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Hook
Elite Nomad
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What's the road like out to Bahia San Basilio and San Sebastian?
And when I get there, what can I expect?
A good beach?
Any protection from the north winds?
Are the people friendly?
Vamos a Mulege manana!
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Barry A.
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Location: Redding, Northern CA
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WHICH SAN BASILIO
Are you speaking about the San Basilio that is between Bahia Conception and Loreto? or some other place?
Tho no road appears in the "Baja Almanac" map book, there are two roads out to Ensenada San Basilio (S-2 on map #40), and it is a wonderful spot with
great places to camp right on the water. Barry A.
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Bajaboy
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I drove out to San Sebastian (opposite Conception Bay) in 1997. When I arrived a guard met me at the gate and said I couldn't go any farther.
Fortunately, I knew someone that owned a house there and thus was allowed to camp on the cobblestone beach. If I recall there might be 15-20 houses
around the horseshoe bay. We fished the next morning and caught 10 different types of fish on 10 casts from shore.
I also recall, though, a road being graded that headed south just before San Sebastian. I'd definately be curious to hear any more reports on this
area.
Zac
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Hook
Elite Nomad
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The San Basilio
that is also called Bahia San Juanico on some maps. Yes, it is south of Concepcion and north of Loreto.
I have the older, larger Baja Explorer Atlas and it shows a road that heads to the San Juanico Fish Camp area.
It also shows a small bay below Punta San Basilio that it calls Ensenada San Basilio, but shows no road to it. Is that the area you camped in? Was the
land along the beach flat or was there any possibility of wind-protected area? It looks like a norther may be building for the Thanksgiving week.
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Bruce R Leech
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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Hook I was there last week and the Rode was Grate. nice trip try to stay a few days the People are grate.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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Barry A.
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Hook----from the road out to San Juanico a more primitive road branches southeast over a divide, intersects a newer road in from the south, and then
drops down into Ensenada San Basilio. The entire bay is surrounded on the north, south, and west by high, steep hills. San Basilio is a favorite
hangout for the yachties, and looks to me like it would be well protected from northeast winds. There are several beaches that you can camp on with
primitive dirt tracks to them, and with high, rocky headlands in between them. It is one of the most beautiful bays I have ever seen, with several
small islands in the bay. When I was there in 2000 there was nobody living on the entire bay, and we had it all to ourselves. Both of us had 4-wheel
drives and I do not think that you could get any vehicles bigger than a pickup in there----a 2-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance could probably
make it, tho. I do not know where the road to the south hits Mex. 1----we never went that way. At the time there was lots of evidence of bull dozers
putting in new roads all over the place, so I do not know if things are as we saw them in 2000. I believe that it would be a great place to spend
Thanksgiving. Barry A.
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Hook
Elite Nomad
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In your estimation, Barry,
how close to the coast is the road that leads to Ensenada San Basilio. Is it within a couple miles of the coast, near the midpoint of the road in from
hwy 1 or is it nearer the intersection with hwy 1? Just trying to get an educated guess as there will probably be more than one road peeling
southeast.
If I go for it, I will try and get GPS coordinates.
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Barry A.
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ROAD TO BASILIO
Hook-----The road takes off southeast a little more than 1/2 way into San Juanico. It is still quite a way inland from San Juanico. I do not recall
there being any other roads taking off to the right from the road into San Juanico, but I have never actually been all the way to San Juanico. There
are several roads that take off to the left, all leading to interesting and active Ranchos (San Antonio and El Cajon). The road to San Basilio was
quite obvious, and we had no problem finding it. Unfortunately I do not have any GPS coordinates. Take some sort of a boat/kayak with you if you can,
as the bay is fasinating. You are going to love it!!! Any kind of trailer (other than a heavy duty special 4x4 trailer) would be really iffy, IMHO.
Around Miralbuena (El Ranchito) on the way in, there are some astounding fig trees along side the road----lots of interesting things to explore on the
way into San Basilio. Allow time to explore, if you can. Rancho San Antonio is also worth seeing, (big working rancho)if you have time. Barry A.
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Hook
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I am in a 4x4 diesel with a cabover camper.
Lots of clearance.....but also lots of weight.
I just compared the road in to San Juanico on an older AAA map and a new AAA map and the road appears to be significantly different between the two.
Hmmmm..........
No sign of the road to ESB.
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Barry A.
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ROAD TO BASILIO
Hook-------I have lost faith in AAA as to their maps----they used to be the best going, but they have become increasingly sloppy and I would not pay
too much attention to them anymore----lots of mistakes. The road into San Juanico follows the drainage, essentially, often right in the river bed. I
have never seen the San Basilio road on any map.
The rig I went into Basilio in is an extended cab, F-250 full length bed, 4x4, stickshift 5 speed, 460 gas, 3:55 diffs, with a 43" tall cab-over
CALLEN Steel framed camper (1000 lbs) with 385x75x16 BFG all-terraign TA tires. The short pitch (1/4 mile?) out of the drainage that the main San
Juanico road is in is a rocky dugway, rough and steep. I creeped (crept?) up it (in 4x4 for the low gearing), with no problemas, but it was very slow
and carefully run. After that it was a piece of cake. Barry
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Hook
Elite Nomad
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We have, or had, similar rigs.
F350, ext cab, LB, with the 4 speed auto. Lance 9-4 model that weighs 2200 loaded.
My tires are less than yours were; 265-75-16, but they are true 10 plys. I have a dependable aire source, too.
And a shovel and tow strap, if worse comes to worst.
I really appreciate your help. With the lack of replies, I feel like I'm going into an area that few visit.
