June 2005

 May was a beautiful month with excellent weather and fishing. The water temperature remained in the mid to high 70s, which is a bit cool for this time of year. The daytime high temperatures were in the mid-80s. ¡Perfecto! Fishing was incredible, with well over 200 striped marlin caught, over 100 dorado and tuna, nearly 50 roosterfish, 30 snapper, three wahoo and one sail. In the category of cabrilla, triggerfish, bonita, skipjack and squid, our anglers caught almost 500.

Following is a rundown on some of our important guests for May: It was nice to have Mr. Don Gadberry our neighbor and his family visiting us for a few days. Mr. Wiberg came too and let us know that we are going to be seeing more of him through out the coming years, which is excellent news! Suzanna Colyer and her son Ken were among our long time friends that visited the resort this month. They joined Mr. Togo Hazard and his extended family and friends in celebrating his 83^rd birthday. What a fiesta it was! Other returning guests included our good friend Mr. Frommholz. This was Mr. Don Woll’s first trip of the year, but we will see a lot more of him, since he is visiting us three more times. This was the first year for the Miami Beach Rod and Reel Club trip, and it seems that many more of their members will be here in the coming years, as they have already booked a large group for 2006. Also some of the members will be coming to continue a study on sailfish behavior. They have already studied sailfish behavior of Atlantic sailfish and Pacific sailfish farther south in South America, but this will be the first time they have studied sailfish in the Sea of Cortez. They will be doing this study in July. This was the first year for Mr. Rick Papapietro group and many of his staff left saying that it was their best vacation ever. They had a great time and they fished a lot.

 This was also the first trip for our Texas connection Mr. David Bryce (here in the picture), but you will see a lot more of him as he will be bringing his associates to the resort throughout our fishing season. 

Later in the month we had the 26^th Anniversary trip of Natalie Rucinski. They had a great time and it was even better for them because Esaul was not able to win a single hand of Texas Hold ’em! Mr. Larry Holloway came in May on his annual visit. Mr. Clare (known fondly around these parts as Papa Loco) and his wife Nancy Rayner visited with their beautiful and very skillful fisherwoman niece, Traci. Mr. Faulk came down with his beautiful wife and daughter (we missed her other daughter as she couldn’t make this year) and his son and son in-law. It was very nice hosting Mr. Ardunio’s group. 

For some very exciting (as in stressful) news, there is this story: Here in Mexico we have PROFEPA, which is the equivalent of the US Environmental Protection Agency. In May and June they descended upon the East Cape and came to inspect our hotel several times. We expected to have a grace period, which would allow us time to work on the issues mentioned in their report.  However, when they were packed up and ready to leave the area, they came and told all the hotels that we needed to stop working. As in close us all down! And all the hotels were full! All the resorts in the area joined together and petitioned the governor of Baja California Sur. Governor Agundez’ office supported our cause and helped us get everything back to normal. We have, of course, committed ourselves to hiring consulting firms to help us comply with all issues mentioned in PROFEPA’s report. 

As always, we greet you with open arms and wide smiles and look forward to your next visit to the

Jewel of the East Cape. And of course, we thank all of you for your continued patronage over the years, and we hope to see you very soon!

The Valdez Family

Special Deals and Events You Won't Want to Miss!

JULY … ALL MONTH

Too good to pass up! All month kids under 12 stay free in the same room with parent(s). American (meals included) Plan only.

JULY 8^th TO 11^th … FIFTH ANNUAL CHINO’S CATCH & RELEASE TOURNAMENT

Join us for our 5^th Annual Los Chinos Catch and Release Tournament, with friends, fishing and fun. A lot of prizes. $40 dollars per person entry fee. Maximum of four anglers per team.

JULY 13^th TO 17^th … FISH SNIFFER EAST CAPE FISHING TRIP Join us and the staff of THE FISH SNIFFER (the popular fishing publication of Northern California) for a few days of fun and hard-core fishing. They will have seminars and are packaging a lot of door prizes for their readers.

