BajaNomad - San Felipe South Memorial Day '08 (Report & Photos)

San Felipe South Memorial Day '08 (Report & Photos)

David K - 5-28-2008 at 08:40 AM

Baja Angel and I had a 4 day weekend to just relax, unwind, enjoy the beach and visit with friends this past weekend.

We left Oceanside Saturday morning, crossed into Mexicali about 10:00, got some gas (7.51 pesos per liter, 10.20 pesos per dollar) which meant $2.78/ gallon far better than the $4.10+ gallon north of the border!

The drive south was fast and easy... some pot holes to dodge just north of the Laguna Salada crossing and 4 lanes now go 12.7 miles north from the San Felipe traffic circle.

The new Pemex/ mini market/ ATM is open at El Dorado Ranch, just south of the Rockadile sign. Away from the border region the price of Magna dropped to 6.82 pesos per liter, but the exchange rate was an even 10 pesos per dollar... that still gave us fuel at $2.57/ gallon! Premium was 8.56/ liter, by-the-way. Fully loaded, driving mostly at warp 8, my Tacoma got 16.3 MPG between Mexicali and San Felipe.

Our next stop was the malecon for some tacos and cerveza!

Guess what, the street was packed! We managed to find a parking spot right infront af a taco place, and enjoyed some good food, beer and the view...

[Edited on 5-30-2008 by David K]

David K - 5-28-2008 at 08:51 AM

After lunch we headed south to Bahia Santa Maria to visit with BajaRob and Connie.

First, we had to 'make contact' with Shell Island! It has been almost a year since we were last there, and we had to make sure some hotel wasn't built on our favorite beach! :lol:

ALL WAS WELL on Shell Island!

With that done, we drove on to Bahia Santa Maria and to Rob and Connie's.

They informed us we were all going to a party with a live band... just a few homes south of theirs!

Right before many of the residents vacate for the summer, they have parties... and the Playa Hermosa party was a big one with great food and music!

Baja Warrior (Chuck & Chris) were there, too!

CortezBlue - 5-28-2008 at 08:52 AM

Dave
We had a similar weekend. We left Phoenix Friday morning. After a short stop at the border to pay taxes on some items we brought in we went to Home Depot to get more building materials.

Friday night we partied at Jimmy's and I was able to play some harmonica with the blues band. Had a great time.

We also went to the taco Factory on Sat afternoon for a few Charizo Quesadillas and a pure cane coke. I had 5 19 year old young lads with me. so relaxation was a bit different. They were hanging out at the Rockadile Sat and Sun night till all hours of the day.

We left Tuesday morning for the trip back north, but had to stop at Social Security office in Mexicali to finish our Letter of Liberation. :cool:

David K - 5-28-2008 at 09:12 AM

Cool stuff... we noted 'Jimmy's' place as we drove north for 'next time'!

I need to do some irrigation work, but will post more photos from the beach later... stay tuned... You guiys will love the photos of baby terns we found on the beach!

El Camote - 5-28-2008 at 10:54 AM

David, I've lately taken to filling up at the Pemex roughly 20 miles south of Mexicali. Prices are lower than Mexicali's: I think about 7.1 pesos/liter. I have the GPS numbers if anyone needs. :bounce:

We had a blast down there last week!

[Edited on 5-28-2008 by El Camote]

bajalou - 5-28-2008 at 11:08 AM

It's in La Puerta (on the north edge of town). I use that one also Mike.

warp 8??!!

capt. mike - 5-28-2008 at 03:19 PM

man. how fast is that? 16 mpg seems like pretty crappy mileage, is that the reason? going like 85 + mph?
a V8 suv gets 16 mpg, expeditions and the like. i get 20 at 65 to 70 mph in my explorer.
just curious.
burn the gas while you can, they don't make it in qty anymore! :mad:

David K - 5-28-2008 at 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by capt. mike
man. how fast is that? 16 mpg seems like pretty crappy mileage, is that the reason? going like 85 + mph?
a V8 suv gets 16 mpg, expeditions and the like. i get 20 at 65 to 70 mph in my explorer.
just curious.
burn the gas while you can, they don't make it in qty anymore! :mad:

The Tacoma has a 4.0 litre V-6 and usually gives me 16 mpg daily driving (city) and up to 19 mpg hwy. only. I am very pleased with its performance and reliability all over Baja. I was driving between 70-90 on the long straight, flat sections to/ from San Felipe... mostly 75-80 (warp 8, lol) and STILL got over 16 mpg with a full, heavy load (2 ice chests, camping gear, etc.).

Sunday on Shell Island

David K - 5-28-2008 at 05:16 PM

We had a nice breakfast with Rob and Connie at the new restaurant in Colonia Delicias (Km. 35) called 'Aniceto's' (after Bahia Santa Maria founder Aniceto Madueña). It faces Hwy. 5 just south of Chelo's restaurant.

