"Davis, Stephen G FOR:EX" <Stephen.Davis_at_gems4.gov.bc.ca> wrote: >So far I see a few patterns emerging.... bring water, sunscreen and shade, get permits and insurance ahead of time, paddle in the morning, and wear zippered pants to keep the sand out... Here's another one: Do not drive at night. Period. The cows come out like mad, and graze right on the side of the road, or walk right down the middle. Daylight=no cows. Dusk=lots of prime Mexican beef wandering the asphalt pastures. Whacking a cow in the middle of the night will ruin your trip. By no means am I an expert on Baja. Just returned from a week trip to Cabo San Lucas (I'm envious of all the real trips described here--but alas, my wife is a non-kayaker, and a seldom-camper). *sigh* Gotta do what's good for domestic harmony. But, if anyone is considering CSL, I'm open for questions. For most of the personalities here, I don't recommend the place. If you have a spouse who won't go for a "real" Baja trip, consider San Jose del Cabo. And don't expect to find any closed deck kayaks down en los Cabos. All SOT's...so bring a folder if you're taking the airline down. I saw some fantastic paddling opportunites, though. > taking my little pickup down with our own boats. I'm told a piece of chicken wire or hardware cloth can work well for traction/flotation in bottomless sand, but haven't tried it myself. Even if you took it with and didn't use it for getting unstuck, it might make a usable, but rude shrimp or crab trap. shawn __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
At 04:26 PM 2/10/2003 -0800, Shawn Baker wrote: >"Davis, Stephen G FOR:EX" <Stephen.Davis_at_gems4.gov.bc.ca> wrote: >>So far I see a few patterns emerging.... bring water, sunscreen and >shade, get permits and insurance ahead of time, paddle in the morning, >and wear zippered pants to keep the sand out... > >Here's another one: Do not drive at night. Period. >The cows come out like mad, and graze right on the side of the road, or >walk right down the middle. Daylight=no cows. Dusk=lots of prime >Mexican beef wandering the asphalt pastures. Whacking a cow in the >middle of the night will ruin your trip. While driving from California to Colorado in the late 70's I noticed a large object partially in the road up ahead on I-80 a bit west of Salt Lake City. It turned out to be a cow that suffered the same fate as those Mexican nocturnal heifers. A couple of hundred feet past the cow was a full size truck with the front end crushed. I could only imagine what happened to the occupants of that vehicle and it wasn't optomistic. > . And don't expect to find any >closed deck kayaks down en los Cabos. All SOT's...so bring a folder if >you're taking the airline down. That seems to be fairly common in warm water environment especially with outfitters which get a predominantly inexperienced clientele. When I visited Kauai a couple of years ago it took me almost a week before I could find a closed cockpit boat and they refused to rent it to me because the claimed I wouldn't be able to get back in if I capsized. When I told them I'd offer to demonstrate that I could roll it they said there were probably only 5-6 people on the island that could roll. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> . And don't expect to find any > >closed deck kayaks down en los Cabos. All SOT's...so bring a folder if > >you're taking the airline down. > > That seems to be fairly common in warm water environment especially with > outfitters which get a predominantly inexperienced clientele. When I > visited Kauai a couple of years ago it took me almost a week before I could > find a closed cockpit boat and they refused to rent it to me because the > claimed I wouldn't be able to get back in if I capsized. Los-Cabos and Cabo-San-Lucas are mostly hotel strips; in fact it's one strip 30 km long or so. Naturally, they cater for inexperienced hotel clientele that never sat in any kayak before, not to mention any rolls. Smaller towns like Loreto or La PAz must have outfitters with closed cockpit kayaks (likely, plastic ones). Own folding kayak makes a lot of sense for traveller without a camper. 2-3 week kayak rentals may easily cost $600-900, pretty close to purchasing a cheap folder like Folbot Aleut, for ex. And shuttling 2 hardhsell kayaks from La Paz to Loreto - about 5 hours - is both an expense and additional problem to deal with. Not that I'm trying to convert anybody into folders, particularly into Folbot Aleut, although cheap and stable, but likely the slowest folder on the market. Alternatively, there is a discontinued K-light by Feathercraft for $700-900 used ones - closed cockpit, same 12 ft length but not that wide. Should be OK for those who got used to 25" hardshells. And if money isn't a problem (and no train/bus legs of the journey), than costly, heavy and bulky bags with Klepper would be the best bet, IMHO. P.S. I've though of Hawaii too - but kayaking there with ocean tradewinds seems to be more dangerous than in Baja, even on the south coast. Alex. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
--- John Fereira <jaf30_at_cornell.edu> wrote: > they refused to rent it to me because the claimed I wouldn't be able to get back in if I capsized. When I told them I'd offer to demonstrate that I could roll it... Did they let you demonstrate the roll/rent the kayak? I was fully ready to if I had to. I doubt with an attitude like that they keep a paddlefloat around, but one could also demonstrate a cowboy scramble. >they said there were probably only 5-6 people on the island that could roll. I think the ratio of rollers to non-rollers is high only on that big island 2000 miles north of your location! Shawn __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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