Surfing in Baja California

[SWbySWesty]

We left early on Friday and took the 5 freeway down to the California/Mexico border crossing at Tijuana. Arriving in the evening at our "basecamp" of a friend's beach house, we were able to get an evening surf session in at Baja Malibu with good waves. We enjoyed beers and live rock music with the locals at a bar and called it a night after getting late night tacos from Rosarito.

We left around 10am on Saturday for our expedition to find good surf off the beaten path. We traveled south through Ensenada and continued to follow highway 1 to a little town called Santo Tomas. It was here that we veered off pavement. About an hour later, we came across the ocean again after a bone chattering off road session in my stock 1996 Jeep XJ.

We walked down the path by the fishing boats of the locals that live at Punta San Jose. Paddling out and surfing most of the day was excellent. We left around 6pm to have light out for the trip back. We dropped our bottles off at the store in Santo Tomas for our deposit and then got searched by the military at a checkpoint just north of Santo Tomas.

Getting back to the beach house after enchiladas and a few beers/margaritas was great after a day long expedition to nowhere to find surf. Enjoy the photos!

gassing up in San Diego (yes, we ended up at a Pemex...no gas problems though!)

The waves at Baja Malibu

The store at Santo Tomas

Group photo on the road

Cruisin' off the beaten path

Arrival at Punta San Jose

Being goons with local bulls

Parked and ready to surf!

 

[SWbySWesty]

The waves weren't half bad!

emo shot of my board and an abandoned boat

Getting some quality grub. I gotta say that I'm not a huge fan of Mexican crumbly cheese...

 

[Maximus Ram]

Very cool. I need to learn to surf someday. Looks like it a lot of fun.
Thanks for the pics...

 

[pray4surf]

Great trip report (and pics) - I'm jealous :drool:

Been getting a serious case of baja-itis and hope to quell it with a trip south of the border later this summer.

Never stopped at Punta San Jose as we favor point breaks further south. Surfed Baja Malibu quite a few times years (and years) ago. Including one time back in the early 80's when we caught it overhead and perfect A-frame barrels.... Make the drop, crank the bottom turn and pull up into these perfectly round tubes. Completely covered up for a few seconds, then spit out onto the shoulder. Kick-out and repeat...

Thanks for the additional motivation :costumed-smiley-007

 

[ChuckB]

I need to get down to Baja sometime. I just haven't been able to get around to it yet. Hopefully, this next stint in San Diego will make it a little bit easier :sombrero: Nice picts, looks like TONS of fun!

 

[latinoguy]

very nice

how long was the drive from TJ to Santo tomas? How did the wind treat you at the point? Off shore, side shore, etc?

And were there other campers at the point? The surf pic looks like you were deep to go right, maybe the left works as well. I've never been to Punta San Jose, and would like to explore that area some day soon.

Baja Malibu rocks, love that beach break.

 

[SWbySWesty]

how long was the drive from TJ to Santo tomas? How did the wind treat you at the point? Off shore, side shore, etc?

And were there other campers at the point? The surf pic looks like you were deep to go right, maybe the left works as well. I've never been to Punta San Jose, and would like to explore that area some day soon.

Baja Malibu rocks, love that beach break.

Time: From TJ to Ensenada: 1.5hours, Ensenada to Santo Tomas: 45mins, ST to Punta San Jose: 1hour or so on the dirt road.

Wind: was pretty strong at first, blew the water off the crests to rain on the back. Offshore (heading offshore). Didn't really affect the waves though! Died down in the afternoon.

There's a campsite with an outhouse. We saw another CA truck with 2 surfers, but no campers...we'll camp next time. Good open space to camp right up on the cliff! Beautiful.

We paddled out pretty far to catch the sets, but you could sit inside and get a few more waves. There were some lefts, but that point worked great for rights. I've been told that with the right swell that PSJ will be overhead with crisp barrels :costumed-smiley-007

Lemme know if you got any more questions!

 

[SunMan]

An easy strike from the border for sure...

 

[ChuckB]

Holy Lobster!!!

 

[CalebsXJ]

Awesome Man!

 

[jeepmedic46]

Wow, Thats a lobster. Nice write up and beautiful pics, Thank you for sharing.:smiley_drive:

 

[SWbySWesty]

An easy strike from the border for sure...

You might be the perfect person to ask! I'm a scuba diver and spearfisher. What are the fishing laws down there?

 

[SunMan]

You might be the perfect person to ask! I'm a scuba diver and spearfisher. What are the fishing laws down there?

SWbySWXJ,
No license required fishing from shore, if you're fishing from a kayak or boat a license is required. Licenses are for fin fish only, no crustaceans or mollusks for us gringos.

 

[SWbySWesty]

So I can go grab langostas with no problem any time?

 

[latinoguy]

So I can go grab langostas with no problem any time?

The only problem is that the Langostas are more active during the night, thus the reason divers fish for them at night....:snorkel: :Wow1: