Baja, Mexico Adventure Report

todgru

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
116
Location
Maupin, OR
Baja Mexico 2022 Notes

Travel dates: 10/31 - 12/17 2022 (48 days)
Baja, Mexico: November 6 to December 11, 2022 (34 days)

We left Maupin, Oregon, on October 31st. We visited a few places on the way to Mexicali, where we crossed on November 6. Rough itinerary of our travels:

October
31 US camping
November
1-7 US camping
6-8 San Felipe
9-11 Gonzaga Bay, Campo Beluga
12-13 San Ignacio
13-18 Santispac
18-23 Loreto, Romanita RV Park
24-26 Bahia de Concepcion, dispersed
27-12/1 Bahia de Concepcion, Playa de Requescion
December
2-3 Guerrero Negro, dispersed
4-8 Bahia de Los Angeles, dispersed
9-10 abandoned RV park near San Felipe
10 border crossing
10-18 camp in the US, travel to home

Notes from the 48 days of travel, US and Mexico, lessons learned, and what I would do differently next time:
1. Purchasing the FMM at the border crossing was easy. No real need to purchase online. Either way works. Regardless of the dates listed on the FMM, our border agent updated the permit to 180 days(6 months), the maximum for tourist visits in Baja.

2. Return to the US can use any crossing. Confirmed. US officials do not inspect Mexican documents - only passports.

3. Safe drinking water was easy to find (aqua purificada, purificado de aqua). Several stores had water purification systems, even some small markets. The purification process was: filter, reverse osmosis, UV, and minerals added for hard/soft water. You can use your own water containers or pick up containers at the locations. Cost around $60mx for 60+ liters - about $3 USD/16 gallons. Also, bottled water was easy to find in 6 to 11-liter containers. The water tasted great in all situations!

4. Gas stations were everywhere. Pemex and other brands. Most accepted credit cards. Some remote stations were cash only due to a lack of phone/internet. No need to travel with extra gasoline/diesel. I filled whenever I was down to about 1/2 tank, rarely did my tank get to 1/4.

5. We used butane for cooking in two container types - cartridges(Jetboil) and canisters(which look like a spray paint can). I could find the canisters in hardware stores. I did not find cartridges.

6. Starlink worked great! Never had any issues with it. I worked four days a week from the camper, with video and audio calls and data speeds of 100-200mbps. We could use our phones to make and receive calls. I was able to keep in touch with friends and family. Skip any thought of using cell-based mobile data services; it's overpriced, slow, and doesn't work boondocking! (I'm writing this while camped on a beach at Bahia de Los Angeles, and no cell signals of any kind.)

7. Our 200ah LiPo battery, 220 watt solar system kept up with demand(Starlink, laptops, phones, lights). Our system charges while driving. We had a few cloudy days while stationary, which negatively impacted keeping the batteries topped off. The battery dipped down to 11.8 volts at one point. I plan to upgrade the battery and charging capacity to overcome the clouds. It's not always sunny and 75F! Whatever power system you think you need, double it.

8. iOverlander app was handy for finding camping locations and finding purified water. But do not take reviews too seriously. We found several place descriptions wrong or generally misinformed. Google maps is not helpful for finding water - but good for downloading offline maps and road navigation.

9. Cell service (Verizon) only existed in towns/cities.

10. Baja has many free dispersed camping locations. We stayed in several.

11. The managed campgrounds ranged from $400mx to $200mx/night $20usd to $10.

12. Some managed campgrounds had non-potable well water available in big blue barrels, delivered for $200mx. Useful for showering after swimming. On one occasion, we used the Sawyer water filter and drank it for a few days. Tasted OK.

13. Several campgrounds had showers. Water warmth varied.

14. I mostly avoided campground toilets. Except in Loreto - nice!

15. The Ogo Composting toilet worked great! Gone are the days of digging cat holes or adding chemicals for stinky porta-potties. Remember: don't overfill with coco coir; replace the coco coir every 2 weeks(max); bring extra coco coir - I could not find coco coir or peat moss in Baja. We saved our used coffee grounds to bolster the little coco coir we had left. Vinegar was easy to find in grocery stores.

