Memorial Day 2013: Shell Island (Between San Felipe and Puertecitos)

With only a couple exceptions, we typically go to Shell Island over Memorial Day weekend. The weather is great, the sea water is not as warm as we like best, but okay for short swims, and we mostly need to get away from civilization by the time late May rolls around.

We had not planned to go until Friday noon when Baja Angel (my wife and best friend) said she needs a Baja beach fix!

We left home at 5:30am Saturday, stopped for breakfast along the way and arrived in San Felipe a little after 11 am... topped the gas tank, bought a case of Tecate Light and a few sodas and headed first for Baja Rob's in Bahia Santa Maria. A lot of activities were happening and despite his strongest efforts to have us stay in his great guest room (which we have many times) and join in the fiestas, we had to decline as peace and quiet is what Baja Angel really needed, and camping on Shell Island nearly always provides that tranquility.

The highest tide of the month was that day (Saturday, May 25) at 2:40pm and a whopping 19.7 feet... Anything over 18.5 feet surrounds Shell Island with sea water (why I call it an 'Island' and not just a 'Beach'... as shown on many maps, too:


There is no 'Castañeda', but Rancho Percebu (formerly Laguna Percebu) is at the end of that road going to the beach opposite the north tip of Shell Island.


So, after visiting with Rob for a while, we headed back north to the access road to the island... and as we neared the beach, the tide already had flooded the access... This is where 4WD, good tires, and Toyota's Active Traction Control makes getting to tough places less stressful than otherwise!

One patch of gooey mud and the Tacoma goes sideways briefly, but counter-steering put us back on course and soon we were out of the mud and onto the sand. I got as far as the water's edge before I had to deflate the tires for floatation. Even super traction 4WD is no match for the bottomless sand/shell mix of this beach. Dropping the pressure to 18 psi is enough for the brand of tires I have on the truck (Hankook Dynapro ATM)... some other brands require less pressure to keep from digging into the sand.

While I let the air out, Baja Angel takes some photos...











There is a dead porpoise on the beach nearby... and later we would find 5 dead porpoises along the 4.5 mile long barrier island beach, evenly separated. It is a sad sight and had us wonder if it was an act of nature or commercial fishing that caused this. I have never seen more than one dead whale or porpoise in a single trip here, since 1978.



Well the tide was already so high, reaching the brush of the dunes, we could not get to our typical camp site. So, we just parked where we could get and waited for the tide to go back down... We went for a swim, had some cold beer, and just relaxed... for about 3 hours...


East Side of the island, looking south towards Bahia Santa Maria.


West Side of the island, looking north towards Percebu.


My truck just inches above sea level! (I have been in the same place over the past 35 years... and it still is 'above sea level' )







The Baja Feeling!

Stay Tuned for more to come!


[Edited on 6-16-2013 by David K]

Part 2: Getting to our camp on the island

The tide turns around quickly and the steep beach is exposed after a couple of hours... We leave the point where the dunes and high tide had stopped us and head a bit further north.













We know that Graham, Desert Rat, and one other amigo is trying to reach the top of Diablo Mountain at this moment... Here it is just after sunset on Saturday:







The moon is next to make an appearance, and at one day after full, it is still big in the sky...





Sunday Morning...

I get up and take a walk out onto the sand bars being it is low tide....






A happily mixed-marriage couple?





Above: it isn't hard to walk a long ways into the ocean, when the tide is low!

Below: One gull has a fish, and he doesn't share!













It's a LONG ways the sea goes out... here's looking back to camp:





A few rocks are north of our camp and it makes a home for millions of small hermit crabs and snails...



Time to head back, make some coffee, and enjoy breakfast with my wife...

STAY TUNED for MORE!

[Edited on 5-28-2013 by David K]

Looks just like your last trip there.

Nobody camping on the island... there is a fishing camp just south of that useless concrete bridge that has the same truck parked in front that pulled Art's 4WD motorhome out of the mud in July 2011.

On Sunday, Baja Nomad 'viabaja' (Chris) of http://viabaja.com walked down from Percebu at low tide to see if it was me... We chatted for a bit before he and his two silver labs had to beat the incoming high tide to get back across to Percebu. Later, someone kayaked across the Estero Percebu (Laguna Percebu) to get to Shell Island at high tide, and tried fishing for a few minutes.

As viabaja said, "David K is the only I know crazy enough to drive through the mud and sea water to go camp on the island!"

