Trip Plan suggestions

Hola, long time lurker, first time poster. First I would like to say thank you to everyone posting so much useful information! It has been invaluable to me putting together a trip for my family. I am humbly asking for some advice and feedback on the trip plan. See the table below.

Summary: my family and I (myself, wife, two girls 12 and 9) will drive from North County San Diego to La Paz in Nov to snorkel with whale sharks.

The plan is to take mainly paved roads, dirt OK, but nothing extreme. The rig (though I hesitate to call it that based on what I have seen on this site!) is a Disco Sport with 32in Falken AT, roof rack. I have a full size spare, as well as snatch strap, compressor, etc. I am planning to get a pair of maxtrax prior to going, as well as fuel container (jerry or rotopax)

Staying in hotels and motels with secure parking. (Wife requirement.)

Key things to do/see: whale sharks!, visit a Mission, drive on the beach, kayak and paddle board, eat seafood and drink beers.

I am primarily interested in feedback on the route and places to stay.

Are times and distances I have realistic? I am missing anything that is must-see? We have a fixed number of days (9 total) so we cannot extend the trip, as much as I would like to spend months roaming all the nooks and crannies of Baja as some of you have done.

Can you recommend a place to stay in or near the finish points that are nice (beds, private baths) and safe with secure parking? Cost is a secondary consideration.

If you're interested, some background on me: I have been into Baja and MX before several times including TJ, Rosarito, as far as Ensenada on the Pacific coast, Calexico (for work) Puerto Peñasco, CDMX (by plane) this year. This will be our first trip by vehicle this deep into Baja.

I am currently taking Spanish 3 after work so I can read, write and make passable conversation.

I have some off road driving experience in this vehicle and others including motorcycle in Anza Borrego, San Bernardinos, Southern Sierras, Death Valley.

My girls are good road-trippers and international travelers though my wife is concerned about personal safety as well as equipment security.

Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer.

ph001c.....Welcome to Baja Nomad!

Do plan an overnight in Loreto. You will all be safe and comfortable, and everyone can walk around a bit and enjoy this lovely town.

Take a deep breath, walk the Malecon and take some photos in front of the "Loreto" sign with the girls.

You'll be able to speak a bit of Spanish, which the Locals here appreciate. Have a nice meal at Orlando's, cruise the little zocalo (town square), walk into the Municipal Palace and check out the beautiful murals in the back painted by our talented resident artist Alejandro Curiel.

Loreto is know for her "matriarchal" culture, and your Ladies will appreciate the vibe.....

Have a safe trip!!

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Too much driving with the kids (or adults). Loreto is the furthest I'd go. It's a kick a$$ town and has all the stuff you have talked about doing. World class kayaking, mule rides, the islands are great. The most beautiful mission in Baja, San Javier, is 30 mins away. Some very easy dirt road side trips to beautiful bays (Agua Verde, San Bassilo). The Agua Verde drive is one your kids will never forget. It will hook them on Baja forever. Your wife and kids will LOVE La Mision Hotel. Awesome hotel and a stunning view of the ocean from your balcony. Driving down, I would try to make it past San Felipe on the way down. Leave early and you can make it pretty easily to Gonzaga Bay. San Felipe isn't anything to write home about. Stay at Alfonsinas. It's a hotel right on the beach with a really great view. You can travel more leisurely the next day(s). If you make it to Bahia de Los Angeles, stay at Costa del Sol. Nice, inexpensive place. [Edited on 10-16-2019 by JZ]

This is the speed I prefer. December trip planning.

I am happy to encourage your visits to mission sites... Baja is where California began... both the first 18 California missions and El Camino Real started at Loreto.

I do think La Paz is too far for a 9-day trip... Whale Sharks are a summer thing and Bahia de los Angeles and Bahia Concepcion are better places to get close to them. Days are shorter in November, Baja Sur is on Mountain Time, so you lose an hour when you pass the Eagle Monument. La Paz is a great city... but it is still a city and 850 miles by road from the border.

I never heard of a Disco Sport, so I am happy AKgringo explained that one! Land Rovers have not a good reputation in Baja, so I hope yours is free of issues before you cross into the land of Fords, Jeeps, and Toyotas!

MISSIONS along the way and are great to see:
San Ignacio
Mulegé
Loreto

MISSIONS that are about 20 miles off Hwy. 1 and great to see:
San Borja (good dirt road)
San Javier (paved road)

May I suggest geettingf my book so you and the girls will have some interesting insights and knowledge of them: www.oldmissions.com


That is Mission San Ignacio (and Santa María' entrance) on the cover.

Please feel free to ask more questions... check out my trip reports in that forum on Nomad. My maps plus a bit of an upcoming road guidebook is shared in the Road Conditions forum on Nomad.
Welcome to Nomad!