We said our goodbye's to Rob & Connie and headed north 5 miles for some camping!

Unloading the truck and setting up camp was done in stages with beer between jobs! The new easy up shade didn't take too long to figure out. We only raised it half way because of the wind on Sunday.

Looking north, the tide was low at midday... typical for a moon in the quarter phase.

Looking south from up in the dunes...

[Edited on 5-29-2008 by David K]

One good tern deserves another?

David K - 5-28-2008 at 05:34 PM

Near our camp we noticed a lot of activity with the terns who also enjoy Shell Island... We watched them fly out and dive for fish, land on the beach. There were 4 that seemed to be gaurding something acting like sentries at 4 corner points.

When another bird flew near, they attacked to chase away the intruder! When an ATV or buggy got close or people, the same...

Those were the best of the dozens of shots I took... sorry for the blur!

Elizabeth saw that there were some tiny fuzz balls following the adult tern, as well as some middle size, flightless 'teenagers'.

We saw no nest, or any protection for the chicks... just in the open. When we first went to see what was there, their tiny size and stillness to hide among the sea shell and sand was amazing!

Here's one of the chicks (forground) in relation to the beach and our camp (background):

More common are the pelicans and sea gulls...

David K - 5-28-2008 at 05:53 PM

Baja Angel and I brought our copies of Graham Mackintosh's 'Marooned With Very Little Beer' to read... as we were on an island with plenty of beer!

Our view east:

Happy David K:

From the island looking across to the Baja peninsula 'mainland':

The gulf coast on Shell Island:

Sunset, Monday....

We hated to leave... but, we loaded up Tuesday (yesterday) and headed home... bummer!

We had breakfast at George's in San Felipe... always great!

Came home via Tecate, using the Mexicali bypass toll road.

Left San Felipe at noon, arrived at border wait in Tecate at 3:15pm and was across the border in 36 minutes.

Viva Baja!!

BajaWarrior - 5-28-2008 at 06:06 PM

Hey David, we came back home Monday, just as the weather was getting good of course. It was nice to see you and Elizabeth at the party. We left a little early as we had a big group back at the Casa and the wind was picking up as the sun went down. Good band though!

See ya next time.

BW

David K - 5-28-2008 at 07:43 PM

Thanks Chuck... Yah, you seemed pretty occupied with seating your clan, etc.. Too bad that we didn't get to chat with you more. There sure are plenty of interesting people with homes at Playa Hermosa and the rest of the Bahia Santa Maria complex!

The weather turned from 'good' on Monday to PERFECTO on Tuesday (always the day we leave, it seems)! We will head back when the water and air both warm up some more... we like it HOT!

BAJACAT - 5-28-2008 at 10:20 PM

David I see you upgrade it your shade!, no more 1/2 inch PVC. :yes:

Nice pix, so many trips to San Felo, and I haven't been to Shell island or Valle de Gigantes.lol

Packoderm - 5-28-2008 at 10:37 PM

I like Donkey Kong's minimalist style of camping. What a clean camp! I'm inspired. That's a great shot of him smiling with the Pacifico under the shade canopy. I had a really great MD weekend myself. I posted a video of one of the new trails at Hollister Hills that I rode on the Off Topic under "A really cool..." It's a U tube video that I stumbled upon on the internet. I've been to Valle de los Gigantes two times before. It is a nice place for a picnic - definitely worth the trip. Air down your tires while driving among the cardons thought. I'm surprised we haven't heard more about it here on Nomad's.

Bob H - 5-28-2008 at 10:54 PM

David, looks like we missed a good one... wish we would have known.
Love the photos!
Bob H

David & Elizibeth

BajaRob - 5-29-2008 at 05:20 AM

We very much enjoyed your visit and hope that you will return in the fall. Rob

David K - 5-29-2008 at 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BAJACAT
David I see you upgrade it your shade!, no more 1/2 inch PVC. :yes:

Nice pix, so many trips to San Felo, and I haven't been to Shell island or Valle de Gigantes.lol

Yes Jose, we splurged and got an easy-up canopy after Bajaboy and others made fun of my ultra simple PVC pipe & tarp canopy... (1" sch. 40, by-the-way)... :lol:

As you can see, using the 4 Costco soap buckets and bungees is still key to holding the thing down. Baja Angel recommends that I look into getting sand bags to hold the bungees, because the buckets do consume space in my truck bed. Thanks for the nice words!

