San Felipe

Coming into town we hit another military check point. This time they opened cabinets in the bedroom, the medicine cabinet, the refrigerator, looked in the toilet and the kitchen sink and then wanted to see inside the car. It was the most any of the check points had done. Of coarse I'm usually trying to hold the dogs in their leashes. Mistek normally hides behind the bed and doesn't come out, but the last two stops he decided to come out, so try to get him into a harness, (which he hates), before we stop and of coarse Ceetu is also in his harness, (which he doesn't mind at all). Trying to maintain the animals while they are doing their check is a fun adventure. We stayed at “Pete's Camp”. There are old palapas on the beach without power or water. The beach is really sandy, but the tides goes out ¼ of a mile, at least. 

So not the best for kayaking, it would be a long haul. Our friends will be moving to another campground closer to town, but there again there are no facilities. We checked on the beaches south of town. A lot of the campgrounds no longer exist, who knows why.

 

A LOT of the housing developments have gone by the wayside. Looks like there was some sort of storm and the sand took over. Some of the roads have so much sand you need a dune buggy to get in and some of the yards are nothing but dunes.

We rode with our friends to Puertecitos, where the road quits. What a sad little town.

Onward to San Felipe

Between Guerrero Negro and Rancho Inez we encountered severe winds. It took us 5 hours to go 133 miles. Tom had to stop the rig when an oncoming semi approached, so that we didn't get blown into the side of the rig or over the edge of the road.

This picture is looking at the passenger side mirror, notice the tires on the white line? Even when stopped we were swaying back and forth. It was a long nerve racking day. 

 

We lost the vent cover along the way and the wind was howling into the bathroon lifting the scatter rug up and down. When we got to Rancho Inez I used a cereal box to put over the vent and taped and taped with duct tape so it wouldn't come off. While doing that little job I noticed the cap for the sewer vent was also missing. So will add these items to our growing list of fix its. 

 

In towns there are different types of produce vendors. Some with oranges or even tomatoes in the back of trucks and others have a stand with a little of everything.

 

Have no idea what these cactus are, but I thought they were interesting. The main branch is stocky like a tree and cream colored with the needles coming directly out of the main branch with what I guess are flowers on top. 

 

                                                                    

Once again we encountered gas being sold out of 55 gallon drums or milk jugs, for those that didn't pay attention to their gas gauges before crossing a long stretch without a Pemex.

  

                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

A typical propane fill up station.

 Some of the terrain we encountered on the drive.

 

          

 

  

A fun picture I forgot to post for Los Barrilles.

 

Drove from Ensenada to San Felipe with friends we met up with in Ensenda. We will check out the beaches and decide which one we want to spend some time at.

Guerrero Negro – Whale Watching

Drove out thru the working salt flats to see the whales. If we didn't see some road signs periodically we could easily have gotten lost. The road had sand drifts and washboard

 

At the end of the road was a great campground. The first few palapas had electric hook-ups. It was a gorgeous day with hardly any wind.

 

We went out on a panga to see the whales. It was amazing. They swam under the boat with their babies. The whales were all around us.

 

                                                                                                     

Baby with head on mom's back

 

Heading North

We are in the process of heading North to, hopefully, see some gray whales. We stopped a couple of days in Los Barrilles and then a day at Ciudad Constitucion. We went to the beach community San Carlos to see if there were any whale sightings. We had a truck stop us wanting to take us out to see whales, but we were skeptical and said we would come back. Good thing, the whales were not there yet. They were scam, just trying to get some money. Things are tough.

We adopted a kitten from the RV site while in Ciudad Constitucion. He is so cuddly, doesn't mind the dogs and rides in the Motor Home without any problem.

Sunset at Santispac

We then went back to Santispac. This time the beach was full. But we were able to set up next to a couple that we have become friends with and periodically see on the route. Kayaking with them was fun.

So now we are in San Lucas and the weather has started to become cooler again. Ugh. We will head for Guerrero Negro. Our friends e-mailed us and said the whales have arrived.

More Cabo

It has been a while since we posted. The internet has not been the best, so will try to catch up. Scott went back home on the 13^th.    The week seemed to fly by. 

 

 

We took him back to the beach “Playa Santa Maria” and did some more snorkeling. This time we encountered some very small jelly fish. We didn't realize what they were until we started to get stung. The sting hurt. Tom purchased a water proof camera which I tried out. Not the best camera, but the underwater pictures are OK, you just have to guess at what you are shooting, very difficult to see the LCD display.

Since it is one of the better beaches to snorkel the local tourist boats come in to let people spend time snorkeling, as part of their tour. The boats are very varied.

Took Scott to Cabo San Jose for a day trip.

 

A local vendor trying to sell his snacks.

 

Then a short drive on the east cape. They were in the process of building a new marina, golf course and housing development. This area is a little more rugged.

 A little more on the roads. Prior to entering Cabo San Lucas there is a main road to travel at a good speed, then if you need to stop at a store there are the side roads that run parallel to the main so you don't hold up traffic.

There are also “retornos” on the side roads, so you could go the other way without crossing the main road. One of which just ran under the highway.

Cabo San Lucas

We finally have warm weather without the wind!

Cabo's downtown has a huge mall, with many empty spaces, with an outside malacon to walk around the harbor.  The downtown is the typical tourist area with knickknacks and clothing.  The town has grown by double maybe triple since we were here in 2004, it amazes us.  There is now a Costco, Wal-Mart, Sams Club, and Home Depot that were not here in 2004.  But, there are still many buildings / condos empty. 

   

 Every day there are one or more cruise ships anchored in the bay, they are as big as the resorts!

The summers get hot, so some parking lots have shade covers, like this one for Wal-Mart.

 

 

The RV park we are staying at is on the edge of town with the highway just outside the entrance. Not a place we would pick to stay, put it is 20 minutes to Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach where Scott is staying in luxury and there is only one other RV park that is close to town. It is a typical facility where the permanent RV's surround the outside and are enclosed in palapas. 

 

Went snorkeling, what fun, so many colorful fish.  This beach is between Cabo San Lucas and Cabo San Jose.  Not the one downtown.