BajaNomad - Bahia Soledad?

Bahia Soledad?

bigzaggin - 10-5-2004 at 10:47 AM

Those who've visited this remote N.Baja cove (in the last few years) know how stunning/frustrating it is...breathtaking but totally fenced off (the beach portion anyway).

Question is: Does anyone know who owns it? Do the owners object to people even walking on "their" beach (I know "technically" all beaches in Baja are public...but few landowners observe said law)? Would they ever give permission to camp/fish there? One of the two houses is gutted, but the other seems in full time use.

Any help would be wonderful.

Packoderm - 10-5-2004 at 10:59 AM

They didn't fence off the beach, they fenced off their property from the beach. There is nothing the owners can say if you are below the yearly high tide line. It might not hurt to have reinforcements handy to help you if it comes to blows. A satellite phone would be nice. Picture the scene. An angry gringo lot-owner (lease holder actually if he's a not a Mexican citizen) yells that he is upset that you are obstructing his monopoly of this part of Mexican National Property, so he threatens to do something nasty. In response, you make a quick call on your sat phone. Soon, the horizon opposite the beach is filled with a solid line of dune-buggy and Harley riders all waving baseball bats. "Yikes!" the gringo lot leasee might yelp as he gets his much deserved pummeling. :lol:

Just don't do any of the pummeling on the man's property; you wouldn't want to break the law.

Oh yeah, bring money in case you need to get the police to agree with your position.

[Edited on 07/17/2004 by Packoderm]

DanO - 10-5-2004 at 11:41 AM

I don't know that the assumption that the property is owned/leased by Americans is correct. The rumors I heard were that it has passed through the hands of several notable Mexicans, including the mayor of Ensenada and an army general. The house was built after the last time I was out there, so I can't say whether they would give permission to camp, etc., but it wouldn't hurt to ask. Certainly a better idea to do it that way than to lecture a local landowner about beach access.

As for the advice from Packoderm, my highly developed self-preservation instinct tells me it would be a bad idea to pick a fight with someone I don't know when I'm at least an hour from the highway or the nearest village, in a box canyon at the end of an ugly road with only one way out. Sounds like the script for "Deliverance II."

Packoderm - 10-5-2004 at 12:28 PM

If it has to do with the mayor of Ensenada, maybe it would be more similar to a scene in The Alamo. In that case, perhaps I'd call off the horizon full of Hell's Angels waving baseball bats and instead find a different place to camp. But I'd hate to see the mayor take it that far, lest the American flag shall fly there some day.

Here's a map containing Bahia Soledad. http://www.advantagemexico.com/ensenada/images/baja_north.pd...

And of course DanO is correct that to ask first is the best approach.

[Edited on 10-5-2004 by Packoderm]

nice map.....

cristobal - 10-6-2004 at 10:28 AM

Packoderm ..... How do I turn it SIDEWAYS ......My neck hurts from reading it ..... :bounce:

elgatoloco - 10-6-2004 at 11:19 AM

cristobal

Gently lay monitor on it's left side. :lol:

Packoderm - 10-6-2004 at 11:34 AM

Cristobal, it's quite simple. Just rotate your monitor 1/4 turn. :lol:

(Oh, elgatoloco already said that.)

Really, there is a button that looks like a page with a small dog-ear with a bent arrow. Just hit that 3 times and the map will be upright. I like the zoom-in button that looks like a magnifying glass. Also, if you push View, then Full Screen, the whole map will look bigger.

[Edited on 07/17/2004 by Packoderm]

GRACIAS .... Gato .....

cristobal - 10-6-2004 at 12:12 PM

I knew there was a ... SIMPLE ... way to do this ......

BajaNomad - 10-6-2004 at 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by cristobal
How do I turn it SIDEWAYS ......

Howwzzisss?

Bahia Soledad

jrbaja - 10-7-2004 at 10:48 AM

Is the first place I fell in love with in Baja. We were staying at La Bocana and we rode the bikes over to Soledad. At least to their gate anyway.
We were looking at the bay and a whale breached right in the cove. It was incredibly beautiful and private.
This was probably about 15 years ago. I asked friends in La Bocana about taking a boat up there or getting permission from someone to enter the property.
Whoever owns or is caretaking the property has fired guns because of people trying to land on the beach there.
The La Bocana people don't even go there so I wouldn't recommend trying it. :light:

DanO - 10-7-2004 at 01:07 PM

I don't know what the situation is now, but JR is correct that at least back before the house was built, Soledad was known as a place to be avoided. Once back in the early 90s, I rode my dirt bike over there and went around the gate and down to the beach. I poked around down there for awhile and also took a walk up into the canyon. There were no people about, but there was a trailer on the bluff overlooking the beach that seemed recently occupied, and I got the distinct and very creepy feeling that I was being watched. I also noted that there was a lot of drip irrigation line laying around, apparently hooked up to some fertilizer tanks.

