boards is fine for all the players
..................................in the videos -- but a pain in the ass for the rest of us.
In the final section -
d
.............................................5. Bad surf trips, crowds, locals...
.............................................6. Final checklist before your departure.
..................................The Surf Media and Mexico.
..................................There's a funny code of silence in the media
..................................about surf trips and Mexico is no exception...
..................................I laugh at all the features after features of pro surfers being
..................................treated to the "island reef pass" like some kind of royalty...
..................................We will never keep more than 12 surfers at our camp.
..................................We have a lot of students that come from Europe, so
..................................there's a good chance that the "reef passes" will be
..................................will left for you and few others going.
..................................When we get to between 9 and 12 people, we're now into separate groups.
..................................Bad surf
trips, crowding and my thoughts on camping in Baja.
..................................More
people than ever are surfing in places like central
and
..................................southern, Baja, Scorpion Bay, [jajajaja!!] and all over the
..................................re-discovered oasis of Oaxaca... and crowding is now a problem.
..................................Price one of our trips to Mazatlan vs [take the wife and kids] to Baja…
..................................
..................................Sure, everybody loves Baja, Cabo, Abre-ojos, etc...
..................................But, s pots like Shipwrecks, Zippers and Nine Palms get very crowded.
..................................These reefs don't deliver perfect surf you need on a trip.
..................................The Central Coast is seeing more surfers,
..................................and development is coming soon to this arid region.
..................................Getting to and around the "peninsula" can be expensive
..................................because it taxes your precious time.
..................................You need tons of gear --
..................................there's not much shade or showers, but --
..................................of course, there's lots of snakes and scorpions,
..................................and dealing with all that extra, fresh water on board your craft
..................................just adds to all the fun --
..................................and the wind --
..................................enough bad winds and blowing dust to last an eternity...
..................................Even though I never had any horror stories with Federales,
..................................I always felt like a dirt bag surfing Baja,
..................................Baja got old for me in a hurry.
..................................Medical facilities between Ensenada and Los Cabos are scant.
..................................If all goes well on your trip,
..................................there is still very little to do at night outside of Los Cabos.
..................................Nothing cold to drink. No party.
..................................My UC San Diego friends used to moan:
"A week is a long time in Baja."
Chad's Inertia Tours Girls...
A week is "just the beginning" of
a long friendship in Mazatlan...
One for the ages.
A week is just the beginning, baby.
Mazatlan has some of the most "insane"
party venues in the western hemisphere...
Cherries, Valentino's, Bora Bora, Sumbawa, Joe's
Oyster Bar, and Senior Frog's just to name a few...
..................................Our locals - and guests to Mexico...
..................................Open your eyes before you travel and investigate
..................................read about what some other surf camps do...
..................................Mazatlan is a special place with great local surfers.-
..................................Respect goes a long way.