Driving Down the Baja Delivering Boat Gear

We are finally back in La Paz aboard Cinnabar!! We elected to drive here from northern CA and overall, it was another good road trip. 

It is expensive to ship goods into Mexico, so with a truckload of new boat gear, we decided to just deliver it ourselves.

The Mexico/Baja section was the big unknown. It seems that most cruisers who drive down the Baja, trying to get back to their boats, do it in three days, but we decided if we pushed hard, we could probably make it from San Diego to La Paz in two days (which we did), via Highway 1, aka The Trans-peninsula Highway, aka Carretera Peninsular Benito Juarez.

We left Cupertino, CA on Dec 1st and it took us a couple of days of running around the SF Bay Area to purchase and pick up some last-minute items. We finally broke free on Dec 3rd and left Salinas in the pouring rain (yes, that's correct - rain in California). 

Could Baja be more treacherous than this??

At least we had a bag of homemade cookies courtesy of our friend Dayna. Weather was wet off and on that day and we arrived in Long Beach just in time to pick up our new dinghy and life raft. 

We spend the night aboard Ciao Bella in Seal Beach and Tom shares a beer with his old friend the Pirate Chicken.

The next morning the weather had cleared and we made our way to San Diego via Costa Mesa and Dana Point, where we were scheduled to pick up a few more items. That day was super busy as we sped around San Diego purchasing more items at West Marine, Pacific Offshore Rigging, and Trader Joe's. We even visited the local library so we could apply for Mexican auto insurance and print out the proof.

Miraculously, we seemed to finish most of the items on our "to-do" list just before everything closed for the night. Barely. We rolled into good old Sweetwater Regional Park where we pitched the tent and fell asleep to the dulcet tones of our extremely loud and verbose neighbor yammering away in profane Spanglish. 

I felt like I had just fallen asleep when Tom woke me at 4:30 to break camp and cross the border. We were a bit nervous about crossing with our truck absolutely packed with boat gear. Would they make us take everything out and declare it? Would we have to pay customs duty on it? If MX Customs happened to question our import of gear, we were prepared to legitimize it (and no duty payment) with the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for our boat. But still, it would be time-consuming.

Our friend Mike told us that 5:30 a.m. was the best time to cross and he was right! Tom told the Mexican customs agent "Nothing to declare", even so, the customs agent did ask to see the inside of our truck. Tom told him we were going to Baja for camping and de vacaciones, and I guess the agent figured it would be too much hassle to inspect our heap of gear at 5:30 a.m. so he waved us on through. We pulled a hard right and parked the truck at the immigration office, got our 6 month tourist cards and were on our way!

We wondered how the roads would be after the hurricane and rainy weather. They were generally in good condition, but partway along the toll road from Tijuana to Ensenada we had to take a detour through the mountains because the highway was closed. We finally hit Ensenada and stopped for a coffee pick-me-up and some internet.

The Tundra's first time in Ensenada. We stop at Starbucks for some caffeine and internet. Two years ago we 'lived' at this Starbucks while our boat was being painted.

It was slow-going as we drove through all the little beach towns along the west coast, and we were absolutely amazed to see the vast acreage of agriculture! We saw acres and acres of tomatoes, brassicas, lettuce, vineyards, and berries. Next time I buy berries from Driscoll farms, or tomatoes from MX, I'll know exactly where they came from.

You know you're in Mexico when you see the ubiquitous Pemex gas stations.

 

Agriculture that went on for miles and miles, watered by underground aquifers.
(In the desert, this does not seem sustainable/prudent.)

Most people who drive down the Baja stop in El Rosario to spend the night, but when we passed through it was barely 1:00 p.m., so we pressed on as we drove eastward into the heart of Baja toward the vast Vizcaino Desert. The terrain in this area was, to me, some of the most interesting and beautiful. The landscape was covered with all kinds of cactus, and sometimes huge boulder fields would appear and seem to go on forever.

A very impressive Cardon cactus, which is the largest cactus in the world.

Highway 1 can be dangerous, as evidenced by the numerous memorials along the road.

