BajaNomad - reason to spend the night in Catavina

reason to spend the night in Catavina

tripledigitken - 5-4-2012 at 02:50 PM

yellowklr - 5-4-2012 at 07:26 PM

funny I've always wanted to spend the night there but never have.....where did you stay?

tripledigitken - 5-4-2012 at 08:01 PM

We have camped and moteled there. For camping we stayed at Rancho Santa Ynez just south of "town" to the left heading south.

For a motel there is really only one that I can recommend. It was a La Pinta, then Desert Inn, currently it is owned by the Los Pinos folks and called Mission Catavina. (It is the large complex on the west side of Mex 1.)

We usually stay there northbound coming home, as southbound doesn't work for us.

The sunsets (and sunrises) are spectacular there.

Ken

[Edited on 5-5-2012 by tripledigitken]

yellowklr - 5-4-2012 at 08:15 PM

yep I've had lots of breakfasts and bano breaks and the hotel..........never stayed but have always wanted to.....In June when I went through they were doing lots of work, kinda pricey at the time....could never understand why they charge 80 a night but near empty

Mulegena - 5-4-2012 at 08:40 PM

Catavina, really pretty place.

I've stayed at the all-pink Motel Linda. Its clean and has hot water and you can park your rig right in front of your room. Not beautiful but looks fine when the lights are out, and the price is right at about $30.

We eat or just have a soft drink and rest up at the beautiful Hotel WhateverItsCurrentNameIs across the street.

Had good pancake breakfast once at Rancho Santa Inez.

BajaRat - 5-4-2012 at 08:41 PM

Nice pool and breakfast at the old La Pinta, rooms still seventies clean and nice views from some to the back. The bad, power plant runs day and night and parking is all in front on the highway.
Rancho Santa Ynez, classic rustic icon with fun beautiful hiking among the blue palms in the arroyo.
Thanks for the pic Trip. :cool:

[Edited on 5-5-2012 by BajaRat]

Hook - 5-4-2012 at 08:55 PM

Was it originally an El Presidente or did that chain sell before they built that one?

DianaT - 5-4-2012 at 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hook
Was it originally an El Presidente or did that chain sell before they built that one?

I believe it was an El Presidente when I first stayed there many, many years ago.

Ken, I really like that picture----a lot!

Mulegena - 5-4-2012 at 09:17 PM

Yes, forgive me, Ken.
Gorgeous, luscious photo!

This thread really is about the unique beauty that is Catavina.

tripledigitken - 5-4-2012 at 10:33 PM

Hook,

I think it has been there long enough to have been an El Presidente, but I don't recall personally.

Thanks Diana and Mulegena for the comments.

Ken

Bajarat.. couldn't agree more about Rancho Santa Ynez being a true icon of Baja.

[Edited on 5-5-2012 by tripledigitken]

Rancho Santa Inez

Mulegena - 5-5-2012 at 08:24 AM

Yes, Rancho Santa Inez does embody the history of the area.
Can you get an little old adobe room there or just camp?
I think the people who made breakfast for me were the same who rented me the room at Motel Linda the night before-- same owners?

btw, Motel Linda has a sometimes-open restaurant for your basic eatin'.

Ken Bondy - 5-5-2012 at 08:48 AM

Ken that's a beautiful image! I think Catavina is very photogenic. This is right behind the La Pinta (which is what it was called ten years ago):

When I was flying we stopped several times at the Santa Inez strip and wandered around the Rancho. Here's one of my favorite photos of the Baron at the edge of the hill:

David K - 5-5-2012 at 09:24 AM

The Half Way Inn was posted to be the new name at the Guerrero Negro (Eagle Monumant) Desert Inn/ La Pinta/ El Presidente... NOT Cataviña...

The Cataviña hotel was opened in 1974 shortly following the completion of Hwy. 1 (dedicated on Dec. 1, 1973). It was first an El Presidente, then a La Pinta, then a Desert Inn, and now a Mision Cataviña owned by the Rodriguez Los Pinos Tomato folks (who also own the former Desert Inn/ La Pinta/ El Presidente at Santa Maria/ San Quintin outter bay and named it Mision Santa Maria).

Early on they referred to them as "Paradores"

thebajarunner - 5-5-2012 at 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
The Half Way Inn was posted to be the new name at the Guerrero Negro (Eagle Monumant) Desert Inn/ La Pinta/ El Presidente... NOT Cataviña...

The Cataviña hotel was opened in 1974 shortly following the completion of Hwy. 1 (dedicated on Dec. 1, 1973). It was first an El Presidente, then a La Pinta, then a Desert Inn, and now a Mision Cataviña owned by the Rodriguez Los Pinos Tomato folks (who also own the former Desert Inn/ La Pinta/ El Presidente at Santa Maria/ San Quintin outter bay and named it Mision Santa Maria).

