Baja Cali Vacation ideas ?

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mbaird

mbaird

mbaird
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We are thinking about going to Baja for 5 days but dont really want to stay in a trendy/expensive Cabo San Lucas type of location . If I wanted to be around a bunch of fat drunken Americans Iwould stay home..lol . We prefer a quieter more local type of environment . We dont require fancy lodging .
Close to water .. maybe some fishing ... local restaraunts .. scenic.
Any hidden gems you know of ?

We would be flying into the Cabo airport so it needs to be reasonably close ( 100 miles ) or we could fly into southern California and drive south .
 
I’d be really careful about vacationing in Mexico anywhere these days, due to cartel/crime issues. My friends and family have had and enjoyed timeshares in Cabo many years, but even they are very careful where they go and when. There’s an armed checkpoint you have to go through when you leave the airport and that pretty much says it all as far as I’m concerned. It is public knowledge that the cartel is operating even in Cabo now. If you go into town at night it’s best to be in a group. In the old days Baja was off-limits to the cartels, etc. Not anymore.
 
That has crossed my mind . We were in Playa del Carmen a few years ago and there were armed military patrolling the town .
Sad days .
 
I’ve raced off-road in Baja many years now and have never had a problem down there. You won’t catch me going to the mainland Mexico for any reason but Baja is different. I have never once felt unsafe.
 
TT5.9mag said:
I’ve raced off-road in Baja many years now and have never had a problem down there. You won’t catch me going to the mainland Mexico for any reason but Baja is different. I have never once felt unsafe.
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Any tips on places to go ? If I was driving down I would take my Dodge C-Class and my Dual Sport or Ktm dirtbike . That would be fun !
 
mbaird said:
Any tips on places to go ? If I was driving down I would take my Dodge C-Class and my Dual Sport or Ktm dirtbike . That would be fun !
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I’ve driven and raced from Ensenada to la Paz a few times. Honestly the scariest part of Baja is driving at night. The roads are terrible and the drivers are even worse. We were towing back from the 2017 Baja 1000 in a group of 8 vehicles at night and got passed by a van, he was moving at least 30mph faster than we were, on a two lane highway, he made it past 5 vehicles, but not the front 3, side swiped our trailer and 3 vehicles and took off. We had some broken mirrors and one flat tire and had to stop. Never saw the guy again. If it’s your first time down there I wouldn’t recommend driving down. Fly in and rent a car, pick a spot and go enjoy your week. There are some beautiful beaches along the eastern coastline north of La Paz and along the bay of LA. I don’t have any recommendations for places to stay because I’ve never vacationed down there. We go strictly to race.
 
Some Baja pics for fun
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we used to camp in San Felipe, drove down 100 miles from So. Cal. last 10 miles was dirt road back in 1974 but I understand its built up with hotels now. Sea of Cortez is super warm in the later summer. Tides were 1/4 mile out! Lots of exploring for octopus and crabs when the tide was out. Ask Dibbons, go visit him!

San Felipe - Baja California México
 
we camped on the beach about 4 miles up from the hotels and there was this big sand hill that we played on, we found some dud "black cat" firecrackers so we dug and found about 100 of them but the fuses were all super short so we couldnt light them safely so we put them in a paper bag. One of the moms was burning paper trash (1974...) and threw the bag in not knowing it was full of fireworks. They started going off in the fire and popping embers everywhere! We were laughing so hard (from a distance) that our sides hurt.
 
Beautiful country and beautiful people!!!

Be aware that cartels area only a part of the problem.

I live near the Mexican border in Las Cruces, NM and am very familiar with much of the mayhem at the border and beyond.

With the the cartels came "more" lawlessness....

Since the general public is unarmed they are unable to protect themselves only law enforcement(?), military and criminals have guns and the public is at the mercy of all these.

EXTORTION/KIDNAPPING by locals of locals and visitors/foreigners is far greater problem.

It's a crime of opportunity where anybody with any sort of wealth is targeted by acquaintances, friends, relatives- doesn't matter

A co-worker whose wife is from Los Mochis, Sinaloa Mexico refuses to visit family there. Forget about owning a truck it will be "taken" from you at gun point. Her family members have been kidnapped an extorted of what little funds they have.

My wife and I used to go there and enjoy ourselves about 20 years ago, beautiful country and beautiful people....unfortunately, no more.

Maybe it's safer going there in groups.... Would definitely not drive my truck there.


PS During the cartel wars about 15-20 years ago another co-worker of mine had is brother assassinated in Juarez, Mx.

Never been the same and unfortunately the unarmed populus is at the mercy of armed criminals, law enforcement and military - pray this never happens in the USA

Be careful
 
There is a member here who lives in Mexico somewhere maybe he can chime in
 
@dibbons

I was in Ensenada (small cruise ship port 60 miles south of Tijuana) ) and was shaken down by the local police for sitting on a curb in front of "Papas and Beer" with 2 other people taking a break from the smoke filled club. They said we were drunk in public and escorted us into the paddy wagon. I find myself in a Mexican jail detached from my group of about 10 other people. They had no clue where I was. Morning came around and I walked calmly out the front door (then RAN like the devil was chasing me!) after using the toilet that was down the hall from the cell. I dont know if they just let me go or they started looking for me but I still had my wallet (sans any money I had left) so I jumped into a cab about 5 blocks away and told him to drive to our place outside town. Friends were mad as hell I disappeared but paid my cab fare and we left for the border that afternoon. No problem getting back into USA as they only ask if your a citizen, no ID was needed back then. Been back once since to a super chill trailer park (only) on the beach, that was 1992 ish. Probably the stupidest thing I did in my life.
 
Makes one appreciate the rules and regulations enforcement here in the U.S .....
And we ***** about how bad we have it now ...lol
 
My sister is down there for 2 weeks in a timeshare, wish she would stop going there. I would never cross the border, unless I have to go looking for her and I hope that doesn’t happen.
 
My sister rents a few condos for 2 months along the Carribean coast each year and has various friends come down and stay . She has a lot more money than me ....
 
mbaird said:
My sister rents a few condos for 2 months along the Carribean coast each year and has various friends come down and stay . She has a lot more money than me ....
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What’s her phone number?
:lol:
 
My 1st wife was Mexican ( Davilla ) and I still love dark hair and eyes.
My current wife bristles everytime a Hispanic woman is on TV or around us ...lol
The kids came out with lighter hair but tan WAY better than I do .
 
I've only been there driving chase for the Baja and Mexican 1000 races. Loreto is a friendly town in a beautiful part of the peninsula. Plenty to do and a minimum of ill behaved drunken tourist malarky.
If you're bringing the KTM, parts are hard to come by- bring all the spares you might need and a complete gasket set. Also your spare or used tires make excellent gifts to young or low budget riders in Baja.
 
Go campin and run the Baja course.
 
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