- Quick facts
- Total days on the road: 586
- Currently in: USA
- Miles Driven: 36821
- Countries Visited: 17
- Days Camping: 389
- Days Indoors: 202
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(Almost) White Sandy Beaches
Start: Tuesday November 8, Guerrero Negro
Finish: Friday November 11, Santa Rosalia
Fish Caught and Eaten: 1
Seagulls Caught and Released: 1
Street Tacos Consumed: 6
Routine Military Checkpoints Crossed: 3
Rainy Days: 0!!!
After a long day of driving we've crossed into Baja California Sur, the southern half of the Baja peninsula. Rumors of white sandy beaches, good fishing and beautiful weather has convinced us to move south as quickly as possible.
Our first few days in Baja Sur are spent in the towns of Guerrero Negro, San Igancio and Santa Rosalia. We drive from the Pacific coast of the peninsula, across the desert interior, to the eastern coast on the Sea of Cortez.
We pull up to our campsite in Guerrero Negro after a six hour drive south from San Quintin. As you can see, it's less than scenic - pretty much a cement wall surrounding a gravel parking space meant for RVers heading south. You can't win 'em all.
The saving grace turns out to be the restaurant and bar. We munch on a delicious bay scallop ceviche, down a few cervezas and engage in a bit of raucous conversation with a few folks we meet in the bar who are very interested in our trip. One of whom is a verifiable retired rocket scientist, to put it in his words he used to "make rockets and shit". Fascinating stuff.
The next day we spend a few hours in the restaurant at our Guerrero Negro campground wrapping up some loose ends online. Turns out our Mexican wireless modem and cell phone plans work quite well.
A short two hour drive down the road and we arrive at the small town of San Ignacio. The above is a shot from our campsite, located in the middle of bonafide desert oasis. The photo at the top of the article was taken over the lake as the full moon rose shortly after sunset.
That afternoon we drive into San Ignacio to check out the sights. A large church sits at the center of town overlooking the central square.
The interior of the Misión San Ignacio de Kadakaaman is impressive. Finished in 1786 by Jesuits, it has walls over four feet thick and is still in use today.
About thirty minutes from San Igancio is the city of Santa Rosalia. We decided to add this stop to our trip after speaking to some helpful folks in Guerrero Negro...we're glad we did! At last, our first beach camp, plus friendly neighbors and beautiful weather.
The next morning Kobus wakes me up at 7. Our neighbor, Erik, happens to have a boat and was looking to take one of us out for an hour of fishing. Somehow I ended up in the boat, and about 20 minutes later I caught my first Baja fish! We landed three beautiful sierra mackerel and were back home before breakfast. Awesome.
For lunch I fry up a bit of the mackerel, toss in some of the steak we had the night before, add a few toppings and we have surf and turf tacos for lunch. Life keeps getting better.
Kobus finally lands his first "fish" of the trip later that morning, using some of the mackerel as bait. It's a small skate, or ray - either way it's not good eating and will give you a nasty sting if given the opportunity. He proceeds to catch a half dozen more before he hooks something big...
Unfortunately it was a seagull. The poor bastard lands on Kobus' line and proceeds to flail about and wrap itself up good. Kobus drags it to the shore and I attack with leather gloves and a pair of forceps. Luckily the little guy isn't hooked bad and is let loose with only emotional scarring.
Up next: We head farther south to Mulegé and the beaches of Bahía Concepción.
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