BajaNomad - Some Photos from Northern Baja

Some Photos from Northern Baja

Wanderglobe - 3-4-2012 at 10:00 PM

There are just some photos that I've taken over the past week in Baja California.

Ruta Del Vino (Highway 3 from Tecate)

My first view of the ocean....finally.

Camping on the south side of Ensenada

The Morning View

La Bufadora - World's Second Largest Blowhole

Road to the Bufadora - World's Second Largest Gauntlet of Shops and Touts

Driving Across the Peninsula from Ensenada to San Felipe

Pete's Camp

[Edited on 3-5-2012 by Wanderglobe]

Mexitron - 3-5-2012 at 07:26 AM

Nice pics, thanks for posting....that's brave of you to camp in the Ensenada area.

???????

bajaguy - 3-5-2012 at 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mexitron
Nice pics, thanks for posting....that's brave of you to camp in the Ensenada area.

And why is that????

angels4 - 3-5-2012 at 08:28 AM

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing! The VW gets two thumbs up!

[Edited on 3-5-2012 by angels4]

David K - 3-5-2012 at 09:26 AM

Nice photos... What was the name of the Ensenada area campground, Playa Estero?

wessongroup - 3-5-2012 at 11:20 AM

Thanks... the VW brings back memories ... the wife and I used to come down in one way back in the 60's ... even had "paisley" curtains the wife made ...

It wasn't the camper one, but we converted it into one ... queen bed, with all the camping gear under the bed ... along with food and stuff... it was great .. and could heat up nice and toasty with the coleman lantern ... had taken all the panales off and put insulation in ... helped with noise and temp control .. plus added in a 1600 cc engine .. with higher reduction gear .. would cruise at 70 mph .. with slowing under windy condition :biggrin:

A friend in Fort Collins who we visited had one with a 6 cylinder Porche engine.. he could walk away from me, but could not lose me ... ya only want to GO so fast in a VW bus, if ya know what I mean ... :lol:

Wanderglobe - 3-5-2012 at 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mexitron
Nice pics, thanks for posting....that's brave of you to camp in the Ensenada area.

It was a secured RV park but the dude let me camp under the palapa and only charged me $15 because I didn't need all the hookups. There were no issues and I felt safe for my first night in the country. I can't recall the name of the place but it's on the south side of Ensenada. You drive down a side street and then veer off to the right with a school on the left hand side. There's a small restaurant run by some expats by the turn off. If someone knows the name then that'd be great.

Wanderglobe - 3-5-2012 at 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by angels4
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing! The VW gets two thumbs up!

[Edited on 3-5-2012 by angels4]

After all the money I've dumped into this thing I'd better get 3 thumbs up. They're worse than sailboats for being something that you pour money into. Before I left Canada the entire body was restored and painted. I redid the interior. Engine was given a full tune up but that didn't stop it from blowing a rod in Parker AZ. So, new engine (upgrade from 1.7 to 2.0 which was nice), new shocks, new aux battery system, stereo yada yada. It's a real treat to drive though.

Gaucho - 3-5-2012 at 01:20 PM

Nice rig AND nice pics!

Wanderglobe - 3-5-2012 at 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wessongroup

A friend in Fort Collins who we visited had one with a 6 cylinder Porche engine.. he could walk away from me, but could not lose me ... ya only want to GO so fast in a VW bus, if ya know what I mean ... :lol:

I find that cruising at a comfortable 60 to 65 MPH is perfect on the long stretch. Since I had the engine installed I had it up to 80 MPH with more to go but I pulled off. With the hightop as well as a kayak and surfboard the bus tends to get yanked around in the wind a fair bit.

Udo - 3-5-2012 at 01:32 PM

Thanks for posting the photos...that's how we used to visit Baja many years ago.

dean miller - 3-5-2012 at 01:53 PM

Good pictures...thanks for sharing & bringing back memories..

We purchased a brand new VW Komi bus in 1960, took out the seats and installed a platform for a bed and took off for Mexico..Down the west side and up the east side..first 7000 miles and two months later we returned to Anaheim Cal..

Used the VW often in Baja--in 1961 all the way to El Rosario, but most of the time in northern Baja...Santo Tomas, San Vincente and a few points south and north..Mostly for spearfishing, some surfing

At that time the blow hole was not populated-- it was reported a Mexican Army General began construction on a Hotel which was never completed and people and services began drifing in...and we stopped visiting La Buffadora

Drove the Kombi for 18 years, gave to my daughter, she used it to atend Orange Coaast College for two years. It was now 20 years old so she sold it for $200.00 more than we paid for it to a gentleman who tuned it up and took off for Colorado...

The Romance and Joy of a VW

sdm

BornFisher - 3-5-2012 at 02:35 PM

Thanks for taking us along. Looks like a great start to your trip (except the busted rod). Please keep us posted!!

Wanderglobe - 3-5-2012 at 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Udo
Thanks for posting the photos...that's how we used to visit Baja many years ago.

It's a great way to roll. Since buying the bus I had always wanted to do the California Coast (done) and Baja California (done). This is my second trip only this time I'm taking the longest route down that I can.

David K - 3-5-2012 at 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Roberto
That doesn't look like Estero Beach - the campground is on the lagoon - not too many waves there.

Yah, was wondering if it was near Estero Beach... still waiting for his answer...

