Headed down to Baja for a two week trip. My wife and I took our time on our way to Bahia de LA stopping for two nights in Ensenada and night in San
Quintin and a night in Catavina.
In Ensenada we visited the red-haired tequila man Augie(?) next to the closed Plaza Hotel. He is great at giving tastes of different tequilas. He
claimed one cost $240usd/bottle! We bought a bottle of tequila and a bottle of mescal. Upon arriving home I found that we paid about double the going
rate.
We tried to get fishing licenses along the way. At both tourist information places in Ensenada and San Quintin they no longer sell fishing licenses.
They said they are sold at different stores in baja. We visited both of the stores suggested and one was closed and one said they’ve never sold them.
Get your fishing licenses on-line before you go!
We visited wineries in Guadalupe. Vena Cava, Torres Alegre, Rancho Guadalupe and Montefiori wineries. You have to be in the right mood for those hot
climate wines as they all have a little heat on the finish. We brought home a case.
We love staying at the Mission Santa Maria in San Quintin. Abran the bartender is back and makes a great mojito.
Our stay in Catavina was made memorable by the many orioles that inhabit that oasis in the desert.
The exchange rate is really in our favor using US $’s. Groceries are about half the cost of NorCal…and booze prices (yeah baby!)… we bought 4
bottles.
I booked pre-paid hotels through hotels.com. What a mistake that was! The posted rate at the hotels were around 50% less then I paid. Next time I’ll
call the hotels directly to get reservations.
So we got to Bahia de LA and we had a shack on the beach for a few days before our roadhouse was available. I love staying on the beach. Our next
place has to be beachfront.
Back in the desert the birding is great. We saw California Gnatcatchers, Verdins, Costas and Black Chinned Hummingbirds, Ash Throated Flycatchers and
Gila Woodpeckers along with all the sea birds and others.
One night while sleeping on the upstairs deck the wind shifted to come out of the desert. It was like trying to sleep next to a blast furnace. Someone
later told me that it was 104 F at 4am! No one slept that night.
We caught enough fish for meals. Nothing big but we only got out a couple days as our launching vehicle was not operable.
Anywho…another great trip and when I retire in 13 months I’ll be able to go for longer than 2 weeks. David K - 6-14-2016 at 11:20 AM
Nice trip report! woody with a view - 6-14-2016 at 03:13 PM
Nice bumping into you guys. all of the online booking sites add 30%minimum anywhere in the world.Martyman - 6-16-2016 at 09:49 AM
Nice meeting you too Woody. I should have gone out in a panga too! I guess we were too busy relaxing.fdt - 6-16-2016 at 10:19 AM
