BajaNomad

My northern Baja trip

geoffff - 1-21-2009 at 12:34 AM

I'm new here on bajanomad... Here's a northern Baja trip I just took the first week of this year, through the Laguna Salada area, down the gulf coast through San Felipe & Puertecitos, again down that coast southeast of Bahía de los Angeles, and finally a peek at the Pacific coast near Bahía Santa Rosalillita:

Baja 2009

Thank you David K for your suggestion of Shell Island and other ideas. And thank you MICK (who I miraculously happened apon way out there when I was lost on a trail near Laguna Salada) for your knowledge of places to visit south of Bahía de los Angeles.



-- Geoff

Bob and Susan - 1-21-2009 at 06:24 AM

wow:O

you have quite an eye and took some nice pictures

David K - 1-21-2009 at 08:31 AM

wow wow wow...

A+ for that report!

Thank you!!

tjBill - 1-21-2009 at 11:02 AM

geoffff, what do consider the best spots to visit on your trip?

wilderone - 1-21-2009 at 04:29 PM

Great photos - so sharp - thanks for sharing. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

DianaT - 1-21-2009 at 04:54 PM

Really a nice report and really enjoyed your pictures. Thanks for sharing them

Diane

geoffff - 1-21-2009 at 05:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by tjBill
geoffff, what do consider the best spots to visit on your trip?

Of course there are different motivations for visiting Baja -- and mine are about finding secluded beaches, playing Indiana Jones searching for ruins, poking around "alien" plants & animals, and enjoying the mild 4x4 challenge of getting there. Well, of course there's also fish tacos, seafood c-cktails, beer, sun....

This trip, my favorite places were the secluded beaches of Shell Island and the north-facing coast of Bahía San Rafael, northwest of San Francisquito. I also loved stopping anywhere in the mountainous central region in the 27° - 29° latitude region (Valle de los Cirios) and looking up close at the desert plants.

Past favorites include:
- The beaches at the tip of the peninsula north of La Paz, east of Punta las Pilitas.
- Mission San Borja, but it wasn't open for touring when I last visited in 2005.
- Whale watching in Laguna San Ignacio. I returned to do that again.
- Malarrimo Beach also scored big in the beauty and remoteness departments, but the famous trash was probably more interesting before the invention of plastic.
- Kayaking Isla Espiritu Santo.

I feel like I'm only just getting started on finding cool places to investigate -- but since I live in Seattle, WA, I can only get down to Baja every few years.

-- Geoff

[Edited on 1-22-2009 by geoffff]

David K - 1-21-2009 at 05:37 PM

Glad you enjoyed Shell Island Geoff... the closest, isolated all sand beach in Baja!

CG - 1-21-2009 at 06:00 PM

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing your adventure

ibannie - 1-21-2009 at 06:42 PM

Oh wow Geoff! I loved your photos. We are heading that way next week for the first time and it was wonderful to see your pics.
Thanks so much!
Annie

Skipjack Joe - 1-21-2009 at 07:28 PM

Wonderful pictures, Geoffffff. I really enjoyed them.

geoffff - 1-21-2009 at 09:05 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Glad you enjoyed Shell Island Geoff... the closest, isolated all sand beach in Baja!


Exactly! That's why I was so excited by it.

I could spend days exploring the Bahía San Rafael area, but it's more of a project to get there.

MICK - 1-21-2009 at 10:23 PM

Loved your pic's glad you had a great time. We spent many hours or that bumpy road
Mick

oladulce - 1-22-2009 at 12:45 AM

Great website geofff ! (is that enough F's ?)

I like the larger size of your thumbnail pics (not frustrating microscopic sized) and having photo info available by scrolling over the thumbnails makes for very enjoyable viewing- and the beautiful pics help too.

I especially like the market place colors and panoramas in some of your Mainland Mexico photos.

Miette - 1-22-2009 at 10:19 AM

geoffff Wow!

Excellent photos - I really like the way your site is organized. The ability to run through the photographs as a slide show is a nice feature.