Wanderglobe - 3-5-2012 at 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K

Quote:

Originally posted by Roberto
That doesn't look like Estero Beach - the campground is on the lagoon - not too many waves there.

Yah, was wondering if it was near Estero Beach... still waiting for his answer...

Sorry. Don't have an answer. I'm not sure where it is. Hang a right down a road outside of Ensenada and you'll bump into an RV park with an expat restaurant being run nearby. It's not much to go on I know but I'm not good with names.

David K - 3-6-2012 at 05:22 PM

Thanks for trying! If the road to the right was paved... and headed towards that long mountainous point that makes the Ensenada's bay... you may have been at Punta Banda's Campo La Joya (as mentioned above).

If you were closer to the airport, just a bit south of Costco, you may have been at or near Estero Beach... From your photo, it does look like you were a few miles south of Ensenada.

As you can tell, we love details and photos here... The main point is we hope you had fun and will tell your friends about all the banditos... and bad cops... and narco-terrorist who tried to kidnap you! (Hey, we don't want Baja to get too popular, again! LOL)

wilderone - 3-7-2012 at 07:50 AM

Hey Scott! I must have passed you on the road at some point - I just got back from a two-week trip. If it's not too late, I can give you some campsite locations - FREE ones. Dante looks good!

- cindi

PS: It's been cold and windy - the further south I got the colder and windier it was. Might change in a week or so.

Wanderglobe - 3-7-2012 at 07:55 AM

Would love some good camping spots Cindi. Thanks a million.

wilderone - 3-7-2012 at 09:53 AM

Scott, I sent you an email.

durrelllrobert - 3-7-2012 at 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Wanderglobe

I can't recall the name of the place but it's on the south side of Ensenada. You drive down a side street and then veer off to the right with a school on the left hand side. There's a small restaurant run by some expats by the turn off. If someone knows the name then that'd be great.

Sounds like El Faro beach. Restraunt would be Las Parillas :?:

Wanderglobe - 3-7-2012 at 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by durrelllrobert

Quote:

Sounds like El Faro beach. Restraunt would be Las Parillas :?:

I think you nailed it Bob. Totally rings a bell.

bigboy - 3-7-2012 at 05:20 PM

Bob,

Not El Faro Beach but very close. When you see the entrance to El Faro, turn right, continue past a school on the left. Once past the school, turn left and continue into the camp and houses. There are two camps with two entrances side by side. The one to the right is where Ben Hunter, Los Angles TV fame, built his house in the early 70's!

The camp in question has nice trailer spaces and houses for rent. I friend of mine recently rented a house on the beach for a very reasonable monthly fee.

Wanderglobe - 3-7-2012 at 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigboy
Bob,

Not El Faro Beach but very close. When you see the entrance to El Faro, turn right, continue past a school on the left. Once past the school, turn left and continue into the camp and houses. There are two camps with two entrances side by side. The one to the right is where Ben Hunter, Los Angles TV fame, built his house in the early 70's!

The camp in question has nice trailer spaces and houses for rent. I friend of mine recently rented a house on the beach for a very reasonable monthly fee.

That's the place.

bigboy - 3-8-2012 at 11:27 AM

I thought so per you description of the camp!

DENNIS - 3-8-2012 at 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigboy

Not El Faro Beach but very close. When you see the entrance to El Faro, turn right, continue past a school on the left. Once past the school, turn left and continue into the camp and houses. There are two camps with two entrances side by side. The one to the right is where Ben Hunter, Los Angles TV fame, built his house in the early 70's!

The camp in question has nice trailer spaces and houses for rent. I friend of mine recently rented a house on the beach for a very reasonable monthly fee.

Well....lessee. What's out there. Mona Lisa, El Faro and, is it Corona Beach? Don't recall.
Anyway, the small community that Ben Hunter and his wife, Margie, bought in is Nueva España.
His book, "The Baja Feeling" is one of my favorite reads and I'm going to do it again. It was written in 1978, not too long after "God And Mr. Gomez," and was part of the start of my Baja Library. I recommend the book to anyone who wonders how things worked around here 35 years back.
The Ben Hunter Matinee on TV was fun to watch....a movie with breaks in the middle for interviews etc., and Ben never failed to entertain.
You see.....Ben loved his sauce, and he would have generous amounts of it throughout the day and would be in the bag on his shows half of the time.
He wore a bad hair-piece and on occasion would unknowingly have it on sideways or c-cked to the side like a John Wayne hat, but the show went on.

Thems was the days.

Woooosh - 3-8-2012 at 12:54 PM

"La Bufadora - World's Second Largest Blowhole". You had to past the largest one to get there! LOL

vgabndo - 3-8-2012 at 01:58 PM

If they were coming from somewhere West of New South Wales Australia perhaps. The photographic evidence seems pretty compelling, for the biggest blowhole.

Upon further review, Kiama ain't what she used to be.

I defer to he whose handle is the sound of this highjack. :lol:

That would put Dennis in third....

[Edited on 3-8-2012 by vgabndo]

DENNIS - 3-8-2012 at 02:23 PM

You guys are gettin' cranky in your old age. Are you changing your "Depends" regularly?

wessongroup - 3-8-2012 at 03:03 PM

This view was the one that I liked the most... as we used to wake up the same way ... didn't have the same window's in our bus.. was the old small rear window one 1963 with "snap" open windows... with the seats out for the bed...

The Morning View