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Cielomar
Junior Nomad
Posts: 71
Registered: 12-5-2010
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Save time corssing at Tecate?-Forget it!
I had never waited more than 45 minutes to cross at TJ so was curious when people suggested Tecate as the better crossing. It is if you have 3-4 more
hours to waste, want to see even more dry desert or are going in that direction! Highway 3 branches off of Hwy 1 north (or perhaps west) of Ensenada
just before Hwy1 turns into the excellent toll road to TJ. At first Hwy 3 is four lanes but quickly drops to an improved 2 lane through the small
wine country of the Guadalupe Valley and finally reverts back to the typical narrow, windy, no shoulder Baja road ( with construction delays, of
course). Several problems on this route. Slow trucks hauling containers from the Port of Ensenada to Mexicali hog the road and make the approx 120km
a 2 hour + ordeal. A major military stop 36 km before Tecate takes 45-60 minutes to clear, especially when you’re behind the container haulers. Then
there’s the 2-1/2 hour wait at the border crossing (2 portals only), the windy Highway 94 in San Diego County and the 20 minute secondary US
Immigration inspection wait about 20 miles down the road from the crossing. This turned the normal El Rosario-Ventura 475 mile run into a 13 hour
grind (I averaged about 35 mph). I also understand that TJ is improving their crossing lanes and waits are now shorter. Happy travels…
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
Member Is Offline
Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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Quick Crossing
I think everyone should cross at Tecate or San Ysidro, and stay away from Otay Mesa (you won't like it).
Also do not use the Ready Lanes or SENTRI, they are just government rip offs..........
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beachbum1A
Nomad
Posts: 442
Registered: 6-17-2006
Location: Punta Banda, BC
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by bajaguy
I think everyone should cross at Tecate or San Ysidro, and stay away from Otay Mesa (you won't like it).
Also do not use the Ready Lanes or SENTRI, they are just government rip offs.......... |
I LOVE IT!
If we didn't know how much in love you are with Otay Mesa we might even begin to take you seriously.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64739
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Tecate is the pits, be affraid, be very affraid!  lol
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
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Totally agree-- Tecate is no time saver. You might get a shorter time in line, but your extra driving will chew up that time you saved!
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woody with a view
PITA Nomad
Posts: 15939
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline
Mood: Everchangin'
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just go south and never come back..... i'm trying like hell myself!
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64739
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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RnR
Senior Nomad
Posts: 836
Registered: 5-1-2010
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Cielomar
I had never waited more than 45 minutes to cross at TJ so was curious when people suggested Tecate as the better crossing. It is if you have 3-4 more
hours to waste, want to see even more dry desert or are going in that direction! Highway 3 branches off of Hwy 1 north (or perhaps west) of Ensenada
just before Hwy1 turns into the excellent toll road to TJ. At first Hwy 3 is four lanes but quickly drops to an improved 2 lane through the small
wine country of the Guadalupe Valley and finally reverts back to the typical narrow, windy, no shoulder Baja road ( with construction delays, of
course). Several problems on this route. Slow trucks hauling containers from the Port of Ensenada to Mexicali hog the road and make the approx 120km
a 2 hour + ordeal. A major military stop 36 km before Tecate takes 45-60 minutes to clear, especially when you’re behind the container haulers. Then
there’s the 2-1/2 hour wait at the border crossing (2 portals only), the windy Highway 94 in San Diego County and the 20 minute secondary US
Immigration inspection wait about 20 miles down the road from the crossing. This turned the normal El Rosario-Ventura 475 mile run into a 13 hour
grind (I averaged about 35 mph). I also understand that TJ is improving their crossing lanes and waits are now shorter. Happy travels…
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Yup, Agree!
It takes 4 hours (or more) to go from Ensenada to the I-15/I-8 jct no matter which way you go. Two hour driving and a 2 hour wait at San Ysidro or
Otay, or 3 1/2 hour driving and a 1/2 hour wait at Tecate. (If the wait at Tecate exceeds 30 minutes, it's faster to go thru TJ.)
Overall, I find it FASTER to go thru TJ and I find it less STRESSFUL to go thru Tecate. So.... choose your poison 
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bigboy
Nomad
Posts: 239
Registered: 12-28-2003
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I always cross the border at the TJ crossing. Even with the construction at the port of entry, I never wait more than 15 minutes in the Sentri lanes.
Last Monday morning, 11:00am, the wait was 4 minutes!
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Bajaboy
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4375
Registered: 10-9-2003
Location: Bahia Asuncion, BCS, Mexico
Member Is Offline
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sounds like a big whine fest Glad you finally made it home.
zac
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thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3710
Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
Member Is Offline
Mood: muy amable
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Pure nonsense!!
| Quote: | Originally posted by Cielomar
I had never waited more than 45 minutes to cross at TJ so was curious when people suggested Tecate as the better crossing. It is if you have 3-4 more
hours to waste, want to see even more dry desert or are going in that direction! Highway 3 branches off of Hwy 1 north (or perhaps west) of Ensenada
just before Hwy1 turns into the excellent toll road to TJ. At first Hwy 3 is four lanes but quickly drops to an improved 2 lane through the small
wine country of the Guadalupe Valley and finally reverts back to the typical narrow, windy, no shoulder Baja road ( with construction delays, of
course). Several problems on this route. Slow trucks hauling containers from the Port of Ensenada to Mexicali hog the road and make the approx 120km
a 2 hour + ordeal. A major military stop 36 km before Tecate takes 45-60 minutes to clear, especially when you’re behind the container haulers. Then
there’s the 2-1/2 hour wait at the border crossing (2 portals only), the windy Highway 94 in San Diego County and the 20 minute secondary US
Immigration inspection wait about 20 miles down the road from the crossing. This turned the normal El Rosario-Ventura 475 mile run into a 13 hour
grind (I averaged about 35 mph). I also understand that TJ is improving their crossing lanes and waits are now shorter. Happy travels…
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You must be having a really bad day- cuz none of your numbers make sense.