When I got back to Bocana and reported this to one of the locals, he told me I'd been crazy to go over there and said I was lucky not to have been shot. I asked about the irrigation lines, and he said, rolling his eyes, that the story was they had been growing "garlic." Considering the condition of the road going over the ridge, which was barely passable in spots, this seemed somewhat curious, to say the least. But, as the saying goes, curiousity killed the cat. I haven't been back since.

Hahahahahaha

jrbaja - 10-7-2004 at 02:25 PM

Me neither !! :light:

Sure is pretty though . They could have grown their garlic in an ugly zone !! :lol:

WHOA...

bigzaggin - 10-7-2004 at 03:27 PM

http://homepage.mac.com/monspubis/.Public/Sol.JPG

One more question: Has anyone been to El Muerto (aka Billy's Bluff...visible in the back of that pic)? I know you can only get there via La Boof...anyone?

DanO - 10-7-2004 at 04:32 PM

No on Billy's Bluff, but according to Duffy, a guy who used to post on the Amigos board, getting out there was doable at least a few years ago. He said there was a surf spot somewhere along that stretch at which he claimed to have seen a dead great white shark on the beach. (Trying to scare people off? Naaahhhh.)

Anyway, I see something interesting in your pic. Looks like there may be a series of mounds of dirt/gravel dumped on the flat area behind the beach, kind of like speed bumps, to deter airplanes from landing. The army did much the same thing to the large landing strip south of Bocana. Gotta watch out for those garlic smugglers.

Kennedies /Puerto Escondido

jrbaja - 10-7-2004 at 04:52 PM

on the way south from La Bufadora has this bay, Puerto Escondido. I haven't seen any Great Whites but my brother was out snorkeling and we were up on the bluff.
First, a seal came charging into the bay and then an orca came chasing it. We were all yelling at my brother and freaking out. The critters both headed south and my brother had some really warm water to get to the beach with. :lol:

Another time, same place. Pulled in with the van and got a flat tire. Changing tire when a fellow comes up from the beach with a huge halibut. I think we paid $9.00 for it and the guy changed my tire.
We were then admiring said halibut hanging from tree when I notice someone falling from the top of the island in the bay there. We all watch for what seemed like an eternity as this guy bounced of the rocks on his tragic way down.
He landed on some flat rocks about 30 feet down and wasn't dead. Many of us watched this occurance and some fishermen got their boat and went out to get him.
They got him into the boat and to shore. He was actually able to stand with the support of two people and they got him back up the cliff and into a truck. They then headed to Ensenada to see what he did to himself. Nasty stuff !!
I have more about that place too. :lol:

I always suspected...

bigzaggin - 10-7-2004 at 04:53 PM

the Santo Tomas Valley was a hotspot for garlic smuggling. So much bad breath.

Anyway, thank you for the info. Any secrets found are safe.

nos vemos pronto

I'll be there

FrankO - 10-7-2004 at 10:20 PM

fishing in 13 days. Boating in, of course. I've driven into the south end or the bay where the folks who lived in the houses there got run out and mountain biked into the north end from Punta Banda. Guy who I'm going w/got ran out of the top w/guns. Beautiful place. I'll be on the calicos on the rocks there shortly.

road into soledad

bretw - 3-26-2005 at 12:30 PM

Does anyone know where the road into soledad is? I tried from the North and the road stops just short. And the south I just got to punta Santo Tomas but didn't find the road that branches off to Soledad. Can anyone tell me how to get in there? I appreciate it! Thanks

David K - 3-26-2005 at 01:26 PM

The Baja Atlas (I just happened to be scanning for Corky), shows the road to Soledad about two miles east of La Bocana, branching north and going over the hill, perhaps a 3 mile drive.

About that map Packoderm posted and Doug straightened out... there is no paved road from San Vicente to Johnson's Ranch! :lol:

JESSE - 3-26-2005 at 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jrbaja
Me neither !! :light:

Sure is pretty though . They could have grown their garlic in an ugly zone !! :lol:

Those damn "garlic" growers.