Baja Bound 2023

[Tyler]

We left on Friday, Feb 24th, in pretty cold weather followed with some good rain but missed the snow flurries and hail... arriving in Santa Maria, we were freezing cold and found out how badly our rain gear had fared... decided to hang out in the hotel for an extra day and it was a good decision for a number of reasons! Sunday was amazing with green hills, blue skies, puffy clouds, and mostly comfortable temps... traffic through LA kinda sucked but we arrived in La Mesa to meet up with the rest of the group and have our first dinner together

Parking lot at the Radisson in Santa Maria was flooded but they let us park our motorcycles up on the sidewalk and out of the rain... plus they had a most excellent restaurant on site!

Hotel was right next to a small airport... this was our sunset view from the restaurant

Saturday night there was a silent auction/fundraising event in the lobby and they had hired a local high school jazz band to play... we were quite pleased at how good they were!

Weather finally broke on Sunday and we hightailed it to La Mesa to meet up with the rest of the group

Sunset views bode well on Sunday evening in La Mesa

Great dinner here

Cool mosaic tile artwork

Beautiful lighting in the gardens outside

And cool ceiling lighting at our hotel... very Chihuly-esque but I imagine on a much smaller budget

Tomorrow would be crossing the border... we were looking forward to whatever was in store for us in the coming couple of weeks!!

 

[Tyler]

Monday we left the crazy California weather behind and crossed into Mexico via Tecate without incident. It was still cool but nothing like back home. Scooted into Ensenada for gas and then were greeted with the absolute worst traffic jam due to road work... over 1.5 hours to go a couple of miles!! But we made it through, had a quick/nice lunch, and made our way to our lovely hotel, BajaCactus, in El Rosario and dinner at Mama Espinoza's before crashing for the night... we were pooped!

Tuesday we started bright and early with a fantastic jaunt through the desert with blue skies and cool temps... perfect riding weather! A light lunch at a little taqueria, grocery shopping in Guerrero *****, and then arriving at our fantastic VRBO find in San Ignacio where we had a yummy feast and off to bed to get some rest in anticipation of whale watching the next day... stay tuned!

Lunch time

Making new friends at BajaCactus

Always a good place for dinner even if your waitress didn’t seem real interested in serving you that evening

Road through the desert

Our ride planner/leader, Sue, and me doing our best twinsies Klim advertisement

Hoped Wile Coyote wasn’t up there behind that rock!

The start of what would become an intense desert bloom a few days later

Baby oasis

We were lucky to have a truck for a chase vehicle on this trip and they carried gas for us

Gas stop and lunch in Jesus Maria

Rancho Espinoza (Airbnb rental) – fantastic VRBO rental in San Ignacio… highly recommended!

Towels in my room that greeted me

Succulents everywhere

And a unique cactus

 

[escapefjrtist]

Thanks for the ride-along T!

~G

 

[Tyler]

Wednesday was the day for our whale watching tour and we were not disappointed at all. The day was overcast and a bit cool but no wind and smooth waters. The whales migrate here each winter to have their babies and I wondered if they were as excited to see us as we were to see them! I didn't take a lot of photos as I just decided to be in the moment so I've borrowed a few photos from my compadres.

And yes, we were blessed with their presence right up against our boat and allowing us to touch them... one mama and her baby were particularly playful and curious moving around to all the boats nearby. It's hard to describe the emotion of these moments but spiritual is one pretty good word.

The drive out to the lagoon takes about 1-1/2 hours by van… the first hour or so is paved and the last half hour is, well, bumpy is an understatement… was glad our driver knew what he was doing

These peregrine (I think) had ingested something that turned their feathers green

Views of San Ignacio Lagoon… special place for a variety of reasons

Seashells aplenty adorned the beach… one or two may have made it back with me across the border

Our group heading out

My friend, CC, saying “I’m queen of the world, Ma!!"

Our guide took us out into the lagoon and would guide us into a general area where the whales were most active… they can’t “chase” them but more like they parallel the activity in the hopes that they would come closer

And closer they got

Butts up!

And then it happened… they were there, as curious and excited to see us as we were them… it’s downright otherworldly… even our guide reached out to touch them… after 15 years of doing these tours, he said he never tires of the wonder of coming close to these creatures

Yeah… that’s me petting a whale!




Seriously, my friends… if you can get the chance to do this, it will affect your spirit and soul unlike anything else… just do it!