I had heard of a good surf spot in San Juanico, very close to a good anchorage, about halfway between Turtle bay and Cabo San Lucas. When planning our route with Aaron and Meli, I made sure early on that they were okay with making a little diversion and pit stop on our run down the coast. I did get pretty excited in the months leading up to our departure for the opportunity to visit this spot. And while I’d love to tell you we got pitted in some double overhead barrels, the waves were quite small when we arrived. Ironically after motor-sailing without wind for dozens of hours, the wind picked up to about 18 knots as soon as we dropped anchor. At least it was offshore. I was questioning whether or not it was worth it to go through the labor-intensive process of getting out the dinghy in these conditions. But Aaron said I didn’t have a choice. After all the hype I ginned up, I would always regret not having surfed San Juanico. Besides, we needed to get the dinghy out and make sure it worked.
Fair enough. It’s was good to go through the process of getting the dinghy set up with Aaron. He had several tricks that I didn’t know to make the process easier. He helped make a bridle to keep it level as we lifted it up over the lifelines and gave me some help winching our heavy outboard out of the lazarette. The engine fired up first pull but quickly died when I didn’t give it gas. I took a rip around the bay with the throttle pretty far open and by the time I got back it would idle no problem. Game on.
Meli and Emily wanted to paddle board so I took them up near the waves, upwind from our anchorage, and dropped them off before heading back to Bravo. We threw the surf boards in the dinghy and Aaron took Brooke and I back to the lineup. The lineup was somewhat sheltered. The water was beautiful and clear. The waves were tiny and you could stand in the lineup. There was a couple there learning to surf, and Argentinian guy with dreadlocks and his girlfriend from Italy. They had driven to San Juanico as part of a multiyear road trip in which they had gone up to the US from Argentina and were slowly making their way back down. As the Argentinian was sharing his story, a small set came in and I interrupted him, “sorrry there’s a wave.” I caught the wave and got a tiny ride, enjoying the fact the water was so clear I could see the bottom the whole time. Then I was hooked.
We spent a couple hours catching waves switching off between surfboards and paddle boards, and everyone got some rides. This was the first time we got to surf with the paddle boards. Suddenly lugging the 10’-6” boards thousands of miles was justified. We had a couple wipeouts, but it was so tame it was all good fun.
As the sun started going down we headed back to Bravo. Aaron opened up a bottle of vino and I thanked him…for the wine and convincing me to surf San Juanico. It was a blast and I will never forget the clear waters and smiling faces from the Bravo crew.
Until next time….
Bravo out.
Sailing on SV Bravo 