We spent Tuesday night, May 29th, at the Desert Trails RV Park in El Centro planning an early departure in the morning to cross the border at Mexicali. Nice park, not 5-star as advertised, but clean and well maintained. It's a huge park with a golf course, lots of park models and is a snowbird headquarters in the winter months. When we arrived there were also a group of folks checking in for the night to caravan down to El Dorado Ranch the next morning on the weekly "round them up and sell them a space" trip. We declined to join that group and headed out on our own the next morning at 8:30.
Crossed the border without incident at Mexicali; it's a very busy place and we were pulled over for a brief inspection. The officer told us that we could get tourist cards across the street or in San Felipe. Since the traffic was so heavy and parking looked next to impossible, we opted for the San Felipe Migration office and proceeded to head south. On our way through the city we passed a lot of manufacturing facilities including Kenwood, Daiwa, Sony and more. Also passed Sam's Club, Costco, Walmart, etc.. They have it all here!
We got to San Felipe where our first priority was to get our tourist cards. We found Migracion, did the paperwork, went to the bank and paid and then returned to Migracion with the stamped paperwork. Did I mention the bank closes at 2 pm and we did all of this in about a half an hour driving the bus through the narrow streets?
Once we obtained our Tourist Cards we checked out a few of the parks in town and decided to head north for the campos on the bay. We ended up at Pete's Campo Paraiso. Lovely on-the-beach camping with palapas, restaurant, dump station, showers ($1.50), etc.. June is a nice time to be here, not too crowded and the temperatures averaged mid-90's during the day with 50% humidity. The claming is good; if you know where to look. I bought clams from a local one evening and they were wonderful. We relaxed and floated around in the bay (until the jelly fish floated in that is) and explored. The weekend brought more campers and noise, but not unbearable. I bought a hammock from a vendor and spent hours swinging gently in the palapa reading and sleeping! We stayed here through Sunday the 10th and left on Monday for Punta Banda on the Pacific.
We traveled across Hiway 3 to Bunta Banda with our new friends Kim, Dan and their daughter Andrea. Not a bad drive, road's in good condition and we had a nice drive (cooler too). We stopped in Maneadero to fill up with water at the local water purification plant and headed into Punta Banda and the Villarino RV Park/Campground. Other than a few resident snowbirds, we were the only campers most of our stay there. Weather was beautiful, cooler than the Cortez side of course, but lovely. Although the water here is not potable, Tom figured out how to bypass our system and hooked up a hose directly to our washer, thus enabling us to do laundry, which we needed! While here our water tank sprang a leak and we spent some time trying to deal with that. Tom finally emptied the tank, did a patch on the spot that he found leaking and prayed for the best. We put some water back into the tank and it held, so we left the next day and refilled the tank with water. Dan and Kim had headed north on Thursday and we left on Friday for Bahia de Los Angeles, another place we hadn't visited before.
The road into LA Bay is deceptively smooth for the first few miles; after that it is rough and one dodges potholes for the remainder of the drive. We camped at Daggett's a few miles south of town. Small park with hot showers, each space has a palapa with a barbecue and most face the ocean with a view of the islands. We saw dolphins, rays flying thorough the air and slapping down, lots of fish and clams. Fishing was very good while we were here; Tom did a lot of catch and release off the shore and folks with boats were bringing in sea bass, triggerfish, yellow tail, etc. We were the fortunate beneficiaries of our neighbor's bounty of sea bass which I enjoyed immensely. Daggett's is highly rated by the cats - great for lounging in the sand according to Pooh. Only drawback is the wind - when it blows from the west it howls! On Wednesday the 13th the wind kept us inside all day and continued through the night. Thursday morning we decided it was not about to calm down, so headed out to Hiway 1 and south to Mulege.
As we headed south we were waved through the checkpoint at the junction to El Tomatal. Continuing south we were stopped and boarded at the agricultural checkpoint at Guerrero Negro. The inspector looked in the fridge and the basket of vegetables on the counter - and left. Next was the Migration officer - this is the FIRST time we've ever had our Tourist Cards checked - followed by paying 20 pesos to have the underside of the bus sprayed. We were stopped again just north of San Ignacio, boarded by two soldiers; one stood in the doorway and the other looked in back of the bus and opened the closet doors, bathroom and shower, fridge, overhead cabinets in the living room and the kitchen drawers. All of the stops have been very polite and professional.
