Tropical Travels

After San Javier, we drove down to La Paz to sort out vehicle documentation for the trip to the mainland. A whole morning spent queuing, being sent for copies, etc, etc, and we are now fully legal and booked on a ferry to Mazatlan tomorrow afternoon. After a brief taco-and-sandcastle stop on the beach we drove into the hills to stay at a ranch near St Bartolo.

We were one of only two camper vans in this beautiful spot. Time and again this has been the case on the Baja, where tourism seems to be suffering from the US economy and border-town drug-related violence. It doesn’t help that several of the bridges on the only route South into the Baja are still impassable after last week’s terrible weather.

We had heard great reports of the beaches and coral reef at Cabo Pulmo and decided spend a couple of days down there. Taking yet another dirt track to cross the Tropic of Cancer, we visited this remote village, which lived up to all our expectations, with fabulous snorkelling right off the beach, humpback whales leaping clean out of the water and even a great little restaurant.

Having driven the length of the Baja Peninsular, we are now back in La Paz awaiting the ferry, hoping that tomorrow’s forecast storm doesn’t affect our 16 hour crossing too much. The plan now is to spend a little time in the colonial town of Mazatlan and then meet up with Tony’s parents further down the coast in Bucerias.

Whales, Missions and Mistakes

We grew increasingly doubtful about seeing the much anticipated grey whales at Ojo de Liebre, as we drove down the rough road through salt flats towards a thick bank of fog.



Luckily, the sun came out after lunch and we hired a panga and boatman to take us out onto the lagoon where we saw lots of whales and their calves. Some were so close that they nudged the boat as they swam underneath.

Moving slowly down the Baja, we stayed on sandy beaches along the Bahia Conception, bordered by the beautiful desert mountains. Everyone enjoyed sleeping just yards from the sea, despite the unusually damp weather. This didn't hold Francesca back from swimming, although her first experience of the Sea of Cortez resulted in a jelly fish sting.










After a night in Loreto (where we found an English bookshop to replenish stocks for the children), we were all set to go to La Paz until a neighbour made friends with the girls and suggested we take to the hills and visit San Javier Mission. She reassured us that the long dirt road was passable, despite our guide book's warnings. Francesca and Liberty were both very excited until they found that a mission wasn't a secret adventure, just another boring old church. They cheered up when they found a playpark close by and an adjacent restaurant where we lunched on burritos.





Along the road back there were a number of shallow fords and at one of these we met a jeep, which kindly allowed us through first - by reversing straight over the culvert into the ditch! Unfortunately it was balanced on the axles, leaving all wheels in the air. Fortunately it was a rental car and our mild sense of guilt was allayed when we took the couple back to town. Enroute, he explained that his car back home has mirrors that rotate down to assist with reversing. This would never have happened in California!

Baja Bound

Since our last blog, nearly two weeks ago, we have spent a lot of time in San Diego making final preparations for the hoped for months in Mexico - new tires, jabs, oil change, etc.- all dull but necessary.  However, we did make time to see a little more of the Californian coastline, including seedy Venice Beach and the more up-market coastal towns identified by their Ferrari dealerships.  We also dipped into Los Angeles to visit the Getty Centre (which holds a fantastic collection of art).

Having by-passed Disneyland, we felt duty-bound to visit SeaWorld whilst we were in San Diego.  We were more impressed than we had expected to be by the acrobatic killer whales but the highlight for the girls was the "river rapids" ride, down which they dragged Tony 3 successive times! After the first ride Ellen had to be excused the subsequent trips to record the event for posterity - or maybe just to dry off!

We crossed the border into Tijuana, Mexico uneventfully, and post haste headed South down the Baja peninsular, past the crime and drug-ridden border towns.  Along the way, we have stayed in a couple of almost empty, idyllic seaside campsites and one sited in the middle of the desert at Catavina. 

We are now in Guerrero Negro planning a 15 mile trip down a dirt road to catch a boat and see some whales. After all the dallying and admin, we feel we are finally back on the move again and the sun is shining. Meanwhile the girls have been very tolerant, entertaining themselves (and us) with, amongst other things, desert explorations and puppet shows under the dining table!

The Pacific At Last

New Year's Eve saw us celebrating in hushed tones in our tiny van at a campsite outside San Francisco.  We had spent the day traipsing up and down the hills of the fabulous city. In the morning the cable cars were all too crowded to board and in the afternoon we had a delicious Chinese lunch to walk off.  On New Year's Day we joined the throngs walking across the Golden Gate Bridge.

We finally reached the Pacific Ocean at Half Moon Bay, where we camped by the beach to the children's joy. They can't quite believe that we are really going to spend the next few months so close to the seaside - we have been tasked with finding buckets and spades as soon as possible.

Over the last few days we have been driving down Highway 1, including the justifiably famous Big Sur coastline. We have seen gray whales, northern elephant seals, otters and sea lions, we have paddled in the sea and built enormous sandcastles and we are now debating the merits of breakfast in "Ellen's Pancake House" at Buellton tomorrow...