Yes, indeed... 3" is possible, but the hard pan salt flats also don't stay under water any longer than before... but again, it's 3" and not the end of the world (just yet)

We enjoyed it as always, and thank you!

Part 3: Sunday is glorious

Before Baja Angel is out of the tent, I have most of the sun canopy set up... she does help however, and it really is easier with two.





At low tide, we take a drive to survey the island and see what changes can be noticed. Looking for some extra pretty shells is fun too...







I know how many of you love seeing my Tacoma, so in order to please everyone... (lol):







Happy Nomads in Baja:



Lot's of these Desert Iguanas (?) on Shell Island.



They curl their tail to mimic a scorpion... I took some photos of one in 2011...



As I mentioned earlier, along the 4.5 mile long island, we saw 5 dead porpoises, all about the same size except for one that was smaller.










Pelicans fly between 20-25 mph... I clocked them!



Rancho Percebu (Laguna Percebu) was the busiest I have seen in years!







Back to camp...





This tern kept a close watch on us.

Tide was nearly as high Sunday as it was on Saturday... 19.5 ft.



Diablo Mountain is in the distance.



Shell Island... the barrier island beach that separates the Gulf of California from Estero Percebu (Laguna Percebu).



Percebu in distance.

End of Saturday's report...

Part 4 of 4: Memorial Day Monday... going home!

We tear down camp and have the truck packed up before 8:30 (a record)... thanks to the easy up and down tent and Baja Angel's assistance!

There is more sea water and mud to cross than there was Saturday... but the Tacoma has no issues at all (using low range 4WD and A-TRAC)...

Once out of the mud, I park on a low, blow-sand dune at the edge of the salt/mud flats to air back up the tires... from 18 psi to 34 psi takes 5 minutes per tire...





View towards Shell Island, across the sea mud field that goes underwater at highest tides, making the beach a literal island:



View south towards Bahia Santa Maria (3 miles away):



View north towards Rancho Percebu (also 3 miles away):



View west towards Hwy. 5 (2 miles away):



Back in San Felipe we go to our usual car wash shop, along the main road north, before reaching the traffic circle... Good news is he can get to work on it right away. It is next door to a carnitas cafe, but we want healthy food and a fruit salad vendor is new and across the intersection! We each have a large fruit salad ($70 pesos) and it is great, with mango, papaya, strawberry, pineapple, orange and kiwi chunks.

The truck is clean of all the mud (150 pesos + 20 peso tip) and we top the fuel tank in town ($11.05 pesos/liter or $3.64 dollars/gallon) and are headed north from San Felipe at 10:30 Monday morning.

The big surprise is no inspection at the checkpoint, 31 miles north of town (at the Hwy. 3 junction to Ensenada). There are no detours or any construction on Hwy. 5 back to Mexicali.

110 miles north of San Felipe, we take the toll highway west to go to Tecate... As there is no direct ramp from northbound 5 to westbound 2-D, you must go under the toll road and make a U-Turn to head back south to get onto it. The U-Turn opening has been moved further north than it was previous...

The toll gate for the first section of Hwy. 2-D (also known as the Libramiento de Mexicali) is very near Hwy. 5 and costs 63 pesos. It is only a 2 lane road, but is fast and avoids all of Mexicali city traffic.

The military checkpoint at the base of the grade up to La Rumorosa also waved us through. The toll gate at the top of the grade was $21 pesos.

The final toll gate is at El Hongo and was $60 pesos or $5 dollars.

In Tecate about 2 pm (190 some miles from San Felipe), we topped the gas tank. Magna was $11.36 pesos/liter and the dollar exchange was 11.80 pesos/dollar making regular fuel $3.64 dollars per gallon.

We arrived in the border line at 2:18 pm Monday... very near the top of the hill and we were pleasantly surprised we beat a lot of the Memorial Day traffic (if there was any). We arrived at the gate in 1 hour and 7 minutes. The gaurd asked lots of questions about things we weren't supposed to have and then asked where we were... he didn't know where San Felipe was and then asked if that was where "all the gringos are"... I was never asked such a thing and then he asked if it was like Mulege or Loreto being mostly "gringos" there...!??

I told him while San Felipe may have a large retired American population neither it nor Loreto or Mulege were mostly "gringo" towns... Baja Angel and I were really startled at the bigoted-like questions he kept throwing at me. I assured him, all the towns in Baja were "mostly Mexican" and Loreto and Mulege have just small American populations with San Felipe perhaps more...

