Baja Seakayaking 101

TRIP SPECIFICS

Seasons - With warm days and cool nights, spring (March and April) and fall (October and November) are the best times to kayak in Baja. Forget about summer unless you want to fry, and winter is likely to include icy blasts of the aforementioned El Norte. Spring has the advantage of blooming desert plants, more whales, and fewer bugs, but the water can still be pretty chilly for snorkeling. In fall, the water temperature is delectable, but the bugs are peskier and the fishing is not as good.

Guided Trips - Solo paddling in Baja is not for beginners. Novices have done it and survived, but others have drowned trying. The easiest and smartest thing to do is to find a reputable kayaking company that has been running trips for a long time. Plan on spending about $100 a day, depending on where you go and how intense an experience you want. This is not inexpensive, but it can be a good value. In addition, most if not all kayak companies operating in Baja have a large percentage of local employees and guides. What this means is that you’ll get some valuable local perspective to go along with the scenery. And, if you’re polite, the guide’s relatives may appear at your campsite with a bucket of fresh clams to share.

If you feel like actually learning something about kayaking, or Baja, or yourself for that matter, check out courses offered by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) or Outward Bound. These are high-end expeditions that include a lot more than just paddling your kayak. Of course there are companies that offer more relaxing but informative trips as well, combining paddling with language immersion or Mexican cooking lessons.

The downside to tours is that you live and paddle as a group, meaning you’re locked into an itinerary that might get altered by someone else’s injury, obstinacy, or weakness, and there is a certain lack of solitude. But if you arrive with an open mind and a willingness to be flexible (your single greatest asset when traveling anywhere in Mexico), what is lost in independence is gained in convenience, opportunities to learn from like-minded people, and freedom from dishwashing (unless you want to help out your guides, which will make you instantly popular).

Self-Supported Paddling - Maybe it’s the heat, but more than once I have arrived on a Baja beach prepared and provisioned for a major expedition, only to find my partners—and myself—suddenly content to spend days at a time sipping cervezas and napping in the shade. It must be something like the bends, coming too quickly from cold northern latitudes where it makes no sense not to move, and suddenly arriving on the shores of a warming blue-green sea. Pack? Launch? Paddle? Why bother?

Once afloat, you are your own master, but just getting to the beach is half the battle. You have to rent boats and get them delivered, after proving willing and able to take care of yourself in a foreign country on potentially dangerous water, with little or no chance of rescue. Taking a folding kayak is an option, of course, if you don’t mind lugging it around, whereas driving down with all your gear can be an adventure in itself. And you still have to get food, fuel, water, and maybe permits, depending on whom you talk to. While none of this is hard, and it’s less expensive than most tours, it just ends up taking more time than you might think. Travel in Baja is all about spending time, and the more of it you have, the happier you will be.