BAJA PREZ DAY WEEKEND 2007 (Part 4 of 4, Shell Island to home)

Continued from Part 3 at http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=22826

Monday … no hurry to get up as we didn’t sleep well with the wind shaking the tent all night! However, we got packed up fairly quick and headed down the beach stopping to view the many shells… Collecting sea shells (like driving on the beach or over the posted speed limit) is illegal in Mexico!

It was low, low tide and we stopped along the beach in a couple of different places to walk out and see what was exposed. Check out the photos and you can see that walking nearly a mile into the gulf is no problem near San Felipe at lowest (new moon) tides!

Leaving the 'island' we once again had to ford the flooded access road, which was no problem with the Tacoma, and Cooper tires. Once out of the mud and water, I re-inflated the tires using my super new air pump from Harbor Freight. A big thanks to ‘bajalou’ for telling me about this fast, quiet and inexpensive tire pump!

It is a Central Pneumatic 12 volt High Volume Air Compressor Item 93186, under $50. See photo… From 10 psi to 40 psi at a rate of 6 psi per minute. The cigarette lighter powered air compressors I have had before would only deliver 2 psi per minute.

We wanted to say hi to BajaRob & Connie at Bahia Santa Maria so we drove south and found them at home and had a very nice visit on their beach side porch. Elizabeth and I really admire their lifestyle!

Because of some hassle at the border by homeland security last time I had mud on my truck, we pulled into a ‘car wash’ in San Felipe (‘Baja 1000’ tire shop just south of traffic circle). The guy had a power washer and even used a creeper to get under my truck… $20.

The construction of Highway 5 north from San Felipe to the new Colonia Morelia ('Zoo') road is underway to make it 4 lanes wide.

Going across Laguna Salada the dust storm was so thick, we could see only a few feet ahead. The wind was the front of the rain storm that hit the Pacific side I guess.

Still had plenty of gasoline from the Gonzaga Bay Pemex, we headed to Mexicali… I wanted to get gas at La Puerta (south of Mexicali at the lower price). However that station was closed. The next Pemex near Mexicali was inside the border zone so gas was 7.41 pesos : litre ($2.62 : gallon). The exchange rate was 10.70 pesos per dollar and I gave the female attendant the correct change $43 dollars (460 pesos) for 62.07 litres (16.4 gallons). My mileage had dropped because of the four wheeling on Shell Island and some of the road to Puertecitos from Gonzaga to 14.3 mpg.

We tried the short cut from near Costco to the Mexicali East border (Garita Oriente)… and discovered how bad the direction signs are for it! None-the-less we got there at 5:15pm and it took 45 minutes to cross.

Elizabeth and I drove to Ocotillo where there is a good burger and beer place. I didn’t pay attention to the car I parked next to, but once we sat inside I noticed the back of a hat that had vivabaja.com on it! It turned out to be Roy ‘The Squarecircle’ and his friend Blanche having dinner after a day of desert four wheeling in his new Land Rover! The new rig is beautiful and even has a ‘got baja?’ sticker on it!

Talk about a small world! What are the odds to run into a Baja Nomad, 100 miles from home at that time, on our way back from Baja!?? We sat with them and had burgers and beer, talked about Baja and showed them the photos on my camera.

On the way home from Ocotillo we ran into the rain you guys in San Diego had while it was only wind on the east side of Baja.

Another great weekend exploring and camping in Baja! While we could have done without the wind Sunday night, the overall excitement of being in such a great place and visiting with friends Antonio (BajaCactus), BajaRob & Connie, and Roy & Blanche made up for it.

Wind action on Shell Island erasing tire tracks...



[Edited on 2-22-2007 by David K]

Low, low tide!

Last look north on Shell Island...

Down on the sand bars and sea shells... Baja Angel is searching!

Way, way out!!!

Sea shells and sand dollars!!!

Low air pressure and driving on the wet sand leave little trace... less than a human footprint... and in a few hours this will be all underwater, again!

This was once an elevated causeway and bridge at the end onto the beach/island, built in 1984. The elevated, all tide access has melted down to the lagoon and the bridge is useless as the road bed is far below the concrete bridge.

This trip we used the pre-causeway road to the beach which was underwater from the high tides. The dirt is the most compact (lowest) where the water is deepest and thus the best place to drive. The (above water) mud on either side is actually as soft as oatmeal!

My new tire pump (thanks Baja Angel!) that bajalou told us about worked great, three times faster than my previous pump.

The mountain near Punta Estrella... we stopped here to make sandwiches.

Washing that salt water mud off at San Felipe...

Well, I hoped you enjoyed the photos and trip report as much as I enjoy researching them to post here!

Coming up next: ??? San Felipe 250, Pyramid Resort Book Signing, Lost Mission Hunt???

A new trip web page finished on 4/4/07: http://community-2.webtv.net/boojum1/207/

[Edited on 4-4-2007 by David K]

Thanks Bob... Here it is, Surfer Jim on the useless bridge to Shell Island, 3 years ago...

Quote:

Originally posted by David K Quote: Originally posted by Bob H Quote: Originally posted by David K This was once an elevated causeway and bridge at the end onto the beach/island, built in 1984. The elevated, all tide access has melted down to the lagoon and the bridge is useless as the road bed is far below the concrete bridge. There was a photo that I took back in 2004 during our Matomi President's day weekend run of Surfer Jim on that elevated bridge... I can't seem to find it. You probably have it on your web link somewhere. But, it surely shows how much the lagoon has melted down since it was constructed. Great photos David. Thanks, Bob H [Edited on 2-22-2007 by Bob H] Thanks Bob... Here it is, Surfer Jim on the useless bridge to Shell Island, 3 years ago...

Before we BOTH retired... hahahahaha