16. Some beaches and towns had mosquitos at dawn and dusk - they love me! Bring whatever you find helpful to defend yourself because you'll want to be out and about, not hunkered down in the camper. I don't like bug spray for my skin, but I'll use it on my hands and face. Next time, all my clothes will get a heavy dose of Permethrin Fabric Treatment. Citronella candles worked when it wasn't windy. Costco solar-charged bug zappers worked great.

17. Fairy lights are great for adding ambiance to evening camp activities. We had great success with cheap USB light strings from Amazon. I need to install a few external USB ports on the camper to power the lights.

18. Baja is very safe - we've never felt threatened. I feel just as safe camping in the Baja boonies as in dispersed locations in Oregon. Mexicans are very friendly, helpful, and generally happy. A smile goes a long way down here!

19. Roads can be a challenge for larger rigs. Mainly because the roads do not have shoulders, the curves are tight, and turns are not banked like we're often used to stateside. The lanes look as wide as the highways in the states, but the shoulders are soft, non-existent, or dangerous drop-offs. On-coming 18-wheelers fill their entire lane. Around bends in the road, their trailers can be in your lane. Mexicans love to go faster than you and will pass if they can, even the 18-wheelers. I pull over and slow down and let them pass. If a rig you're following is slow and has a left blinker on, that means they are giving you the signal it's safe to pass them - but only pass if you think it's safe; otherwise, back off.

20. Road damage from rain takes a while to repair, and the road shoulders are easily washed out from the rain. Flagging for damaged roads is minimal and one of the only two reasons you don't drive at night: road damage and free-range cattle/horses/donkeys/goats. Otherwise, it's assumed you are a good enough driver to drive safely.

21. Prescription drugs are cheaper in Mexico than in the United States. Visits to the doctor are less expensive as well. I'm very fortunate to have good health insurance in the US. I wanted to research healthcare costs and process differences between the US and Mexico. Several of the medications I purchased did not need prescriptions. Mexico would be a great place to retire with its lower cost of living and decent health care.

22. I have yet to find good coffee beans. The Marino Cafe Puro beans can be found in every grocery and are OK.

23. Learn some Spanish! My wife can speak enough that we got by OK. But I missed a lot of opportunities to chat with folks and enjoy the people. I picked up some Spanish just by hearing it all the time. Emersion in a Spanish-speaking culture would go a long way to learning the language.

24. All the towns we visited and places we camped were a mix of locals and tourists. In the dispersed areas, we met a few locals - ranchers or fishers - in passing. No place really felt "tourist". No McDonald's and no Starbucks. Mexican families were eating at the same restaurants we ate at, visiting the same beaches, and shopping at the same grocery.

I'll add more to this list if I recall anything useful to the group.

Finally, if you have thought about going to Baja, you should; it's easy and fun. It was a stress-free, warm adventure!!


Tod Gru
 
Nice. I will say that in Baja, if you go into Baja Sur, there's always been a discussion on what type of diesel they have (or don't have) so we usually take a some jerry cans, fill them up just in case. Pemex for years had said they are converting to ULSD but who knows if the stations actually have it or not. You can ask and you'll most likely get the response that it's whatever you want it to be. We never had to use our extra diesel as our range was quite large and we went pretty far south.
 
Hi Tod

Excellent posts and much the same as our experiences down south.

I may PM about the place you stayed near Loretto .

We usually keep moving but might sometime try a longer stay in one place.

Also I have always wanted my wife to fly down to Loretto instead of the long slog from Oregon that she does not enjoy.

Felice Navidad

David Graves
 
Hi Tod.
thx for informative baja trip notes.
we just returned from a short 10 day baja trip, and have many of the same thoughts as yours.
i do have a few questions, and comments -

question -
- where is campo beluga on gonzaga bay? we camped at rancho grande and i was impressed with the beach and views. on our way home we did spend a night at Alphonsina hotel, for warm shower.
- and at bahia de los angeles, was your dispersed camp at 'la gringa'? we were referred to it, but we did not have good gps, and didnt realize it was that far north from the town, so we stayed at a campo archelon, that had a nice little cantina. heard again that la gringa was a nice area.
- ogo toilet - do u dedicate camper space for this?, or just leave on floor, and move outside when using interior of camper for cooking, etc? we used rv camp toilets, and had good and poor experiences... and my gal might be interested in the ogo,

