Baja trip

swanyo · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:36 pm

The family & I along with our friends Dave & Cel, just got back from Baja this weekend. It was my first time driving past Ensenada and driving in Mexico is definitely not for the faint of heart. We drove down to San Ignacio to do some Whale watching and a little relaxation. San Ignacio is only about half the way down Baja, but was about the farthest I would be willing to go for a weeklong trip. Luckly we had a loaner AT trailer to make things nice and comfortable. My wife was so impressed she even signed of on me purchasing one of my own. Anyway here is a link to the pics.

http://web.mac.com/swanyo/iWeb/Site/Baja.html

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:24 pm

Great pics

but I can tell nobody had any fun! :wink:

hyedipin · **Joined:** Thu May 11, 2006 10:20 am **Posts:** 1667

Wow, all that in just one weekend? Great trip, and looks like everyone enjoyed every bit of it. (except for the KJ with all that sand on her face)

carroll952 · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:37 pm

Wow, awesome pics! Looks like you all had tons of fun. Boy you really get close to those whales!

Burchie · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:36 pm

Fun trip. You got to love those trailers.

sandiegodave · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 7:51 pm

I’m jealous and the pictures are great.
I’m a retired marine biologist from San Diego and have traveled down the Baja many times but never as far as San Ignacio to see the whales. My wife and I have talked about driving our RV and towing our Jeep down but haven’t followed through yet. How many hours of driving did it take to get that far south?
Dave

swanyo · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:31 pm

You can count on two days of 8+ Hrs, But the Lagoons and the town of San Ignacio are well worth it. When we crested the hill over San Ignacio and saw all the Palms along the lagoon, we thought that we had entered another country. I wish we had some pictures of it, but stupidly we neglected to take any pictures of the Lagoon. I've heard that the Whales are more plentiful in Guerrero Negro but more friendly at San Ignacio. Don't know if thats true, but we loved our stay. San Ignacio definitely has more character in the town and lagoon. Can't wait to plan another trip! Next time I think it should be for at least 2 to 3 weeks long.

JJsTJ · **Posted:** Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:45 pm

Tell us more. How is it dealing w/ the border crossing coming and going? How about dealing w/ the locals? Did you ever have any concerns while there? Did you "drink the water"? I would love to make a trip like that but there are horror stories about crossing into Mexico. I am sure most are BS but they did originate from something happening at some point.
How were fuel prices? Anything special you had to do to make this trip? reservations? etc?
Sure would make a cool L.O.S.T. trip!

Edvalencia · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:45 am

That would make an AWESOME LOST trip!

I've always wanted to check that place out.

swanyo · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:07 pm

We crossed over on a Sat. morning and it went smoother than expected. We had to get a Tourist card ( $23 per person)for everyone because our trip was longer than 7 days and we were headed to the southern border of Baja. We don't speak much spanish but between all of us we were able to get around pretty well. Allot of hand gestures and pointing helped out. Everyone was quite friendly, even the guards at the military check points. Lots of people were interested in the trailer.

The trailer held more water than I could possible use, but I did try this yellowish water that the locals called Cerveza and it was quite good. It cost about $45 US to fill up but they only accept cash, and down in the southern sections it was strictly Pesos. Credit cards were hard to use, and for some reason on Thurs noon the banks were closed. We camped most of the time and were able to just pull in and get a space. A good book with campgrounds and discriptions of facilities is beneficial. Most of the time we just ate at camp restaurant which was always quite reasonable, especially compared to US prices.

We came back thru Tecate and had a line of only two cars in front of me! You then have a drive thru the mountains to get to a main Hwy but it was well worth not going thru TJ.

Sign me up if we have a LOST trip!

dirtykj · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:36 pm

I used to drive RV in to Ensenada with my buddy. The driving itself was fine if scary in places, especially at night (hardly any lights to speak of). No, we did not drink the local water, but we did eat some street tacos (quite yummy, and we survived the curse).

The RV got broken into at some point, so you'll want to be careful with your KJ that's for sure.

swanyo · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:51 pm

My favorite areas are well past Ensenada, I did not like TJ thru Ensenada all that much. If I could avoid those areas I definitely would, I would imagine that most of the problems people have is between Tj and Ensenada. It's much less populated and quiet down farther. The drive on hwy 3 up thru the wine country to Tecate was nice. Would like to check out Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez side next time.

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:21 pm

Those are great pictures. What a little boat next to a whale. Freaky cool.

So when's the lost trip?

Ntrgrl · **Posted:** Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:46 am

Great Pictures

It looks like the whales were very friendly... what a wonderful trip.

Thanks for sharing

Baja trip

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