Thanks for sharing the photos and your comments about the places that you visited. You have reawakened my desire to get to some places that I missed on my first trip.

Ken Bondy - 1-22-2009 at 10:26 AM

Loved your pictures and your presentation geofffffff. Thanks very much!!!

BAJACAT - 1-22-2009 at 10:01 PM

Genaro is a famous kid and he doesn't know it, he was our guide to the Tinajitas ,hot springs and the Mission, very int.in how he has learn so much English, just from people visiting the mission,I have friends here in the states that have live here for years and they don't speak half of Genaros English.:no:

Great digital photography!!

Ken Cooke - 1-22-2009 at 11:39 PM

Great website, Geoff. :yes:I loved every photo.:yes:

-Ken

geoffff - 1-23-2009 at 11:32 AM

Thanks, everybody!!!
Quote:
Originally posted by BAJACAT
Genaro is a famous kid and he doesn't know it, he was our guide to the Tinajitas ,hot springs and the Mission, very int.in how he has learn so much English, just from people visiting the mission,I have friends here in the states that have live here for years and they don't speak half of Genaros English.:no:


I'd love to hear more about how he's doing! He was a fantastic tourguide for me back in 2001, even not knowing much English at the time.

cpg - 1-23-2009 at 11:51 AM

Looks like a wonderful trip! Thank you for the detailed report and photos!

th airborne metal detector--very intereting

BajaVida - 1-25-2009 at 09:41 AM

the chopper's ID number began with a "C" does that make it Canadian?

some big bucks there

Paulina - 1-25-2009 at 10:12 AM

Great report and photos! We think that was a Sperm Whale you found on the beach. I would have dug into that bad boy for it's teeth. Maybe come Spring break....

Thanks for taking the time to make the report.

P y D

cpg - 1-26-2009 at 04:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Paulina
Great report and photos! We think that was a Sperm Whale you found on the beach. I would have dug into that bad boy for it's teeth. Maybe come Spring break....

Thanks for taking the time to make the report.

P y D


It looks pretty smelly and goey now spring break will be better

Paulina - 1-26-2009 at 10:24 PM

cpg,
Yes, it would be pretty nasty. Rubber gloves and a good sense of balance would be necessary as to not slip and fall in. I've always wanted some Sperm whale teeth to add to our collection. We ran across one last summer on an island, but by the time we were able to return a month later to investigate it, the jaws had been removed.

The smell doesn't really bother me much, specially if I stay up wind.

Collecting baleen:



Hurry up Spring Break!

P<*)))>{

Skipjack Joe - 1-27-2009 at 11:12 AM

Love that picture, Paulina. Getting a tooth from a sperm whale would indeed be a treasured prize.

mulegemichael - 1-27-2009 at 11:18 AM

ewwwww!.....no whales please, for me.....but....i noticed in the map at the start of this post that there's a torquoise mine up in northern baja....are there any nomads that can give me some sort of directions to it?...we'd love to go poke around there...thanks

David K - 1-27-2009 at 11:29 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by mulegemichael
ewwwww!.....no whales please, for me.....but....i noticed in the map at the start of this post that there's a torquoise mine up in northern baja....are there any nomads that can give me some sort of directions to it?...we'd love to go poke around there...thanks


There are several... the one on Geoff's map is between Gonzaga Bay and Coco's Corner. This is the La Turquesa Canyon shortcut we have been showing in the new thread 'Santa Maria' by Steve & Debbie.

Here is a web page I made on the Turquesa Canyon green pools and turquoise mine (on page 2): http://vivabaja.com/wayno

geoffff - 1-27-2009 at 03:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mulegemichael
...i noticed in the map at the start of this post that there's a torquoise mine up in northern baja....are there any nomads that can give me some sort of directions to it?...we'd love to go poke around there...thanks

Here's a map with my GPS track getting to the turquoise mine. The darker purple is where I walked the last mile:



-- Geoff

[Edited on 1-27-2009 by geoffff]

[Edited on 1-27-2009 by geoffff]