De Pat Tobin , 27-08-2010

Sinaloa Surf Cartels - North of Mazatlan is the small beach side pueblo of Celestino Gasca. Once known for aqua culture with large warehouses and factories, those are slowly being replaced by small independent beach resorts where you can enjoy beautiful sunset walks on sandy public beaches and world class surfing at two point breaks. Having a number of resorts near perfect surf you might get the idea that as a surfer ,which I happen to be, this would be a dream come true.
For anyone surfing there prior to the introduction of the Cardon Adventure Resort, this was true. Mexican surfers had been going there for years along with a few hardy travelers that just happened to stumble upon it. Everyone getting along, totally stoked .....living the dream.
Initially when the Cardon Adventure Resort opened things were pretty much as they had been before, but
it didn’t take long before the owners of Cardon decided they owned the surf. Their mandate became “Only our guests are allowed to surf here “. Access for local Mexican surfers was seriously restricted and anyone else showing up to enjoy the surf was bullied out of the water. Within just a few short years this dramatic change has resulted in an escalation of terrorism by the owners of Cardon Adventure Resort and their employees. Some of the employees just happen to be surfers from California.Two years ago after an altercation in the surf with an employee of the Cardon resort, a well known visiting surfer was escorted from his resort at gunpoint by thugs.
My wife and I have been going to Celestino Gasca for years, always staying at the original resort right in front of the main point. On a recent trip we had planned on staying for ten days. The first day went great; just a few Mexican surfer friends sharing the waves, just like the good old days. The second day my friends and I were enjoying a repeat of the day before until Jeff Phillips, the American thug employed by Cardon, paddled out. When I was sitting by myself he began his normal tirade, screaming “I’m going to F___K you up! I’m gonna take you out”. As usual I just tried to ignore him. Day three my wife and I decided to wait until the Cardon crew had finished their session before paddling out. Watching everyone walking by our palapa including Jeff, I thought this may be a good way to handle things. Just taking turns, sounded like a good plan to me. We paddled out into an empty lineup. After about half an hour Jeff comes paddling back out on a hugh long board and proceeds to put his newest battle plan into action. This time he never says one word to us. At first I thought it was kind of a relief, but that didn’t last long. I have been surfing all my life and what happen next was beyond anything I have ever experienced before. It was like some sort of absurd pro surf contest where the rules have been changed without telling of all the contestants. Now the Cardon team scored points by sitting on the shoulder, blocking us from ever taking off on a wave, dropping in front of us if we even tried to take off, finally we gave up and paddled in. It was like constantly being cut off on the freeway by a mad man.
After this fiasco we were in our beach front palapa, where we had previously spent many happy hours, relaxing and watching the surf, with friends we had met in the water, including guests of Cardon. Soon Omar, one of the owners of Cardon Adventure resort walked by to tell us “NEVER COME BACK”. Beating his chest he said “THIS IS MY BREAK” That no other resort on the beach is allowed to rent to surfers. If we didn’t leave “We would see his power”. Fearing for our safety we left the next day, leaving behind friends and a place we had loved for years.

Cardon Adventure Resort has created is a very dangerous situation for everyone. If this continues it will only be a question of time before some unsuspecting surfer following their dream is seriously injured or killed. Whether it be a guest of one of the other resorts, someone at Cardon, or the general public, no one is immune to the violent situation they have created.

It is my hope those reading this will rethink their support of the Cardon Adventure Resort. Be it a business association or a vacation to the resort.
Hopefully with the help of the global community we can convince Cardon to end this sad and violent path they have decided to go down. Then we can all go back to living the dream.

Embassy officials in Mazatlan told us our report was not first they had received. Anyone with any knowledge of similar behavior by Cardon Adventure resort is urged to contact the following authorities.