We've been told by many people that it's extremely dangerous to drive in Baja at night due to the livestock that like to wander onto the roads, as well as all the semi trucks that travel at night. As the sun set we approached our destination of Guerrero Negro, famous for its salt mines, and it did seem like the volume of trucks on the road was increasing. Just prior to arriving in Guerrero Negro we crossed the 28th Parallel which signifies the time change from Pacific to Mountain Time, as well as leaving the state of Baja California and entering Baja California Sur. As we crossed this border we were cheerfully relieved of 20 pesos (about $1.35) in order to fund an agricultural spray on the Tundra's underbelly. 

Welcome to Baja California Sur! Now prepare to get sprayed.

Our very comfy beds at the new Hotel Terra Sal in Guerrero Negro

The next day was another early start as we left Guerrero Negro before dawn. We experienced some dense fog as we hit the middle of the peninsula, so we stopped in San Ignacio to make coffee and have a little breakfast.

Look at that packed Tundra! It all seemed important when we put it in.

The numerous military check stations helped break the monotony, even though they all asked the same questions: Where are you coming from and where are you going?

Once we passed hurricane-damaged Santa Rosalia and neared Mulege we really felt like we were back in the hood, so we had to drive into Mulege for some treats and to check out the hurricane damage.

We visit Mago's in Mulege for a snack and internet. Mago even remembered how Tom likes his coffee!

Water Purification building destroyed by hurricane (we used to buy bottled water here). 

Casa de los Suenos had a bit of damage.

We even stopped at our favorite Casa de los Suenos to look at the hurricane damage. If we had chosen to take 3 days to drive down this would have been our second stop, but since it was only noon we kept going.

We sped past Loreto and approached the very mountainous areas of Baja. It was a long climb up from Puerto Escondido, as we turned westward and once again headed back into the heart of Baja. 

We were surprised at the number of cyclists on the road! (12 in 2 days)

After Highway 1 takes a left turn south, we drove through the metropolis of Ciudad Constitucion. Since Constitucion is only 210k (130miles) from La Paz we were really starting to feel like we were "home". It was in this area that most of the road work was taking place. We don't know if they were doing repairs or simply upgrading the road, but there were long stretches of dusty dirt road to contend with. 

A tight fit.

Finally, at about 4:30 p.m., we popped up over a mountain and could see the Bay of La Paz below us. At last! It felt very familiar to drive into La Paz and along the Malecon as we made our way to Marina Palmira.

In spite of still unrepaired hurricane damage, they were decorating the Malecon for Christmas.

Of course, we did have to stop at Harker Board for a glass of cold Baja Brewing amber, a burger, and some first-hand hurricane tales from the owner Vanessa, but we eventually arrived at Marina Palmira with full stomachs and happy to be reunited with Cinnabar.

Cinnabar was waiting for us, and the next morning we pretty much verified that she'd had nearly zero damage from the hurricane. We had left her in good hands with our boat managers Susan and Dennis Ross, and there was only a small patina of grit on Cinnabar's counters and floors that showed she'd weathered Hurricane Odile. Even her anemometer is intact and still working! 

Photo courtesy of Nancy on Shindig

Now, we have to reverse our trip and get the Tundra back to the Bay Area. That will be the next adventure. 

More pictures of our trip can be found here in our DRIVING DOWN THE BAJA album. 

INFO: 
- 1570 Miles including our 2 days of errands around SF Bay.
- 6 days (5 nights) duration.
- Beds:

• Sailboat Eyrie in SF (thanks Synthia!)
• Dayna's house in Salinas (thanks Dayna!)
• Sailboat Ciao Bella in Seal Beach (thanks Joe and Kitty!)
• Sweetwater Campground in San Diego
• Hotel Terra Sal (550 pesos/$37 US) in Guerrero Negro

- Boat stuff hauled down:new 77 lb Spade anchor, new liferaft (old one condemned due to delamination), new dinghy (upgrade to Hypalon Achilles 10') with dinghy wheels, new genset head, new snubber and dock lines, 7 gals engine oil, new foam for cockpit cushions, 20 yds Sunbrella Toast for new bimini and wheel cover, Sunbrella furniture fabric for cockpit cushions, 3 cases of wine, lots of microbrew beers, good stuff from Trader Joe's, Jib for Cinnabar, and gear for fellow cruisers (spinnaker, battens and sail slides, solar charger).