I do agree, that the Tecate wait can be aggravating.
But, I have never waited longer than 5 minutes at the "major military checkpoint"
Sometimes we don't even stop rolling at the North of Border Migra station, and never sat there a full minute.
Yeah, the trucks are aggravating, but that road presents plenty of passing opportunities- never been stuck long behind a truck or any vehicle for that
matter.
Never waited 2.5 hours at Tecate- longest was just under 2 hours.
Maybe I am lucky, all around,
but I still think that your post is pure hyperbole...
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bajario
Nomad
Posts: 260
Registered: 1-7-2008
Location: Cardiff
Member Is Offline
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3 minutes in the Sentry Lane this morning at SY. 10:00 am. Maybe 6 cars in front of us.
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willardguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6451
Registered: 9-19-2009
Member Is Offline
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I hit it about the same time, thirty-seven seconds in the ready lane! and the regular lanes were blowin by me! you guys gotta lose those flippin
sentri passes!
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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6343
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
Member Is Offline
Mood: TEQUILA!
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Believe it or not!
What has worked out really great...!
Fly from Orange county to Cabo...2 hr flight; rent a car in Cabo...15 min, 1/2 hour waiting to board in the OC.
All this works out to two hours less than driving to Ensenada!
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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BornFisher
Super Nomad
Posts: 2107
Registered: 1-11-2005
Location: K-38 Santa Martha/Encinitas
Member Is Offline
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So I just checked here http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/
The wait @ 7PM 8/5/12 is 4 (as in FOUR) hours. If you want to challenge the accuracy of the time................. be my guest!!
[Edited on 8-6-2012 by BornFisher]
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surfdoc
Nomad
Posts: 235
Registered: 8-18-2009
Location: Bahia Asuncion BCS
Member Is Offline
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Yep..........the wait at Tecate last time I went thru (2 weeks ago) sucked !!!!!!!!!!
I waited longer to get my McDonalds Big Mac and fries then at the border..
Didn't even eat any french fries !!!
Cause there were NO cars at 1930........
Oh and hate the wine country/trucks/construction...try this secret road...Avenue 2000...
Now lets discuss the benefits of each border crossing when heading south LOL..........
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64739
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Now what sucks is Mexicali, imo... I try again on occaision, but when coming north from San Felipe, I greatly prefer Tecate. We crossed back Saturday
afternoon (a week before last Sat.) and the total wait was about 45 min. and that's not bad after being in Baja for 15 days!
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bajaguy
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9247
Registered: 9-16-2003
Location: Carson City, NV/Ensenada - Baja Country Club
Member Is Offline
Mood: must be 5 O'clock somewhere in Baja
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No, No, No
| Quote: | Originally posted by surfdoc
...try this secret road...Avenue 2000......... |
NEVER take Corridor 2000...............road construction, traffic, cops seeking mordita, bodies hanging from bridges, beheadings........ALWAYS use San
Ysidro and Tecate........
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3495
Registered: 10-2-2006
Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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See? Those who have traveled the routes know the score and it's sometimes personal. I like the SY crossing South but not North. To me, there's always
a wait going North -- it's a matter of how long. And then you have the human zoo to entertain you plus hundreds of cars jockeying for position. It is
quicker to SY from Ensenada and then you get to wait.
Tecate is for those with time and who aren't in a hurry. It's more driving and it helps if you like the wine country. Construction is mostly completed
and following a slow semi is luck of the draw. The crossing wait at Tecate is a poop shoot anyway. No rocket science here. Sometimes you wait, mostly
you don't.
Personally, I enjoy the 94 road, and Otay Lake Rd. Feels like California and I like that.
Either way, it's about a toss-up. Drive more, wait less, or drive less and wait more. I'd rather be driving, even if it's slow, than traveling a few
feet (at SY) every few seconds for 2 hours. That's about the average wait when I've gone through. You can't really look away from the vehicle in front
of you or else there'll be an accident. Forgetaboutit.
There's also a pattern for rush hour traffic. Don't know what those hours are since I never cross on weekends, or later in the day. SY or Tecate seems
to be fine at 7am going South, and Tecate mid-week early afternoon (going North) is good too.
Sometimes I check the wait at SY and Tecate when I'm in Ensenada and if you have internet, that's an option.
http://apps.cbp.gov/bwt/
US Marines: providing enemies of America an opportunity to die for their country since 1775.
What I say before any important decision.
F*ck it.
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oxxo
Banned
Posts: 2347
Registered: 5-17-2006
Location: Wherever I am, I'm there
Member Is Offline
Mood: If I was feeling any better, I'd be twins!
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I cross at Tecate, forth and back, 4 to 6 times a year. I don't recommend it, use some other POE. 
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