The Baja Peninsula stretches southward from the border of California for approximately 800 miles before terminating at Cabo San Lucas and is separated from the rest of Mexico by the Sea of Cortez. Despite its reputation as a parched, barren desert, it is actually a very rich region with numerous distinctive ecosystems ranging from Mediterranean to temperate woodlands in the mountain ranges.
It is also adjacent to several of the most amazing saltwater fishing on the Pacific coast. The kind of fishing obtainable from one of the peninsula’s Mexico beach rental facilities is virtually as varied as the terrain. To be sure, there are lots of deep sea charter trips with experienced guides who will be happy to take you out into the Pacific or the Gulf in search of marlin, mahi-mahi or dolphin, but it’s just as feasible to take a more passive line of attack. Many fishermen who camp out along one of Baja’s unspoiled beaches find it just as fruitfull to set up a fishing pole, a line and some bait and let the fish come to them.
When it comes to low tech fishing, the natives will regularly teach tourists a thing or two. Using nothing other than glass bottle as a float, a lead weight and most any kind of inexpensive hook, area fisherman are able to cast a line a considerable distance into the water from the beach and wind up with some amazing catches.
If you wind up camping beside the Sea of Cortez, you might do this kind of fishing out of necessity given that markets are far apart and travelling over the region’s rustic roads can be a bone jarring experience to say the least. A beach rentals with a sizeable refrigerator and kitchen is enormously convenient so you can store up and not have to make too many trips into town for groceries.
There is another side to Baja fishing and that is the competitive deep sea fishing tournaments that are regularly held out of San Cabo. There are three of these held each year, one of which is toward the end of July and the others which take place around the middle of October. These are serious contests with equally serious prizes. In the 2010 East Cape Tournament, fifty six teams walked away with a total of over $304,000 in prize money, with one top prize of $64,515 going to a fisherman who snagged a nearly 600 pound marlin.
Baja is more than fishing. With some of the most gorgeous, unspoiled beaches on North America’s Pacific Coast, surfing is a popular pastime with visitors and the waves compare quite favorably with those off the coast of Hawaii. Baja ecotourism also include whale watching excursions during the migration season as the California gray whales make their way to and from Alaska. The tour boats get close enough to these huge, but friendly denizens of the deep for people to actually touch them. Baja Ecotours also offers scuba diving tours and photo excursions as well as eco friendly bed and breakfasts that are solar and wind powered.
Wesley Mathews is part of the travel team at FindVacationRentals.com and FindBedandBreakfast.com. These directories provide detailed information on bed breakfasts and things to do.
