The objective of the day was to get to El Gulf, get supplies, have lunch and head to the beach camp (AKA Camp Mariscos). The photos below are what we saw.
Sunrise brings out the colors in the dunes.
Our first clear view of Picacho del Diablo, the 10,000 foot peak in central Baja.
How rough is the Altar crossing? Just ask these thick-walled Heineken cans. They have been thrashing around in the cooler for several days resulting in large dents. None of the beer cans opened, but several of the soda cans did, with a predictable mess.
You just have to get the air pressure correct. Especially when you go from the deep sand and low pressure to road travel. Operation at any reasonable speed with low pressure will damage the tires, usually causing a blow out. Ask me how I know.
On our way to El Golfo, we passed the old abandoned railroad station. The only remaining sign of habitation is the stump of a tree and what appeared to be a two-seater outhouse.
The new road that goes from Puerto Penasco to El Golfo is fully completed. Here, we took a short portion of the highway into El Golfo. Visible in the distance is the Sea of Cortez and Picacho del Diablo.
On the outskirts of El Golfo we encountered a CFE crew planting power poles. Above, the crew discovers that the area they are drilling in was an old land fill area. The auger is fouled with old fishing nets.
With the new road, El Golfo is starting to turn into a real town. The Pemex had fuel for all of us and they have erected a new cell phone tower. But, it did not take long for the graffiti to come.
After a visit to the Pemex for diesel, ice and junk food, part of the team went to the local seafood outlet and got shrimps and clams. Then, we went to our favorite restaurant El Delfin for lunch. It was good as always.
After the restaurant, we headed to the beach for the 30 mile beach drive to Camp Mariscos. Above, some of the locals have their 4wheeler out on the beach.
Russ had a blast on the beach with his moto.
He did circles around us as we drove to the campsite.
The group makes a for both beer input and beer output.
This is the beer input part. Russ bought a case of "ballenas" (whales) which are 1 liter bottles.
We found a hillbilly fish, AKA "Jedfish". But wait, it really cannot be a Jedfish because it has all it's front teeth. In reality, this is a trigger fish.
A sand waterfall from the cliffs above the beach.
Finally, a really nice sunset. But, clouds presage bad weather. Indeed, it is raining hard in San Diego and it would catch us two days later.
As the sun continued to set, the colors deepened.
The beach camp was nice. We were on the bluffs overlooking the beach and therefore far away from high tide. The wind was calm and we grossly over ate on shrimp and steamed clams. The following day, we would return to El Golfo for additional supplies and then head north to the high dunes.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2009, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.