We had heard about an old jail still standing out in the middle of the desert. This just seemed out of place, apparently it was supporting a mining camp here that was working the nearby mountains. I guess every community needs a good drunk tank. Still, it was just odd stumbling across this jail cell out in the middle of the desert with nothing around for miles.
No matter how many photos I take, I can't get over the landscape. Every direction for the majority of this trip just draws the eye in.
We didn't stop much that day, trying to cover some country. We camped short of San Francisquito at San Playa Raphael. The camp at San Playa was packed full of local fisherman when we pulled in. Despite them offering us the international sign for beer, we figured it'd be better to camp just north and out of sight on the beach. I wandered up a nearby arroyo looking for wildlife that night, nothing cold blooded just a coyote. It seems we are still feeling some lingering effects of the harsh early weather.
We had an uninvited visitor in camp that night, a wild burro wandered in and bayed right where Michael was sleeping. It took several minutes to convince myself it wasn't just Michael snoring.
The next morning we got out early determined to make it to the Pacific. Made a stop at San Francisquito, just ridiculous......
(Chuck in deep thought)
From here we finally started crossing the Peninsula. We stopped at a random Pemex to fuel up (around 2.65 a gallon!) and grab a bimbo snack. Then turned towards San Ignacio.
San Ignacio is the last town before you cross the salt flats of the Pacific Coast, but just outside of town we hit the security checkpoint from hell. Even the cut plywood cut out seemed to be in a bad mood.
The Mexican military puts up these checkpoints throughout the country and the can vary from just a "where are you going?" to searching the entire vehicle. This checkpoint was pretty thorough, taking everything from our driver's license numbers to blood type. They did a fairly extensive shake down of the truck as well, which is always interesting since it's packed to the gills. An hour and a half later, we made it to San Ignacio. This town's economy has a huge investment in tourism with the whales. I'm curious how the recent unrest will effect tourism, not to mention the fact that every hurricane that hits the peninsula absolutely pounds San Ignacio. Took some photos at the mission in the town square. Nice town.
Didn't dwell long in San Ignacio though, we had a long and rough washboard road out to the whale camp. It didn't take long outside of town to descend down to the salt flats. These flats stretched for MILES in every direction. I thought the northeast part of the peninsula was desolate. No vegetation whatsoever, only the occasional brackish pool to break the landscape. Let's see Bear Grylls make it out here
After many miles and over an hour of solid washboard we arrive at the whale sanctuary. We pulled in at Antonio's whale camp. Antonio was one of the first guides to take tourists out to see the Grey Whales, it seemed like a silly choice to consider any other guide.
Antonio was recently partnered with a larger eco-tourism group, but the camp was still rustic. You could rent a small cabin or tent, with a wash basin shower... OR you could be the rejects and set your cot up in the parking area using a Power Wagon as a wind block. Two guesses which group we were. We were the B class society. The camp was completely full, and most tourists had made a trip for the primary purpose of seeing the whales and taking other tours out into La Laguna. Most well dressed, well equipped and smelling nice from a sun warmed hot water shower. We on the other hand were not allowed shower access, did not receive the complimentary mugs, and were asked to stay in our own separate pavilion (probably for the best since I had not had a freshwater shower since I left Arizona).... just the way I like it. The camp had a nice skeleton of Grey Whale collected out on the beach. Even standing next to it, you still can't get a handle on the size of these animals until you see one breathing right next to you.
(Vertebrae is the size of my waist!)
We were served a great Grouper dinner in our separate pavilion, we just figured it was special treatment for camp "Vagabundo!" then tucked behind the trucks to get out of the wind for the night, and man can the wind blow on the western coast.
After a quick breakfast we headed for our boat in the morning. Antonio would actually be our guide! Now I have to say this, if you ever get the opportunity to go see the Grey Whales in Baja DO IT. Its an absolutely incredible experience. The whales migrate into La Laguna, to mate and raise their calves.
The three of us and Antonio headed out in our small panga, and as soon as we got half a mile or so from the coast I could already see spouts. The closer we got to the mouth of the Lagoon the more spouts I could see. Whales in every direction. You could walk across the Lagoon and never get your feet wet. When we arrived at the prime observation area we saw instant activity. It didn't take long to figure out what was going on, mating. I'm sitting 50 feet away sometimes of a couple of giant male whales chasing down a female, absolutely incredible to watch. Even Antonio had his camera out documenting what we were fortunate enough to see.
We observed whales rounding 3rd base for almost thirty minutes, often close enough that the spray from their blow hole would saturate my camera lens. The only down sound, if there is one, is that with the all the fiesty behavior the cows were very cautious with their calves. Often the calves are so curious they come right up to the panga's like a child saying "look at me look at me!" and its not uncommon for the whales to bump the boats or for tourists to touch the whales. The cows were much more cautious today. With about 15 minutes left in the area we did have one whale approach us on his own accord. It was incredible. This giant animal would just suspend underneath our boat tail protruding from one end and the head submerged just inches from my touch out in front of the boat. It would even pass under us waving its flipper just barely out of our reach then rolling to get a good look with its baseball sized eye. Incredible! My pictures do not come close to capturing what an experience it was.
(Ya we were close)
(Just kept rolling and twisting inches below the surface and our boat)
Just amazing!
Time with the whales is pretty well regulated so not to over crowd them during this sensitive time in their biology. I was very impressed with the way they handled it. So, after 45 minutes our time was up and we had to head back. I could have easily spent all day watching these animals, and the last whale seemed like it could have done the same.
We drove out of the whale camp with the intention of crossing a Mountain Range in the center of the peninsula, finding a secluded mission on a peak, and dropping into La Paz tomorrow. At least that was the plan. We soon found out that mapped roads don't always exist anymore, and roads often appear that are not on the map. This can make OCD map reader like myself a little frustrated. Even with setbacks this was a spectacular road as far as scenery was concerned. This is the Mexico I absolutely love, small ranchos with small gardens nestled along an arroyo in the mountains.
Narly road!
We were making good progress and figured we would make the mission at the top of the range by night fall, until we hit San Alfonso. San Alfonso was just a small dot on our map, which generally means a small rancho with usually one, maybe two homesteads or ranch houses. San Alfonso was no different in that respect, the ranch house did however sit right on top of our road, complete with a fence all the way across the canyon bottom. We walked up to the house and were greeted by a nice woman and her two children. We showed her the map and the road we were on, she definitely understood our broken spanish. However, she would not admit that the road went passed San Alfonso (and couldn't explain how to get to the mission for that matter). We tried being as nice as we could be she wouldn't have it, so even though we could see or road up the arroyo behind the ranch we had to turn back for San Ignacio to camp.
We found a campsite right on oasis in the middle of San Ignacio and set up camp. The frogs were calling that night! I could hear the same tree frog we saw Santa Maria de Los Angeles, and American Bullfrogs. Unfortunately bullfrogs have been introduced in several oases on the peninsula and had gained a foothold harming native species. It was still nice to be able to sleep with the frogs calling.
(You have to at least give it credit for being an incredibly successful species)
The next morning was a bit cool with a breeze coming off the Pacific, but the light was beautiful on the Oases and the bird life was great.
Coot
There were a couple different species of orioles and warblers that I really wanted to photograph but they seem to have a way of knowing when the camera is around my neck. Especially the Scott's orioles that will sit on the branch in front of me until I get a camera out. So you're going to have to trust me, they were attractive looking birds...
There was even a shower for us in the morning, holy crap! This was a camp not suited for los vagabundos!
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