The day was beautiful and the drive was great. There was very little traffic and we had the road to ourselves. That was nice because there were some very rough patches of roadway with lots of potholes, and since we didn't have anyone pushing us from behind, we were able to just slow down and enjoy the drive.
The road is 2 lane blacktop and at times has very sharp curves. The lanes in the roads are also very narrow and don't have shoulders so there is no where to go if oncoming traffic happens to drift over into your lane.
That is the reason we decided to make this trip in our car instead of our motorhome. When we tried the trip several years ago, we found it was too scary to pass oncoming trucks because our mirrors would miss by only inches as the oncoming truck would pass us at full speed.
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We passed several motorhome caravans headed South and they must have been amazed at how narrow the road felt when oncoming trucks passed them.
There were sharp curves at the end of long straightaways and we found many roadside memorials to people who apparently didn't make the curve.
These were all obviously lovingly cared for and were very sad.
They did serve as an excellent reminder to slow down and enjoy the ride.
As we continued South from El Rosario, we came to the area around the town of Catavina.
The road winds through a beautiful mountainous area that had miles of giant cactus and huge boulders.
When we say miles of cactus, we mean MILES of huge cacti.
And when we say huge cacti, we mean HUGE!!
Suzie is 5' tall. How tall is that cactus?
As we hiked through the beautiful desert, we were glad it wasn't summer because this looks like great snake country. We didn't see any and figured they must be hibernating. Good thing !!
There were other serious hazards to watch out for.
Some of the cactus were so sneaky that you didn't even know they were there until you got back to the car.
We continued our drive Southbound and took a side road to Bahia De Los Angeles. This was our first glimpse of the Gulf of California.
Bahia De Los Angeles is a sleepy little village located on a beautiful bay. It looked like it would be a great place to fish or jet ski or snorkel but the day we were there, the water was cold (winter) and the wind was blowing so it was just a picture taking day.
After we looked around Bahia De Los Angeles, we drove back to the main road and continued on to Guerrero Negro.
Along the way, we encountered numerous "Vados" which is the Spanish word for dip. Many of the vados had water running through them and some had a portion of the pavement washed away so this was another reason to just drive slowly and be prepared for anything.
We came to only one vado that really worried us. When we got to it, there was traffic stopped going the opposite way and they really seemed worried about if they could make it across or not.
Finally, one of them took off his shoes and waded out into the stream barefoot and determined that it could be crossed.
After they all crossed, they waited to make sure that we got across safely and then we all continued on our way. Everyone we met along our journey was friendly and helpful and we really enjoyed each of our encounters with them.
They seemed to enjoy it too and would always smile and be patient as we struggled to communicate with them with our broken Spanish skills.
We would frequently encounter people, especially kids, who wanted to practice their broken English skills and it was fun to share words back and forth.
We continued on to Guerrero Negro which marks the boundary between the states of Northern and Southern Baja.
The boundary houses a military base and you can see their huge Mexican flag from miles away.
We stayed at a great hotel called "The Halfway Inn"which is just outside of town.
The room was very large and we had a nice quiet night there. It cost $27.00 U.S.
The next morning we drove into the town of Guerrero Negro and looked around. We decided to stay a second night and so we checked into the Malamirro Hotel. It was $27.00 U.S.
As we were checking in, we noticed a sign advertising whale watching trips and we asked the desk clerk if the whales had arrived yet.
He told us that they were here now and that he could arrange a whale watching trip for us for the next day.
The forecast was for windy and cooler weather the next day so we told him we would wait and see what happened.
Then we headed off on a drive to check out the town.
One thing led to another and the next thing we knew, we were on a dirt road winding through the salt flats South of town.
Guerrero Negro is known for 2 things, whale watching and salt production. We had found the area where huge diked off ponds were used to hold and evaporate sea water to produce salt.
This is the largest salt producing facility on the planet. It produces over 9 million metric tons of salt every year. That equals about 19,841,607,000 pounds of salt.
The facility covers about 33,000 hectares, which is about 81,545 acres.
As we continued to drive around, we saw this sign.
Well, who could resist . . . . if we just take the left fork in the road and drive another 18 kilometers, we will be where the whales are. Maybe we can even see one swimming around out there.
