I am a little late to this thread.....
BRAVO! What and great report and super pictures! This report and pictures deserves better than the Socal section of the SCUBA Board. It should be shared with the masses but if La Buffadora is anounced to the world,it will soon be like Divers Cove on Saturday morning--best it be keep in the family!
The following reflecions on La Buffadora has been extracted from my past writings which I would like to share with you and yours
" "La Buffadora" is a spanish name, which best translation is the snorting sound a buffalo makes, but for so many visitors it is simply known as the "Blow Hole."
In the early 1950s was in college and had been a goggler/skin diver for 5-6 years. We had heard via the "grape vine" that the road to Ensenada had been paved and the water (at that time) was crystal clear
During the Christmas break of December 1951, four hardy young college students were off on a Mexican diving adventure. The paved road stopped at a movie house near Hussongs Cantina.
We headed for the water and a shock of our young lives..the water was bone chilling! Exposure suits--wet suits were many years in the future..we like most SoCal "divers" were using GI surplus wool sweaters and long johns for thermal protection which was useless in the fridged Mexican water.
So a walk around town, a huge bowl of turtle soup,with great dissapintment we slowly headed home to SoCal.
After college and my Koren war obligation to Uncle Sam was fullfilled, I returned to my beloved SoCal -by then the wet suit had arrived and dive manufatures and divers had increased like two rabitts in a 3 foot cage.
One of my first post USAF purchases was a WW11, surplus 4x4 1942 Dodge ambulance, which was modified with a roof rack made from a bed frame, jerry can racks and a bench seat from a civiliain automobile.
The first test trip was to La Buffadora. We cramed 3 or 4 divers into the ambulance and an equal number in a late model (1950s) civilian auto and away we went off to high adventure.
The year was about 1956 or 57, Ensenada was still a small sleepy fishing communiuty, every thing south of there were just small villages with names like El Cepress, Los Olivos and of course Mandeneo at the end of the paved road was just a small Mexican government building where toruist were required sign their name and to pay a $1.00 US tourist tax.
The turn off to La Buffadora was about a 100 yards south and from then on it was dirt road. Away we went down that deserted dirt road. Our mission was to find and dive La Buffadora, which we did --it was difficult to miss it was at the end of the road.
We had 3 great days of isolated camping and virgin diving in an area that had seldon seen a diver. Every day we feasted on a varriation of sea food, lobster, scallops, fish, breakfast lunch and dinner.
Then the final night of our adventure it began to rain and rain and rain. The next morning we hastlily packed up and departed. Once again away we went with my 4X4 leading the way, with the auto following, but not very well. It was certainly not an off road vehicle, every so often I would stop to attatch a rope and pull the auto out of a rut or dislodge it from a mudd hole, all the time it was raining and all the time we were soaked and miserable.. After seven (7) long hard wet miserable hours we reached the main paved road. Thus ended my first trip to La Buffadora.
Not detoured by the rain and mud of this trip I returned many times in the years following.
A few years later the land around La Buffadora was aquired by a rich and powerful Mexican Army General and not to any one's suprise the road was paved to the end. Construction immediately began on a hotel resort above La Buffadora, but for a number of reasons construction never progressed past the foundation stage which is still visable..
Now the area has transitioned into a often visted tourist- dive- camping area with all the facilities of a modern week end dive resort.
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A previous poster stated;
"In recent years with the "lawlessness" south of the border, we've been making fewer trips down there.
We used to make non-diving trips down to Puerto Nuevo, too, but our friends grew tired of getting shaken down by the Policia.
It's too bad."
There is a lot of truth in that statment!
Be careful, travel in pairs, never drive at night, always aquire Mexican car insurance,( Lewis & Lewis) and never carry a lot of visable cash.
The Mexican police are known to target tourist for real or imagined volations which can be settled for a fee paid directly to the officer. This is very common, so much so it has a name of "Mordita" translated is a "a small bite." A few dollars- paid and the tourist has been relived of hard earned Yankee dollars they are on their way, "no violation with a donation."
SDM