JULY 22^nd TO 25^th … NINTH ANNUAL BIG GAME BLOWOUT

Be part of the tradition and join Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort’s 9^th Annual Big Game Blowout.  Up to $20,000 dollars in prizes.  $125 dollars entry fee, maximum of four anglers per team.

JULY 28^th TO AUGUST 1^st … TWELFTH ANNUAL SPORTFISHING WITH DAN HERNANDEZ EAST CAPE TRIP

Join Dan Hernandez and his TV crew on their 12^th annual East Cape trip. Sponsors prizes and a chance to be part of his famous TV show.  Sign up early and get great upgrades.

AND THE BIG DADDY OF THEM ALL:  AUGUST 2^nd TO 6^th … SIXTH ANNUAL BISBEE EAST CAPE FISHING TOURNAMENT

Be a part of Hotel Buena Vista’s Team in the $300,000 cash prices in the East Cape Bisbee’s 6th Annual Tournament. Call for details.

ALSO, AUGUST 12th – 16th: STEVE CARSON'S PENN FISHING UNIVERSITY.

Relax and learn with Steve Carson the Fishing Encyclopedia of Fishing Knowledge and enjoy a great fun and lot's of prizes.

OTHER SUMMER SPECIALS'

August's Special: Stay 3 Nights and get the 4th free! Or Stay 5 Nights and get the 6th and 7th nights free. Book Now and Save Big!

September's Special: 2x1two stay for the price of one. Book Now and Save

You can see this specials and more in our 2004 calendar of events and promotions click here to visit

Little known tidbits of Hotel Buena Vista's History

Did you know …

In the old days, there was one phone in our town of Buena Vista. It was in a small restaurant called La Gaviota, which was famous for their machaca (shredded beef) burritos and also for their great breakfasts. The head of the restaurant was Doña Antonia (Tona) who would connect you to the outside world. Once the area continued to grow Doña Tona moved her phone concession (as it was government issued) over to the actual main police and fire station, where you would sit next to her to get connected. Later on they added some wooden phone booths, where they would transfer your call when it was connected. The cost of the service was a dollar per minute and they had a way to charge you exactly as much as you talked. This lasted until mid 1994 when they finally started offering phone lines to residents and hotels in the area. What a change that made. Now we even have phones in the hotel rooms!

Contest of the Month!

Last month’s question was: What year did the hotel get its own phone line and how did one make a phone call to or from the hotel before that? The answer is and the winner is Tonya Bonillas as she was the first to get the correct answer right. Check in “Did you know” for the full story.

This month’s question is: Our resort was started by Jesus “Chuy”Valdez and wife Imelda with great help from Chuy’s mom, Rafaela Valdez. Also involved on the ground floor were Melecio and later Cirilo. The question is how many rooms did Chuy start with and how were the rooms distributed?

Get this one right and you will win a free seafood platter for two and a bottle of wine. Email your answers to: webmaster@hotelbuenavista.com.

 After a few changes and improvements, we are soon to  announce the re-introduction of our Buena Vista Vacation and Fishing Club. This time Felipe Valdez will be in charge of the project. For more information email or call him to find out more about this great special. Contact us today for all the details!

El Debate Fishing Tournament in Los Mochis … May 21 and 22

Sixteen years ago, the owners of the influential Sinaloa newspaper, El Debate (pronounced Day-BAH-tay) were visiting Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort. There was fishing tournament that week, and they had such a good time that they decided to sponsor their own tournament in Los Mochis the next year. It has continued for fifteen years, and each year the Valdez men meet up there to celebrate Chuy’s birthday (it’s on May 26) and fish.