De Anonymous , 02-08-2010

Please Boycott - Just got back from there. The stories are all true. They're buddies with the guys that did this and don't deserve any self respecting surfers money.
http://www.debate.com.mx/Eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=9748723&IdCat=6097

De Bobby , 15-06-2010

Beware of Mountain on Inside!!!! - Surfed here at the camp near end of May. Surf pumped all week. Solid 6-8 foot on last 2 days, but the point couldn't really hold it the big days. Too much current and constant paddling to stay near a take-off spot. My buddy mentioned it breaks perfectly top to bottom and a little smaller, inside at the beach break on the North side of the mountain . Last day of trip, figured "One more Wave"...haha. I paddle inside and take off on a smaller one. Closes out. I dive from my board and my leash comes off. I turn around and the set from hell is coming in. Still no prob. I'll take a few to the head and hit the beach. Only problem is the current picked me up before I could get to the beach on South side of the mountain, and swept me in front of the cliff, with a gnarly set dumping on me. Rebound waves from the cliff, a crazy current and undertoe making it difficult to stay afloat. I was exhausted and in a life or death situation. Took about 10 waves on the head till the current took me far enough that I spotted a place to get out. The explosions coming off the cliff from the waves made me realize how people die in these situations. So it took all my strength to survive.
I would suggest to anyone thinking of trying the inside beachy, to make sure!! you clear the mountain before you take off if there is any sizeable swell running. The currents are insane in here and you can die. There was no way out. Losing my board put me in an almost impossible situation. I'm lucky to have made it through. Never got my board, It washed up a half mile on the beach. I could care less at that point as I was just happy to breath.
Walked around the mountain back up the point where the swell was peaking. Solid 10 foot sets rolling through, but just an impossible current. So the camp picked me up by truck and I was out of there. Please use caution, the wave at the top of the point can lure you into thinking it's a forgiving wave, which it is, but in front of that mountain in a large swell, if you lose your board or get swept in, it can be curtains!
It was an On A Mission leash by the way.
Some of the best waves of my life though.

De SD Surfer , 02-06-2010

Officially Off-Limits - Just got back from a trip to Sinaloa and unfortunately I can now verify what I have been hearing about Patole. From the truck stop/look out point off the freeway we could see that a solid 10 foot swell was lighting up the place perfectly. But upon reaching the road that runs down to it, found the gate locked. After trying our luck on various other dirt roads, we came up empty handed. On those roads we also witnessed some pretty bizarre things. Guys with red bandanas tied around their faces looking like lookouts and what looked like labor camps, as people were living out of tin sheds and there were no men around, just depressed looking women and children idly roaming about. Not to mention enormous structures (city block sized) under some kind of netting that prohibited view of what was going on inside. A few days later, the locals confirmed our suspicions; its all cartel property. In addition, a guy named Nati is developing patole for a restricted resort camp similiar to Cardon. The locals are of course extremely pissed about this development project. Apparently if you want to surf patole now, you must launch a boat from Dimas and boat over. Even then, one local informed us, boats will occasionally come out with guys armed to the teeth and tell you to beat it.

De Anonymous , 24-03-2010

Celestino Shootout - All you N. Sinaloa surfers might want to check out this article about the Narcos going OFF on the bridge at Celestinos.
Half the dead were people that just happened to be driving by...

http://www.debate.com.mx/Eldebate/Articulos/ArticuloGeneral.asp?IdArt=9748723&IdCat=6097

De Anonymous , 27-04-2009

!BIG GRACIAS!!!!!!!! - Jordan i wish you can surf this spot again!!!! local guy!!!

De Anonymous , 25-11-2008

Surfed in the summer months - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrnmCishCQw

De Anonymous , 08-10-2008

"Dont play with fire" - hey dski whos you thing you are, when the things start wrong ends wrong.

De dski , 01-10-2008

You'll Have To Do Better - Ok this is the last time I am going to respond to you on this. I realize that you have nothing better to do but post on wannasurf (embarrassing)

Hepatitis is that the best you can come up with? Cmon you can do better.

I know who you are and its obvious you are still upset that we could not get you a spot this year. Tell you what we are 98% filled already for 2009 (and these are all return customers from this year) but if you call me now (doubt you have the balls) I will do my best to get you a spot next year.

De Anonymous , 26-09-2008

True story; Hepatitis victims from food, - A few guys have gotten hepatitis from Chef Marcos and his food. Many, many have gotten sick. He is a dirty, dirty chef. This is true, call people who have been and you will verify the truth. Anything else DSKI?