Welcome to
East CapeBaja California: 5 Day Fishing, Diving & Quad Desert Trekking
By Tab Hauser
www.tabhauser.com for more stories
For our 11th annual fishing trip we decided to head to Baja California. My research and recommendations received had found it to be an excellent place for fishing, diving and ATV desert trekking. The area on the Baja peninsula we visited was called Eastcape. This is about 1 hour north of Cabo San Lucas airport. This town is also known as Los Barriles. The reason I chose Eastcape was because of its size and location. Eastcape does not have the hustle and bustle of the Cabo San Lucas. At this time there are no main tourist streets lined with T –shirt shops and trinket stores as in Cabo. There are also no people soliciting you for silver chains, shirts or bars. Eastcape has basically 2 streets with a few small supermarkets, 2 mini strip malls, 2 restaurants, a couple of places to rent ATV’s. There are also a few good taco shops. Night life in Eastcape is quiet while Cabo boasts numerous night clubs, disco and other types of entertainment if desired.
Welcome to
East Cape
Check In and Tequila!
The hotel we stated at was called Hotel Palmas de Cortez and is located near the center of the town directly on a beach that goes on for miles. We arrived from New York via Houston at 1:30PM in Cabo. After a 45 minute wait for Customs we were met by a van arranged by the hotel making one stop for couple of “really” good bottles of Tequila. Transfer was $210 round trip for the 6 of us. Our check in at Hotel Palmas de Cortez was quick and we were all assigned rooms with an ocean view having 2 queens and one single bed plus a small refrigerator. My room, number 49 was closest to their meeting / sales office so I was able to get a wireless internet connection. If you need to connect you can bring your computer to the open air thatched roof lobby anytime for free. (Wired connections have to be done in the sales office when it is open and if the wire if available.)
With the check in behind us and our 6 rooms assigned we changed to bathing suits and met on the patio of one of the rooms to sample our prized Tequilas. When you mention Tequila many people say they do not like the stuff. I was in this category of people until several years ago. The reason I did not like Tequila was because the only stuff I ever tasted was the cheap stuff equal or similar a bottle of Jose Cuervo. This was because most bars I went to in college only served this brand. It was only the last several years did I learn about the difference in aging and quality in this potent brew. For instance the reason people used salt and lime on a shot Tequila was usually to either burry the harsh taste or give it some taste. On our arrival we purchased two premium and aged brands.
One was “1942” at $120 and the other, an excellent brand, “Tres Generaciones” at $48. One does not “slam” down a shot of these with salt and lime. One simply puts them in a tall shooter or sifter and sips them slowly. Our opinion was that the 1942 went down nice an easy and had a good taste. The Tres had very good taste also but was not as smooth as the 1941 but well worth it for half the price of the other. (another excellent Tequila I would recommend is Don Julio’s Anejo) The rest of the afternoon was spent at the pool bar talking about fishing, diving, ATV’ing. Some in our group were arranging massages for the next few days as well. At the swim up bar we used our coupon for a free margarita and called if for some tacos as the kitchen for some reason does not do afternoon snacks.
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1942 Tequila On Arrival
We were not fans of the “house” margarita so I asked bar tender make a special one. This include using a premium brand of Tequila called “1800” as well as putting a Gran Marnier floater on top. (We believe good liquor makes a better mixed drink) After confirming our 3 super panga fishing boats and our on board lunch the next day we headed into the dinner. (more on the food here later on).
