We stayed in Ensenada on Saturday, getting into town in just the nick of time to check in at our hotel, and go look for a mechanic that was still open. The goal was to celebrate my buddy Marc's birthday and to finally finish the Land Cruiser's dual battery set up with the help of a local mechanic, who cut and made the proper connectors which I purchased at West Marine in Dana Point that same day. Glad to report that we had no problems operating the 12V fridge which kept things cold for the trip. I even had an opportunity to test the main, or starting battery (idea is to use the auxiliary battery to power the fridge and accessories like the radio and interior lights while the car is parked for a few days.) after I realized that the 2nd battery had lost power on the third day of camping at Punta Baja.
Sunday morning we left Ensenada heading south on highway 1 and shortly outside of town we came across three nicely modified Toyota Land Cruisers one drive by Jan, a member of the mud forum and who had shared that he and his friends were also were going to be driving down into Baja on Sunday morning and heading to Bahia De Los Angeles. We drove caravaned for a few miles, until some time later Jan and friends stopped at a Pemex gas station and we continued driving south for a planned stop at San Quintin, have some lunch, and pick up last minute supplies before heading out to a local break. We had a nice seafood lunch a a local restaurant in San Quintin. I wish I could have written the name of the place, but the food was delicious, (I had grilled oysters and fish tacos.) and the bathrooms very clean.
The surf report was calling for a South Swell in the shoulder to head high range and looking at wave breaks with optimum south swell directions, we focused on reaching Punta Baja, a point break near El Rosario, a couple of hundred miles south of Ensenada. Once we got to El Rosario some time past 2 pm (who keeps time in Baja?) I turned on my Garmin GPS, and laptop topo mapping software to guarantee that I was following the right dirt road track into Punta Baja. It was turning out to be a great, warm sunny day.) After driving for about 30 minutes or so, we get to Punta Baja, which to our luck was blessing us with 3-4 foot waves breaking along its great point break set up. We decided to set up camp, prop our tents up before going out for a late after noon session.
After we were surfed out and thinking about dinner that night over a cold Tecate, a red Ford van with wood racks drives over, and 2 gentlemen wave at us, greet us and asked if they could share the cliff with us and camp near us. It turns out that there were 3 Aussies in the van, and after they introduced themselves, and got a chance to chat with us, it was agreed that it would also be a good idea for safety reasons for them to pitch their tent fairly close to our camp site. Ben, Ben, and Matt, the 3 blokes from Sydney turned out to be great company, nice guys in their 20s who were in the first couple of months of travel out of a year's worth of travel plans having started in the US, and now Baja, before catching a ferry over to the mainland, but not before flying out of La Paz to meet up with a couple of friends in Cuba for a week. Lucky guys and good them.
During the next couple of days we did nothing but relax, share travel stories, and surf. On Monday I got up at 6 am (like I usually do) and went out for a solo morning surf session and got the point to myself for a good hour and a half, that is until I started getting cold and tired. :) It was a great moment of my trip, being out surfing alone, and sharing the point with only 2 seals who kept very close to me, always poking their heads and staring at me. All of us had a great time while at Punta Baja, taking time to explore a bit, collect drift wood for the evening and morning fire, and me securing some fresh fish from a local fisherman to have a nice dinner on Monday night, coupled with a tasty pico de gallo salsa which I had prepared earlier that day in between my surf sessions. The boys were loving the grilled fish fillets. I threw a corn in the fire for the extra detail. Who says you have to rough it when you are camping?
