We had heard about San Juanico- or some call it Scorpion Bay- from surfer friends back home. We were also ready for some Pacific coast beaches, so we decided to head that way.  There is a small dirt road that goes into San Juanico from San Ignacio, via the Laguna San Ignacio, so we asked around in San Ignacio about the road condition and everybody agreed that is was not that bad. So we headed down the dirt washboard road on our merry way. We got to a fork just before the laguna and realized that we had the choice of two roads to get to our destination (much like everywhere else in Baja so far). We knew one road went through salt flats and we were told it would be fast and free of the dreaded washboard, but there was also the chance of hitting some wet spots and getting awfully stuck. The other road went inland and we assumed it would be nothing but the dreaded washboard.

The dreaded and omnipresent washboard- or permamnente as it is known by the locals

Well as the saying goes when you assume you make an ass out of you and me, and for some reason this point never misses an opportunity to make itself known.  We opted for the inland road and continued on our way. Pretty soon the road had turned into a single track and we were practically 4x4ing through drainages and over the mountains. We started thinking that there was no way this was the road into San Juanico and we had taken a wrong turn somewhere and were heading into the empty desert to be lost for days (at least this is what was going through Lacey’s head at the time). With nothing to do but to keep trucking, we eventually came to a gate where a wizened old rancher came out to meet us and open the gate for us. He assured us that we were indeed on the right road, still with some trepidation we continued bumping along our merry way. We have started to realize a trend in Baja is that when a local tells you the road is not that bad, expect the worse, as their definition of not that bad is probably not the same as ours! After about 6 hours of bumping along and crossing streams we arrived in San Juanico. Yet again, 6 hours to go less than 100 miles!

Shouldn't there be a bridge here? Good thing we drive a Landcruiser!

San Juanico is a beautiful little fishing village set in a small bay on the Pacific. There are a few points around the bay that have excellent surf, and for us non-surfers, great beach views, tidepooling and fishing. This small fishing village is growing by the year as more and more surfer expats decide to make it a part time home or even a year round home. With any kind of change (even multi-million dollar homes) there are bound to be some growing pains, but the town seems to be accommodating the change pretty well. Everybody that we met here, surfers and locals alike were amazingly nice and interesting.

When we pulled into town we headed out to the bluffs outside of town to the Scorpion Bay Resort, which was the only camping that we knew of. We paid our camping fees (the most expensive camping so far, I guess this is what happens when lots of us gringos are around) and headed into town to find some food (Luis did not feel like cooking).  At the restaurant El Burro we met Mark and Judy, a couple from So Cal that has a “work in progress” house next to the restaurant. Mark came over attracted by our Landcruiser and its diesel rumble, we stated chatting and eventually they said it was time for Thanksgiving tacos! We looked at each other and said: “today is Thanksgiving!?” We had been thinking it was Wednesday all day. I guess somewhere along the way we lost a day in baja. I’m sure it is not the first time it has happened and I’m sure it will not be the last. We sat down for thanksgiving pescado with good company and had a great meal.

Our camping spot for the night was on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and we were lulled to sleep listening to the surf below, watching the stars and showered by moonlight. It couldn’t have been better!

Sunrise from the Scorpion Bay campsite, we never thought we would become such avid morning people

The view from our first (paid) camping spot. Not to shabby.

We heard in town that you can camp down on the beach for free, so the next night we decided to move camp down to the beach in order to save some money.  It too was a nice little spot by the water, but maybe to close to the surf because we kept waking up all night to check where the water was out of fear of being trapped by the high tide or worse yet being engulfed by the tide, gulp. We woke up for one of the best sunrises yet and all was well. We sat on the beach with our morning coffee, watched the sun make it’s appearance for the day out over the water, and Luis felt like listening to The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun playing on the stereo. It couldn’t have been a better way to wake up and all we could think was how lucky we are to be here!

Sunrise as seen from our camping spot the second day at San Juanico, imagine The Beatles playing "Here comes the Sun" on the background

A furry visitor at our campsite, there are so many dogs everywhere it makes us miss our Tie Dog

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December 5th, 2009 | Tags: Baja California, blogsherpa, Great Surf, San Juanico, Scorpion bay | Category: Mexico, North America | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL