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Dino
Newbie
Posts: 10
Registered: 7-11-2005
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basics for a newtimer
Hi Nomads,
great forum. I am planing my first baja trip by the end of august.
The plan is to rent the cheapest possible car (with full insurance, of course) in Tijuana and drive down to la paz and surroundings in about 2 weeks,
and fly back to LA. Was travelling light&cheap since ever, but with my partner I need to do it chap&comfy (no adrenaline camping on city
beaches or sleeping in snow piles 
I think that leaving the north early is a good idea. Is there a possibility to see for instance some part of Canon de Guadalupe, the Agua caliente
springs,St Domingo, Catamajue, ... without a 4WD? Where would you suggest to spend a nice&romantic few days on a "cheap" spot without loads of
tourists(center/south, I thought).
Is there anything you would recomend/not recommend?
I want to spend most of the time in cheaper traditional bed& breakfasts or campings. I would like to experience some traditional food&
culture, music, dance, and so on. Is there a nice way to see that? Maybe Mulege?
Any tips for a one day sea kayaking in the sea of cortez?
Thanks a lot!!
the newbie
Dino
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turtleandtoad
Senior Nomad
Posts: 730
Registered: 1-20-2005
Location: Wherever I park. See sig for current location.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Good if fishing
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"The plan is to rent the cheapest possible car"
Obviously you haven't seen some of the cars on the TJ rental lots! You'd be lucky to get out of TJ with some of those, let alone get all the way to La
Paz! I've never rented one but I have seen them and they don't look good. Stick with the big name rental companies.
So the first thing is, if you're going to rent, get something that you can depend on, and get something with 4WD and good ground clearance so you can
go see some of those places.
My biggest regret with my last trip is that I didn't have a good off-road vehicle. That will be corrected on my next trip.
Mike & Robin; Full-Time RV\'ers
37\' Georgetown w/3 slides & 275 Watts of Solar Power
06 Taco TRD
www.turtleandtoad.com
I am here
To paraphrase Frank Lloyd Wright; I\'m all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let\'s start with keyboards. --
Mike Dean |
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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Welcome Dino
there are plenty of places here in Mulege to rent Kayaks for tips for a one day sea kayaking in the sea of cortez and lots of other things to do also.
you need to check with the rentel co. about renting in T.J. and leaving the car in La Paz. most wont alow this and if they do it will cost you a lot
of money.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Dino, what about your car? Don't you have a car? Use your own car -- lots of people do that. Take a plugin compressor for the tires -- let the air
out when it's appropriate and you can go down enough sandy/bumpy roads to last you a while. If you want to explore just remember the ranchers way
back in the pucker brush just have 2 wheel drive rusty pickups and they live there.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64857
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Hi Dino, 2WD will get you to most places... a pickup will be better than an Impala because of ground clearance issues.
In my web site you can find photos of many of the places that interest you (try the Index page to find a photo fast, http://community-2.webtv.net/drdrip/index )
Have a blast!
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3824
Registered: 2-9-2004
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There won't be a ton of tourists in August - it's off season - HOT. If you want to eventually get to La Paz and experience the sights in between, I
would suggest you skip Guadalupe Canyon, as it is out of the way. It's not cheap anymore either. Agua Caliente hotsprings - 35 miles from Ensenada
is doable though, on your first day. You can camp there or rent one of their rooms. It's about $10 per person for hot springs and additional for
overnight accommodations. I would suggest you spend some time in Bahia de Los Angeles - doable in 2WD. You might get a Baja guide book and find
plenty of places to go to, and not travel as far as La Paz. Also, there would be a high drop-off charge leaving a rental car in La Paz and flying
back, so if you didn't go that far, you could drive back in 2 days. Check out San Fernando mission, Laguna Manuela - great hiking and coves along the
coast; Conception Bay.
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
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Newbies are worms....
Welcome to the best Internet site for all your Baja interests! The gang here is **mostly** Oh' behaved. A good tip here is this: use the search
mechanism here, for great data searches. You will discovery an ship load of awesome postings of Baja data there, ol Mate!
Moon Handbooks: Baja. This book is a must. Others here will give you other books they like, do look at all of them. For the cost of $50.00 for a
few good travel guilds?you will save the money in lost time, gas, and bogus places you might stay at.
Rental car, cheap? Let me know how that works out! Don?t go cheap on your ONLY method of transportation?. a break down?and your out a few days of a
little 14 day road cruising! Now your cheap car just cost your vacation budget to elevate and reduced number of travel days. Take your own
car?insurance is cheap. I get mine for about $7.00 a day.
Oh...and asked one hell of alot of questions here at the forum....it'll make your vacation 100 % better and safer.
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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Dino
Newbie
Posts: 10
Registered: 7-11-2005
Member Is Offline
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clarifications :)
Hi Nomads!
Great, I didn't expect som many great replies.
The clarify - I am from Australia (well, currently, but not originally ) so
bringing my car over would cost me car+shiping costs 
So I guess renting is better.
As I said, we do not want to do 4WD stuff, I do not dare to do it on my first trip there. So rather low budget tourist stuff. A friend rented a normal
2WD in Tijuana few years ago and was perfectly happy, is it so difficult when you are rentiong from a worldwide provider?
OK, may skip guadalupe, will include agua caliente, Bahia de Los Angeles and so. According to the website, it should be possible to rent a car and
drop it of in La Paz... And saving time is more important for me than say 100bucks (well, if you include petrol to drive back...).
So, how is the south, arround Los cabos, la paz??
Thanks
Dino
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Dino, I did not know you were traveling from Austrailia. You will love the southland. The Cabo area is just the place to be in August. Try to learn
to say "Buen dia" (that's Ga-die down here) before you get here because you may spontaneously combust, burst into flames the very minute you step out
of your car in downtown Cabo. For me, no matter what plans I made about my travels from Las Vegas to Baja every summer vacation I always found a way
to spend a few days camped at Bahia Concepcion -- you'll find it in the guide books. You have more options -- hammock in San Bartolo bamboo forest?
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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There is always the chance of a hurricane during August at which point you could be stuck where ever you are when one hits, so travel insurance might
be a wise move. It will be hot and humid so a/c in the car would be nice.
The drive down is a wonderful adventure. There is a thread called "The List" It is rather long but read through it as it will give you an idea what
people who have done the drive think is important. Although unless you rent a semi you will not be able to include everything on "the list"
Stay in touch and please write us a trip report as we would all be interested in seeing the peninsula through aussie eyes.
We have books on Baja, maps too.
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
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There is so much to see between TJ and Bahia...for a 2 wk. trip I wouldn't go all the way to La Paz (I'm thinking you will spend most of your time
driving)....it is up to you, but, I would want to spend my time exploring and not just driving Mex 1.
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Dino
Newbie
Posts: 10
Registered: 7-11-2005
Member Is Offline
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Itinerary
Hi,
great, thanks for feedback. My plan is to drive down and fly back because I do not want to spend the whole time driving. I do not see any other
option. Even driving halfway and back is the same distnace - s oI do not save much, and cut on what I have seen. I guess that within the first day I
will want to get away from the TJ-Ensenada region, so about 300km, away from the massess. Than a week in the centre and a week in the south should be
ok.
What is that bamboo forest? never hear about!
I will stick to 2WD roads, somethiong doable on a rental car. I think that I will not want to drive more than 300km in a day (that's like going for a
lunch in Australia) and try to spend 2 days on one spot, usually. Does it sound reasonable?
Dino
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Just dont drive those 300k at night.
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Debra
Super Nomad
Posts: 2101
Registered: 10-31-2002
Location: Port Orchard Wa./Bahia de Los Angeles BC
Member Is Offline
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300k.....well, that is up to you my friend, I have spent time in your country and I surely didn't want to fly by that quickly....I regret that I
couldn't slow down some (my company wouldn't allow me to be out of the office for more than 2 weeks.....(that sucked!) so I do understand your hurry
to see as much as possible.......knowing what I know now, I would spend much more time in Townsville, MAGNET ISLAND! Cains, Port Douglas and A huge
suprize for me, Sidney! Loved your Explorier Bus!
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
Member Is Offline
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Kilometers changed to Miles
1.00 -0.62
10.00 -6.21
20.00 -12.43
30.00 -18.64
40.00 -24.85
50.00 -31.07
60.00 -37.28
70.00 -43.50
80.00 -49.71
90.00 -55.92
100.00 -62.14
180 miles per day.
Make sure your seatbelt is on tight to hold you in that land rush  I
agree...with 2 weeks of time...I'd go slower.
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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eetdrt88
Senior Nomad
Posts: 986
Registered: 2-20-2005
Location: Az/Ca/Baja
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Dino,i have a volkswagon bug for sale...
and i live about 1.5 hours from the border...i'm sure i could sell it to you for about the same cost as what you're going to rent a car for in
TJ...maybe you could resell it down in cabo or la paz...anyway, if youre interested let me know....oh and it runs great we just put in a new clutch
and new brakes
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
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| Quote: | Originally posted by eetdrt88
and i live about 1.5 hours from the border...i'm sure i could sell it to you for about the same cost as what you're going to rent a car for in
TJ...maybe you could resell it down in cabo or la paz...anyway, if youre interested let me know....oh and it runs great we just put in a new clutch
and new brakes |
how much?!
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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Dino
Newbie
Posts: 10
Registered: 7-11-2005
Member Is Offline
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Plan changes
OK, after some extensive searching, we found out that dropping of the car elsewhere than at the pic up point is really expensive, and will do a loop.
Starting at tijuana. If we do not make it up to La paz, what is an absolute NO MISS before. Personal opinions, of course, but I have frequnetly had
tyhe experience that wonderful places are not always those with big names and UNESCO listing. Usually places that did not make it to Lonely planet are
a good idea, as toursits tend to go only for those
Dino
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bajajudy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6886
Registered: 10-4-2004
Location: San Jose del Cabo,BCS
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Then I would plan to spend some time in Bahia de Los Angeles. There is a lot to do there and you can spend less time driving and more time enjoying.
Oh if you do buy a guide book, do not buy Lonely Planet. The Moon Guide book is written by a guy who lives here part of the year and is much better!
[Edited on 7-12-2005 by bajajudy]
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yankeeirishman
Banned
Posts: 1070
Registered: 3-5-2004
Location: Kalifornia
Member Is Offline
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let us (Nomads) be your travel agent
Why dont you do this: tell us you budget, your starting location, type of accommodations (camps /hotel) and so forth. Then I bet....many of us here
can give you great directs to a good Bajian trip.
What control freaks there are here. Don\'t believe that post you just read!
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