Cooking fresh speared fish over a mesquite wood fire on a desolate Baja Mexico beach is one of the greatest things. No roads. No boats (other than ours). Desert overland terrain with a striking transition to the life of reefs in the sea of Cortez. It was a time warp to reefs like they should be. My first thought while diving there was that all the fish were on steroids. Everything was big. Even the angels and damselfish.
I hooked up with some awesome guys and great spearfisherman out of California down in Baja Mexico in mid May. I had been wanting to go to the Pacific side of Mexico for a while. I had thought about a charter out of San Diego, but had the opportunity for this camping/diving trip, so I jumped at the chance.
We enjoyed some great tacos on entry to the country before heading down about 1 hour by boat down the coast. It was a quiet sea, both in terms of waves and lack of boats. Amazing beauty of a desert rugged mountain coastline. We set up camp on a picturesque remote beach with soft white sand to sleep on that had been scoped out by the group leader.
I explored back in the bush one day. Dry desert vegetation and limited wildlife to scorpions, lizards and jackrabbits. It has its own style and beauty. It reminded me of northwest Texas where I lived when I was a young kid. We mostly dove around off-shore islands and a bit of blue water stuff. Every spot was outstanding. Visibility varied from about 30-50 ft. The diving was amazing even from the shore off the camp. We ate like kings - Sashimi yellow tail, parrotfish shish kebab and beer battered pargo.
It all ended too soon. On the way to the airport we stopped at the same taco place. This time with amarillo (yellow) snapper fillets in hand (at the suggestion of one of my companions), that I had speared within the hour. The lady made fish tacos for us with these fillets. This was a real treat.
Back home some family and friends were able to enjoy a bit of my experience by coming over for a bbq of fresh pargo. This had been kept fresh on ice and flown back several thousand miles. It was cooked over chunk wood charcoal and seasoned only with olive oil, fresh pepper and sea salt. A couple of them admitted that they had never had a piece of fish so good. Neither had I.
I hooked up with some awesome guys and great spearfisherman out of California down in Baja Mexico in mid May. I had been wanting to go to the Pacific side of Mexico for a while. I had thought about a charter out of San Diego, but had the opportunity for this camping/diving trip, so I jumped at the chance.
We enjoyed some great tacos on entry to the country before heading down about 1 hour by boat down the coast. It was a quiet sea, both in terms of waves and lack of boats. Amazing beauty of a desert rugged mountain coastline. We set up camp on a picturesque remote beach with soft white sand to sleep on that had been scoped out by the group leader.
I explored back in the bush one day. Dry desert vegetation and limited wildlife to scorpions, lizards and jackrabbits. It has its own style and beauty. It reminded me of northwest Texas where I lived when I was a young kid. We mostly dove around off-shore islands and a bit of blue water stuff. Every spot was outstanding. Visibility varied from about 30-50 ft. The diving was amazing even from the shore off the camp. We ate like kings - Sashimi yellow tail, parrotfish shish kebab and beer battered pargo.
It all ended too soon. On the way to the airport we stopped at the same taco place. This time with amarillo (yellow) snapper fillets in hand (at the suggestion of one of my companions), that I had speared within the hour. The lady made fish tacos for us with these fillets. This was a real treat.
Back home some family and friends were able to enjoy a bit of my experience by coming over for a bbq of fresh pargo. This had been kept fresh on ice and flown back several thousand miles. It was cooked over chunk wood charcoal and seasoned only with olive oil, fresh pepper and sea salt. A couple of them admitted that they had never had a piece of fish so good. Neither had I.
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