SANTA ANA WIND CALMS DOWN IN ENSENADA FISHING AREA

April 2, 2005, Steve Ross, Bad Dog, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico Fishing:

My new Marinero Alex Ochoa and I met at Bad Dog at 0400 Friday April 1 to depart for fishing at Ensenada's Banda Bank. The Santa Ana wind coming from the east increased throughout the night Thursday to where it was blowing over 20 knots with gusts approaching 30. The water in Marina Coral was running hard with a one foot swell in the slip. We aborted the mission. By 11 a.m. Ensenada had laid down to where you couldn't believe it was the same day.

The water in Todos Santos Bay was flat and the wind was calm and the sun was shining. I watched this from my trailer in total disbelief. However, a commercial rock codder reported "las olas estan muy grandes on the Banda Bank." On the drive home from Ensenada today Saturday it was flat glass from the shore to the horizon and to the Las Coronados Islands. It looked like you could swim to South Island.

There are 140 empty slips in Marina Coral, Ensenada. There has been a huge exodus of boats over the past two months.