San Ignacio Whale Watching Trip

[surfponto]

We recently took a trip down to Baja Sur to do some whale watching and exploring. Our caravan had two diesel 80 Series Landcruisers, a 2007 Toyota Tundra and a new Jeep Rubicon who earned the name 'El Jepe' on this trip.

Meet up in La Jolla

Who likes Carne Asada ?

Whoops

Backup south of El Rosario......

....because of this

Desert camping

Desert wildflowers

Cardon

Fueling up with the real stuff. None of that ULSD for me ;-)

Large tropical pond outside of San Ignacio

Mission at San Ignacio

Airing down

Sunset at San Ignacio Lagoon


Grey Whales



Large Grey Whale

Road out of San Ignacio

Baja is a harsh place




Why I really went to Baja. Uncrowded right points

Waves crashing against the point.

Diesel (our dog) likes Baja

Me too

I have more of my trip report at
http://www.biocruiser.com

Bob

 

[surfponto]

San Ignacio Whale Watching Trip Part 2

Baja exploring


The scary muddy road that wanted to dump you into the river


Why I bought Mud Terrains

 

[targa88]

Will be heading down that way in a couple of weeks.
Did you use a guide for the whale watching? IF so any recommendations?

 

[surfponto]

We went with Kuyima
Great organization. They have a camp setup on the water and small pangas that they take you out to see the grey whales. They give you a small orientation which was informative.
http://www.kuyima.com/eindex.html

You will have a great time

Bob

Will be heading down that way in a couple of weeks.
Did you use a guide for the whale watching? IF so any recommendations?

 

[cybercat]

Awesome trip. I'm looking into heading down that way in the Fall. What were gas prices like?

 

[surfponto]

Diesel was under $3.00 a gallon which was great.
I believe gasoline was cheaper but all of the diesel pumps are located away from the gas pumps (for the big rigs) so I didn't notice.
Usually it runs cheaper also

Saw your avatar. Our friend's Rubicon worked great down there.
I think he took it down with less that 1000 miles on it. Don't think it will ever be the same



Bob

 

[cybercat]

Thanks for the update and the pics are awesome. Without the back up at El Rosario how long does it take to get from La Jolla to San Ignacio?

 

[surfponto]

Hard to say but we were going to break it into two days anyway since we never drive at night.
A good first night stop would be somewhere around Catavina.There is one hotel in townn or you could just desert camp

We had originally planned to try to make it close to Guerro Negro the first day but that is at least 8+ hours from Tijuana so it is alot of driving
Here is a chart of Baja driving distances which may help.
Of course driving in Baja is a little different than north of the border so it is hard to estimate the time involved.There is a huge road construction project north of San Ignacio which also slows things down a bit.

Best,
Bob

 

[teddyearp]

Nice report Bob and nice pictures. There's two other things I want to like. The fact that you claim Leucadia. I can't remember when it got swallowed up by Encinitas, I wasn't living there then. And I used to surf ponto in the mid 70's. ooops, age giveaway.

Have you ever been to La bufadora?

 

[surfponto]

Thanks
Yeah Leucadia is still a bit of a hold out from the 60s and 70s
There are a lot of "Keep Leucadia Funky" bumper stickers around.
I remember Ponto back in the early 80s when there wasn't a jetty also.
The jetty definitely improved the break and for a year or two after that it was pretty uncrowded.

Those days are pretty much over so I tend to surf the in between spots by our house

I have been out to La Bufadora but it was probably 20 years ago. Nowadays we tend to get south as quickly as we can.
Once you are south of San Quintin it is a whole different world

Nice report Bob and nice pictures. There's two other things I want to like. The fact that you claim Leucadia. I can't remember when it got swallowed up by Encinitas, I wasn't living there then. And I used to surf ponto in the mid 70's. ooops, age giveaway.

Have you ever been to La bufadora?

 

[blupaddler]

Bob, great report!
We were hoping to get back down and see the whales this year, it is definitely a must do. Did you guys camp at Kumiya? We stayed at Antonios a couple of years ago, but I heard that they won't let you camp anymore...
I gotta agree, Baja surf is terrible.






BTW...
Awesome 80! We hope to move to Leucadia eventually, we are currently out by SDSU. I will have to keep an eye out for your cruiser. We are up in the area often just enjoying everything.

 

[surfponto]

Hey Robb,
Yep we camped right on the water at Kumiya.

Really awesome spot. Bummer no fires but the hot bucket shower made up for it.
The staff were great and I liked the orientation they gave us beforehand.

Probably do another Baja trip this summer after we figure out where we want to go.

With regards to surf, it was fun but two years ago it was epic at the same spot.

Best,
Bob

 

[blupaddler]

Probably do another Baja trip this summer after we figure out where we want


Best,
Bob[/]

That's great!


Keep me in mind for your next trip if you don't mind another vehicle...

 

[jknolan4]

Bob,
It appears in the photos that the Tundra has a snorkel on it, do you know anything about it.....is it a converted Land Cruiser model, homemade, aftermarket, etc?
Thanks,
John

 

[surfponto]

Hi John,
I will ask Mike at West Coast Cruisers
I am not sure the story on it.
Here is another shot of it



Bob

Bob,
It appears in the photos that the Tundra has a snorkel on it, do you know anything about it.....is it a converted Land Cruiser model, homemade, aftermarket, etc?
Thanks,
John