comment -
we stayed 1 night at the bigger rv beach camp at Santispac - and it was fine, and armaundos cantina food was good. wasnt too fond of hearing the truck exhaust brakes though ! we moved over to the smaller camp out on the sea of cortez, and it was great - we didnt get bothered by the wind.
- we spent 3 days at playa Esmeralda - which is maybe 25 miles? north of guerrero negro. this was the best beach of our trip. we were the only campers, and the camp owners, samuel and emma, fed us 2 dinners, and a breakfast. lobster and bonito. the best. we will go back to this beach. it has a few palapas but while we were there, no other campers. they had a decent bathroom with cold shower. they offered to take me out sportfishing, but i had enough fish to eat, and said next time.
- we stayed in san felipe , La Palapa rv park, coming and going. we really liked it. its small - but we could walk into town for breakfast and dinner. breakfast at New Georges - great., and dinner at LaVinqa - may have spelling wrong, but the food was as good as very nice pdx restaurants, and cost low.

thx again for your informative report
greg
 
Yes thanks for the reports. We have done a few trips to Baja but not for a long time now. May go this winter so this is super helpful
 
DavidGraves said:
Hi Tod

Excellent posts and much the same as our experiences down south.

I may PM about the place you stayed near Loretto .

We usually keep moving but might sometime try a longer stay in one place.

Also I have always wanted my wife to fly down to Loretto instead of the long slog from Oregon that she does not enjoy.

Felice Navidad

David Graves
David - Loreto is a beautiful town! We stayed at Romanita RV Park on the promenade between the Sea of Cortez and Misión de Nuestra Señora de Loreto Conchó(1697). The website pictures of Romanita are accurate. It's more of a campground with hookups - small RVs, campers, and tents. The campground is small and conveniently located - you can walk anywhere in town. Several ex-pats we met either camped in one of the RV parks, sailed, rented apartments, or owned property in Loreto. I was curious what it would cost to fly - around $300 roundtrip from PDX! Not bad.

Camping in Loreto is the opposite of wilderness camping. For us, we enjoyed the proximity to entertainment, food, and grocery. Overall, the noise was not a problem. Most of the time, the town was quiet by 10pm. Very safe town, full of local families and the occasional tourist.

goinoregon said:
Hi Tod.
thx for informative baja trip notes.
we just returned from a short 10 day baja trip, and have many of the same thoughts as yours.
i do have a few questions, and comments -

question -
- where is campo beluga on gonzaga bay? we camped at rancho grande and i was impressed with the beach and views. on our way home we did spend a night at Alphonsina hotel, for warm shower.
- and at bahia de los angeles, was your dispersed camp at 'la gringa'? we were referred to it, but we did not have good gps, and didnt realize it was that far north from the town, so we stayed at a campo archelon, that had a nice little cantina. heard again that la gringa was a nice area.
- ogo toilet - do u dedicate camper space for this?, or just leave on floor, and move outside when using interior of camper for cooking, etc? we used rv camp toilets, and had good and poor experiences... and my gal might be interested in the ogo,

comment -
we stayed 1 night at the bigger rv beach camp at Santispac - and it was fine, and armaundos cantina food was good. wasnt too fond of hearing the truck exhaust brakes though ! we moved over to the smaller camp out on the sea of cortez, and it was great - we didnt get bothered by the wind.
- we spent 3 days at playa Esmeralda - which is maybe 25 miles? north of guerrero negro. this was the best beach of our trip. we were the only campers, and the camp owners, samuel and emma, fed us 2 dinners, and a breakfast. lobster and bonito. the best. we will go back to this beach. it has a few palapas but while we were there, no other campers. they had a decent bathroom with cold shower. they offered to take me out sportfishing, but i had enough fish to eat, and said next time.
- we stayed in san felipe , La Palapa rv park, coming and going. we really liked it. its small - but we could walk into town for breakfast and dinner. breakfast at New Georges - great., and dinner at LaVinqa - may have spelling wrong, but the food was as good as very nice pdx restaurants, and cost low.

thx again for your informative report
greg
Greg - Campo Beluga isn't very well marked on the road - map to location - it's just a few clicks down the road from Rancho Grande. The water is solar heated - showers are warmest just before sunset.

