Joe Surf: Back from the laid-back side of Cabo

After spending a week in San Jose Del Cabo, my first thought upon returning to Huntington Beach was, “Is the water really this cold here?”

It was kind of funny seeing some of the locals surf with a full, 3.2 wetsuit, knowing that the 73-, 74-degree water temp is actually a little chilly for them. Early in the week, the waves could have been better at Zippers and the other local spots near where we stayed.

So, at the urging of my 13-year-old son Cade, we made the one-hour, 15-minute trek to Cerritos on the Pacific side, and it was well worth the trip.

“Oh my flippin’ gosh,” Cade repeated over and over as we got out of the rental car and walked toward the beach.

The waves were a consistent 3-5 feet with some sets rolling it at 6-7 feet. Great shape, warm water and not too crowded. Once we returned to our condo in San Jose, it was almost like we brought the waves back with us.

Zippers and some of the other local breaks like Old Man’s and The Rock had some pretty decent waves, enough so that Cade didn’t demand a repeat trip to Cerritos.

We did consider going up the East Cape to a break called Shipwreck, but heard that there were a lot of dirt roads involved, and even that some of the road was possibly washed out. That wasn’t something our tiny rental car was going to handle well.

It was my first trip to San Jose after numerous trips to Cabo San Lucas. Definitely a different vibe there, much more laid back and relaxed, not so party-oriented. Certainly no “El Squid Roe” in San Jose, as far as I can tell.

However, we did make it into Cabo San Lucas, if only to go to the marina to get on a boat for a snorkeling trip. On the way to a couple of snorkel spots called Santa Maria Bay and Chileno Bay, Cade blurted out that he saw a whale.

We turned and looked off to the starboard side of the boat, and almost, as if on cue, a humpback whale breached in the distance. The boat captain made a sharp turn and we headed in the direction of the whale.

The dive guide on the boat said that whale watching is a different excursion, and one that is much more expensive than the snorkel trip. So if there was a whale in the area, we were instructed to “look the other way.”

Of course he was joking, and we soon had our eyes peeled for the majestic creature. It broke the surface again, sprayed from its blowhole and submerged itself again as we moved closer.

Finally, it broke the surface of the water one more time as we were about 50 feet away, but that was as close as we would get.

Needless to say, as good as the snorkeling was, we couldn’t quite match the excitement of the whale encounter.

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Slater rides again

It would have been understandable to think that 11-time world champion Kelly Slater’s competitive career was setting like the sun after a beautiful day. After all, he turned 44 just last week and had gone two years without a contest victory.

In case you missed it, that two-year drought ended a couple of weeks ago at the Volcom Pipe Pro at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu. Slater reached the final, then found himself up again North Shore regulars like Jamie O’Brien and Bruce Irons, as well as 20-year-old Hawaiian Makai McNamara in the final heat.

Slater pulled off an 8.73 on his second scoring wave to win it, followed in order by O’Brien, McNamara and Irons.

“I’m stoked, it’s been a while … Between drinks as they say in Australia,” Slater joked. “Two years since I won an event, and it was this one. I feel good, it’s obviously a great way to start the year off. It just flowed … got big waves, got some nice barrels, had some high scores. But what a day! Perfect southeast trades and big bombing surf.”

JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at joe@juvecreative.com.