Welcome to the fray you lurker you!

Families with kids love it here in Bahia Asuncion as there is lots of fun natural stuff to do in the tide pools here at the Blowhole, surf lesson, horseback riding and beach time, boogie boarding etc. You can also snorkel with the juvenile sealions at the Island which only 10 minutes from our Inn.







We have big family rooms too, very secure and are only an hour off the highway on a great paved road...come on in on your way down. Many stay here instead of Guerrero Negro on their travels up and down the peninsula. For more info on the village see www.bahiaasuncion.com



Then you can go the beach road on the way south to visit Blanca also!

[Edited on 10-17-2019 by shari]

Quote: Originally posted by ph001c

...drive from North County San Diego to La Paz in Nov to snorkel with whale sharks.

Quote: Originally posted by ZipLine

Quote: Originally posted by ph001c   ...drive from North County San Diego to La Paz in Nov to snorkel with whale sharks. Please tell me about that. I will be in La Paz about the same time and I did not know about that possibility. Where in the La Paz area do people do that? Can I rent the snorkeling kit or do I need to bring it? Sounds like fun!

Quote: Originally posted by ZipLine

Quote: Originally posted by ph001c   ...drive from North County San Diego to La Paz in Nov to snorkel with whale sharks. Please tell me about that. I will be in La Paz about the same time and I did not know about that possibility. Where in the La Paz area do people do that? Can I rent the snorkeling kit or do I need to bring it? Sounds like fun!

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666

About the whale sharks. They are big, slow plankton eaters. Kind of fun to see once, but they are generally non-responsive,... 5 minutes and you are done and can say “been there, seen it, done it.” Suggest you do a panga trip focused on snorkeling in islands, visit a whale shark if you happen to see one in transit, and not do boat trip focused on whale shark. Whale shark, does it taste like chicken?

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Quote: Originally posted by mtgoat666   About the whale sharks. They are big, slow plankton eaters. Kind of fun to see once, but they are generally non-responsive,... 5 minutes and you are done and can say “been there, seen it, done it.” Suggest you do a panga trip focused on snorkeling in islands, visit a whale shark if you happen to see one in transit, and not do boat trip focused on whale shark. Whale shark, does it taste like chicken? This is 100% correct.

Quote: Originally posted by MMc

pf001c, Please disregard Billyjoe's trolls. He has been banned under a bunch of different names. This thread is about to go south and become useless. Sorry.

Quote: Originally posted by pauldavidmena

Quote: Originally posted by MMc   pf001c, Please disregard Billyjoe's trolls. He has been banned under a bunch of different names. This thread is about to go south and become useless. Sorry. Kudos to the powers that be for taking care of this so quickly. He made several posts in a very short time - none of them informative and all of them toxic in tone.

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Too much driving with the kids (or adults). Loreto is the furthest I'd go. It's a kick a$$ town and has all the stuff you have talked about doing. World class kayaking, mule rides, the islands are great. The most beautiful mission in Baja, San Javier, is 30 mins away. Some very easy dirt road side trips to beautiful bays (Agua Verde, San Bassilo). The Agua Verde drive is one your kids will never forget. It will hook them on Baja forever. Your wife and kids will LOVE La Mision Hotel. Awesome hotel and a stunning view of the ocean from your balcony. Driving down, I would try to make it past San Felipe on the way down. Leave early and you can make it pretty easily to Gonzaga Bay. San Felipe isn't anything to write home about. Stay at Alfonsinas. It's a hotel right on the beach with a really great view. You can travel more leisurely the next day(s). If you make it to Bahia de Los Angeles, stay at Costa del Sol. Nice, inexpensive place. [Edited on 10-16-2019 by JZ]

JZ, is the attached the turn off and road for the Agua Verde drive ? I'm really interested in that one.

Quote: Originally posted by ph001c

JZ, is the attached the turn off and road for the Agua Verde drive ? I'm really interested in that one.

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Here is the track into Agua Verde. Load Google Earth Pro onto your computer. When you click the link, it will load directly into GE. It will also load into a phone based GPS like Gaia or Back Country Navigator (my favorite). AV is roughly 25 miles from MX 1 to the bay. There is a little store there. The drive down is incredible. The first 3mins of this video I shot are from Loreto. Specifically, from 39 seconds to 1:27 are Agua Verde. After that is is San Javier, the view from La Mision hotel, and shots of Isla Coronado. For about $80, you can have a Panga take you out to Coronado for 3-4 hours. It's about a 20 min boat ride, and the water is like the Caribbean. Bring drinks and food. https://youtu.be/4VNTIhRa6q0 JZ - awesome video. Nice drone-work, really professional production. The drive into AV looks amazing. Where is the shot at 3:05 with all the cacti? Also the shot at the end 8:03 looks like something out of Dust to Glory or Dakar. We are going to hit up San Javier and I've book La Mision. Thanks for the tips. [Edited on 10-21-2019 by JZ]

Quote: Originally posted by ph001c

JZ - awesome video. Nice drone-work, really professional production. The drive into AV looks amazing. Where is the shot at 3:05 with all the cacti? Also the shot at the end 8:03 looks like something out of Dust to Glory or Dakar.

