Our exploration of the State of Veracruz took us to yet another hidden gem, the Costa del Oro… the Gold Coast. Our goal was to get the Journey’s into their element; open waters, big swells, difficult currents, cliff side promenades and marine wildlife. This coastal town didn’t fail us!
We stayed two days at Fernando’s place, a quiet simplified cabin site that combined cliff top cabins and VERY down to earth and traditional meal service… we basically ate at casa de Fernando. For the trips we are taking on the waterways of the Veracruz area its often weird ending up at a classy hotel… just doesn’t fit the bill. Fernando’s place was a welcomed stop as he, a 60 or so year old classic local character, pulled out all the stops to make us feel like we were family. His wife and friends prepared the breads and tacos right next to us, prepared the fish in front of us, squeezed the juices with no tools and kept us entertained with stories of found Spanish treasures… including a centuries old Spanish gold coin that hangs proudly around his neck.
The first day featured a cool paddle down the Rio del Oro in the Villains and Heros… a trip I did on foot with famed photographer, Corey Rich and our right hand dude, Isrel. The walk following the paddlers progress was class V+ as we often scaled vertical rock walls holding onto sketchy vines with nothing but swirling rapids down below. Corey, Isrel and I had an absolute blast bushwhacking it and it was on this day a new legend was born… Indiana James… you’ll be seeing a LOT of him from this trip. The run ended up at the confluence of the river and ocean…and to some of the biggest ocean swells we’d seen yet…
Nick and Dane suited up and set out in the Journey’s to capture some big surf carnage. If the paddle out didn’t get you, the surf in surely did. At first both took to the waves like the pro’s they are. Nailing both the break on the way out and the surfs on the way in. These cats know how to control a kayak… don’t matter what kind of kayak it is. But as they got more and more confident, the started to play a bit … that’s when the fun really began! On one wave train we saw nick get absolutely pommelled by a succession of huge waves; on the other corner was Dane throwing one of the sickest stern piroettes I’ve ever seen. You have NOT been impressed until you see this kid control a 13.5 foot kayak as it blows out of a wave into the sky… landing it perfectly in a surf like he was in one of his 6 foot playboats… and yes… we got the video along with some killer Corey Rich original photos!
The second day we found the skies much more forgiving and the waves much smaller. Emily and I headed out to check out the spectacular cliff region of the coast line… just North of the Costa del Oro at the Roca de Perdia. Much like the Gaspe Peninsula back home, this coast line was pretty rough and the Journey’s had to be on their best behavior as both Emily and I haven’t been in such swells in a while… not to mention the daunting crashing waves on rocks thing happening all over the coast. In a short while we were in the thick of it, cruising up and down the waves and checking out the 1000+ foot cliffs, eking in and out of caves and bearing witness to some amazing cliff-side plant life. The cliffs dipped into valleys and dripped vines, moss and cactus to create a great canvas of green, grey, brown and blue sea.
We were half way to our destination (a hidden beach) when Emily called out from behind… a couple of massive dolphins shot past my stern and bow missing me by only a few feet. These were not the dolphins you see most of the time, but rather big fellas and the heart was immediately racing. It was just so cool to see an animal that size zip by. A short while later, after cruising some fishermen we started to follow a cool sea turtle… I do believe he was Dude from Finding Nemo… this fella was super big and certainly looked exactly like Dude… facial spots and all. The cliffs were dotted with crab, satisfied pelicans and many other bird species. At every point of the lens we captured some bird or sea creature looking on.
At one point we headed bravely into a cave. With the swells in perfect angle to hit this cave, we had to be careful not to get surfed into the depth of the cave as we can clearly see what looks to be a class V+ ending way back into the cave. The sound of the waves hitting deep in the cave was impressive… shook the walls that surrounded us and pushed air out reminding us that we’d gone far enough in. We turned into a narrow bay and found an amazing ‘Paradise Lost’ style beach… something right out of Blue Lagoon. Again untouched plant life, crabs at every step and virgin sand for us to picnic on. The rest of the gang joined us with the rest of our recreational fleet and we spend a fun two hours horsing about in boats.
The day ended with the round trip back to our starting beach and Fernando’s. The waves at this beach were again perfect and this time we all surfed till we dropped from fatigue. We surfed everything! Journey’s, Rivieras and a couple of stand up boards we had. The Riviera was soo much fun as it has a great rocker for a steep wave and we surfed that sucker for hours. We then captured our final bits on surfing the Journey. I manned this last shoot and took the journey for surf after surf… ending finally showing everyone that I too can get flipped in surf and roll up super easy. It always surprises me how easy this boat rolls, especially in surf as you always end up with the current of your approach on the right side to roll up fast. Sadly it was at this flip I lost my ‘Indy’ hat… a 15 year old favorite of mine from Chile. Tomorrow we head inland a bit and break out the Cuda’s and Ibis’ once again.