David K - 5-29-2008 at 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Packoderm
I like Donkey Kong's minimalist style of camping. What a clean camp! I'm inspired. That's a great shot of him smiling with the Pacifico under the shade canopy. I had a really great MD weekend myself. I posted a video of one of the new trails at Hollister Hills that I rode on the Off Topic under "A really cool..." It's a U tube video that I stumbled upon on the internet. I've been to Valle de los Gigantes two times before. It is a nice place for a picnic - definitely worth the trip. Air down your tires while driving among the cardons thought. I'm surprised we haven't heard more about it here on Nomad's.

Donkey Kong? Is that what DK stands for? :lol:

Yes, we are into 'simple' or 'easy' for camping! Some shade, some ice, and a few things for survival!

I have three plastic boxes and a canvas bag for all my camping/ kitchen/ food needs... and they fit side by side in the truck behind the cab on a folding table. Between them and the tail gate go the ice chest(s), firewood bundle and water jug. Along each side goes the folding chairs and a roll up table. Inside the cab in the back seat area goes our clothes, sleeping bags, etc.

I haven't been to the 'Valle de Gigantes' since they made it into the tourist spot after the highway was built. Before the new road (1982), the access road to Punta Estrella from San Felipe went right through there. We often used it to reach Shell Island from San Felipe in the 'old days'... Just some big cardons, like we saw in other parts of Baja. But, of course that is impressive... specially if you haven't been to Cataviña area or south of L.A. Bay where the biggest cardons grow.

Glad you like our style of camping... It allows us to take off for Baja very easy.

David K - 5-29-2008 at 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bob H
David, looks like we missed a good one... wish we would have known.
Love the photos!
Bob H

Hi Bob, I did post more than once where we were going, on Nomad in the weeks before... Just know that if there is a 3 day weekend, we will be going... somewhere! Elizabeth took an extra day off so we could come home on Tuesday and miss any border crowd... There was only one other camper on Shell Island, about a mile south from us... a group of about 4 rigs, and the commercial fishermen another mile south where the original road reaches the island.

Next trip July 4th weekend (L.A. Bay?) and perhaps another before then to Shell Island, in June?!

David K - 5-29-2008 at 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaRob
We very much enjoyed your visit and hope that you will return in the fall. Rob

Thank you Rob and Connie! You are very kind and great hosts... and you do a great job of introducing us to your neighbors! :lol:

You have a beautiful home and a beutiful 'friendliness' that makes any visit to your part of Baja something to look forward to!

Have a great summer!!

The Easy-Up

Udo - 5-29-2008 at 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

Originally posted by BAJACAT
David I see you upgrade it your shade!, no more 1/2 inch PVC. :yes:

Nice pix, so many trips to San Felo, and I haven't been to Shell island or Valle de Gigantes.lol

Yes Jose, we splurged and got an easy-up canopy after Bajaboy and others made fun of my ultra simple PVC pipe & tarp canopy... (1" sch. 40, by-the-way)... :lol:

Easy Up makes and sells a set of bags that one fills with sand to hold down the corners when windy. When I purchased mine they were about $25.00 for four. Unfilled, they take up as much room as a four DVD's.

Tie Downs

stimbo - 5-29-2008 at 09:35 AM

If you want to eliminate the buckets and sandbags completely, here's a tip for beach camping. Go to your local construction job site and look around for scrap plywood, 3/8" or 1/2" is very common and will work perfectly. You are going to need (4) pieces of plywood, roughly 12" square (one piece for each corner of your EasyUp). Cut more pieces for your tents or whatever. For a tent and an EasyUp, you may need (8) total. Then drill a couple of holes in each piece of plywood (near the centers). The holes need to be big enough to pass tent cording through with some free play.

The basic idea is to run your tent lines (the anchor points) through the holes in the plywood. Dig holes in the sand with your shovel for each anchor point, 18" is plenty, and bury the plywood. Tighten the lines and you are all set! Your tent or EasyUp will shred in a gale long before the anchors pull out of the sand.

And, if your car gets stuck in the sand, the plywood comes in handy for traction or a jack platform.... OR they burn nicely.... enjoy.

BAJACAT - 5-29-2008 at 05:03 PM

Hey DK , Donkey Kong is better than D-or-k :tumble:

TOLLS (2-D) Mexicali to Tecate

David K - 5-29-2008 at 05:14 PM

Libramento de Mexicali (near the intersection with Hwy. 5): 48.00 pesos/ $4.80 US (no dollar price given, but gave us 20 cents change from the five).

La Rumorosa: 14.00 pesos (we used pesos... but near $1.40)

El Hongo: 52.00 pesos/ $5.05 US (it had signed amount in dollars, unlike the others).

David K - 7-1-2008 at 10:57 PM

I made a web page of this May, 2008 trip and also included 4 photos from a June 2007 trip I hadn't made a page for: http://community-2.webtv.net/boojum2/508