Sunday May 9th
Sunday myself and 3 others opted out of driving back to El Rancho to go fishing instead. I was pretty surfed out at this point and figured a morning off might be a good idea. We hired a local Pescador named Samba. Samba is located way at the north end of the road in Troncones where it turns right. Can’t miss the signs. Super nice, friendly, decent prices. We got to Samba’s place early and caught the sunrise over the mountains from the water. We didn’t go very far out and ended up fishing maybe 100 yards from breaking waves in his little boat. The swell was looking good and i figured that our friends were scoring the Ranch good. Over the course of 4 hours we ended up catching a shit ton of fish. Probably about 15 or so. Mackerel, Rooster Fish and a few others i can’t remember. We only had one more night so we didn’t keep most of the fish. (Next time i go to Mex im going fishing right off the bat. Then ya eat fresh fish for a few days.) We ended up feasting that night on most of the fish we caught. Made some ceviche–I never knew all it was lime juice and sealife. So good.
Our buddys who opted out of fishing and instead went to the Ranch had a bit of adventure. While we were busy fishing and tripping on how good and big the waves looked from the boat, sure that they were scoring, they never made it. The road to the Ranch isn’t that bad. Or at least it wasn’t this time of year. The road is tightly lined with bushes and shrubs for most of it’s route making getting by on coming cars a bit of a squeeze. These guys found the one stump right next to the road and hit it somehow, almost rolling their rented Jeep. Aside from a bad blast to the forehead, a totaled vehicle bill, and not being able to surf the Ranch everything worked out. As always…could’a been worse.
The plan was to head out to the Ranch after the fishing trip and meet up with our friends. We ended up getting back to the the hotel right as they showed up with a busted Jeep. We never made it to the Ranch. We were so surfed and sunned out that we pretty much slept most of the day. Totally exhausted. Surfed the sketchy spot right in front of the place that eve right before pigging out on fish. Here’s a vid:
Monday May 10th
We got up pretty early that morning and headed out to the Ranch. Our flight out of Zihuatenejo wasn’t till 4:50pm so we had plenty of time. When we got there there was already about ten people in the water. As we were getting ready another 10 showed up. The line up was fairly crowded, though im sure it gets way worse. There was a group of Cali dudes that pretty much nailed every wave. Fun to watch. After a while i sat a bit inside and started picking off waves. There was a few sections that most people couldn’t make so i got pretty much all the waves that i wanted. Got on one that was well over head and fast as shit. Most of the waves that morning were about shoulder high, long and racey. I want to go back.
Be sure to check out Troncones Mexico – Part 1 and Part 2
El Fin.
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that's a pretty Jelly Fish! Next time you should try and pet it.
I was gonna say you passed on the ranch w/ some swell running to fish? FAIL!
…even though catching all them crazy fish you see when snorkeling down there would be fun.
just saw a surfline thing about some dude who got attacked (and didnt live) in troncones. It was from 2008 though…
yeah…that was gnarly and sad. the fisherman we hooked up with (no pun) was telling me about the sharks. i guess there was a bounty on sharks after that happened. said he caught like 15 tiburón toro (bull shark) that were 2 o 3 metros long. also said the water temp then was unusually cold.
this was 3 days after el jefe and I left that year… 3 dudes got hit within a period of a week. massive attack on said sharks thereafter… one in front of the bridge just past the "T", another down by playa linda, another at that one spot. beaches were closed, sketchy mex shark watch towers and beach flaggers deployed, choppers, and yeah… mad rewards for fisherman killing the bigguns. Rumors were that a large gill net offshore was abandoned and that the sharks were on a frenzy in the bait-ball-style smorgashborg… another was that the sharks were hot on chomping carcasses from drug lords, familia, who had been dumping increased amounts of human body parts into local river mouths, estuaries, and just off shore. regardless, it ain't no joke down there… dudes get clipped in chico, chucked of the bridge, and consumed by the bull sharks… no B.S., might as well as stick to the NW Bro's, it is "Bro", isn't it?
totally.
i couldn't wait to get the f outta mex and back to the safety of the NW…
Bro.
Sharks, Yeah there’s a serious problem and 2008 wasn’t even the worst. ..The town keeps quite about it because the surf tourism is kind of a new additional income to Troncones. Here’s the deal with sharks: They all pretty much happen in town usually off that crappy little creek that is sometime stagnent and by the rocks where you see people fish. I surf by rocks..I have seen A LOT of sharks to point where i got the F@CKout.This usually happens: When a big swell from the North or South comes, there will be sharks and lots of them. (Tiger’s, white tip, schools of bull) follow bigger game fish which follow colder current. There is a deep shelf close to shore and that current that brings all the big game quite literally into town. Take caution when surfing in or around town (south past the lagoon is a breeding ground for bullsharks no go there).
Hope this was helpful, yeah there’s sharks but you can predict when they will be around. When they are I just don’t surf really early or really late.
-Alex
Checkout the local Zi newspaper for more info.
Just daydreaming about warm water surf. Whatever happened w/ the Jeep? Did they opt for the insurance and you just show up and drop it off like nothing happened?
im still trying to figure out the Mex insurance thing. im pretty sure they’d gotten some insurance…but the jeep was really fucked up. so dude ended up paying a few G’s to deal with the difference that the insurance didn’t cover.
i’ve heard that if you rent a car in Mex, that your CC has travel insurance that will cover. the Mex car rental dudes will try to make you pay…or not let you rent a whip without paying for their insurance. something like that… need to look into it. be stoked to hear from anyone else that knows… heading down in July.
last time i went i mangled the bottom of the bumper on Mex potholes…managed to put ‘er back together again with zip ties though. snuck that one by…
dunno who you have for insurance but i vaguely remember USAA saying i’m covered…but that may not have been an INT trip now that i think about it, but could be worth calling your insurance co
For f sakes its Mexico buy a rig while your down there be prepared for some bribery and donate when your done.