Fishing Days
After breakfast on our first morning we walked to the fishing dock at 7AM and watched the sunrise while waiting for our boats to pull up to the docks to collect us and our lunch coolers. Eastcape rush hour consists of boats engines idling just off the dock while the fishing manager calls out the names of the fisherman to the name of the boat they are matched with. Besides the fisherman waiting in anticipation of the day there are local men looking to see if there are extra jobs as mates on some of the boats. There is a lot of comings and goings with staff to the background sound of diesel engines coming and going. All of this takes place in about a 30 minute window. On our first day we elected to charter the lower cost super pangas. These are open boats perhaps 27 feet long with awnings that fit two fishermen comfortably. The next day we chartered 2 cruisers. The cruisers are 35 feet, come with a mate, have a head and are more comfortable than the pangas. We had 3 guys fish for each cruiser while we did 2 men per panga. The cruisers can go 40 miles off shore for tuna while the pangas usually stay closer in for marlin, sail fish or near shore fishing. One thing all boats do here is pull away from the dock and cruise about 100 yards to a bait boat where two men sell you five 10 inch long mackerels or similar for $10.
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Sunrise Fishing Day 1 The Guys East Cape AM Rush Hour
Like most of the pangas today, ours went out about 10 or 15 miles trolling for marlins or sail fish. Trolling may not be the proper word for this type of fishing. While we were trolling with 3 rods having lures not far behind the boat, the captain kept a fourth rod on the stern with nothing but a hook on it. The reason for this is because going for marlin is more like hunting. You go up and down the Sea of Cortez until you see a dorsal fin and back fin just sticking out of the water. When one is spotted a series of events takes place when on a panga. Here the captain slows the boat down, grabs a fish from the bait well while one of the other fisherman takes the wheel following his directions closely. The captain then throws the live bait as close to the marlin as possible and hands the rod to whomever’s turn it is to catch a fish. In my case the marlin hit right away and I was in for a 10 minute fight until it broke lose and got away. From 8AM until about noon we spotted 5 more marlin but my fishing buddy on board did not have the same luck as I did. Each time the marlin elected to disappear into the deep passing on the bait fish. Around 1PM we decided to do to a little close to shore trolling and called it quits a little after 2PM when there was nothing bighting. One other panga in our group did get lucky and caught both a marlin and a sail fish. The third panga had a horrible captain that did not bother to hook up the live bait and just elected to circle around. (If you go pass on Captain Lobo as his technique seemed lazy compared to the other panga captains) While none of our group had a great day of fishing (which is why it is called fishing and not catching) we did make a toast by the pool to smooth seas and to the fish we will catch tomorrow. (They say a bad day of fishing can be better than a good day at work). For dinner that night we elected to pass on the hotel food and hit El Tio’s just done the street from Palmas de Cortez. El Tio offers a nice selection of Mexican food and steaks at reasonable prices. When we were there it was karaoke night and we were glad to have been seated outside the main dining area. (While I give credit for those that have the courage or too much Tequila to karaoke, I sometimes wish they wouldn’t when they start singing. Some of the singing bordered on horrible).
Saturday Morning rush hour was a repeat of the day before but this time there was no sunrise due to hazy skies. Today our group of six split into two cruisers and left on a a sea of glass. The boats charted today were the “J & B” and the “Fresh Catch”. Both of these boat captains had good reputations and were booked 6 months in advance because of this. Both boats headed out to catch tuna. Ours boat, Fresh Catch, went straight east and then north looking for pods of porpoises. The other boat headed east and then north. In less than 90 minutes we were fishing about 35 miles off the coast in the middle of perhaps 50 porpoises jumping all around us as well as swimming on our bow.
