A 40-year-old San Diego man and his 12-year-old nephew have not been heard from since they headed out to sea Saturday for what was supposed to be a short fishing trip off Baja California, according to relatives. Oscar Ulloa and his nephew planned to be out for only a few hours, but the weather turned bad during the outing, and the pair vanished as Tropical Storm Rachel bore down on the region.
According to NBC 7 San Diego, the Mexican Coast Guard has conducted aerial searches along the coast for the missing boat, and Ulloa's family has hired a private plane to assist in the hunt. Family statements posted to Facebook indicate the pair departed around midday Saturday from Campo La Poma near Bahía de San Luis Gonzaga, a stretch of coastline roughly 100 miles south of San Felipe along the Sea of Cortez, with the search tracked under incident reference number 85003/2026.
Alister Barradell, speaking on behalf of the family, said relatives are unsure whether the boat suffered engine problems or something more catastrophic. He has asked people with family in the northern Sea of Cortez to keep an eye out for the missing vessel, and Ulloa's relatives have appealed to the broader region to watch for the boat and share any helpful information. The family says they remain concerned about the pair's health and well-being but are still hopeful Ulloa and his nephew will be found alive.
A Storm That Turned Deadly Across Baja California
The disappearance unfolded as Tropical Storm Rachel battered parts of Ensenada, knocking down trees and flooding homes across the city. Rachel packed 60 mph sustained winds before making landfall and weakening while crossing the Peninsular Ranges.
At least four people died in Baja California due to the storm's impacts, according to state officials, and Ignacio Lozoya, the Baja California civil protection coordinator, confirmed during a news conference with the governor that search efforts for Ulloa and his nephew were ongoing. The storm's broader toll was severe: The Guardian reported that Rachel killed at least four members of a single family near Ensenada and left more than 10 people missing across Baja California. Helicopters rescued 32 people as flash floods and mudslides tore through the northern part of the state.
Why the Waters Turned So Dangerous
A Kelvin wave raised sea levels by over a foot in some areas. Rachel’s remnants also brought flooding risks.
Campo La Poma, near Bahía de San Luis Gonzaga, is where the pair departed.
How Binational Search Missions Typically Work
International searches for vessels lost in Mexican waters typically run under joint protocols between the U.S. Coast Guard's Eleventh District and Mexico's Secretariat of the Navy, known as SEMAR, with the two agencies sharing communication channels and search assets across the maritime border, according to U.S. Coast Guard News. The two have carried out large-scale operations before: in April 2023, SEMAR and Coast Guard District 11 searched more than 200,000 square nautical miles after three American sailors aboard the Ocean Bound vanished while sailing the Sea of Cortez toward San Diego, a multi-week effort that Latitude 38 reported was eventually suspended after covering an area larger than California without locating the boat.
The Coast Guard urges mariners in Mexican waters to file a float plan with contacts ashore and carry a registered 406 MHz Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, which can automatically transmit a distress signal to search authorities even if other communications fail, per the same Latitude 38 reporting. It remains unclear whether Ulloa's boat was equipped with such a beacon.
The case also echoes another recent disappearance close to home. In November 2025, Ocean Beach fisherman and YouTube creator Mikey Rijavec vanished off Baja after a mayday call reporting engine trouble, setting off a multi-day search by private pilots and boaters alongside official crews that ultimately recovered his empty skiff miles offshore.
NBC 7 San Diego reported that the story was originally produced for broadcast, with AI tools assisting in converting it to a digital article that was edited for publication by an NBC San Diego journalist, with reporting credited to Jeanette Quezada. As of the latest updates, search efforts for Ulloa and his nephew continue, with the family still awaiting word on the fate of the two.
