Our first stop after Mulege was only about 45 minutes down the road at Playa Requesson. It was a divine little spot. We parked the car right on the peninsula by a palapa with water on both sides. It was heaven. We went snorkelling and fishing and ate fresh grapefruit. On dusk we set up the little tent in the protection of the palapa and after dinner fell asleep to the sound of fish jumping out of the water. In the morning we endured much of the same – fishing, swimming, reading and snorkelling. Feeling refreshed we set off for Loreto. We found a campground within walking distance to the old town and were fortunate enough to spend the evening listening to the music blasting from the Cross Fit studio. Around 10pm Cross Fit was finished and the howling dogs took over, barking incessantly all night long, that was until the digger started up at 7am. Not feeling very refreshed we wandered into the old town only to find our visit coinciding with a huge cruise ship! The town was alive with markets and street performers, and plenty of gringo oldies! Time to get off the beaten track! We drove out of Loreto towards La Paz having heard about a beach spot to camp along the way. We wound our way through the cactus covered landscape, the dry heat flowing openly through the car as we had taken the door tops off. As we got near the turn off to the beach we decided to stop for fuel as we were getting a little low. The kid that worked there (yes, kid – he was about eight years old, no joke) told us that they had no diesel despite there being a diesel pump. They were empty. We paused for a moment to calculate how much fuel we actually had and figured out that is was 73km to the next fuel station. We then had to factor in the drive to and from the beach to camp, about another 30km in total. We really didn’t want to drive all the way to La Paz, it had been a long enough drive day already, and we really wanted a peaceful sleep on the beach. We decided to turn off to the beach anyway. We drove along the bumpy dirt track for a while, still feeling like we were no where near the coast. Coming up over a rise we were sure we would see the beach. Nope. We looked down to see the dirt track snaking further down and around the barren surrounds. We paused again. Checked the fuel gauge. Hayden remembered that there was still some diesel in the spare fuel tank, just below the point at which the pipe can reach it. We decided to carry on with the idea of emptying the spare and pouring whatever was in there into the main tank. It wasn’t long before we reached the beach, and in hindsight it probably wasn’t that much longer than the advertised 15km, our lack of fuel just making us extra nervous. On the plus side, we had discovered an extremely peaceful camping spot. People clearly camp here as we found an area that was complete with a fire pit, drying racks, and wind chimes made of shells. We settled into one and found a container to empty the spare fuel tank. There was probably a good 3-4 litres of fuel and with a great sigh of relief we watched the fuel gauge rise to indicate a quarter of a tank. We made a fire but could not sit too close as the weather was warm enough already and as darkness came so did a few other campers and we enjoyed an uninterrupted slumber, no dogs or diggers to be heard.
Our tent being tucked away into the shade of the trees ensured that we were given the luxury of a sleep in. Eventually we got into action and set about packing the car and driving to La Paz. We drove back along the dirt track until we reached the highway, thankful we had averted the crisis of being stuck without fuel. We drove on until we reached the next fuel station, only to discover once again that they were out of diesel. Mexico only has one supplier of fuel and it is all regulated by the government and we were starting to wonder if southern Baja was actually out of diesel, waiting for the next delivery. A little concerned we had no choice but to carry on to La Paz. Our ‘no diesel’ theory was quickly dispelled as we found the next fuel station fully stocked. We carried on into down town La Paz, parked on the Malecon and ate lunch.
Having enjoyed our beach sleep so much last night, we opted to do it again. There are a few campgrounds in La Paz, but they are rather overpriced. We followed the road all the way to Playa Tecolote and due to the lack of palapas set up our own shade shelter and enjoyed another afternoon of swimming, snorkelling and reading – Hayden even got adventurous and tried to see if the bow and arrow would work underwater in a similar fashion to s spear gun. It is safe to say that it does not work. We set up the little tent and ate dinner as we waited for the wind to die down (as it’s done every other night). Tonight, however, it did not die down. In fact it picked up. At some point we got up to take down the shade shelter out of fear it would blow away. The wind blew so ferociously that we spent the rest of the night trying to sleep with the sides of the tent slapping our cheeks and the occasional gust blowing sand through the air vents in the top of the tent, showering us with the tiny granules. I took solace in the fact that surely it would be better come morning, but alas I was wrong. The wind carried on making the task of packing up a miserable one. During our pack up we noticed the front tyre on the passenger side was remarkably flat, which was a pain to say the very least. We pumped it up and left the windy beach in search of a tyre place, preferably out of the wind. We were pleasantly surprised at how easily we found a BFGoodrich tyre place with a manager who could speak basic English. It turns out there was no problem with tyre whatsoever (not bad considering these tyres have driven us across about 15,000 miles of tough terrain), but we had cracked the wheel rim. We took the spare off the back for them to replace it with and asked if they knew any local welder who would be able to weld the cracked one. Sure enough there was one just around the corner and the job was done in no time, and we were back at the tyre place sorting out the spare, grateful that we adhered to the advice in England to get steel rims instead of aluminium ones.
After a productive morning we finally stopped for coffee before tackling the port to obtain our Temporary Vehicle Import Permit, a requirement for the mainland. This job was far more simple than we expected. We parked the car and took our papers to the office. He sent us to next door to make copies of some of the documents and when we returned we simply waited until he had input all the information into the computer and gave us the paperwork and sticker for the driver’s side windshield. Of course we had to clarify this as our driver’s side is different, he had a chuckle and confirmed that in our case we should put it on the passenger’s side – the left side. Job done. Next was to enquire about ferry tickets. We were simply told to come back ‘manana’. Not much we could do at the port so we left and went to the beach for a swim!
After our windy beach camp last night we opted for a protected campground. Mary-Lou, the campground owner, has been living in La Paz for over 50 years, she used to run a dive school business with her husband on their 100 foot boat in the summer and the RV park in the winter months. The dive school shut down some years ago and since the passing of her husband, she enjoys the company that the campground brings and is full of all sorts of wonderful stories. We enjoyed the wifi and showers in preparation for tomorrow’s battle for ferry tickets.
Southern Baja
