A Windy Baja Adventure

I was part of a group of eight people taking a week long vacation, sea kayaking in Bahia de Los Angeles. The trip began somewhat inauspiciously. We were traveling in two separate cars; one carrying a trailer filled with water, gas, and other miscellaneous supplies and with three sea kayaks on top; the other car carrying two double sea kayaks. Luckily for us, both cars had hand radios so we were able to communicate within a range of a mile or so.

Our first misadventure occurred at the border crossing. The vehicle with the trailer was sent to secondary, while the second vehicle made it through scot free. Prior plans were made that if one vehicle was stopped the other vehicle would continue on and meet at the 1^st toll crossing. Following through with this plan the second car continued on their way. Problem: the driver in the second vehicle had never driven in Baja before, and thoroughly flustered by having the 1^st vehicle stopped, the driver did not make the all important split to Ensenada. Meanwhile the 1^st vehicle got waived through secondary without even having to open up the vehicle, they were only interested in what was on the trailer. The 1^st vehicle continued down the road, taking the proper route.

At this point the hand radios came into play. Vehicle #2 was able to communicate to us that they were lost in Tijuana. Of course Vehicle #1 had the instructions on what to do if you miss the cut-off, but not Vehicle #2. (Mental note: make sure both vehicles have web page directions when traveling in tandem with people unfamiliar with the area.) Following through with our original plan, Vehicle #1 went to the first toll booths and waited.

Problem #2 - Vehicle #2 bypasses the first toll and meets up with the toll road at Rosarito! Vehicle #1, after waiting about 20 minutes at the toll booth, decided to precede to the 2^nd toll booth just in case the route that Vehicle #2 took through Tijuana bypassed the first toll. By some strange quirk both vehicles met up again in Rosarito. (By the way the toll road was closed past Rosarito so everyone was being diverted into town, this was our saving grace, that and the radios.) Quite by accident we were able to reestablish radio contact in Rosarito and found we were only about three blocks away from each other.

Anyway after that things went fairly smoothly. We made it through Ensenada, all of us getting our tourist cards. That night we stayed in San Quintin. As a side note Baja must have just had a major storm because there were large mud puddles on the side roads, and some of the drainage ditches along the side of the road had water in them. The countryside was very green with many beautiful flowers.

The next day we set off for Bahia de Los Angeles. About 10AM the winds really started to pick up. This became a very worrisome thing as the kayaks really started to move around on the roof racks. Just out of Cataviña the rain gutter on Vehicle #2, to which the roof rack was attached, fell off. Once again we were thankful for the radios. Vehicle #2 was able to radio Vehicle #1 of the problem and pulled off the side of the road.

It was quite the sight. 40 mph winds wanting to blow off two double sea kayaks with four people madly pushing against them to keep them on top of the vehicle. Meanwhile two other people are gathering cam straps and rope to help secure the racks and boats back on the vehicle. To make a long story short, we were able to secure the racks and boats by clamping them directly to the vehicle. This meant that no one in the car could open their doors. Visions of Dukes of Hazard and Daisy Mae come to mind.

With the tragedy averted we continued on our way. When we hit the turn-off for Bahia de Los Angeles we got stopped at a checkpoint. Here they checked our tourist cards. (Thank you for the warning. People we talked to later all had to pay a $20 fee each because they didn't have them.) The soldier inspected Vehicle #1 and let us go. They wanted to inspect the back of Vehicle #2 but there was a minor problem. They could not open their doors!! Talk about confusion. Luckily the driver of Vehicle #2 is fluent in Spanish. They ended up being waved through without an inspection.

About 10 miles down the road from the checkpoint Vehicle #1 lost radio contact with Vehicle #2. We became worried because of their racks and turned around. Of course we ended up passing them in the opposite direction. It turned out that one of the cams used to secure the kayaks was taken from the trailer. Unfortunately that cam was holding down our stove. We had food for a week that would be useless without that stove. Vehicle #2 luckily saw the stove fall and stopped and picked it up. This took them awhile however because they had to crawl out their windows because their doors were secured shut. It turned out the stove came out of it a little bruised but still working.

Anyway that was the last of our comedy of errors. After that the trip went beautifully. As mentioned previously the desert region was exceptionally plush. Flowers were blooming, both from the cactus and from ground cover. The winds died down and the weather was perfect. The drive home was far less adventurous and we got home safe. (Special Note: As we were heading home, the gas station at Cataviña was out of gas. There was however plenty of black market gas available. Also it looks as though they may be bringing back the Pemex station at Bahia de Los Angeles. They seemed to be clearing an area, and there are gas tanks waiting to be installed.)