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Beautiful shot of 2 exhaling Swimming almost Splashing & Single Whale Whale Pod Sea Lion
off while bow running with in Arms Reach Jumping Swan Under Boat Waving At Us
The first tuna struck with in 15 minutes and kept hitting at a 3 or 4 per hour. At one time we had what is called a “triple”. This is where the three of us had one hook up a fish at the same time. In an effort to be conservation friendly we kept only what we wanted for dinner that night as well as one for the captain and mate. One fish that put on an amazing fight was a dorado of about 20 pounds. Once this fished was hooked it took about 15 minutes to reel in. Dorado, or mahi-mahi as they are called are a very colorful fish with a large skull. We decided to keep this one because of the incredible taste that fresh mahi –mahi has. With our feel for now catching tuna over we decided to hunt for marlin and sailfish. This brought us with in a dozen miles of shore and having all eyes looking out for the fish on the surface. Soon after we started trolling a fin was spotted on the surface. Immediately the mate baited a mackerel and quickly threw it in the direction of the fins. As soon as the bait was in the water I took the rod to set it myself in the event I was lucky. With in 30 seconds the fin turned around and hit my bait in which I gave 2 hard pulls on the rod setting the hook and holding on for the ensuing fight. Fighting a large fish like this requires time, patience and stamina on the fisherman. It is series of pulling the rod up to bring it in and keeping and then reeling it in fast as you can when you lower the tip. All this needs to be done while keeping the pressure on fishing line so the fish does not wiggle free. The reason for patience and endurance is because just when you thought you tired the fish out and had brought it close to the boat, it may take off again at high speeds taking out another 50 to 100 yards of line out again there by starting the fighting process all over the again. After fighting the fish for almost 15 minutes it tired and the captain and mate brought in on board for a very fast photo opp.
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Gary Krellenstein
Me
Ken Steinberg Sailfish & Marlin Getting Air Brian Cohen Kevin Hecker Mike Erhlich & Dorado
After the picture we released this beautiful creature and watched it swim slowly away. The above event was repeated about an hour later as Mike hooked up a marlin and spent almost 20 minutes bringing it in. He gave it a valiant fight but noticed the line going limp after he reeled it in a third time. When he pulled the line in we noticed it ripped where the hook was tied to the line. It seems fishing line fatigue and got the best of him. Rather than be upset at not catching the fish we claimed victory at having such a chance and knowing the fish will be OK in a couple of days when the hook dissolves out its mouth. We chased a couple of more fish for another hour or so but had no luck in hooking them so it was we set sail back to the hotel dock.
On the way to the dock the mate cut and filleted the fish. We decided to have one tuna made as sashimi as an appetizer and then have the dorado and rest of the tuna cooked 4 different ways for dinner. The sashimi was prepared with a soy wasabi sauce on the side and was served at the bar during happy hour. Having sashimi that is only a few hours old is an incredible eating experience. For dinner we asked that the dorado be cooked two ways. One was to fry it the way we eat our shore lunches on our fishing trips up north. The other was to broil it with a lime-Tequila sauce. The staff at Hotel de Palma cooked our tuna two ways. One was over the fire and the other was on the grill. As a bonus they took some dorado and made a cerviche out of it. There was more than enough fish for the six of us and we were happy to share the leftovers with other guests and staff.
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Pelican up close Flying Our Flags Tuna Sashimi Hours Old
with out zoom! of Fish Caught & Released
Diving, Desert and Cabo
Sunday was our first dive day. As we charted the boat for the six of us in advance we requested Vista Sea Sport (www.vistaseasport.com veasport@aol.com) to show up at 7:30 rather than 7 in the morning giving us all a little extra sleep. Ash Pickering, a dive master from Australia and a boat captain who was also a local dive master picked us up and took us to the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park. The ride out took about 50 minutes and the seas were calm. At the dive sight he and the captain attached our equipment and passed out the 5mm suits needed this time of the year. Our first dive was called El Bajo. This was a 60 foot maximum dive with many coral heads, fans and an especially good fish life. At first we were met at the bottom where a guitar fish simply hung out with us as people were getting acclimated to being in the water. The 5mm suit just barely kept us warm water divers comfortable. The warm thermo climes we would occasional swim into were very visible and more important, very welcomed.
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Bumphead Parrot Fish Beautiful Fish Life Blue Trigger
Angel Nudibranc Bumphead close Nice Spots on this guy
Sea Lions During Surface Interval Guitar Fish Intruders to the deep
The mandatory surface interval between dives was spent adjacent to a sea lion colony. Here a dozen sea lions call the rocks just off shore their home. When the dive boat got to with in 30 feet of the rock we jumped of with only snorkel gear to watch them swim around us. I recommend anyone diving in this area to tell your dive master to do the same rather than wait for the allotted time between dives on the boat.
