After retiring early for our first Baja night at a Pacific coast beach camp about 5 hours south of the border we awoke early to the beginnings of another beautiful day. While we didn't plan to drive all that far to the next camp I hoped to get everyone used to starting the days early so we could make the most of the daylight over the whole trip. Driving at night is a no-no and getting to camp while there is still time to walk around and explore is a yes-yes. 30 miles down the road we cleared our first Army checkpoint, without much delay. A few miles later we dropped down to a small town that had a panaderia (bakery) and a few small stores. The bakery sign said open but it wasn't, sadly. The markets were open so we grabbed a few things. From there the highway moved away from the coast and climbed through some small mountains into the interior desert of Baja. We pressed on, making the turn at the junction toward Bahia de Los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez. We stopped for lunch, pulling a little ways down a dirt track leading into the recently dedicated nature preserve area. The desert was greener that usual and wild flowers were everywhere. Clearly there had been some rains. The mood was light and things were good. On the road again, we hit a hilly area and were buffeted by some wind, an ominous sign if it continued. Heading toward the sea, we soon caught our first glimpse. Anne and I were happy to see that the water looked calm. We all pulled over at a lookout point and surveyed the view of the many islands arrayed around the great bay. After a stop in town for gas, ice, and beer we headed north along the bay with the pavement running out after several miles and our first taste of Baja washboard beginning. It was slow rough going but we kept on until we reached the hoped for camping beach at the end of the road. We had it all to ourselves, and we set up the vans spread in a long line along the best spot. The Bay Of LA (BOLA) magic was with us, calm and beautiful. Some people jumped in the clear water. After a few beers we took the kayaks off the roofs and started setting them up for a little paddling and fishing. The hungry bass were biting as usual and I even hooked a small barracuda. The breeze started to kick up so we had to keep close to shore and then cut our paddling short. Some of the fish were cooked for dinner. It was a beautiful evening, things were going well. We woke early to a fabulous sunrise beginning to show, many cameras in evidence. The receding tide was too low for kayaking but we had a lot of shoreline to walk and explore. Some combed the rocks and sand looking for clams, gathering enough to have a meal later. I hiked a few of the small hills, looking longingly at the larger close island to the east where I have fished many times from my Zodiac. I hope to one day do more of that but it has been a few years. When I got back to camp some others were just heading out for walks so I joined them to show where I had found my best views. When the tide returned we made another go at kayaking but the threat of offshore wind kept us in pretty tight. A few fish were caught to go along with the clams collected earlier. We had a calm evening and ate our dinners outside. We set up a small campfire with chairs for all 19 of us at one point. I can't really put the joy of such times into words so I won't try. Mark
mark drillock wrote: > As advertised here a few months ago, the 4th annual Vanagon Baja Whale > trip took place last week. This year there were 10 vans from 6 states. > Harold and Faye Teer get the long distance award, coming from Virgina. > Other vans were from Washington, Oklahoma, Oregon, Arizona, and several > from California. I never dreamed that this many vans would join a trip > like this but they did and we had a great time. > > |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.