La Ventana, part 1, the fishing trip

December 19 through January 3rd....

Our vacation to La Ventana was fantastic. Here is one portion the fishing trip.


The time was about 6 o'clock. We were supposed to meet up with the fishing boat captain. Little did we know we were supposed to meet him at the water.

Judy drove up to the road and told us "Hey the boat is down waiting for you guys at the water." So we ran down and jumped into the boat. Our captain was glad to see us.

It took quite a while to get to the fishing spot. The sun was starting to come up and we weren't even half way there.

Once we got the bait Klaus and Rijk got to work.

By this time we had caught three Jacks. But they were not good eating. Here Dan has a big bite. We had no idea what was at the other end.

You can see by his expression that Dan is pretty happy about his catch, a blue fin Tuna. Nice and big too.

There was another boat just a few feet away. Yes she was catching fish too.

There were quite a few bites. Here I pulled in a Dorado. Nice and a pretty good fight too!!!

Next Rijk hooked up to a Marlin. He really had to work that fish and the fishing pole. He was only using 25 pound test line and a very small hook.

At about 2 hours into the catch, Dan took a break. But he was ready with his gaff hook just in case.

At one point Rijk had to relieve himself. So he passed the reeling chores off to me. I just didn't want to loose the marlin so I was very conservative.

Klaus was taking videos, I was taking stills and Dan had the gaffing hook. But this fish was smart. It would come up to the boat and then go around and under the boat. Taco would have to take the pole and walk it around until the marlin was out from the bottom of the boat.

After 4 hours the marlin was finally giving up.

Now the trick was to get it on-board. The captain had his nose and Dan had the gaff and they were able to pull it in.

After a long boat ride we made it back to the beach. Here Rijk holds his prize.

There was a very nice young lady that was kind enough to take this shot of the group of us. Two Dorado's, one Tuna and one Marlin. Not a bad days work.

Next stop was kiting and dinner.

Here Mike Noel and Judy prepare dinner. We started out having a few pieces of the fresh Tuna raw, then Mike cooked a few pieces along with potatoes and stir fried veggies. MMMMM.

One shot I was very proud of was the sun just creaping through the clouds. The time stamp was 6:20 A.M.

Pre-Ventana venting....kite!!!!

December 13, 2009

Everyone wanted to kite today because we knew that in the next day or two we would have to start packing our gear for La Ventana. Got an email from Mike today, he made it to Baja in just two days. He was out there body surfing, in Baja. Life is good.

On Sunday we all met up at Belmont, but the wind was dying. Matt and Todd drove by and said they were heading to Huntington. The idea was to meet up at dog beach.

Kristin was great. She planted herself in the rocks and took all of the shots. Here Dan is rigging. Dog beach is a little challenge because they were running all over out gear. Sorry no shots of that.

I launched Rijk and he got out OK but there wasn't a lot of wind. It's very cool seeing the guys out at the pier. Next time we'll go there.

I was almost ready to go, but the first time out I found my booties were too big for the foot straps so I came in and took them off. You can see what I mean about the curious dogs. They often ran through my kite while I was pumping.

Kris got a shot of either Todd or Matt in the surf line. I think Hank was with them too.

Dan just took to the waves. I'm sure that those sessions at Leo helped out a lot.

He was just tearing up the waves in both directions.

Great timing Kris!! She got me going up and over one of the waves. What fun!!!!

I think at this point Rijk figured that the wind had come up a little. Dan and I were on 13's but Rijk was on a 12 and a small board too.

Kris got a lot of Dan's jumps but this one looked cool with the waves behind him. In control.

I think this is Rijk going through the waves. Some times it's hard to tell.

Great shot Kris catching Dan going out with the sun reflecting on the water. WOW!!

This is where I have fun, out in the wide open spaces. The ocean.....FUN!!!!!

Another great shot of Dan in the surf with the sun going down. This shot says so much to me.

The session is over and time to wrap up our gear and head home. Thanks again Kristin for the great shots.

As the sun sets in the West, I called Ruth to let her know where we were and to see what's going on. We all headed for the house for a great dinner. Ribs, chicken, soup, salad and wine. We may have surprised Ruth when Dan, Kristin, Rijk, Rosemary, Ruth and I walked in, but she was great about it. Then we started the fireplace and everything was warm and fantastic.

