ahschneid

Mar 1014 min read

BAJA 2024!

We met most of our fellow campers in the caravan on the evening of 17 Feb 2024 at Desert Trails RV Resort in El Centro California. We introduced ourselves and heard from our caravan leader, Scott McEwen about safety and inside tips for driving in Baja. The folks we traveled with were:

Scott – Wagon Master - Jayco Baja Travel Trailer from California (dogs Dot and Della)

Paul and Laura – Large Bounder Class A from Colorado (dog Parker)

John and Maureen – Pop out camper from California (dogs Bo and Shiloh)

Ken and Wendy – Mercedes Camper Van from California

Jerry and Glee – Tiger Adventure Vehicle from California

Jennifer and Michael – Winnebago View (Class C) from Arizona (dog Teeka sp?)

Paul and Janie – Retro Travel Trailer from California (St. Bernard named Hudson)

Steve and Anita – Grand Design Fifth wheel from Texas

Dave and Karen – Lexington (Forest River) Class C from California

On 18 Feb we crossed the border into Mexico at the Mexicali Port of Entry (POE) and traveled south to San Felipe where we stopped for fuel and groceries. While we were getting groceries a friend of Paul and Laura's stopped by to collect supplies they had for a local orphanage. Steve met Jack and gave him a donation. He's a very nice man doing good for local kids. The picture isn't very clear, but to read about it go to sonshinehacienda.org.

Right away we noticed the narrow roads with no shoulders, lots of potholes, two way traffic with mostly a solid yellow line down the middle and semis driving like they have all the room in the world. Every day that we towed was stressful and Steve did a great job keeping us on the road and safe. Lots of the time we were on the narrow roads with mountains on both sides.

We dry camped on beaches a few times and those were nice. When we stayed at campgrounds with full hook ups, nothing was up to the standards we've come to know in the US. Power was 110 and not potable water.

Our first night in Mexico we were on the shore of the Sea of Cortez in Puertecitos at Octavio’s Camp. This was dry camping right on the beach and beautiful.

Caravan lining up to leave 18 Feb 2024

We were amazed with the scenery and odd cloud formations on the first day of driving

18 Feb 2024

18 Feb 2024

18 Feb 2024

Our lunch stop San Felipe Harbor 18 Feb 2024

Our lunch stop 18 Feb 2024

18 Feb 2024

Campo Octavio 18 Feb 2024

Campo Octavio 18 Feb 2024

Whale skeleton 18 Feb 2024

Our site at Octavio's next to a palapa 18 Feb 2024

Sunset 18 Feb 2024

Sunset 18 Feb 2024

Sunset 18 Feb 2024

The next day (19 Feb 2024), we headed to Guerrero Negro and Malarrimos RV. We noticed that one of our camper tires was very low shortly after we left Octavios. We pulled over at the first spot we saw and Paul and Laura in the large Class A pulled in right behind us. They had volunteered to be the end of the caravan. It was comforting to have them with us and Paul even had an air compressor to get us to where we could keep going. We caught up to the caravan down the road some, and then kept going to Guerrero Negro. We found a tire place there and they found a nail in our tire. Also, the tire was bulging on one side. So they patched that tire and put it under our camper as a spare, and put the spare onto our camper for us to continue traveling. The language barrier was extreme, and we thought we had ordered a new tire to be installed in Loreto, but when we got to Loreto there was no tire. We decided to just take care of getting a new tire or tires when we are back in the states. That evening, we enjoyed a group meal at the onsite restaurant.

On 20 Feb 2024, we were driven from Malarrimos out to Ojo de Liebre Lagoon for a whale watching tour. We were on a panga boat and actually got to touch California grey whales! They came right up the to boat and we could pet them! They sprayed us with their blow holes too. The whales are huge, but gentle giants. They rubbed on the boat, but didn't cause too much rocking. If they wanted to, they could have easily flipped our pangas, but they were happy just hanging out with us and letting us pet them for two hours.

Second day of trip headed to Guerro Negro 19 Feb 2024

Second day of trip headed to Guerro Negro 19 Feb 2024

19 Feb 2024

Our campsite at Guerrero Negro 19 Feb 2024

Guerrero Negro 19 Feb 2024

Guerrero Negro 19 Feb 2024

Our first group meal at the onsite restaurant in Guerrero Negro 19 Feb 2024

Clockwise: Me, Laura, Paul, Michael, Jennifer

Our first group meal at the onsite restaurant in Guerrero Negro 19 Feb 2024

Counterclockwise: Maureen, Dave, Scott, Paul, back of Janie's head, Ken, Wendy and Karen

On our way to the whale tour, we saw salt works (evaporation ponds - a quarter million acres - maybe the largest in the world). 51% owned by the Mexican Government and 49% owned by Mitsubishi of Japan. All product is shipped to Japan.

20 Feb 2024