My annual Baja, Calif. trip --

Part one: The travel

By Bruce Ajari


What has become an annual trip to Baja, Calif., was delayed a couple of monthsthis year. Instead of going in the spring in April as we had done last year thegroup of anglers who I was going with settled on a date in June.
Our destination was an area of the Sea of Cortez called the East Cape. This islegendary fishing area made famous by Zane Grey and Ernest Hemmingway. The resortwhere we stay is Rancho Leonero a small hotel that is located about an hour toan hour and a half northeast from the airport at San Jose del Cabo. It is locatedoff of Mexican 1, Baja’s main road. You get there by taking a dirt roadabout seven miles to the oceanfront location.

Once at Rancho Leonero, you will be greeted by a warm and friendly staff. I noticedthat the staff was the same that was there last year so turnover is apparentlynot a problem. Getting to know the staff is very easy. They are all so helpfuland friendly.

Because there was a tournament going on during our stay, the only rooms thatwere available were the more expensive bungalows. This made our trip a bit moreexpensive, but the rooms were well worth the extra cost. Each bungalow has aprivate covered porch area with a peek view of the Sea of Cortez and is a perfectplace to get together to rig up your gear or to have a drink and relax
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At the resort, your room cost includes three meals a day. The meals are verygood. We had some of the best Mexican food any of us had experienced. The staffwill also prepare fish that you catch and serve it if you give them some advancepreparation time. We had them make ceviche, and grill up various other fishesduring our stay. This was all terrific as well. The weather during our trip waspretty warm. It never seemed to get below the mid 70s at night even with theair conditioning on in the room. Daytime temperatures were mostly in the 90salthough we had a couple of days in the 100s. These temperatures felt prettygood with the cooler temperatures that we had been experiencing prior to ourdeparture from Tahoe.

We caught a flight out of Sacramento on Mexicana Airlines. We flew Frontier lastyear and it was a great flight, however, Frontier cut the service to Cabo SanLucas so we were forced to go elsewhere. We were a bit concerned with all ofthe additional costs being levied by other airlines that we would show up atthe airport and be hit with additional charges. As it turned out, the only changewas in the amount of baggage that we could bring. We were originally told thatwe could bring two bags at 60 pounds each, and this was later changed to 50 poundsper bag. For a week trip, this was no problem. Both of my bags were way underthis weight restriction. The others had no problem either.

The leg room on the flight down was not as good as that on Frontier’s flightthe previous year, but we did get an in flight meal and the open bar was niceif you are so inclined. All in all, it was a good flight that only takes aroundthree hours from Sacramento. I checked through two bags and carried on my reelbag and two of my fly rods. One of my friends carried on my other two fly rods.Since these represent my largest investment, I did not want to risk losing them.I would suggest bringing travel rods in either a three-or four-piece model. Thefour piece ones certainly make things easier. You will pay a premium for theserods, but the extra cost is well worth it if you travel much for fishing
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Next week, I will get into the fishing itself and the varied catch. It was certainlyour best trip we have had to this destination.

Bruce Ajari is a Truckee fisherman.