After having some lunch with the Aussies at El Rosario and heading over to the local Pemex gas station before saying our last so longs, The red van showed a gas leak which concerned the Aussies. I recommended we find a local mechanic to check things closely, something we had no problems finding in El Rosario. After some trouble shooting the local mecanico identified the culprit, nothing but a rubber hose near the fill up area which a large crack. He ended up finding the same diameter hose at the local reffaccionaria (200 pesos) and doing the labor for $100 pesos. I took the opportunity to have another mecanico change to oil in my truck since it was over due (I had the oil filter and engine oil with me.) With the Ford van's problem identified and knowing that soon the boys would be back on the road, we decided to get a jump on the day and headed south for Bahia De Los Angeles. I want to say it took us about 5 hours to make it into Bahia De Los Angeles after leaving El Rosario. Driving south of El Rosario, you find some picturesque vistas once inside the Valley of the Cirios, the Spanish word for Cardons, enormous cati that dot the rocky desert land scape. You not only find Cardon cacti, but many other types of cacti growing in this beautiful area that reminds me a whole lot of some areas within Joshua Tree National Park. We reached Bahia De Los Angeles a little past 7 PM. We had decided to enjoy some hot temperatures, and warm, Sea of Cortez water, where we could do some snorkeling and perhaps even rent a kayak, or fish (disclosure, I didn't pick up a fishing pole during he whole week I was in Baja, Marc did but didn't catch any fish.)
We found the Palapa closest to the water at Dagget's RV and beach camp and made it home for the next 2 days. The routine was simple, stay out of the sun during the hottest times of the day, stay hydrated with water or beer, and keep dipping in the water to cool off. That simple routine was the reason for heading over to this picturesque bay in the first place. Goal: do little. The snorkeling was fun and tranquil, there were species of fish and native kelp beds to explore, with the occasional spotting of sting rays, and plenty of blow fish.
Thursday morning it was time to move on, but not before Marc cooked some nice scrambled eggs, and cooked turkey bacon. We also enjoyed a nice cup of coffee with milk, like we did every morning. After packing up, we set off for our next destination, which after some thought we agreed it was time to get back to the Pacific Coast and do some exploration. We didn't necessarily feel the need to go further south, so we turned north to get back to the general area near Punta Baja.
We got off the highway 1 a few miles past the town of Gauyaquil, and followed an improved road south then west some 38 miles to Punta San Carlos. It turns out, Punta San Carlos is a fishing town with an airline strip, and gets good exposure to swells, and because it is a windy point, it is very popular with the sail board, and wind surfing crowds. Now, we were hoping to find similar wind and weather as Punta Baja not too far north. Sadly, that was not the case. While there still was a south swell in the chest high range, it was very windy and cold. Too windy for our taste. After having some lunch, we decided to continue north to see if we would find better wind conditions. We drove north on a dirt road, with a times some cool desert landscapes that reminded of Anza Borrego which took us past Campo Nuevo, also I believe to be known as Punta San Fernando, another nice right point break that was breaking about the same size as Punta San Carlos, but with less windy, and more of a side shore. Of course, there was nobody out, and the nearest home was about a quarter mile south. There was a nice bluff over looking the waves, and it could have well been the camp site we could have stayed at, had my buddy Marc not have reservations about staying there alone by ourselves (security issues, and as a precaution.) Good enough, I wasn't going to argue that point, so after siphoning the gas from the 2 spare gas cans, we continued north zigzagging east to north west with the ocean coming in view many times until we got to the fishing camp named Agua Blanca, which at that point, we decided to take the trail that got us into El Rosario. About 83 miles of dirt road driving later and after having gotten off highway 1 originally, we got into El Rosario.
We looked for the only RV and Camping place in El Rosario, and finding out the rooms could be had cheap ($20 dls. For the room with 2 twin beds,) we decided to skip sleeping in a tent that night. During the evening we went over to a taqueria and had some nice grilled carne asada tacos, and after wards I looked for people who could use some of my clothes that I took with me to donate and stoked a few people out, including the taquero's son who at his young age is already looking burly, probably from eating all those tasty tacos he gets to enjoy.
Friday morning I gave Marc the option for our next destination. One option was to drive over to Punta San Jose, not far from the town of Santo Tomas. I was curious about seeing Punta San Jose, and this trip could have been the time to see it. However, I was also curious about potentially getting to the San Pedro Martir Observatory, located in Parque Nacional de San Pedro Martir, the first of 2 national parks established in Baja California. The observatory is located at an elevation of 9280 feet, and it is supposed to be a great way to spend a day getting to know that little seen place of Baja. Once in the neighborhood, we had to option of staying the night at Rancho Meling, or drive the tough trail near from the vicinity to Mike's Sky Ranch, a popular place for the Baja racers and off road crowd.