Bahia De Los Angeles - yep! Just keep driving past la Gringa, past the trash piles of glass bottles. The satellite view of the area shows a few roads that wind their way northward. While a two-wheel drive car with adequate clearance would have been doable, I'm glad we had our four-wheel drive Tacoma. Many hiking trails in this area. We spent hours on day hikes taking in the mountains, islands, and ocean views.

Ogo Toilet - I should do a separate post on composting toilets and the installation - the Wife loves our toilet! Our camper is a Fleet slide-in shell model. Originally, it came with a battery compartment immediately to the left as you walk in the door. I removed that compartment, relocated the electrical, and installed the toilet - perfect fit. Above and behind the toilet is our bathroom area: shelving for toiletries and a slide-out sink. The toilet is small. It has a small exhaust system, and, due to the way composting toilets separate liquids and solids - no bad smells! BONUS: The toilet makes a great shelf for moving small items in and out of the camper. And it also makes a great seat!

We usually cook outside. I don't like my bedding smelling like bacon.

Santispac - our expierence was similiar. The food was good, and the drinks were strong. We should have moved over to Playa Punta Piedrita, but stayed put for our stay. I guess we got used to the compression brakes. Met several nice people. Dispersed camping is just down the road, on the Bay's southern edge. I recommend that next time - quiet with miles of empty beaches.

Thanks for the info on Guerrero Negro! I like the area towards the beach. It was a travel day for us, so we didn't take time to research camping options or leave time for exploring. Next time!

San Felipe was mixed for us - the weather was great, but we did not feel like staying too long. We had just crossed into Baja and were excited to continue our trip and soon moved on to Campo Beluga. Next time, if needed, we'll stock up in San Felipe and head straight down to Beluga or maybe something dispersed in that area.
 
thx Todd !
I just may need a pic of your ogo install :) do u vent it out the tie down access hole?

take care/stay warm
go
 
and todd, am wondering why you had battery issues. with a 200ah battery or batteries, it would seem that would be plenty for your setup. unless the starlink is a big draw.
i only have a big dometic 75l fridge, and just lights and usb, etc, and my 100ah lifepo batt with 200 w solar seemed to do well. this spring i need to connect the system to my truck system for charging while driving.

did u use a gps system ?
 
Greg - It was easier to drill a 2-inch vent hole directly through the plywood of the camper tub. This is the same area FWC installs the battery box vents. This setup used about 1 inch of vent duct to bridge the gap between the rear of the toilet and the exterior.
 
goinoregon said:
and todd, am wondering why you had battery issues. with a 200ah battery or batteries, it would seem that would be plenty for your setup. unless the starlink is a big draw.
i only have a big dometic 75l fridge, and just lights and usb, etc, and my 100ah lifepo batt with 200 w solar seemed to do well. this spring i need to connect the system to my truck system for charging while driving.

did u use a gps system ?
Power usage wasn't that big of an issue. The issue was my own: how low was I willing to draw the batteries down? 75%? 50%? 25%? Lithium will handle deep discharges very well. But as the voltage drops, the current increase to keep the equipment running at the same wattage. I'm not sure how fast the discharge tail would be when I'm running everything.

We eventually had enough sun to top off the batteries, or we had to drive to the next destination. So, the batteries eventually were fully charged. The few cloudy days we had significantly impacted how fast the batteries charged. Some days, SOC never made it to 100%.

Starlink draws 35 to 60 watts per hour. I turned it on at 6:30 AM, and shut it down around 7 or 8 PM when most of our group was done for the day. I don't think that's a big draw by itself.

Bottom line: batteries and solar have dropped in price (and weight!). I'm totally comfortable having extra capacity. Modern lithium batteries and flexible solar panels are quite a bit lighter than their lead-acid and glass predecessors!
 
PS: we used google maps for GPS. I downloaded the offline maps. This worked great for road navigation. Not so good for back-country.

Gaia GPS worked well for looking at satellite views and offline.