Then the guy with a dog came to the truck... and I was asked if I had any people, dogs, or drugs... the guy with the dog walked to the back of my truck, passenger side and the dog went ballistic, jumping up on the side of my truck and we would soon realize... was trying to get to some dogs in the back of a truck in the lane next to mine!

So, it was a poorly trained dog upset at other dogs that freaked me out wondering if some drugs were planted in my truck, at the car wash!! Guess what? The guy sent me to Secondary, anyway! LOL

I guess after so many easy crossings, it was my number... and we waited about 20 minutes for someone in Secondary to take a quick look in my ice chest and a couple of camping boxes before sending us on our way.

As with so many other Baja trips, the only bad part is coming home and the border crossing... the wait and weird questions, and dog scratching the side of my truck.

[Edited on 6-16-2013 by David K]

Thanks David. Nice pictures & narrative. I spent my weekend out in the So-Cal High Desert with desert rats. I was planting "The Baja" seeds every chance I got. Decent time, but no ocean/sea in sight. Bunch of pathetic scare-ty-cats. They particularly didn't like the fact that they couldn't bring their guns & ammo down.

Km. 26 is the direct access road. There is a short, cross cut road from Km. 25, but 26 is the one we use. When you reach the mud flats, a once elevated road causeway went across the flats to the beach, with a concrete bridge at the far end... made in 1984/5.

The road has since mostly melted back down, leaving the concrete bridge high and useless. You can either drive in along or on top of the remaining causeway or take the diagonal road that heads for the beach a bit south where the fishing camp is located (how we went in and out this trip).

While the fish camp access is lower and has more water on the road tracks, it is less deep mud holes I think. Once on the island, drop your air pressure for deep sand and you have 1.5 miles of island to the south or 3 miles of island to the north to explore, camp, or just go for the day.



Photos from July 2011:










The fisherman pulled Art's 4WD motorhome back out of the mud flats, stuck near the bridge... It was just too massive and tires not aggressive enough to pull through the slippery slime.

Jealous

No, never 'lotsa bugs'... just saw a couple moths attracted to the campfire and Baja Angel brushed a hairy sand spider off the tent when we were taking it down.

Thanks Chris, but there is no special lane in Tecate for one, and we are not going to Baja more than a few times a year. Maybe the day will come when business is back to previous levels or I sell a lot more books ?

I think tires have a lot to do with it, as well as the tide... Art (edm1) could not get through the mud in is 4x4 motorhome with front and rear ARB lockers... The nearby fisherman's truck pulled him out and back to the dry side of the salt flat... My Tacomas never have an issue, but if the tide is super high, like all the way to the desert, I wait it out or camp at Nuevo Mazatlan, 4 miles south.



However, I know a fellow (and his brother) from Vista, CA who regularly drove their full size motorhomes onto the beach at Shall Island... 2WD motorhomes... just with the largest tires possible and deflated.

Instead of the road to the concrete bridge, they used the original diagonal route onto the island... more water, but if you stay right on the track, it is compacted. That's how I drove my little Subaru onto the island, as well. Get off the deep worn track, and the mud is like oatmeal! Ask me how I know! Neal Johns also experienced it!!

It really is the best camping spot. Ever. Here's my wife and I a few days before hanks giving 2013.

Thank you Neal for reposting your Shell Island horror story. It was very similar to mine from around 1980 in my Subaru (13" tires and no room for error)... If you keep your tires in the deepest water (depressed terrain from vehicle weight) in the road, that was the firmest. Move a few inches off the compacted mud and you were in something as firm as wet oatmeal with no bottom.

We arrived well after dark to camp on the ISLAND (see I say island and not beach for a very good reason) and I zigged when I should have zagged, in the water covered road across the lagoon marsh. Long story short, we slept in the Subaru (viva reclining seats), and I found a large plank of wood by the dunes, jacked my Subaru up onto the plank and drove ahead, but over towards the firm ruts. Had to do that twice... and then we sloshed on the dry sand, drove the 2 miles to our camp spot... and collected another great Baja Stuck story!

The wood could have come from the Shrimp Boat that was blown behind Shell Island in the 1967 huricane. It was slowly dismantled after sitting locked up for a few years. Only the engine (Franklin) and tranny were left to rust in the salt flat.