We reached Mulege late in the afternoon; they were repaving the bridge and we had a wait there, then proceeded to Orchard's RV Park, where once again we were one of very few RVs during this time of year. We really like this park and enjoy the large spaces, abundant trees and fresh mangos, guavas, bananas, papayas, etc. that abound. This park is also highly rated by our cats; Pooh loves the crushed shell pads, grass and lots of birds to watch! On our second day we had surveyors around us and were surprised to learn from the owners that they are turning the park into a "vacation village" with 50 square foot lots, casitas/bungalows with 1 bedroom and loft, etc. We really enjoy Mulege, the town is small and friendly and one can find just about anything here. We remained for three nights, catching up on laundry and getting ready to do some boondocking at Conception Bay.
Sunday found us at Playa Santispac - as beautiful as ever and we were surprised to find a couple of other large coaches parked down the beach from us. As we drove in we passed a group of boaters playing softball on the beach. During our day there were 16 anchored in the bay. There were quite a few campers on the beach and as the day progressed groups of travelers would pop in, jump in the water and relax for a while, then continue on their way. We parked right at the edge of the beach - a bit too close to the water for Pooh, he wasn't at all sure about being this close to so much wet stuff. Plus it was hotter here - pushing 100 with 50% or more humidity with a good breeze to keep the bugs down.
Monday morning we went claming - came home with several dozen and no sting ray barbs! Since this was where I stepped on one last year, I was extra cautious and remembered to do the "sting ray shuffle". We spent a lovely day swimming, relaxing and just enjoying the beach. I had my fill of clams for dinner - with leftovers! After a quiet and enjoyable day, we went to bed only to be awakened around 2:30am with wind kicking up and rain.. rain didn't last long, but the wind did for a while and we pulled the awning and packed all of our outside stuff into the bays before returning to bed. Didn't sleep long however as the wind died and the "no-see-ems" attacked once it was still outside. The morning was very calm and hot, so we decided to leave the bugs behind and headed out after breakfast.
We stopped just outside of San Ignacio for a break and discovered water pouring out of the coach - a hose fitting had come loose and we were losing all of our fresh water! Tom reconnected it and we had about 3/8 tank remaining at that point ... fortunately we were heading for Guerrero Negro and there is water available there. Once we got started again, we were almost immediately stopped at the military checkpoint where we were boarded and underwent the most extensive search we've had yet. The soldier checked out the overhead cabinets in the front of the coach, the shower, commode and sink, Tom's closet and the drawers underneath it. He commented on the amount of music - all of our CD's are in one of those drawers, clothes and Tom's spotting scope and assorted equipment is in the bottom drawer. This is the first time anyone has actually gone into our drawers, which was interesting. That was it, he left and we continued on our way.
Tuesday night in Guerrero Negro we stayed at Malarrimo again, nice clean park, clean showers with hot water and good water pressure! Very friendly and helpful people. Prices are lower here than in the Mulege and LA Bay (which has the highest prices we've seen so far). Didn't buy any fruit as we weren't sure what they'd check for at the agricultural station heading north. On Wednesday morning we headed for the bank to change some dollars, got diesel at the station in town (a vendor came through with cantaloupes and watermelon - which I would have loved to buy, but we were heading north), and tanked up at the water plant. We drove off to the checkpoint, where Migracion checked our tourist cards again and everyone else waved us through - could have got those melons after all!
Not being ready to head back to the states yet, we decided to go back to LA Bay and headed north. We were stopped again at the El Tomatal junction where we were waved to the side of the road, boarded for a quick look-thru and sent on our way. Pulled into Daggett's around 4 after stopping in town for some fresh fruit and tortillas and found ourselves back in our previous campsite. The park was busier this time; several other RV's, several tent campers and a group of kayakers pulled in for the night. Really high tide, so we jumped in the water and floated around for a while, just enjoying the whole thing. Pooh is very happy to be back here, this is a 5-star camp for him; good sand (course enough that he's allowed to roll in it), big sites that he can wonder around on, birds and lots to sniff and see!
