Gonzaga Bay Trip Report 7-4-13

We had a great time at Gonzaga Bay this Fourth of July. Weather was hot but not unbearable. Camped at Beluga. Fun was had by all with day trips to Punta Final and Alfonsia's sand bar.

Here are my notes and some pics.

Crossed at 7am Calexico West. Arrive in San Felipe 9:15am. Had a couple of beers at Bar Miramar. Yes, they are open that early for thirsty travelers

I guess fireworks are "legal' now and can be sold in town as well as the trailer outside of town.

Got some pesos at the Banamex with my Charles Schwab ATM card, gassed up and headed to Gonzaga. We stopped at the Cow Patty but it was closed. Also closed on Sunday. There was a new road side restaurant next to the Cow Patty but didn't go in.

There is exactly 3 miles left of dirt road between Rancho Grande and the new freeway.

We camped at Campo Beluga. $20/day +$5 per extra car. Rafael and Santos built and installed a new wash tub sink behind one of the showers for dish washing and such.

Next day was the Punta Final picnic and snorkeling. They have a new sign at their gate. $6 per day or $16 per night. Paying here was new to me.

Our friends got stung by "invisible" jelly fish. Painful but went away in 30-60 minutes. They left about 1" sting marks all over my friend's chest. I asked some other campers about it and they were stung also and could not see them until one clung on to his dive watch.

While snorkeling we saw what looked like a human leg bone. It still had sinew and was connected at the knee. No foot tho. Sort of creepy. We couldn't think of anything else that would fit the size and length other than human. We joked that it was probably left overs from "El Sacraficio".


Next day was hanging out on the sand bar by Alfonsia's. Some of us had breakfast there. Food was good but I'm still disappointed in the crappy tortilla chips they give you. Low end costco stuff.

As we floated off the sand bar we all started getting "micro" stung by something in the water. Very tiny pin point stings. They didn't leave any marks on the body and we saw nothing. Any ideas?

We had to go to Rancho Grande to get more ice for the day where my "non baja' friends who are always hungry wanted to try Rancho Grande's tacos. I warned them that it's hit or miss and 2 years ago a bunch of locals got sick. I told them my wife and I will be eating at Alfonsia's. They took one bite of the Rancho Grande tacos and turned green. My wife told them not to embarrass the cook and take the rest to go Luckily, there were no 'side effects' the rest of the day.

Sunday, we headed back to San Felipe to stay at the El Cortez. The reception staff was 'unfriendly' as usual. They were charging $80 per room for everybody but I knew their website said $70. She called somebody to get approval. They did the same thing to me 2 years ago. Tried to get $80 but it said $60 on their website. Tricky! Tricky!

Pool was disgusting with all the bodies in it and the beach smelled like a toilet. I didn't go into either.

We had lunch at Taco Factory which we all enjoyed and later that evening I finally tried a Fatboy's pizza after all these years. It was good.

There was minor construction by La Ventana. We never left the highway. Backho's were loading/moving rock. It didn't effect us at all.

Sentri Border wait was 21 minutes at Mexicali West. Lane Traffic was about 100 yards east of the water tower. This was about 11am.

My iphone 5 with telcel sim was usable from the border all the way down to north of Percebu. 3G data was good until Rio Hardy, then went to Edge. 3G was spotty from the military check point and came back on north of El Dorado.

While on 'edge' network in the boonies. Texting and Voxer worked well enough. If you guys ever need free voice communication that requires little bandwidth, get the Voxer app. I use it all over the world. Text, Voice, and Pictures. It's a push to talk app just like a walky talky. Works across, iphone, android, windows phone.

My google voice app work fantastic in San Felipe. Crystal clear calls to the states. When people called my US number, my phone rang in San Felipe. Of course this is all free calls. You just need a cheapy data plan.


Punta Final



Sunrise at Beluga




Alfonsia's sand bar



Taco Factory lunch