Sea Lions catching some rays just off shore
After our snorkel we were briefed on El Islote our next sight and advised that bottom was between 40 and 60 feet.. On our second dive the fish life was not as good but the lava rock formations made for an interesting swim. All in all we were pleased with Ash and the morning. What we were not crazy about was the size of the boat for the 6 of us. We were cramped and had literally no place to store our gear whether rigged up or not. All the tanks were in the bow and when the BCD and air takes were passed out they had to stay on the floor at our feet. The boat could have used another foot on each side of the seats to hold the air tank and BCD in place giving us more room. Ash said to help make more room they were thinking of cutting the seat backs in such a way that would push the backs closer to each other allowing more room at our feet. A dive boat this size is good for short 10 or 20 minute hops. For 50 minute rides a little more room would be great. It would be a good boat for having less than 8 on board as well.
That afternoon we arranged to be guided on an ATV tour. (Also know as a quad.) Quads are the open vehicles that can handle most terrain because of the tires and clearance. There are two places in town where one can arrange these tours. The price normally goes for about $60 for a guided 3 hour tour. The guide took us into the mountains and through a nearly dry river bed that lead us to a pretty stream and a waterfall with a pool. From there we went down the river bed until it turned into a dry wash where were able to open the throttle and race up and down them. The tour was excellent and would have been only possible on our own with a good map and a GPS unit. We only had one incident in which one machine kept stalling midway into our trip. To fix the problem we removed a very dirty and clogged air filter. I have been carrying my custom made Tane Alarm multi-tool and have been picked on for having it with me. The Tane multi-tool has a pull out flashlight, corkscrew, knife, pliers, cutters and fortunately in this case a Phillips screw driver that did the trick. One of my fishing buddies told me he now has to take one when he crosses the Atlantic in good jest. Anyway, I recommend you spend at least 3 fun hours on the dusty trail doing the mountain and waterfalls tour.
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Running through Desert In a Wash As the Oasis Ken Desert Rats
Slope Down Low Gear Ken Climbing Up Bad Brian on the Trail
Monday was our “free day” as decided in advance that on this day we would not plan anything in advance. With this in mind the night before Brian and Kevin decided they were going to go to Cabo to go golfing at one “the” premium golf courses. They decided to play two courses and stay at one of the 5 star resorts near by. Ken and Mike decided have a go at half a day of fishing reasoning that the marlin stop appearing after around 12 anyway. Gary and I got a couple of quads on our own at 9:30 and explored north of the hotel. Our quad ride took us on the paved main road passed a couple of washes where we missed our turn off on the dirt road that goes adjacent to the beach. Gary said he did not regret missing the turn off because it was probably as close to being on a motorcycle on the open road as either of us will get. Being that our hand drawn map lacked scale or mileage we stopped at a construction sight and then again asked a man taking a walk up a dry wash where were. With their help we followed the road up and down the mountain until we saw a dry wash from the top of the mountain in the valley below leading out to the ocean where we made a left and headed north until we hit a remote hotel on a great beach for snorkeling. At the hotel we decided one drink at the bar was in order. Here we were, two real men coated with trail dirt sitting down and have a manly pina-coloda before heading back on our ride south to Eastcape. The beach road was a scenic ride occasionally climbing steeply and then descending to the beach. (note: riding on the beach is against the law and not very good for the turtles when they lay their eggs.)
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Gary over looking Sea Finding Dry Wash to Ocean Buzzards on Cactus Gary with Toys
Gary and I returned to Hotel de Palma about the same time as Mike and Ken got back from fishing. They had a quiet day with only a few small fish caught. From the hotel we walked to a highly recommend taco shop called El Viejo. El Viejo we heard was written up in a magazine as one the best taco shops in Baja. After ordering shrimp, fish, clam, chicken and beef tacos we could not agree more. The tacos there come in either a flour or corn tortilla with the meat or fish sitting on top of it. What makes the place special is the dozen or so condiments, salsas or sauces you self serve to put on them. Price for 9 tacos and 4 coronas was about $20.
