Got info for a trip to Baja fj60 build?

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funny: I'm sitting in beautiful tropical Tamarindo, offshore breezes, listening to parakeets outside my door and I'm thinking "Can't wait to go back to Baja soon". :)

First I've got to drive all the dang way *up* there.
 
Yep! :)
Wife is already there, I'm driving up as soon as I fix the lawyer's mistake on my vehicle registration... 3 weeks?

1tontoy said:
You moving back to Cali?
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[hijack]
Costa Rica is wonderful. I own a beautiful 3br/3.5 ba house with a nice yard, pool, carport and ocean view for less than it will cost me to rent a crappy 2br/1ba apartment in the Bay Area.

But our family lives in California, so do many good friends. Being thousands of miles away from that turns out to be more of a drag than the other tradeoffs involved. Such is life. California is a pretty nice place, too... there is more to life than surfing and sunsets.
 
I hear ya...At least you guys did it and have gained the perspective you describe. I love Central America, but Cali is pretty freakin awesome, too.

If you need a place to crash, food, and a cold Stone IPA on your way up, I'm right off I-5 in SD near PB In/out Burger. Invitation is open....

:cheers:

[sorry to hijack]


sandcruiser said:
[hijack]
Costa Rica is wonderful. I own a beautiful 3br/3.5 ba house with a nice yard, pool, carport and ocean view for less than it will cost me to rent a crappy 2br/1ba apartment in the Bay Area.

But our family lives in California, so do many good friends. Being thousands of miles away from that turns out to be more of a drag than the other tradeoffs involved. Such is life. California is a pretty nice place, too... there is more to life than surfing and sunsets.
Click to expand...
 
not planning to hit SD (yet) but the thought of a Stone IPA *is* tempting.

Ok, sorry. Hijack over.
 
Its not a hijack in my book if it has to do with wheelin or surfin;)
I feel ya on the family thing though. But...more to life than surfing and sunsets? Just family, friends and sunrises:D What more do you need?
 
now that you mention it, the sunrises here are also beautiful.

I barely know my 3yr old nephew. That's not okay for me. I thought it was. It isn't.

Hence the move (among some other reasons). Besides, there is surf in a lot of places.
 
It is going to take some doing to get me into the water in Santa Cruz/San Francisco. I get cold here this time of year when the water drops to the low 70s (and windy).

I keep hearing about great strides in wetsuit technology, I'll hope for the best

ps: another tip on the 60 baja trip: I've seen a couple of people sling boards inside the vehicle, on ropes, from the grab handles. You've got to pull the fins, but it gets the boards out of harm's way and much harder to pilfer than on a roof rack. Probably not a perfect solution, but could work well for the parts of your quiver that aren't getting used as much. Just be sure to have some kind of stop at the front and rear.

and: if you are taking a wetsuit of any sort, a huge bonus is a heavy hanger and a pole that you can hang the suit off of your roof rack. Nobody loves 5-day old moist and sweaty neoprene baking in a hot car.
 
Ive got a 3 year old xcel 4/3 and i surf year round up here. Water temp ranges from 45-49 year round. Keeps me nice and toasty. But i gotta wear a hood, boots and gloves mid winter, then lose the hood in late winter, then no gloves late spring, then lose the boots on hot august days. Winter time up here means, small crowds, offshore and big :)

Good tip on the boards, i like being able to lockem up.
 
Welcome back to SF- hopefully by way of Baja Cal

Sandcruiser,
I am from originally from HI and hate the cold water, that having been said, I have been living and surfing in SF for 20 yrs. Buy a 5-4-3 for the real winter, the rest of the year (which is largely like winter) a 4-3 will get you through. Surfing OB in anything less than a hooded 5-4-3 on a big day in Feb is miserable. I wore a 4-3 year round for years and regret not getting the heavier suit sooner. Especially if you are always cold like I am. Surfing around here can be fun, I have had good solid days that rival anything back home surf-wise, I shape boards here blocks from Union Square and have a bunch of friends that I surf with- some even from small kid days back home. Water temp is another story though....

Below is OB on an incredible day last November, got the mini-gun out which is always nice. Yes that is someone taking off right- so clean and hollow, not a terrible paddle either.
_EPS0067.webp
 
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thanks for the surf tips!

OB in Feb probably ain't gonna happen for me. If I'm going to be that cold, I'd rather go skiing/snowboarding, I think.

But time will tell!
 
Feel free to look me up when you get to town, send a PM when you get a chance and I'll send the contact info. And don't discount winter OB- it is as good as it gets often! May have some questions about CR- is your job open?!
Jeff
 
Allot of great advice in this thread. I always carried 2 spares, and 10 gal. of gas, but I was often 100 miles from the nearest paved road.
I never camped near the larger towns, that's where the majority of ripoffs take place. IE. Colonet camalu, (Shipwrecks and quattros) avoid the beach areas just south of San Quintin. those three spots are the only place I have ever heard of ripoffs in over 20 years of travelling the peninsula. bassicly the farther you go offroad, the nicer the people you meet.
I would just skip the far north, and start looking for places south of El rosario.
If you are going to venture to some of the really remote spots on the pacific you really want to have more than one vehicle. Ive done it by myself but always felt more secure with other vehicles along.
At the checkpoints a little espanol goes a long way, and dont leave a bunch of expensive stuff visible. the majority of these army kids are fresh from the country, and they mostly just want to check out all the cool s**t that gringos bring with them.
I always brought stuff to trade with the fisherman (surf tshirts, anything with the Toyota logo on it, childrens clothes, canned gringo food, fishing lures etc etc.) that and a friendly attitude can get you mucho langostas
take it slow, and keep a good attitude and you will have the time of your life:)
 
hawaiicruz said:
Good luck...once the tropics get under your skin it's hard to go back to crowds, wetsuits, traffic etc.
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but easy to go back to phones that work, roads that work, garbage collection that comes on time, mail that works, UPS (oh, dear god how I look forward to UPS), electricity that is more than 50% likely to work uninterrupted for the *whole day*, *every day*.... and concerts by bands that you know and love. Those are some nice perquisites. Like anything in life, it is all a balance. there is both good and bad.
 
You said it, it's all about balance and trade offs in life. the big island is allot like a third world country, but you can spend dollars lol, but I do miss family and friends, and good mexican food, and innout burger, and baja, and borrego, and snow etc. etc.
 
Aarrrrggghhhhh!

Just so you guys know...

:flipoff2::flipoff2::flipoff2:

I am here in Colorado and due to job poop don't know when I'm getting back to Encinitas for some surfing and, and ... just everything. I've been toying with the idea of moving and this thread has been making me smile and smile harder when I think about moving there....

Thanks, for real! Thanks.

and

:flipoff2:

Hope to see you guys in the lineup sometime... but not too often!

P.S. I'm subscribing for when I finally get my rig ready and am back in SoCal.
 
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