I use Visibile as a cell phone provider which covers Mexico. So when we did have service, the data plan helped support any last-minute mapping needs.
 
goinoregon said:
Hi Tod.
thx for informative baja trip notes.
we just returned from a short 10 day baja trip, and have many of the same thoughts as yours.
i do have a few questions, and comments -

question -
- where is campo beluga on gonzaga bay? we camped at rancho grande and i was impressed with the beach and views. on our way home we did spend a night at Alphonsina hotel, for warm shower.
- and at bahia de los angeles, was your dispersed camp at 'la gringa'? we were referred to it, but we did not have good gps, and didnt realize it was that far north from the town, so we stayed at a campo archelon, that had a nice little cantina. heard again that la gringa was a nice area.
- ogo toilet - do u dedicate camper space for this?, or just leave on floor, and move outside when using interior of camper for cooking, etc? we used rv camp toilets, and had good and poor experiences... and my gal might be interested in the ogo,

comment -
we stayed 1 night at the bigger rv beach camp at Santispac - and it was fine, and armaundos cantina food was good. wasnt too fond of hearing the truck exhaust brakes though ! we moved over to the smaller camp out on the sea of cortez, and it was great - we didnt get bothered by the wind.
- we spent 3 days at playa Esmeralda - which is maybe 25 miles? north of guerrero negro. this was the best beach of our trip. we were the only campers, and the camp owners, samuel and emma, fed us 2 dinners, and a breakfast. lobster and bonito. the best. we will go back to this beach. it has a few palapas but while we were there, no other campers. they had a decent bathroom with cold shower. they offered to take me out sportfishing, but i had enough fish to eat, and said next time.
- we stayed in san felipe , La Palapa rv park, coming and going. we really liked it. its small - but we could walk into town for breakfast and dinner. breakfast at New Georges - great., and dinner at LaVinqa - may have spelling wrong, but the food was as good as very nice pdx restaurants, and cost low.

thx again for your informative report
greg
I think someone posted a "pin" for beluga and since I'm away for Xmas can't find my details but will if you don't get a response.

I can't find much about Playa Esmerelda although I know there used to be one that closed a while back. Maybe they re-opened but if you have any more info, I may put it down for our next trip down..... we usually go for a few months at a time.

thanks.
 
kmcintyre said:
I think someone posted a "pin" for beluga and since I'm away for Xmas can't find my details but will if you don't get a response.

I can't find much about Playa Esmerelda although I know there used to be one that closed a while back. Maybe they re-opened but if you have any more info, I may put it down for our next trip down..... we usually go for a few months at a time.

thanks.
I found it.... they have a presence on facebook.... looks very interesting!
 
todgru said:
Power usage wasn't that big of an issue. The issue was my own: how low was I willing to draw the batteries down? 75%? 50%? 25%? Lithium will handle deep discharges very well. But as the voltage drops, the current increase to keep the equipment running at the same wattage. I'm not sure how fast the discharge tail would be when I'm running everything.

We eventually had enough sun to top off the batteries, or we had to drive to the next destination. So, the batteries eventually were fully charged. The few cloudy days we had significantly impacted how fast the batteries charged. Some days, SOC never made it to 100%.

Starlink draws 35 to 60 watts per hour. I turned it on at 6:30 AM, and shut it down around 7 or 8 PM when most of our group was done for the day. I don't think that's a big draw by itself.

Bottom line: batteries and solar have dropped in price (and weight!). I'm totally comfortable having extra capacity. Modern lithium batteries and flexible solar panels are quite a bit lighter than their lead-acid and glass predecessors!
Starlink has a number of systems. The system was designed for residential use and yet has worked for many people while on the move. It costs about $600 and uses about 50-150 Watts, so up to 12 amps. That's 2-4x what your fridge likely uses, and the fridge is typically the highest power usage in most of our campers in warmer weather.

Also, the rule of thumb for solar capacity compared to battery capacity is 2x, meaning you should have about 400W of solar to keep up with your 200AH of battery.

Note that Starlink now has nearly global coverage. That includes all of Mexico and at the other extreme, all of Northern Canada and Alaska. The recommended system for that is their new Starlink for RV, which uses a bigger, flatter antenna that is designed to be used while in motion. It costs a LOT more ($2500) and uses a LOT more power too.
 
kmcintyre said:
I found it.... they have a presence on facebook.... looks very interesting!
hey kmc,
if you visit, u will enjoy, if you like beautiful beaches w/o many people. and samuel and emma, and family are great
 
goinoregon said:
hey kmc,
if you visit, u will enjoy, if you like beautiful beaches w/o many people. and samuel and emma, and family are great
Thanks... we never really know exactly where we are going until we get there! :)
 
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