Destination: Cabo - The Long Way

[Aaron&Julie]

Adventurous, indeed!
Take care, and good luck on your trip.

[Mo Betta]

I just checked Daves GPS plot, he is inland and heading towards San Felipe?

Anyone know if his trip has changed to a Sea of Cortez paddle?

[lamb]

sure looks like.

Come to think of it, I don't recall he really specified he was going to paddle down the Pacific side of Baja, or maybe I just missed it?

[dsafety]

Oh-Oh. This does not sound good. My first thoughts are stolen gear. Unless, of course, he decided to navigate the new Encinada to San Felipe Canal.

With all the planning he put into this, what are the chances that he would make such a huge detour. Does he check in by phone with someone from time to time? I sure hope so.

I was not one of the majority that thought this trip was a good idea. Hopefully there is a reasonable explanation and all is well.


Bob

[Margarita Mike]

Was thinking the same thing. I don't believe that he would change his plans last min.

Too much goes into trip planning, to do this.

Anyone have an update?

[Mo Betta]

It can get pretty ugly fast down in that direction, not to mention some safety concerns.

If he is in trouble or needs something brought down Im southbound as soon as I can next week. He has my number but somebody PM me if he has lost it and needs something.

Frank
The Beach Cam lurker

As far as I knew the plan was down the Pacific side..

[tony]

Dont have one myself but....
I'm pretty sure you have to push the OK button to get the OK message(its not automatic) and there is an SOS button on the SPOT messenger also.....
Not 100%....but he should be ok. Hopefully rerouted for a good reason

[bigbarrels]

there has been a lot of south swell and hopefully he is heading to the Cortez side for a easier route Anyone know if he was carrying a satellite phone? I would imagine his family and close friends are aware of his change in plans.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by Mo Betta

I just checked Daves GPS plot, he is inland and heading towards San Felipe? Anyone know if his trip has changed to a Sea of Cortez paddle?

I imagine that when he cleared the point at Punta Banda he ran into some serious rough water with the current south swell. Position seven is in the cove where he'd of taken shelter if that was the case and there is a road out of there he could of used to head across to the Gulf side. Position eight he's on that road just East of Colonial Lazaro Cardenas, and by position nine he's at little cove about five miles south of Puertacitos.


Puretocitos would be a logical place to launch if he switched sides, and the cove would be a good place to stop if he launched there and did not have full day to paddle.

I'd say he's back paddling again by the looks of things.

I hope he realizes what he's now got himself into. The weather on the Pacific side is mild like ours. Weather on the Gulf side is much hotter, with daily temperatures over 100 degrees.

Water is going to be the biggest issue. He's going to need at least twice the drinking water, roughly a minimum of a Gallon a day of clean drinking water. There are some stretches on that side where water is going to be hard to come by, and carrying multiple gallons of water is going to slow him down. I wouldn't want to paddle that trip without a water maker.

The other issue is wind. Though generally calmer he now runs the risk of getting hit by chubascos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtXs1gB2yrs

Personally I wouldn't try that trip on that side this time of year. I think he just set himself up with a much harder trip to get away from some swell.

On the bright side fishing should be fantastic. He's already in Pargo city, and once past Mulege..



It should be wall to wall Dorado, Yellowfin, sails and even Marlin. He's going to see some of the best areas to fish in Mexico if he makes it down OK.

Jim

[Aaron]

How does the spot track work? Do you have to push a button to report your position or is it more like an epirb that reports your position automatically? If its something that you have to do manually to report your position, you can pretty much rule out theft. I'm fairly certain that the thieves are not going to think its a good idea to report their position to the world. But if its an automatic thing, different story.

My (optimistic) guess is that things got a bit rough, he figured that he'd cross and try his luck in the gulf. If things don't work out, he's obviously planned to be off work until September, might as well drive it and fish the hell out of baja!

[buttchaser]

I'm sure Dave is doing fine ..... If he was in any danger he would of not checked in with the Spot messenger .....he would of clicked the Help button.

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102

[Matt]

Ive personally witnessed Dave doing many, many, many things that he shouldn't and he seems to keep proving the theories of Darwin wrong!!!

[dorado50]

I'm surprised he made it past Ensenada Bay. Disappointed he didn't get to SQ.,good fish right now. If its the weather that changed his plan,just think what Guerrero Negro (Turtle Bay) weather is like now. I have called him and left texts many times in the past 24 hrs. but no response. He must be mad at me.. At least he seems to be making progress south...whether by land or sea you can't go wrong..