Or maybe it's so nice that no one wants to encourage visits? I hope to find out.
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Barry A.
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BIG CAMPERS AND ENSENADA BASILIO
Hook---------this place is super nice, one of the best in Baja, and in 2000 showed very little use by campers---- but some use. No trash, but no
firewood either. Take your own firewood.
Your camper is big and heavy----I have never driven anything that big-----but I believe you will be ok. You won't need the tow strap as the ground is
firm, even on the beach, but take it anyway, of course. The biggest danger would be torqueing the LANCE camper and thereby doing some damage to it,
but just take it real easy and I think all will be ok. I hope the conditions are the same as in 2000-----you just never know. But, the bay is worth
it, so give it a try.
Take a long hard look at the dugway before attempting it, preferrably on foot. It would be hard to back down if you ran into problems as it is very
narrow.
I think that you are right----people that do go there just do not talk about it----big secret. I know that the yachties do not want anybody
there---they want it to continue to be their private hiding place----the yachties in the bay when we were there (5 big yachts) were not at all
friendly and just ignored us even tho we swam out to one of the yachts. Strange!!! I know that they were dismayed that we had been able to drive in.
Your tires are certainly up to the task.
Hope you give us all a report when you get back.
As an aside: I vaguely remember a few months (or years?) back that somebody else on this board said that the new road that came in from the south
(that we never explored) had washed out in several places and was no longer passable. At that time (2000) it was only a bulldozer track, freshly made.
The road we went in on, and the one that I described to you, was a very old road that had been there for years and years, I believe. For the last
mile, or so, both the roads were the same, one on top of the other.
Have a great trip. Barry
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Jack Swords
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Caleta San Juanico
Barry, I'm sorry you were ignored by the yachties in Caleta San Juanico. It is a beautiful place and as you said, quite popular with cruisers. As a
sailboater (notice not yachtie) who frequents this peninsula via boat and 4WD you would be welcome at my camp or anchorage. It would be interesting
if you had some boat names to pass on. As with all things, there are good and bad ones. If you see a sailboat (not yacht, not big) in an anchorage
with the name "La Paloma" come on by for some hospitality and a beer.
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
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San Sebastian/Basillio
San Sebastian does not offer any beach-side amenities. It is now all houses around the cove. I understand that Jorge has put a lot of work into the
road from the Bahia, but it may be behind a locked gate. The road from San Nicolas up to Sebastian got beat up really bad in the last chubasco, and I
would not have advised it for your rig even before.
If you can make contact with Carlos, the artist who owns the El Alacran shop in Loreto, he owns the big house on the hill in Basillio. He could tell
you the current condition of the road. We always go by water in our skiff, so I don't know anything about the camino.
Last time we were there, there was a federale camp set up with two patrol boats.
Want to see photos of the general area?
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Barry A.
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Yachties and stuff
Hook------There is a brief description of Caleta San Juanico (Basilio) and the road into it, in Patti and Tom Higginbotham's book "BACKROAD BAJA"
available (I think) from Discover Baja Travel Club in Clairmont (San Diego).
Jack Swords-----Well, you caught me in my vast over-gereralization about "yachties". Thank you for your kind words. The rest of the story is that 4 of
the 5 yachts in the bay were so far out that we really did not have any connection with them. The 5th one, that we swam out to, appeared deserted and
nobody would respond to our yells from the water. We knew that there was a couple on it, as we had seen them earlier from shore. I will speculate no
further as to why they did not respond----they were obviously busy with other things, but we thought it strange at the time. For all we knew, they
might have been on their honeymoon!! So, you see, I was remiss in my earlier comments, and I am glad that you caught me at it. I have had other
experiences with other yachties in Puerto Don Juan in BOLA that were wonderful, so I should have known better. Sorry, I just got carried away. I have
no boat names for you-----not sure if I even noticed, but the yacht up close was about a 40-60 foot Ketch, if I remember right. Beautiful boat!!! I
always thought that the nickname, "Yachtie" was amusing, but not negative, but nicknames can always be taken in a variety of ways, I suppose. Thanks
for your response.
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Barry A.
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"Big house on the hill"??????
Vgabndo-------I just re-read your message. At first I thought you were talking about San Sabastian, but then I realized you also were talking about
Basilio. I am dismayed that you state that there is a "house on the hill" at Basilio----and a military camp??? What desecration of perhaps one of
the most beautiful natural spots on the entire Penninsula. It was pristine when we were there in 2000, except for some newly bulldozed "tracks". I am
certainly glad that I got to see it before there was any human "improvements".
Tho it will probably hurt, I would love to see some pictures, especially if they show the "improvements".
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
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Ha, you should see
Bahia de los Muertos!!
Yer all just a bunch a danged boat people if ya ask me.
And, before you start, mi hermano owned a 55' 1953 Sparkman Stevens Ketch and was the owner of San Diego Sails and Canvas.
He is now looking for another hole in the water around 45-60' if anybody knows of any boats for sail.
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Barry A.
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BOATS ARE GOOD nfm (-:
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
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Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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I hope this isn't too much data.
Here's a picture of Carlos' $300,000 "casa" on the hill. He'll have to make water by RO just like a yachtsman!
There are a couple of other big houses on the other side of the hill. It looked like an acre of PV cells over there.
I'm sure it isn't that unusual, but when they poured the ceilings, they put patate mats on the forms so that when they were stripped, they have a
basket weave pattern on the lids!
The two other views are of a MX patrol boat veering to see my skiff, and one of Cathy with "Gallena del Mar" in the cove below Carlos'
It is still a dazzling place.
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
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View from Carlos' casa
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