Nine Palms, Baja East Cape
Knowing we'd be leaving town in the morning, we stumbled out of the sports bar and slept in their parking lot. We did of course walk down to the rv park for a celebratory dip in the pool to cool off before bed.
In the morning we checked out the beach in front of town. It was as gorgeous as everyone described with miles of smooth white beaches, but the bobos were out in force and we quickly packed up and headed over the mountains for cabos and the east cape. We went back into San Jose to print some stickers for our "business" cards and then drove around again looking for the supermarket. We made another few laps of the centro, stopped into our last lunch spot to get our bearings (and another amazing 3 fish taco and a beer for $5 special) and tried one last time. Asking directions is always interesting here as everyone is really confident in their directions, aways describe us as being less than two blocks away…and we have yet to get directions that lead us to the place we ask about. Regardless…this attempt finally landed us successfully at the public market. Far better than a super, and we scored some uber-fresh fish, chorizo and carne and i stumbled upon a hat on the way out the door for $4. Hard to beat that.
We head back towards the cape feeling confident that we have made this drive before and know all the right turns. We make it as far as the first security guard who assures us the road was actually closed for the day. He blamed el jefe (of course) and nothing we asked or offered would change his mind. In fact, through our lengthy conversation, we couldn't gain so much as a smile from the stern machete-wielding man, so we were forced to pull a u-turn and take the long dirt road instead.
Next time however, we have vowed to simply pull over along side his post, whisper a quick "mañana" and wait a day until it opens…or until he grows tired of having company. Regardless, it appears we should have just tipped (bribed) him the first time and been on our way… This sandy dirt road along the coast certainly gets worse the further north you drive, and this section up to the beach was fine. Slow going, but nothing worrisome or technical. We drove past the two chains protected by the 2nd guard on our last trip and notice that the one in the direction back was open…hopefully it will be when we return in a few days as well.
We get to 9palms and pull in with the locals out enjoying their day off…sunday continues to be the best day to be on the beach. We watch for a while as the waves aren't setting up quite as well as in our last stop, but they improved throughout the day and we got a few hours in the water. Big confidence building day for both of us as i started pushing things on the new board and jen paddled out with the big waves. We both enjoyed dinner knowing we had over overcome some mental obstacles/met some personal goals and we are both looking forward to another session in the morning.
Sunrise apparently had other plans- the waves were mush all day. The tropical storm offshore was supposed to be sending larger and larger waves, but instead we got whitewash all day. Wave after wave without any break in between and closing out all over the beach with no clear beginning or end. Simply slop, and nothing to do but hide from the sun and wait. I got some sketching done and jen spent some time with the book she picked up a while back as we hung out alone on the beach with the donkeys and horses.
By evening surf weren't getting any better so we settled for a coconut rice and caribbean-coconut crusted chicken dinner to ease our pain. It worked beautifully. We discussed the upcoming week and our dreams of sleeping on this deserted beach for days while perfecting the craft of surfing. If the waves don't look any better tomorrow we may just head back north and look into booking a ferry to the mainland...
With sunrise comes a bit better looking conditions so we pull the boards out from under the bus and i paddle out. Jen takes one look at how quickly the current drags me down shore and decides against it. A futile effort trying to paddle back to the waves, but a good exercise routine nonetheless- we decide to move on towards unchartered territory.