Once in the vicinity of the Parque Nacional de San Pedro Martir, we realized we would not have enough time to get to the Observatory and partake on the guided tour, which was open till 1pm. So we decided to find the trail that could take us to Mike's Sky Ranch, some 9 miles away on the trail. The trail leading to Mike's Sky ranch has a reputation for being a tough trail with some technical passes, and a high ground clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle is recommended. We were good here, no problems, but not having taken the time to research about the trail's recent shape gave us some surprises not too far away once we got on the trail. The first one was an off camber pass near a ravine, the third and final one after crossing a semi dry creek with large rocks was the end of our intent to get to Mike's Sky ranch. It was a section of the trail that had been washed away leaving for a very narrow pass, that only ATVs and narrow wheel base 4 wheel drive could make. At that point we decided to put the land cruiser in reverse, cross the creek in reverse, where right after it was about the only place to turn it around and go back. I decided it was best for me to spot Marc driving on these technical passes to make sure he could follow the lines I felt comfortable him to follow. While short lived, the trail gave us plenty of adrenalin moments. I just know I need to go back some day with a group of experienced off roaders who are familiar with this trail and tackle it again. Since Rancho Meling was being occupied by a family group and there fore closed to non family visitors, we opted for Rancho El Coyote instead. Marc and I found Rancho El Coyote much to our liking, the ranch was located in a nice area, and had nice cabins, for rent, a very nice camping area with trees, barbecue pits, and grass where one could pitch a tent. It also had a very clean pool to enjoy, combined with horse back riding, and I believe guides to head into the back country. Marc decided to skip on the horse back riding experience, thus I rode solo (my horse's name was Bartolo) and enjoy an hour of solitude.
The night was cool, and we enjoyed a full moon that illuminated the hills sharply. Around 4 AM we were woken up by a rooster's crow who possibly was warning his hens about a Coyote in the neighborhood. This was confirmed after the ranch dogs (mostly Australian Shepherds) started a raucous and all went after the intruder. After a few minutes of this, it was finally peacefully quiet again and we would go back to sleep.
Saturday morning came, and after some coffee and oatmeal for breakfast, we broke down camp and got on the road to get home. It was time to head back up to Southern California.
Never during the trip did we feel a concern for our safety, nor heard about any crime activity while we were in Baja. The only thing we drove by was the scene of an accident after the tow truck had just secured the rolled over vehicle onto its flat bed and was starting to drive away. It was another case of a car going over the side and flipping (Baja roads are notorious for lacking a shoulder, so if your tire goes over, you have a good risk of flipping the vehicle since the paved roads tend to be above a certain higher elevation than the ground next to it.) We fueled one last time in the outskirts of Ensenada, where we enjoyed some nice birria from a local stand, and after I stopped by super mercado Levy for a bottle of tequila and Kahlua, we drove straight to Tijuana where once there we got in line to cross the border at San Ysidro's border crossing.
As always, count of wasting about 2 hours of your life idling on the long traffic lines when crossing. And once we got to our US Customs officer, we got sent to secondary inspection because we failed to declare some the eggs that were still in the fridge (I guess the fact that we bought the eggs in the US was still not ok because they crossed into Mexico and were at risk of being contaminated? OK, it didn't make any sense to me but I wasn't about to argue.) Luckily the secondary inspection was that detailed, they made us throw out the eggs, and 1 mango that was also in the fridge, and the officers were polite, and truthfully, probably wanted to avoid having to go through so much camping gear stuff in the car in order to do a thorough search.
That wrapped up another great week in Baja Mexico. I am looking forward of going back in the near future once time and work obligations allow. Baja California is still a place where you can find solitude, and slow down the clock, loosing yourself in the many places you can benefit from, depending on the activities you are into. Great times.
link to more trip pics here. You will have to cut and paste the photobucket link on another page.
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