BAJA – No bad days!

As  I write this, we (Gordon and I) are spending our first day without driving.  We found a remote small bay on the Sea of Cortez not far from our camp at the south tip of Bahia de Conception.  I have chosen to call it Bahia del Cangrejo de los Muertos (Bay of the Crab of Death).  While I feel guilty not exploring more today, it is nice to have a down day.

Baja is not short on surprises for someone that has never been here before.  I have also found that while most (including myself before this visit) think it’s all about the beaches, it is oh so much more!  Gordon and I were completely blown away by the bio-diversity of northern Baja.  The section from Coco’s corner south emerging out to Hwy 1 felt like we were in one of the largest botanical gardens in existence.  The desert was green with life and the temperature perfect.  Not at all what I was expecting.

We have made some new friends.  Baja is not short on gringos and it is flush with “overlanders” using every shape and size of transportation.  We’ve seen everything from large Mann based vehicles to those traveling on bicycles and everything in-between.  I’m already finding that I will have repeat visits with some of these new acquaintances as I move further south.  It is fun to hear other’s stories and what takes them on the road.

We’ve had the honor of camping together a couple times with Justin, Amanda, and their two great kids (and the dog I don’t recall the name of).  (www.theadventuresofmande.com)  A lot of fun to spend time with them for sure!

 

We met Francis at our first Baja stop in Puertocitas.  He is traveling Baja on his KTM motorcycle. (Facebook: vanisle adventure moto)

 

Having a travel companion has been great.  I’m so very thankful to have had Gordon travel with me for the first couple weeks.  We have very similar travel style and he was great company.  I’m not sure how it will be traveling solo.  I know it will at least consist of having a lot of very interesting conversations with myself!

I’m guessing we have spent at least a third to half of our travel on dirt roads, trails, or routes that have not been used since the Spaniards were busy “educating” the natives and building missions.  I don’t think a day has gone by without using 4wd at least once.  Airing down and up the tires seems common place and I have left the sway bar disconnected since the first dirt road.  I honestly am not sure I’ll reconnect it the rest of the trip as I’m on dirt so often and even on pavement my speed is pretty slow.

The van has been performing extremely well (hope I didn’t just jinx it).  I know I had to fix a couple small items but can’t recall what they were.  Obviously not a big deal.  It is scratched at least double what it was when I left and a bit of a muddy mess.

I finally got the paddle board off the roof and into water!  My arm / shoulder injury seems nearly completely behind me and I had zero pain while paddling (I do continue my PT though Amy and Katie!).  CG, I think I won this bet!  You can just credit what you owe me to all the bets I’ve lost to you.  I have started a new fashion trend wearing a purple glove while paddling to protect the thumb wound from sea water.  Hopefully it heals up soon!  I’m really getting tired of dealing with it.

A few things I’ve learned so far

-       People are generally friendly.  Only one “gruff” guy at a military check point, but we think he was just trying to put on a show for the young bucks.  He really wasn’t bad, just serious.  Everyone else has been beyond friendly and generous.

-       Speaking of military check points, these are mostly manned by young bored guys.  They all go in the side door, check the fridge, take a glance in back, then are fascinated with my little rechargeable bicycle light that I’ve taken to using as my main flashlight.  Every single one of them like this light.  I had one Federally try relentlessly to trade me for his wimpy little light.  I kept telling him it was my favorite light.  After several minutes of him trying to get me to accept the trade, he gave up and waved us on our way.

o   I need to find a new spot to keep that light rather than the back pocket of the passenger seat.

-       Make sure you have enough beer before you head remote.  You never know how long until you can buy more. 

o   And a subset of that, it is OK to have a little tequila to cap off the evening!

-       The wind on the beach tends to die down at sunset.

-       Sunrises are worth the trouble of crawling out of the van for every morning and sunsets (just like at burning man) are worth noticing.

-       Fuel gets more expensive the further down the peninsula you go.  I hope it gets cheaper on mainland Mexico.

-       Baja has a lot of osprey!  Who knew?

o   Just watched one fishing in the ocean in front of us today.  He has a very different style than pelicans.

-       There is too much trash in our oceans and unfortunately a lot of it ends up on our beaches.

o   It’s ashame that Mexican fishing, scallop, shell fish camps don’t clean up when they abandon a site.  They just walk away from all of their crap.

-       Left turn blinkers are mostly for letting the guy behind you know it is OK to pass, not to make left turns.

o   Hazard flashers are used to let oncoming drivers know that there is livestock or horses on / next to the road ahead of them.

Instead of boring with daily logs, I’ll let the photos speak mostly for themselves.

Yes, it's The Wall (Not Pink Floyd's)

Puertocitas (thermal springs)

Random beach camp:

Gordon the navigator:

Rancho las Palmytas:

Coco's Corner:

Coco's map (hard to understand how we still got a little lost):

Random beach (there was an old fishing / scallop operation here)

Random cactus:

Bahia de Los Angeles:

Another track through the desert:

Mission de San Francisco de Borja (and our host and Mission caretaker Jose):

You can caption this one:

Pacific side light house (the stair case was very sketchy):

A splurge camp night at a yurt place at San Ignacio (free kayak use, breakfast, hot shower, & toilets!):

Mission in San Ignacio:

Failed attempt at getting to another very remote mission:

Yes, I'm still doing PT on my arm and shoulder:

Catamaran wreck (body of Canadian owner Bob Smith was recovered):

Coconut Camarones - Yum!

A good sign!

Finally, I get my revenge on the SUP that took out my arm:

Lots of these guys in the desert:

Bahia del Cangrejo de los Muertos:

Until next time, I'm off to see what I see ...