My dad and I on the beach near Laguna Manuela (Variety Beach) just having the greatest surf fishing weekend... But, this is my 1980 Subaru and loaded the way it was the night we got stuck in the lunar high tide mud of Estero Percebu trying to get onto Shell Island!



To us, this beach is worth the trouble to get to... and we are usually the only campers out there!

Corbina (and croaker) are the reason for my folks many returned trips to the area south of San Felipe in the 60's and early 70's... We would camp at Nuevo Mazatlan (originally known as AGUA DE CHALE), witnessed camp owner Luis Castellanos Moreno plant cuttings of a nearby salt cedar tree to grow his forest of shade trees, drive the beach 2 miles north to the shallow bay we just called 'The Lagoon'... that later would become the vacation home site BAHIA SANTA MARIA..., cast into the lagoon/bay entrance on a rising high tide, and have double hookups (using mussel for bait).


Mom with a pair of corbina at 'the lagoon' (Bahia Santa Maria) about 1967.

Safe crossing tide level?

Hey David --

Do you have a feel for what is the maximum tide level for safe crossing, or time to let the mud dry after high tide?

When I last tried in May 2012, I was foiled by the tides (checking a historical Puertecitos tide chart, it looks like it was 10ft tide just after high tide). The road looked like this, and I didn't dare cross the mud. Yes, that's the ocean in my photo -- I was just feet from the beach.



I'm planning another trip in February, and the predicted tides look similar for my planned ETA.

-- Geoff

[Edited on 1-8-2014 by geoffff]

sometimes ya gotta just go for it geoff!

Hi Geoff,

The salt flats flood at an 18 ft. high tide (or above), which is typical around the New or Full moon phase, twice a day... around 2 am and 2 pm +/-. I use the San Felipe tide chart, as Shell Island is a bit closer to San Felipe than Puertecitos.

The photo you posted is about halfway across the salt flats (mud flats) or lagoon between the desert and the beach (island).

The mud is very slimy and you may go sideways a bit... but I have not ever got a Tacoma stuck in it (using low range and A-TRAC or a rear locker).

Now, instead of going straight in along the once well elevated causeway to the defunct bridge, I now go in on the lateral original road (goes off to the right from about where you took picture or just before) and meets the beach 1/4 mile south... next to fisherman's shack.

The elevated road and bridge were built about 1984, and I used it as an easy all tide on/off to the island. Whoever built it and thought they could develop a resort there never did anything more. The elevated causeway began to 'melt' down and by the early 2000's, the bridge could no longer be used... Here's a photo of Surfer Jim on it in Feb., 2004:



I will be honest and tell you if I come to see that much sea water, I might hesitate too, and have camped at Nuevo Mazatlan instead. But, if already on the island and it is that flooded when we leave, we have driven through a foot deep sea water to get off the island. Just stay (if you can figure out where) on the road route.

Here it was in July 2011 looking from the bridge towards where you took the above photo, at high tide:







A year earlier (July 2010), dry as a bone!:



Nov. 2008:



Feb. 2007, looking towards the island:



May, 2013, looking towards the island from the edge of the flats (Km. 26 road):

when I stayed there over thanksgiving 2013, we got there as the sun was going down. the tide was going out but there was still a few inches of water left and it was all mud. I just went for it. we got sideways and bounced around a bit but made it through. heres a pic after we were leaving. I stopped to air the tires back up and snapped this photo. ...I still have some of that mud on the jeep.

Did you put the Quadra Drive to work?

It is so nice to see someone actually drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee off road!

Here's my Jeep Grand Cherokee at Malarrimo Beach back in January 2002. I concur that the Quadradrive works great!

Yeah, I guess I was still more than a few feet from the ocean. But it was frustrating to be able to *see* the ocean from there.

I did try driving around to the south a little bit, but the whole area was somewhat muddy, so I got freaked out. I didn't have access to satellite imagery to be sure I could get across further south. I'll give this a try next time!



The camper van I currently drive is 4x4, so I'm good with traction. Still, I drive alone, so getting stuck is a concern.

-- Geoff

Well... It's May, and hoping for a return to Shell Island... The Tacoma really wants to get into the sand again (and so do I)!

Fiesta

The entrance to the main "road" into there is pretty distinctive, with these two cinder block pillars on either side:



-- Geoff