I do think it was named El Presidente, but they called each one a "Parador" Not sure if that was a generic name or an early name for the chain that was constructed.

Also, I believe that originally the chain was built by the government tourism dept.... my recollection.

In its day it was the absolute 'Creme de la creme' of Baja.

David K - 5-5-2012 at 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by thebajarunner

Quote:

A Parador was a rest stop... each parador (San Quintin, Cataviña, Punta Prieta (L.A. Bay Jcn.), Parallelo 28 (Eagle Monument), and San Ignacio had a cafateria, air conditioned relaxation area, bathrooms, showers, gas station and trailer park. They also had an El Presidente hotel except Parador Punta Prieta. San Agustin had just a gas station and trailer park, no full parador.

The thought was that in central Baja (between San Quintin and Santa Rosalia) in 1973, not enough facilities were available to handle the traffic, and people would want to stop and refresh every 200 kilometers or so.

tripledigitken - 5-5-2012 at 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
The Half Way Inn was posted to be the new name at the Guerrero Negro (Eagle Monumant) Desert Inn/ La Pinta/ El Presidente... NOT Cataviña...

Thanks for clarifying that DK. I found it hard to believe Los Pinos would give up so quickly.

Ken

David K - 5-5-2012 at 10:43 AM

De nada!

Thanks to you for the beautiful photo Ken. :yes:

windgrrl - 5-5-2012 at 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mulegena
Yes, Rancho Santa Inez does embody the history of the area.
Can you get an little old adobe room there or just camp?

Yes - camp or park your RV (take in your supplies, there are toilets there) for $7 USD. Friends stayed in a room with a bed (? bunk house) at the ranch house. You may want to bring a sleeping bag in cooler weather. Friends noted that supplied linens were thin.

Best part? Quiet, sunsets, sunrises and sleeping with the boojums!

Good coffee break...

windgrrl - 5-5-2012 at 10:53 AM

...heading north, we parked near an abandoned service station in Catavina and enjoyed a rest at a palapa resaturant. Excellent coffee, choice of 3 delicious home-baked cakes and down-home friendly service.

David K - 5-5-2012 at 10:53 AM

At Santa Ynez, you may be staying in the same room as did Steve McQueen after his Baja racer broke in the 1960's or Presidential candidate Echeverria when he toured the peninsula and the people along the way told him, 'build us a road'... he kept his promiss and the transpeninsular highway was finished before his term ended. Josefina of Santa Ynez got a paved driveway out of the deal (she asked for a paved road to Mision Santa Maria and on to Punta Final, Gonzaga Bay).

She also got an airstrip

thebajarunner - 5-5-2012 at 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by David K
At Santa Ynez, you may be staying in the same room as did Steve McQueen after his Baja racer broke in the 1960's or Presidential candidate Echeverria when he toured the peninsula and the people along the way told him, 'build us a road'... he kept his promiss and the transpeninsular highway was finished before his term ended. Josefina of Santa Ynez got a paved driveway out of the deal (she asked for a paved road to Mision Santa Maria and on to Punta Final, Gonzaga Bay).

"Back in the day" the story we all told and retold was that the airstrip was compensation for the mis-routing of the new highway across their ranch without proper permission.

She told them to move the road, they sat down and made a deal.

The highway stayed and the airstrip got installed.

Last time I was up there the strip was closed up tight (supposedly to stop the druggies from using it as a mid-way point headed North) I have not been up there for a few years, is it still blocked off?

I landed there numerous times in my Cutlass in the 80's.

(No- my stops were not drug related)

capt. mike - 5-5-2012 at 01:55 PM

Ken - sweet! man i miss the good ol' days of baja flyin'.

David K - 5-5-2012 at 05:15 PM

The original Santa Ynez runway was where today's entrance road and campground area is now... Josefina got a paved runway up above on the parallel hill when they built the highway...

Punta Prieta, Guerrero Negro (north of the eagle monument) and San Ignacio also got paved runways... opening up Baja more. A dirt runway was made near El Arenoso for highway engineers to get close to the action without driving there.

Catavina PEMEX?

durrelllrobert - 5-6-2012 at 07:12 PM

Do you know if there are any plans to get pumps running at the Mission Catavina hotel?

Yes

thebajarunner - 5-6-2012 at 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by durrelllrobert
Do you know if there are any plans to get pumps running at the Mission Catavina hotel?

