Dad and I flew to the Baja Peninsula for a little over a week of desert, beaches, wildlife. We flew in to San Jose del Cabo and then the next morning our driving loop around the southern tip of southern baja.
Day 1:
After having spent a day and a half in Puebla prior to arriving in baja, it appears that something tainted had been consumed and Dad started the day a little under the weather, but we still headed up to the town of Santiago and then from there cut across on sand roads (like driving in snow) until we got to the entrance of the Canyon de Zorra. From the parking area it was a quick 10 min walk to the waterfall, some of the only running water we were to see on the trip.
We continued up the highway from Santiago and then backtracked down along the coast (and more completely sandy roads) to a small town called Cabo Pulmo. It’s actually a natural protected area that is home to the most northern coral reef in North America, so obviously the plan was to go for a snorkel trip. However, as we arrived and opened the doors to a chilling wind and saw the choppy surf, the idea of actually snorkeling was seeming less and less appealing. Finally we decided to rent some snorkel gear and head to a nearby beach that was supposed to be more sheltered from the wind (turned out not to be so true). So while Dad worked on his stomach issues on the beach, I braved the cold water and tested out the new waterproof camera.
Day 2:
After spending the night in Cabo Pulmo, in the morning we continued north to La Paz (capital of the state Baja California Sur). After a quick snack of fish tacos (clearly the stomach was fully healed by now), we decided to come back to La Paz later and continue northward to the town of Adolfo Lopez Mateos, a good viewing point for the grey whales. Grey whales spend their winters in the warmer (are in Alaska in the summer) waters of Baja with their calves. We got on a board and headed out to see the whales. One of the things that makes this area so good for viewing whales is the sand bar/barrier island that creates a calm inlet (but still saline), sheltered from the direct ocean waves. Within seconds of arriving in the inlet, surfacing whales and spray from blowholes could be seen in multiple directions. Unlike other whale watching experiences where you see a couple over the course of 5 hours, we probably saw at least 20 in just about 1.5 hours (hard to know if you’re seeing the same whale over and over again, but there were a ton out there). There was even one whale that approached the boat.
This is a picture of Dad actually touching a whale that surfaced directly next to our boat. I figured that with whale watching, I'd need the telephoto lense for my camera, so was clearly unprepared for such an up-close and personal enounter.
After the whale watching, we returned to town, where the annual Grey Whale Festival/patron saint festival of the town was going on. Pretty much all of the 3 very small hotels in town here booked, but we convinced a lady to rent us one of the “unupdated” rooms for the night so we could head to the fair.
Day 3:
Leaving Adolfo Lopez Mateos was an interesting experience because I have never driven through a desert completely engulfed in fog. It was a little surreal with the cactus, caracaras, vultures, and foggy roads. We headed back to La Paz and then up to the Pichilingue Peninsula just north of the city for some turquoise beaching. The first beach, Balandra, was on a shallow bay (you could literally walk across the whole thing) and had the softest, finest white sand I have ever seen.
Road to the beach
From there we went up the coast a little to the slightly more developed Tecolote beach before returning to La Paz for the sunset and to spend the night.
Dad enjoying being on vacation in Mexico.
