Playa Santispac, Baja California Sur, Mexico

March 23, 2024

Three nights on the beach at Playa Santispac allowed for two day’s kayaking. It’s the most that we have done for some time. Then again, it is one of the reasons to camp here.

All the travel guides suggest that the best beaches begin just south of Mulegé. Santispac is well known and well used. $200 pesos (about $12US) will get you a night here. If you are lucky, you can score a palapa. We signed up for three nights.

This is all dry camping, which we expected. We came in with a full fresh water tank and empty waste tanks. And most of a 20L garafon of drinkable water. Our lithium batteries and expanded solar have worked well. We are liking the upgrade we did last summer. Power has not been a problem, as there is abundant sun shine here.

We began hearing talk of how popular the Easter holiday is here in Mexico. Two full weeks begining before Palm Sunday and through the Easter holiday, the folks here take the time off, and go to the beach. Arriving here, after a whole 12 miles drive down from Mulegé, we found the beach relatively uncrowded. It has filled up every day since then, and this afternoon the carnival pulled in and set up.

Another draw to this area if for sailboat cruisers who ply the waters of the Sea of Cortez. We chatted with a couple over dinner last night. They purchased a 43 foot catamaran in Puerto Vallarta, and are moving it up to Puerto Peñasco. They live in Phoenix and having the boat in the northern end of the Gulf will allow them an opportunity to explore the gulf.

They explained that moving the boat north, this time of year, is difficult. The winds are blowing from the north, and they are sailing agains the wind. They guess that the trip will take another five weeks. They are expecting heavy winds, and have decided to say in the Bahía de Conceptión for 3 or 4 more days where they will be sheltered.

Interesting in that so far, we have talked with two different RVr’s who were former sailboat owners and have sailed the Gulf extensively. Both have said that they are now exploring all the places by land, that they had only seen by dinghy!

This morning, we woke to twelve sail boats in the Bahía

We got a later start yesterday and learned first hand that the wind here picks up about noon. It wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle, but it was a shorter trip, and we fought the wind all the way back to camp.

Today, we got an earlier start and paddled out to, and around Isla San Ramon. It’s about a mile out, and is an uninhabited shelter for cactus, gulls, pelicans, and Osprey. The wind held off and we were out for over 2 hours.

We explored the beach front, coast line, and stopped to talk to a nice couple from Northern California, full-timing in a Leisure Unity Van. They were on their way north. We shared stories about life on the road! We are finding that many nomads are heading north, just as we are heading south!