La Ventana - Kites and Wahoos!!

A number of years ago, in 2000, Tom and I traveled to Israel for the wedding reception of a close family friend. The family invited us to tour through Israel and part of Egypt for some scuba diving and ocean recreation. While at the beach at Eilat we spied some people who were trying a sport we had never seen before. They were on smallish boards, like snowboards, and were being pulled through the water by giant, crescent-shaped kites. They didn't seem to be in great control of their kites; in fact one poor guy was heading straight for Jordan and was soon lost from sight. Hopefully he got rescued or figured out how to tack his kite before hitting land on the other side of the Red Sea! Forget about that sport, it looks ridiculous. 

Skip ahead ten years, the equipment and safety evolves, and there are GoPro videos of sane people enjoying euphoric kiting session in the S. Pacific tradewinds across the warm, idyllic turquoise waters of the Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia). That, combined with running across a few a cruisers who are avid kiters, was enough to overcome the old bias. Since then Tom has been dying to learn this sport. 

Last week, after installing Cinnabar's new batteries, we decided to take a break and visit La Ventana which is renowned for its steady winds, excellent kiteboarding, and bluewater spearfishing tournaments. People go there from all over the world to take kite lessons and to enjoy the warm, flat water and mostly reliable winds.  Palapas Ventana was personally recommended to us by our friend Mike (of Mulege fame). So Tom made the arrangements, we rented a car, and headed down the dusty road to La Ventana, just an hour or so from La Paz.

The welcoming patio at Palapas Ventana

After some initial confusion, trying to check into "the office" when we actually needed to check into the restaurant (silly us), we got ourselves sorted out and were told that Tom's instructor was ready for him. His instructor, "Chente" (Mexican nickname for Vincent) was a strapping young Belgian man with a huge smile and a big bag of ice on his leg. Uh oh, kiteboard injury? No, just too much dancing the night before!

Chente, instructor extraordinaire

We dropped our bags off at our casita and Tom headed down to his lesson while I grabbed a cold drink and settled myself on the patio to watch the antics on the beach below. Tom was down there several hours while Chente gave him very concentrated lessons. I could see that Chente was focused at all times and not at all distracted by everything else going on around him. Tom was very impressed! 

See Tom and kite down on the beach?

The next day I got up early, sat on the porch of our casita, and was amazed at all the wildlife in the area. Out on the water was a huge school of dolphin following a bait ball of fish and accompanied by sea birds squawking overhead. There were so many birds around me, flitting among the cactus and scrub, that it was hard to keep track of them; vivid golden hooded orioles, yellow-breasted chats and dainty goldfinches, frenetic gila woodpeckers punching holes in the cactus, perky red-crowned cardinals, energetic hummingbirds, and morning doves who claimed our foot wash basin for their bird bath. 

Tom's lesson began at 10:00 and would last the entire day. Chente started by taking Tom up the beach and giving him instruction on how to control the kite in the air (NOT easy) while at the same time getting your board set up in the water, getting your feet onto the board, and then preparing to have the powerful kite rip you out of the water. The challenge is to stay balanced on the board while the kite wants to yank you over and slam you face first into the water. Fun stuff. 

Chente makes it look so easy

Tom eventually went into the water and "body-dragged" (key kiting skill) himself from one end of the beach to the other, while Chente rode along on his quad giving instructions to Tom via the radio on his crash helmet. 

Tom's excellent body-dragging technique

The next challenge, like with water skiiing, was to stand up on and ride the board. Chente was very impressed that Tom actually got up a couple of times. This back-and-forth-up-and-down the beach went on all day.

Chente drives Tom back up the beach

Later that afternoon the owner Tim showed up at the beach with his friend Ross (an impressive guy from Boston who skippers expensive oil crew boats down in the Gulf of Mexico) and spearfishing guide Stan with FIVE wahoo, the result of their day of spearfishing off nearby Isla Cerralvo! Tim explained that due to the unseasonably warm water the wahoo were showing up early. 

Tim, Ross and Stan with their wahoo

Tim whipped up two kinds of poke and a plate of sashimi and served them to us up at the restaurant. What a feast!

The weather forecast for the next day was no wind, so instead of kiting we elected to go on our own spearfishing expedition in the hopes of getting some fresh fish for our freezer. We talked Chente into joining us as his last hurrah before heading off to a new 2-month kite instructor job in the Bahamas.

The next morning we headed out early for our expedition. Spearfishing guide Stan, from Bulgaria, was a diving machine. 

Spearfishing guide Stan, the fish should be very worried!

He gave clear instructions on how to lure and shoot the fish (don't look 'em in the eyes!) and with no further ado he got the spearguns ready (7' long bluewater 'rifles') , threw his "flashers" into the water (shiny, sparkly things to attract the wahoo), threw everyone's floats into the water (the floats track the fish once shot), and the divers followed. Ideally the wahoo are attracted to the flashers and can be seen from the surface. Easy, right? Well, not so easy as wahoo are long skinny fish. It's much easier to shoot a fat fish! 

While the divers drifted in the current eagerly scanning the blue abyss for any sign of big gamefish, I happened to land the first fish from the boat, a small bonita caught with rod and reel. Near the divers, elusive wahoo would warily alight into view, in small groups of 2-5 fish, do a quick scan of the scene, and soon continue away on their continual cruise for food. Sometimes the fish were shallow, sometimes deep, and with just moments to prepare, getting a good shot was a challenge. After a couple of near misses and one escape (Stan's "chingon" ("effen great") shot - sure!), we eventually got a wahoo and a pargo before Tom and Chente needed a landlubber break on Isla Cerralvo. While they got their equilibrium in order Stan continued to free dive and when Capitan Yonni and I got back from a few spins trolling for yellowtail Stan had shot a large cabrilla.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we had just enough time for a couple more drifts to look for wahoo. Hopefully we would get at least one more. Just as Capitan Yonni said "El mar está vacía" (the sea is empty), Tom spied a wahoo and missed it, he alerted Chente, who also missed, but luckily Stan was prepared and shot it as it swam by him. After a good fight, and a second spear to prevent escape, Tom was able to land the wahoo... 

Tom terminates the second wahoo, avoiding sharp teeth

...and the day's take was 2 wahoo, 1 cabrilla, 1 pargo, and 1 bonita. 

Chente, Stan and Tom with the day's catch

Stan and Yonni filleted the fish and shared it all around, so we went home with a freezer-load of fresh catch. Hooray!!!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of fresh fish with our new friends and I trundled off to bed, admittedly slightly nervous about leaving Tom with Chente in the kiteboard equipment store adjacent to the restaurant.

All in all we had a great time at Palapas Ventana. Owner Tim does a superb job of having all sorts of activities for his guests, or you can just read, relax and walk on the beach. I'm certain we will be back.

A great time at Palapas Ventana!

More pictures of our fun time in La Ventana are HERE.