They will definitely be installed and operational.......

manana

:lol:

David K - 5-6-2012 at 08:50 PM

Just fill up at El Rosario, 76 miles away. However, independent dealers sell gas from cans at Cataviña... and you really get a true 5 gallons (19 liters) for the money!

rts551 - 5-7-2012 at 07:02 AM

Maybe one of us that stop for breakfast will ask and get you a real answer..plus we can ask if they plan to give a true 5 gallons.

Bajahowodd - 5-7-2012 at 04:24 PM

The chain of hotels known by so many as La Pinta or Desert Inn were originally opened as Presidente. There was a partnership between the Mexican government and Presidente to ensure that there were decent rest stops along the route that was being paved to Cabo.

As for the Catavina location, kudos to the Los Pinos folks. They have upgraded much of the property inside and out; not the least of which is to keep the electricity on all day.

That said, folks staying there will note that unlike what they did at the San Quintin property, they have not lowered the rates. That is simply due to the costs of transportation and the costs of the electricity.

They upgraded the generators with more fuel efficient replacements. Not sure why they didn't opt for at least some solar.

But, that said, it would not appear that they would look to re-open the pumps for the Pemex there. Too small a margin per gallon to be running the pumps on their generators.

Camping at Catavina

thebajarunner - 5-7-2012 at 07:16 PM

I am quite surprised at all the responses about the wonderful camping at Santa Ynez and holing up back of the gas station, etc.

Catavina has the most awesome natural campsites in all of Baja, no doubt about it.

Some years back we had a UCSantaCruz photo class there, and the prof had us drive down one of the sandy roads north of town and we all camped for a week.

Our Baja Vida gang has a very special spot (no I will not tell you where) and it is our favorite Baja place-hands down!!

Ateo - 5-7-2012 at 07:29 PM

Catavina is awesome to stay at. The hotel I did a few times and enjoyed bacon wrapped hot dogs across the street by the liquor store/market, and pool fun afterwards. Option two was camping in the desert off the road and that was also extremely fun - great stars and bright moon. Option three is next time - Santa Ynez. Drove over there last time and it looked like a great place to stay, or fly into with that wicked air strip!

tripledigitken - 5-7-2012 at 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by thebajarunner
I am quite surprised at all the responses about the wonderful camping at Santa Ynez and holing up back of the gas station, etc.

Catavina has the most awesome natural campsites in all of Baja, no doubt about it.

Some years back we had a UCSantaCruz photo class there, and the prof had us drive down one of the sandy roads north of town and we all camped for a week.

Our Baja Vida gang has a very special spot (no I will not tell you where) and it is our favorite Baja place-hands down!!

Any photos you can post?

Bob H - 5-7-2012 at 11:15 PM

In Catavina, we used to just place our cabover camper behind the hotel, go in for a margie or two, and spend the night there for free! They never bothered us... never.

Alas, that was before digital

thebajarunner - 5-8-2012 at 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tripledigitken

Quote:

Any photos you can post?

Ken- if you are asking about photos from the class, it was back in the Kodak days.... sorry.
Our teacher, Steve Crouch, published a number of great photo books, including one centered in Catavina, others in the Monterey, CA area where he lived.
Steve made us shoot only in the first 30 minutes of sun and the final 30- and always off a tripod....

If you are asking about photos of the campsite- nope, gonna keep that one between us.
Check your U2U

tripledigitken - 5-8-2012 at 09:24 AM

Bajarunner,

I was asking about the class photos. Would have liked to see them.

Ken

A FEW REASONS TO SPEND THE NIGHT IN CATAVINA

Pompano - 5-8-2012 at 09:34 AM

tripledigitken - 5-8-2012 at 09:41 AM

Just went back and edited this shot from last year.................

just behind the Hotel and 15 minutes before sunset..............

David K - 5-8-2012 at 05:24 PM

NICE!

Bajahowodd - 5-8-2012 at 05:39 PM

As nice as it appears, I'm thinking that Pompano's photos of the pool/ courtyard were taken before the Los Pinos folks took the place over. It looks even more inviting today.

That said, given they noe keep the electric on all day, it has actually become much more of a destination than an overnight place.

Seriously, for those who wish to explore the desert in the area, including cave paintings, there's all the more reason to stay here now.

Restaurant is open all day, and they installed a new chef. The food is really good.

My long term experience with this hotel was for an overnight, if it was getting late and getting dark as I approached.

The current hotel situation is that it is really worth staying here and exploring the area.

David K - 5-8-2012 at 05:50 PM

Sounds good... as it should be for US$90 a night. Pompano's two photos have the same date (Nov. 7, 2011) and the second one clearly gives the new name... Mision Cataviña.