Baja Again – More Margs, More Fun, and One More Man

Quickly becoming a tradition, the 2manventure studs exploited Southwest’s checked bag policy and escaped down to the southern tip of the Baja peninsula for some Mexican wind (and most importantly the famous baja Marg) powered fun. That’s right, Baja Vela, 2015 edition! The trip turned out to be better than the first, and we had plenty of margarita fueled shenanigans to keep things lively. We even convinced manventurer #3 Mike Bonicce to join in and give kiteboarding a try, which as always provided us with endless beachside entertainment as he supermanned out of his board time and again while picking up the sport.

This trip we finally convinced a friend that spending a week in an all-expenses paid, beachfront, wind/water/MTB stocked, Mexico resort was actually a pretty cool idea. How hard could that be? Trust me, we had been trying to convince people for months to join us on both of our Baja trips and nobody wanted to come! #IJustHaveTooMuchToWatchOnNetflix

Finally, this trip we would be joined by the manventurer guest star Mike Bonnici, who brings a positive attitude and a slew of goofy phrases to the table. Time for some fun!

Being the meticulous planners that we were, we knew exactly when each person was due to arrive. NOT! We knew we were all arriving on the same day, but that was about it. Somehow we all ended up booking different flights arriving in the San Jose Del Cabo airport. Maybe some prior conversation other than “See you in Mexico on Friday!” would have been good. Zach was severely disappointed to have to wait them out at the hotel bar with naught but his audiobooks (Way of Kings at the time) and Coronas for company.

Zach was first and after several confused emails and dropped cell phone calls later, he realized he was in for a long wait, as Pierce’s flight was long delayed, and Bonnici wasn’t due for another 3-4hours. We finally all arrived, and blasted off to the resort, stopping along the way for road cervezas on the recommendation of the shuttle driver.

We arrived to the gorgeous Playa Del Sol resort and settled in for some dinner, margs, and then bed so we could be nice and rested for a day of play. What a place to spend a week! The next morning we awoke to light wind and Zach and Pierce were able to get out for some blasting!

Next started Bonnici’s lessons on the kite, which began with some on-land training, progressing to body drags in the water. Watching beginners learn to kite is one of the funnest things to do while sitting around on the beach, and Bonnici provided plenty of entertainment to the 2manventure peanut gallery:

Bonnici progressed quickly and pretty soon he was getting some nice runs back and forth on the kiteboard. The hook has been set, and we have a new wind junky on our hands! His poor bank account.

This trip around, we were more motivated to wake up in the mornings, and managed to get out on the Mountain Bikes for some sweet rides before things heated up to much. Thanks Eugene for being an awesome guide!

During the downtime, we entertained ourselves with plenty of games of Croquet (baja rules of course), reading, SUPing, and applying copious amounts of sunscreen:

Lunches were fueled with tasty beef and chicken tortillas filled with onions, salsa, and tasty guacamole. And of course a cold cerveza to wash things down. Come lunchtime we were hungry boys -ahem, men- after being out on the water so long, but so happy to eat!

Zach and Pierce got plenty of chances to rip around on the water together, and in typical fashion were hooting and hollering and breaking down the barriers on the typical windsurfer vs. kitesurfer animosity. Zach has definitely improved alot since last year, and was laying down some epic jumps and barrel rolls. This is why we are hooked to these sports! Now he just needs to sac up and go unhooked for some tricks, then he’ll be really hooked…

Looking back at these pictures and reliving the fun memories gets us excited to go back again next year! Vela is highly recommended and pretty affordable overall, especially if you have your own gear. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Until next time. -ZJD and PTM