Rick, the other guy camped there, drove Tobey back up the road a little way to check out one area we were worried about. There was a steep hill and low branches, so we knew we would have to stop there. Tobey got his trusty saw out and cut three large branches off and we managed to make it up the hill without any problem. I was busy watching and totally spaced out taking pictures of my Paul Bunyan!
We passed by some small areas where the river was really shallow and had what looked like spawning areas for fish. It was interesting to see. Tobey stopped a second time near some houses to cut another low-hanging branch so it didn’t scrape all the way down our roof and solar panel.
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A littler further down the road, we stopped to see some interesting “art” next to one of the houses. I couldn’t tell you what it is supposed to be for sure, maybe a super-hero? It had a horn from a bull stuck in one of the eyes. Kind of strange!
Well, one and one-half hours later, we made it back to Santiago and Hwy 1! We had decisions to make, since we hadn’t decided where we were heading for sure. We opted to take a side road and head back toward the beach (and going south!) There were supposed to be camping areas at Cabo Pulmo where there is an underwater national park, then more camping further south at Playa Arbolites and Los Frailes.
After passing through the small tourist area of La Ribieria, we had about 10 kilometers of pavement - not great pavement, but pavement. It ended and we had another 15 kilometers of washboard and gravel until we reached Cabo Pulmo. We went by several of these “watch-tower” like structures and can’t figure out what they are for – whether it is to watch for fire, drug boats, or animals. I plan to ask some locals and see what they say.
Our top speed on the road once the blacktop was gone was about 8 mph. It took more than an hour to go the 15 kilometers to Cabo Pulmo. This was our first view of the water.
Unfortunately, there were no good places to camp near there. Most of the land was posted private property and the one RV camping area was in town, far from the water. We stopped at the dive center/watersports shop and they told us that there was better camping at Los Frailes, so we continued down the road another six miles. They told us about 20 minutes. Well, almost an hour later, we arrived!
One of the scooter tie-down straps had broken on the road in, but didn’t come unhooked from the RV. Tobey was able to use his Boy Scout skills and tie some knots to put it back together and re-secure the scooter. When we get back to a larger city, like La Paz, we will probably need to search for an Auto Zone to get another strap!
We laughed that it is like a “mini-Quartzsite” with water! There are lots of campers here, scattered through the arroyo and in the wooded areas. There is a small fishing camp where the locals keep their boats. We parked and walked the area before picking a spot to make sure we didn’t end up in soft sand and have to be pulled out!
We took a walk along the beach and saw several mobula rays, a type of manta ray, jumping out of the water. We also watched some local families coming to fish. This was our view from the RV just about sunset.
It is really pleasant hearing the waves coming in to the shore. We plan to spend a few days here since neither of us is anxious to traverse that road again!
GPS: 23.38248N, 109.42974W
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