La Ventana - winter kiteboarding trip

13 days and counting! That's right, Becky and I are headed to La Ventana in Baja Mexico.

http://www.bestoflaventana.com/

La Ventana is a little fishing village on the Baja peninsula about 30 miles SE of La Paz, and about 80 miles NE of Cabo. It is located on the Sea of Cortez, which is also known as the "world's aquarium".

http://www.bestoflaventana.com/images/bajamap.JPG

La Ventana has been known since the 80's as a winter Mecca for windsurfers, and over the last 8 or 9 years the kiteboarding community has adopted and virtually taken it over during the winter months. There are still windsurfers, but a large majority of the travelers are now nu skool dangleboarders instead of old skool poleboarders;)

Here is a description of winter weather in La Ventana from a website for Palapas Ventana, a local resort (http://www.palapasventana.com/default.aspx) that offers fishing tours, spearfishing tours, kiteboard instruction, as well as a bunch of cool info on other things to do while vacationing there:

Between November and April, you won’t find more consistent winds than in Ventana Bay. The wind direction is side/on shore, and the curve of the La Ventana Bay creates a lee shore which offers a catch-all for downwind drifters. Our strongest wind is the “El Norte” which can blow for several days straight, and create some incredibly fun waves on the reef in front of Palapas Ventana.

Launch your kite right off our beach into the best wind zone on the bay. You’ll launch on a port tack and fly directly to the un-crowded spacious outside waters and encounter ramps to satisfy your air addiction. There is always help available for launching and landing. Power up and enjoy incredible kiting on our turquoise water with Isla Cerralvo in the background.

Expect wind speeds of 17 – 25 mph with El Norte days in excess of 30 mph. There are relatively few days a month that are not kiteable. Bring kites ranging from 7.0 to 15 m2.

 At the top of the blog is a picture of the Bay with the Isla Cerralvo in the background during the sunrise.

And this is what the bay looks like during the afternoon between 11am and 5pm, and for the most part this is what it looks like daily.

I get almost giddy just writing this post. Man O man, I can not wait! This winter in Seattle has been especially hard for me. I have lived in WA all my life and you would think that I would be used to the cold and dark, day after day, all winter long...but I tell you I am getting old and tired of the cold. It seriously makes me depressed. I get up in the dark, go to work in the dark, then get off work and guess what...yep, you guessed it, it is dark outside!  So it's either get a light box to combat the dark and depression...or head to somewhere warm and kiteboard my butt off.  Not that hard of decision!

I guess that is one major reason Becky and I are trying to make our dreams come true. Combining a sport we absolutely love, with moving to somewhere that can only be described as paradise. Warm weather, warm water, kiteboarding daily....yep, sounds like paradise.

And learning this sport gives us the excuse to take a vacation to places like La Ventana to practice our skillz and work towards our goal. Not to mention, we get to hang with a bunch of cool people. For one, almost all kiteboarders can be summed up in one word "Awesome"! Seriously, we have found the kiting community to be super friendly and helpful, and just genuinely some of the nicest people around. Add to this the fact that we are heading to La Ventana as part of the 7th annual PSKITE La Ventana trip.

PSKITE (http://pskite.org/index.php) is the local kiteboarding organization and message board for kiters that call Puget Sound home. About 40 pskiters are all heading down together, and for the most part staying at the same place, Casa Verde. http://www.bajmahal.com/

Casa Verde is right on the ocean in "green". The owner is David Webb, who has been a pleasure to work with when booking and planning our stay. The place comes highly recommended, although there are several similar places to stay.

We will be staying in two different units. A pretty basic unit for a few days, then finishing up our trip with 4 nights in Elena (http://www.bajmahal.com/casaelena.htm) Here are two pics. See the link if you want to check out all the pics of our room. It has 2 stories with a open kitchen on the second floor and a roof top veranda / deck to hang, drink with friends, and watch the sunset.

So, yep... Becky and I will be stuck in Mexico and you should feel sorry for us;)

In all seriousness, I am stoked and can hardly wait. My days will consist of kiting in the afternoons from roughly 11am - 5pm, and spearfishing daily in the morning and evenings. Here is a picture of the 24in speargun I just got myself off of ebay.

I ordered an extra shaft and two thicker bands so that I can get a bit more range out of this mid-sized speargun. There are several of us pskiters that plan to spearfish. A few guys are going to be using Hawaiian slings, and then there is me with the 24in, and Wally another Seattlite is bringing in a blue water cannon (slang for a full sized speargun). I am sure we will have some sort of testosterone contest over the size of fish harvested. Let's hope I can get myself a nice big grouper. Lots of sea urchins, lobster, muscles, and all kinds of reef fish are on the menu!

Stay tuned. As we finish plans this week and the next for the trip I will update this blog. Then once we are there...plan on frequent updates. If you can't join us, at least you can check out the pictures and updates from our adventures.