(By the way, the coronas really do taste better here than in the States)
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Three Different Tacos w/o sauces Nice Serving Table In Front of El Viejo
The one plan all of us had this “free day” was to meet in Cabo San Lucas for dinner. The four of us here hired a van to take us to Cabo to walk around town and meet at Cabo Wabo for drinks before going to dinner somewhere. We hired a van for 10 hours at a cost of $200. (With hind sight being 20-20 I should have rented a car for $80 as our driver was really slow and the route was pretty easy) The van dropped us off at the large marina in Cabo because we wanted to get a boat to see the famous arch just at the end of the harbor. With no speed boat available to rent we took a water taxi for $10 each and had the grand tour of the arch which included “marriage beach”, the arch, scubby-doo rock as well as seal and bird colonies. The captain narrated the points of interest while we took lots of pictures. After our tour we hit a few trinket and T-shirt shops before having an only average margarita in Cabo Wabo. Unimpressed with the drinks and the lack of snacks one can’t get at the bar area we left and headed to the entrance area of Cabo Wabo. Before you walk into Cabo Wabo you pass a few stores and separately owned places to eat and drink there. Just to the right of the entrance we found the beer cold as well as the excellent chicken nachos. While the bar at Cabo Wabo was not worth visiting, there night club looks like a great place to party after 10PM. With the arrival of Kevin and Brian from the golf course and another round of beers we headed to dinner at a place called El Coral on Hildalgo y Blvd Marina. The food there was mainly seafood. Hits were the seafood platter for two and the large whole snapper. After dinner here we hit another club and hung out for an hour leaving Kevin and Brian in Cabo to fend for themselves while we took the nearly 90 minute ride back to Palmas de Cortez.
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End of Cabo Harbor Pacific Ocean Pirates Cave 4 Caberellos Cabo End Scubby Doo Rock
into Sea of Cortez
Interesting Rocks Crasher in Pacific Local Sea Food w large Snapper "Zoom-Zoom Krell"
Tuesday was our last day. We decided to do another two tank dive in the AM and then do nothing that afternoon but hang out at the pool. With Mike having some breathing problems Gary, Ken & I made our way to the dive boat at the dock. We were met by the Ash, the captain and Ash’s girlfriend who was also a dive instructor. While we missed Mike, Brian and Kevin we did find the dive boat a lot more comfortable. In talking about dive sights with Ash, we asked to go back to El Bajo simply because it was so big and diverse with lots of fish live. After donning our gear we noticed immediately the water temperatures were colder with no warm spots that we had two days earlier. Fish life was excellent with many different types ranging in all sizes. It was here that we spotted a 3 inch long nudibranc. It had a black body with bright yellow spots crawling between 2 rock formations in a tight area making it difficult to get a good shot of it.
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Ken Eel Angel Puffer Nudibranc School Grouper
Gary Me
Our second dive just a few minutes ride from where we were saw more large bump
head parrot fish, large eels, lobster that were not shy for the camera as well
as some 2 foot long trigger fish. What was very noticeable about this dive was
the water temperature. It seemed to have gotten colder. Gary’s digital watch
hit a low of 69 degrees. With about 700 pounds of air left in my tank and a
shiver starting to kick in I called it quits and went up to the boat. One thing
that had changed was the surface conditions. There was a small chop in the
water and the ride back was a bit bumpy. Vista Sea Sports dives list for $110
for two tanks. While I mentioned earlier his boats are small, they did say
everyone in the area uses the same size types. Vista Sea Sports boats look
fairly new and had a strong 75HP motor to haul you to and from the sights. They
also run snorkel trips. For those that like warmer waters, we were advised to
come back in the summer where it can reach the upper 80’s. All in all they got
a good rating with our group.