This year’s dates were May 21 and 22. Axel flew in with Sr. Togo Hazard from Tijuana to Los Mochis on Friday the 20^th. They were met at the airport by Felipe, who had just driven down from Monterrey. For those of you who missed last month’s newsletter, Felipe has moved back to Buena Vista for good and will be working at the resort from now on. Chuy and Esaul came over on the Dusty B III with Captain Vicente Cosio. It took them only six hours to make the journey across the Sea of Cortez. They all met up at Nautica on the Marina for a big fiesta. Two other boats from the hotel also fished in the tournament. They were the Carleste and the Liliana. The Liliana broke down on the last day of fishing and had to be towed home. The seas were really rough and it took them 14 hours to make the crossing on the way back!

In total there were 512 fishermen and 128 teams, so it was a big event. The town of Buena Vista had three other boats in this tournament, one of which won the grand prize for the biggest fish. Barbara and Rod Albright, friends and longtime residents of Buena Vista were fishing with friends when they won a new car and a bunch of cash with a 151-pound striper. Congratulations! The folks on the mainland have come to respect the anglers from the East Cape, as one of our local residents known as Beer Man Tom won last year! Even though the fishing was not spectacular, everyone had a great time … especially the people who did not have to make the long, rough trip back across the Sea.

The Dusty B III, with Chuy, Esaul, Axel, Felipe and Sr. Togo aboard caught the most fish of the entire tournament. The first day they caught a striped marlin and the second day they had two double hookups with sailfish and a single hookup. Unfortunately they didn’t win any prizes, but we’re proud of them anyway!

Also this past month, a group of new friends from Culiacan headed by Alberto Ayala visited us from Culiacan, Sinaloa (in the Mainland Mexico across the Sea Of Cortés). They were 12 of them and they came across in 3 boats, the biggest one, a 18' Wellcraft, the smallest a 14' Boston Whaler. They had a great time and caught this big striper 160 lbs, among many other species.

They left and were lucky to travel back with a nice calm ocean. They are sure to come back soon with plenty more friends and hopefully bigger boats.

Click Here for May 2005 Total Fishing Count

This month in the news, it is story about the first trip made by the Fish Sniffer Magazine to our Hotel. There still availability and sure to be a great trip. To know more about it click here

La Cocina

SEARED AHI

Newsletter editor Ann and her husband Terry met Leigh Arrington and his friend Gary Sheehan at the resort in January. They returned in May with Leigh’s wife, Audrey and hung out a lot together while they were here. At dinner one night, Leigh wrote this recipe down on a napkin. It differed from the one Ann had intended to use in Cooking With Baja Magic Dos … but only very subtly. It was the sesame seeds and the Wasabe cream sauce that won her over. So, even though the book was already at the designer’s and had been for a month, she changed it. Served very, very rare, it’s important that the fish is prepped as in the Sashimi recipe above. The addition of the seared asparagus spears and the ginger-sesame crust on the fish makes this dish unique and the Wasabe cream sauce will get you serious raves. Serves four as appetizers or two for dinner.

16 asparagus spears

½ cup water

4 – 3 ounce appetizer portions of Sashimi grade yellowfin tuna cut to resemble a small brick

Salt and cracked black pepper to taste

3 tbsp olive oil

½ cup toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp fresh ginger root, grated

1 tbsp fresh basil, crushed

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp powdered Wasabe mixed with ¾ cup heavy cream

Blanch asparagus in boiling water for one minute. Remove. Season tuna with salt and cracked pepper. In medium bowl, mix sesame seeds, ginger and basil. Roll each piece of tuna in this mixture, coating lightly.

Heat a heavy skillet until very hot. Pour in olive oil and immediately add each piece fish. Sear each piece for about 45 seconds to a minute on each side, depending on thickness. At the same time, put butter and remaining olive oil into a second skillet and heat until very hot. Place asparagus spears into hot skillet and sear for about a minute.

Remove both ahi and asparagus and serve immediately on a platter with four spears arranged around a portion of seared tuna. Add a big scoop of jasmine rice if desired.

This recipe will be featured in Ann Hazard’s new cookbook: COOKING WITH BAJA MAGIC DOS. Look for it in the fall. It will contain 80 new recipes, eight years’ worth of new Baja adventures and all new art! Visit Ann online at http://bajamagic.com