3:05 is just outside of San Evaristo. San Evaristo is a 70 mile, roughly 3hr drive on an easy and well traveled dirt road from La Paz. My kid drove it at age 14 in a 2 wheel drive pickup we rented down there. It's a long day, but you can day trip up there from La Paz, I've done that 3 times at least. Top 5 coastal drive in all of Baja, especially the last 10-15 miles.

All the shots until 4:09 are from that road. 4:10 to 4:35 are from the beaches East of Tecolote that I recommended earlier.

I have a track to San Evarsito if you want it. In San Evarsito you can pay a panga to take you out to the islands (San Francisco and San Jose). Cost is about $100 for 4-5 hrs in a private boat.

Here is a pic from the mangroves on San Jose from July. Kids are riding the Zodiac.




[Edited on 10-22-2019 by JZ]

Maps to San Evaristo from La Paz or Constitución Hwy.

The Dolores mission was near the coast from 1721-1741, then moved to its visita (visiting outpost station) of La Pasión (1741-1768).
Another Dolores visita became the mission of San Luis Gonzaga, in 1737. Both San Luis Gonzaga and Dolores (at La Pasión) were closed by the Spanish government in 1768, after they removed the Jesuits and installed the Franciscans. The Spanish government then forced all the neophytes (Native Indians of the missions) of both missions, to go south to Todos Santos where most of them soon died in a strange new land, far from their ancestral homes.



San Evaristo is a small fishing village. One place advertises food just south of the village...



The locals are friendly!



[Edited on 10-22-2019 by David K]

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Here is the track into Agua Verde. Load Google Earth Pro onto your computer. When you click the link, it will load directly into GE. It will also load into a phone based GPS like Gaia or Back Country Navigator (my favorite). AV is roughly 25 miles from MX 1 to the bay. There is a little store there. The drive down is incredible. The first 3mins of this video I shot are from Loreto. Specifically, from 39 seconds to 1:27 are Agua Verde. After that is is San Javier, the view from La Mision hotel, and shots of Isla Coronado. For about $80, you can have a Panga take you out to Coronado for 3-4 hours. It's about a 20 min boat ride, and the water is like the Caribbean. Bring drinks and food. https://youtu.be/4VNTIhRa6q0 [Edited on 10-21-2019 by JZ]

Trip Plan suggestions / Report

Hello All,

Sorry for the long delay between the request for suggestions and the report/update.

First, I want to say a big thank you to everyone for your helpful input. Much of it was spot-on. Our trip was a resounding success. We made it to La Paz and swam with the whale sharks. Check one off the bucket-list. Aside from that the family fell in love with Baja. We ate some terrific food, met some great people, got backed into (bummer) and generally had an awesome time.

The trip was too quick though, and although we slowed the pace in La Paz and on the way home, it was too much driving for 9 days as many of you correctly pointed out. The last day was about 10h with about +1h in traffic delay on the 8 on the way home. We averaged 50mph and change mainly on the paved roads. I have KMZ files I can share if anyone is interested.

In La Paz we went snorkeling with the whale sharks with Whale Shark diaries. They were top notch and within 20min of leaving the dock in La Paz we were surrounded. We spent the remainder of the afternoon at a secluded beach snorkeling and eating ceviche. It was lucky that we went the day we did as that night La Paz got dumped on. Apparently they average about 10in a year. We got about 6in from 4am into the next day. Streets were flooded and water up over the hubs of the Landie (it has 30in tires. So the day we had set aside for sight seeing and souvenir shopping was a wash. We had a great day playing games at the house though.

Highlights for me were seeing the whale sharks, I saw a turtle while I was kayaking around Bahia Concepcion. Mision San Javier was a great day trip with some great roads. Loreto was an awesome town with great restaurants. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at Orlando's. I absolutely adored San Ignacio, to me the oasis town with the little square and mision was exactly what I had dreamed Baja would be like.

Since then we visited Valle de Guadalupe for my wife's birthday. (It was her request.) Next up is a moto trip in the fall!

I've attached a few pictures and if anyone has specific questions I'd be happy to answer.

Thanks again for all the support from the forum!

More pics

and more pics