While we were here we had minus tides in the mornings and did some exploring and brought home more clams - larger than those we found in Conception Bay and equally delicious. With two minus-tide mornings we were able to do a lot of tide pooling and found lots of interesting marine life, including a couple of Electric Bullseye Rays, lots and lots of sting rays, sand dollars, sponges, etc. Really fun and colorful - and wet if you don't watch for that incoming tide. We really like this bay and campground and will make this a regular stop on our future trips to Baja. Now all we need is a boat so we can get out to the islands! Saturday the vegetable truck came in and we stocked up on tomatoes, fresh cilantro, onions, avocados, etc. Talk about convenience! The bad news was that our water tank was leaking again; very slow leak(s) and we were unable to pinpoint the exact locations. Fortunately the leaks are very slow so we continued to live with them and enjoy ourselves for several days before taking off on Sunday to escape the howling winds from the west that blew in Saturday night. On our way out of town we visited the local museum; definitely worth a visit, lots of local history and information.
Heading north the roads are rough, some potholes, etc. We saw/drove though stretches of repair work/repaving along the way, but the roads on the whole were worse than we experienced last year at this time. More people too, heading both north and south. We were stopped at a military checkpoint a few kilometers south of Cataviña; asked if we had dogs/cats aboard and then boarded and checked a few kitchen cupboards and waved us on. Rue has started to stay out as we travel now; we think he's getting deafer (he curls up in the back of the coach in front of the engine compartment) and/or just is tired of being under the couch all day. It seems that when we're boarded and they see the cat, they just look around and leave more quickly ...
North of Cataviña the roads are improved somewhat; still a few rough spots but much better on the whole. We passed through El Rosario and then turned off at the junction to the old Hiway 1 and went out to Cielito Lindo to check it out. We came by last year and it was really crowded so we continued on to the Old Mill. Cielito Lindo was not as packed this year and we pulled into the hook-up area and settled in for a couple of days. Nice park, absolutely beautiful dunes and beaches. Very reasonable rates and they have a motel, RV parking with hook ups, drycamping and a nice restaurant and bar, plus hot showers! We went to the bar for happy hour (75 cent beer/2.00 margaritas) and met some of the locals - Norte Americanos who spent 75% or more of their time here. It's a really lovely spot offering fishing and other recreational activities.. we really enjoyed the people we met and the beach itself. Twenty-eight miles of wide open beaches ... We'll be back here next year to stay for a while too!
On Tuesday morning (June 26th) we left Cielito Lindo for Ensenada - the last stop before heading across the border and back to the states.. We picked up fuel in San Quintin and continued on to Maneadero where we were stopped at a PGR checkpoint ... 6-8 vehicles ahead and us and we were boarded, asked a few questions sent on our way. We picked up some water on the outskirts of Ensenada and went into town to Campo Playo RV Park for the night. Lots of space available; they've cleaned up the park somewhat since we were here last year and there's a new Pemex station on the corner! No diesel though. Went across the street to Carbone's for Papas Rellenos and tacos for dinner - our first and only meal out since we crossed the border heading south! Spent a peaceful night with a cable hookup even - Tom was a truly happy camper! More so since our antenna "fell over" in Mulege and he's had no television reception since then!
Wednesday morning we walked to a couple of pharmacies and stocked up on our meds, then back to the coach to pack up and head north. We decided to take Hiway 3 up through Tecate - lovely drive through the valleys, kind of hilly, but not a bad drive and not much traffic. Getting into Tecate and finding the border crossing was very simple and uncrowded -- quite a contrast to Mexicali and Tijuana. We were boarded by US Customs and had a nice chat with Ms. Johnson. We had little to declare and she was interested in our coach and what we were doing. This is by far the quietest and calmest border crossing we've been through - everyone seemed very friendly and relaxed. There was a fire in the foothills and she had information on which way we should go to avoid it - west toward San Diego. We'd planned on going a few miles east to stay at Portereo Park for the night, but the fire was in that direction, so we headed east, hit Hiway 8, then 15 North and were parked in front of Jerry's house in Hemet when he came home from work!