I’ve bee
n planning this trip for over 3 years, but for some reasons I never found the “right” moment to undertake this journey. Well it looks like buying a new truck in Tijuana was reason good enough! Tijuana is just a big city to me and was good for business, but other than that I was very happy to get out of there and start the exploration of the Baja California Region.
The business eventually turned out to be a bit more complicated that I had anticipated…I just had the pleasure of driving the truck down to Ensenada, and there I got stuck with a clutch total break down! Well, after the initial disappointment, I found out that Ensenada I a very nice town with a lot to offer, not to underestimate the luck I had by breaking down here instead of somewhere in the middle of the desert with no cell phone reception.
Like every real adventure there is always something that goes wrong, or at least not the way you planned! So here I was stuck in Ensenada, but what a delightful surprise this city was: I was lucky to run into this annual cultural meeting they have at the marina and as I found out it was also the day Mexico celebrates their Navy forces. Close to the maritime museum they set up lots of stands with very interesting 
informations to share. I obviously was more attracted by everything that had to do with the Ocean & the Enironment. So I could talk to Denise, an Oceanographer at the Ensenada University, she has samples of baleens of a Humpback Whale and a tooth of a Sperm Whale too, this is stuff that you don’t get to see every day! As we kept talking Denise showed a lot of interest in Cabo Treks Whale Watching activities and she may be part of out team during the next season when she will be working on her research project!
This piece of art was put there to remind us how much plastic each of uses…and how much we use as a community! Please be conservative with the use of plastic…because we know that the majority ends up in the ocean-than the fish eat it- than the birds eat it- and when the circle is completed it goes back to us!!! So if you think this matter doesn’t affect you…well here is the news of the day: IT DOES big time!
I know I’m displaying here more skeletons then live animals…soon enough we will be taking pictures of alive animals! But let’s look at the positive side: this is a necessary step to understand more the world we are living in! And these animals died of natural causes, here displayed a skeleton of a Pilot Whale, which we see here in Cabo San Lucas as well!
Ensenada by sunset
Off-Road check
And on the road again, after 4 days in Ensenada it was time to move on, and finally I was driving this new truck up and down the roads towards the actual target of this road trip: Magdalena Bay.
The streets are in very good conditions and traffic is very low intensity, even when you have a big truck in front of you slowing you down the drivers are very friendly and let you pass by easily! Just watch out for cows, there’s plenty on the sides of the streets and they really don’t give any notice on when they want to cross the road!
The desert scenarios are impressive, especially those huge cactus that reach up to 20 meters high! So from what I hear a cactus grows 2 cm a year in optimal conditions (i guess that means at least a bit of rain every now and then)…so I leave it to you to calculate the age of one of those cactus!!
So here another one of those situation that where not planned…this bus got stranded and the bus driver told me that help was on it’s way, but also that they’ve been waiting already for 3 hours…and it was midday! So I just made my truck and myself useful and offered a free ride to Guerrero Negro to 2 of the people most in need. That was a nice company by the way!
As I keep moving south I finally reach one of the best spots for Grey Whale watching in the world!
Guerrero Negro is another small little town right in the middle of my journey from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas! In high season you can find up to 3.000 whales in these waters, so here there is Alejandra trying to explain why they claime to have the best whale watching on this planet.
Well, apart of the whales, here you can find the biggest salt 
production company in Mexico, they give free tours, provided you give them 24 hours notice. It’s very interesting to see their 80km of channels that actually create the salt. The guardian here on the side showed me his creative side and makes crafts for sale to tourists, very impressive, but if you want to know how he does it…well you need to go to Guerrero Negro! I’m just trying to stimulate curiosity here, I don’t won’t to unveil all the wonders of this trip!
So much to see and to do here in the desert! At a first look you’d think it’s boring and endless driving with no action… and what about this? “Las 3 Virgines” Volcano?? you can go for a 3 day hiking tour, exploring this volcanos, relax in thermal water and look out for Big horn sheep!!
While driving down south the #1 road sooner or later you will have to pass by one of these places between Santa Rosalia and Loreto. In this region you have 3 different climas within 4 hours of driving, you pass from the Pacific side: hot, dry and ventilated to the center desert: Just HOT to the Sea of Cortez side which reminds me a lot of the Caribbean: hot and humid! This place is just awesome, NO cell phone reception, crystal clear water, all basic facilities… and Bob Marley on the radio! Could this be a description of heaven? Kayaking, snorkeling, whale shark snorkeling, blue whales (Loreto), scuba diving horse back riding, camping these are among the activities you can plan on while here!
And finally I reached the objective of this investigative journey: Bahia Magdalena also known as Puerto San Carlos! This lagoon complex serves as feeding, breeding, rearing, resting or refuge areas for numerous transient species of wildlife. Gray whales, sea turtles and migratory birds use this habitat during critical stages of their life cycles.
These Lagoons are habitat for California Sea Lions, dolphins, herons, egrets, shorebirds, as well as ospreys and magnificent Frigate birds.
This unique habitat combines the beauty of its mangroves and sand dunes with its wonderful wildlife to provide amazing landscapes to the observer.
The diversity and abundance of many important species, such as shrimp, lobster, abalone, clams, scallops and finfish, is mad possible by the tremendous quantities of nutrients generated by this habitat.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is pretty much the end of this incredible adventure that forced me to discover many places to me unknown before! I can only recommend to undertake this journey yourself, maybe take a bit longer vacation than I did, and take your time to even get of the main #1 road and find out about Bahia Los Angeles or discover what Agua Verde Bay is all about…
I’m already full on planning my next trips, as well as we at Cabo Trek are thinking of setting up a 2 day tour to Bahia Magdalena for the upcoming Whale Watching season, we have an urge to share beauty and uncontaminated nature.
We’d love to hear your opinions, and if you need any more informations about this journey please feel free to contact us: info@cabotrek.com or contact us.
