Launching panga boats out of Punta Lobos, Baja California Sur can often be more fun than the fishing trip itself.
The waves at Punta Lobos are shore break waves, meaning they crash right onto the shoreline rather than further out from the beach. Since Punta Lobos does not have a marina, a dock, nor a boat ramp, the local fishermen had to get creative in order to launch the fleet of panga boats every morning.
For decades, if not much longer even, the fishermen of Todos Santos have gathered early in the morning to line the panga boats up along the shoreline. They move them into position with a pickup truck and then tie the boats together from the stern of the first boat to the stem of the second boat and the stern of the second boat to the stem of the third boat and so on.
Once they get all the pangas lined up and tied together the fun begins. Six to eight fishermen will gather around the first boat being launched, two to three on each side and a couple in the back and they wait for the perfect wave. Ideally they are looking for the last wave of a set, but one that comes up as high on the beach as possible. Once the find that wave they all push the panga off the ledge of sand and down into the oncoming wave. They will push the boat out far enough for 4 of the fishermen to jump into the boat while the other 4 fishermen keep pushing to get the panga out far enough to open the motor throttle and get out past the next wave coming.
The boat that just launched, tied to the next boat to launch, motors out a hundred meters or so and waits for the signal from the shore. Now a group gathers around the next panga in line just as they did the first. Once the see the perfect (hopefully) wave coming they all start shouting “JALE JALE JALE JALE!!” meaning Pull Pull Pull! At that point the boat in the water winds the motor up to full throttle and heads out towards open water and pulls the second boat through the breaking wave. Sometimes they nail it perfectly but sometimes the breaker lifts up over the bow of the next boat and it turns into the log ride at Disneyland.
They keep doing that until all boats are out in the water. It is an incredible spectacle to witness. If you are in Todos Santos, Pescadero or Cerritos, I highly recommend going to Punta Lobos right around 7:00am any day of the week to watch.