Next stop, La Ventana. We leave Friday.....we can't wait.

La Ventana, La Ventana, La Ventana, La Ventana it's all we have on our minds

December 10, 2009

As I peck away at the keyboard, rain is falling on the skylight above. The second storm is finally here. Thank god because my car is so dirty from the first one.

This afternoon Mike Noel drove over to the house to pickup some of our kite gear that he is kind enough to take down to La Ventanta for us. Thank you Mike!!!

He started the day by picking up Rudy's (a long time friend) standup surfboard. it was in a huge padded bag. Then we proceeded to fill it with other things like kite boards. Then the two of us had to hoist it onto Mike's new roof racks. We hope they hold.

Then we proceeded to load ten kites, 11 boards, five pumps and all kinds of other things. I have no idea how he and Mandy are going to find room for their clothes????

On the left is Dan's huge box of pumps, wet suits, harnesses, foot straps and all kinds of other things. On the right is Klaus's directional board plus Dan's Best twin tip. The kites are all pushed up front.

Then we discovered it was too much trouble to put my new Ellis directional board on top of the big bag on the roof, so we pushed and pushed and squeezed it into the back. Then Mike had to get the back window shut. Watch out for you fingers!!!!

As Mike drove off I realized he was leaving for La Ventana in less than two days. Mandy, Mike's girlfriend, said to him, "You've already left (in your mind) for Mexico." He actually starts the drive in about 30 hours. He plans on taking about three days to get to the end of the Baja peninsula.

For the rest of us, we depart in about a week. It's going to be a long week because all we can think about is.....
La Ventana, La Ventana, La Ventana, La Ventana.

We have La Ventana on our mind.

It's a pre la ventana PARTY ! ! ! !

December 7th, 2009

With Rijk and Klaus just getting back from New Mexico last night, and the fact that all we think about is La Ventana and the warm weather, we decided to have a little party tonight at the house.

I shut off Monday Night Football and put in the DVD from last years La Ventana trip.

Mike will be driving down on the 12th and Gabor hopes to drive down between the 13th and the 17th. So we all got a kick out of watching the video. Al went last year and this will be Rijk's first trip there. Kyle is going to lend us a small kite in case it blows over 25 mph.

Mike and Mandy are driving down to the end of Baja on Saturday, but he's dropping by here on Thursday to pack up his truck with some of our kite gear.

Left to right, Klaus, Kyle, Elisa and Al. Klaus is still feeling the fall he took about a month ago. He hopes his shoulder is feeling better in two weeks. Kyle and Elysia are expecting their first baby on April 29. The first baby from the BS kite group. Ruth was born on April 28 and said the baby is going to be born under a great sign, Taurus. Al is taking a break this year, maybe he might be skiing.

L-R, Tim, Gabor and Betty. Tim is a past kiter, Gabor is Mr. Super-kiter and Betty, Tim's wife is his Harley partner. They rode the 9/11 ride this year and got a kick out of watching the video about Ruth and Klaus on the 9/11 Memorial Ride.

The first order of business was food. Ruth put together a huge salad, and Gabor brought two large pizza's. Naturally we had beer, wine, etc. and Klaus had tequila. He's in training for LV.

While the rest of us were feeding our faces, Rijk and Ruth were in the kitchen getting all of the food together. Here Rijk is making whipped cream for a lemon chiffon pie. Mmmm.

I didn't get a shot of the pie, but I grabbed a shot of the lemon squares before they were gone. Naturally there were "TO GO" plates for everyone. Otherwise Ruth and I would be 300 pounds. The whole lemon theme came from Mike. He and Mandy dropped off a bag of lemons over the weekend and Ruth whipped up the pie and squares today.

Matt heard there was a party and didn't want to miss out. He also wanted to work out getting his gear down to LV in Mike's truck. You should see his huge "Golf Bag."

Ruth was nice enough to climb up on a ladder to take this group pose. Then.....

...I asked her to take a back-up. Someone said "Make a funny face." Check them out.

Tim and Betty.

Elisa

Kyle

Rijk

Mike, Mandy and me.

After everyone left I put on my birthday gift from Klaus and Rijk. Then Ruth and I kicked back and watch some TV. The perfect evening.

I want to extend a BIG thank you to all of you that made this such a memorable Birthday. You are only 69 once. I really enjoyed the gag cards, texts and emails. The big 70 is next.