That afternoon we had lunch at the hotel of cold vegetarian tostados. This was followed up by a cocktail and a nap at the pool for Gary and I while Mike and Ken headed off to the near by Hotel Buena Vista for 90 minute massages. Just before 6PM Mike and Ken appeared as well as Kevin and Brian shortly afterwards. Ash our dive master and his girl friend Marcela came by to give Ken a hat and we all headed to the bar for another round before having dinner. That night we viewed pictures and shared down loads from each others cameras for me to edit to a DVD.
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From Hotel Gardens (w/ macro) Views of the pool with swim up bar area
Baja Map last 1/2 shots of 1492
(we are on bottom right
Wednesday we checked out at 10AM and headed home with out incident other than Continental delaying us about an hour. For next year we are talking about heading back up to Northern Manitoba or other parts in Northern Canada for Pike and Trout fishing. The disadvantage here is that we would not be diving or doing other activities other than fishing for a few different species. The advantage of this kind of fishing is that it is very active verse sitting on a boat and trolling. When we fish in Canada we constantly cast into the weeds and shallows looking for the next monster pike or trout around the bend.
Tab Hauser, Ken Steinberg, Mike Ehrlich, Kevin Hecker, Brian Cohen & Gary Krellenstein
holdings the flags of the fish they caught. We are happy to support catch & release on all bill fish.
(The dorado and 4 tunas just taste too good to let go)
Some Details If You Go
Hotel Palmas de Cortez in East Cape is a very nice place. The rates on our visit were $90 for a room with one person in it. This rate included 3 meals. The food here is OK to good. Breakfasts was always cooked to order eggs, omelets, pancakes, toast and fresh fruit. If you go fishing you could order fried chicken, meat tortillas (a little dry for my taste) or a ham and cheese sandwich to have delivered to the dock. It also comes with a hard boiled egg and cookies. Lunch at the hotel was adequate. One day we had a choice of grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetable chopped suey (we can’t figure out this choice). Another day we had only cold vegetarian tostados. Dinner most nights was not a choice. One night we had a baby back ribs which were good. The portions were average but they allowed seconds so you will not go hungry. Dinner was served with soup and salad as well as a home made desert. There was a “Mexican” night that looked good but we had our caught fish that night so we did not sample too much from it. The seafood buffet night was actually pretty good. The last night we had the baked filet mignon that tasted like banquet food. It was not bad, but not exceptional. The hotel did an excellent job cooking our fish for us. When I asked if there was a charge for this I was advised there was not but a tip would be nice. We were happy to comply as it was cooked so well. The serving staff through out our visit was courteous. We found the rate of the room including the hotel was a fair value. Food plans at the deluxe hotels in Cabo will be more than twice these prices but there will be more of a gourmet selection. Our group found the bar drinks reasonably priced with beers at $2.00 and premium margaritas at $5 to $6 depending on how fancy your Tequila is. The bar staff was friendly and humored me by allowing me to direct them on how to make my smooth margaritas to the guys in my group. This was later known as the "Tab Margarita" to save time. (For those curious, use one full shot 1800 tequila or similar quality, ½ shot or so of their version of triple sec, 2 ½ fresh squeezed lemons, ½ shot or so of their sugar syrup all poured over ice with a gran marnier floater.) The concierge / manager was very friendly wanting to help us all the time with what ever activity we needed. He gave us the VIP rate on some activities due to us our sitting through a time share pitch. As for the hotel, the grounds were kept nice. The pool was a nice center piece for the hotel but the water for some reason was a touch chilly for my taste. Their was a swim up bar section as well as built in lounge areas in the water with a fountain in the center. The hotel also had a large hot tub and a second pool on the grounds that was under re-construction when we were there. If you are taking a business group here there are in door and out door facilities to host meetings. DSL connection was available at no cost which I thought was a nice touch and worked well.