We continued on down the road, marveling at the extent of the salt flats until we came to the end of the road.
The road ended at a large parking lot with several small buildings. One was a visitor center for Ojo de Liebre Coastal Lagoon.
Speaking of Spanish, I spoke to the guy in the visitor center and I THINK he told me that we didn't need to make reservations for a whale watching trip through the hotel but that we could just sign up right there for a trip.
I THINK I told him we would like to go out on a trip but he said that it was a slow day and it could be several hours before enough people showed up to fill up a boat for a trip.
We decided to just walk around and check out the place
Outside the visitor center was a huge skeleton of a Grey Whale, or Ballena Gris as we say in Spanish.
We walked out to the pier and we could definitely see whales spouting off out in the distance.
As we were looking around on the dock, Suzie saw a large number of people walking around on the porch of the visitors center.
We walked back up to the visitors center and it turns out these people also wanted to go see the whales so we all bought tickets for $775 pesos each (about $38.00 U.S. each).
Then we all put on life jackets and walked down to the 24 foot Pangas.
Pangas are home made open topped, flat bottom boats about the size of a lifeboat that turned out to be perfect for whale watching.
We headed out into the bay to see what we could see.
It was a beautiful day and very calm.
Before long, we started seeing whales.
They looked huge, even from this distance.
The tour guide/boat captain kept up a steady narration of what we were seeing and everyone seemed to be getting a lot out of it because they kept laughing and commenting. The only problem was it was all in Spanish and we have no idea what he said.
It didn't stop our enjoyment of the trip though because everywhere you looked, there were whales.
The tour guide motored the Panga slowly through the water and tried to get us closer to the whales. He was very careful and we realized that he loved the whales as much as we did.
The hardest part of being the photographer on this trip was having the camera ready and pointed at the right spot when the whales decided to surface. It seemed like I was always looking the wrong way when another one would pop up, take a breath and then be gone.
Then, I just happened to be pointing in the right direction when a mother and baby came up right next to the boat for a breath.
As we drifted among the whales, we saw a really interesting behavior. There were hundreds of whales all around us.
Every once in a while, one whale would emerge slowly out of the water and just watch us for a few seconds and then slip back into the water.
You never knew when it would happen or where it would happen but one time I was pointing the camera in the right direction and caught one in the act.
We also saw several whales breaching . . . . . jumping quickly out of the water and then splashing down onto its side, making a huge splash.
I never did get a picture or video of this behavior.
It was very calm and quiet out on the water and every once in a while a group of whales would glide by, slowly breathing as they passed.
It was an amazing sound and very peaceful.
At times they were very close to the boat.
This was a Mom and her Calf.
We saw one glide right under the boat and was close enough to touch but when everyone rushed to the side of the boat, it started to tip way over and so I didn't get a picture as I was hanging over the other side of the boat with the guide as we tried to get the boat level again.
I don't think the boat would have turned over but the guide did a real quick, harsh blast of Spanish to everyone that I think told them to not all go to one side of the boat at the same time.
All in all, it was an amazing boat ride that we will never forget.
After about 1 1/2 hours on the water, it was time to head in. It was hard to imagine those huge, peaceful whales just idling around out there 24 hours a day just doing whatever they do.
Once on the beach, we toured the visitor center and found a diagram that showed us the types of whales that migrate to the Mexican waters.
After watching the giant Gray Whales (Ballena Gris) up close, we found out that when we travel over to the Gulf of California we might get a chance to see Ballena Azul (Blue Whales)
When you look at the diagram, you can get an idea of just how much bigger the Blue Whale is. We can't imagine being in a boat up close with one of those.
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After the visitor center, we headed back across the salt flats.
Back in Guerrero Negro, we had another fantastic Mexican dinner and then spent a quiet night in the hotel.
More to follow soon.
We hope you get a chance to get out there and see some interesting things.
Tom & Suzie
Love following you two. Actually love both of you😍 Thanks for the update. I have been there and it is incredible, as are most of the people there. Thanks for your update.
ReplyDeleteThe friendliness of the people can not be stressed enough. We were not sure what to expect, with the election and everything but the people down there didn't seem to know or care about the election and just wanted to live their lives.
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