Casa de Fe

San Felipe’s local orphanage for girls is located 5 miles from us here at the Ranch. It was founded by an American couple, Bill and Carol Spradlin, and opened to their first girls in 2010. Currently, 8 girls ages 3 weeks to 10 years live there. The only assistance the Mexican government gives the home is a water subsidy – no monetary support is offered for these girls who have lost their families for various reasons. Casa de Fe is self-supporting through private donations and service organizations like the Rotary Club. A recent tragedy occurred for these kids when Carol Spradlin suffered a heart attack in town and died. Liz volunteered at the home and reports it is a loving, clean, and nurturing facility. Check out Casa de Fe San Felipe at www.sfcasadefe.com for more information.

Casa de Fe girls

Bahia Willard / Bahia San Luis Gonzaga

Camping at Papa Fernandez

Eleven bumpy miles beyond the end of Mexico Hwy 5 is Papa Fernandez at Puenta Willard. What a great little spot behind the sand dunes where they offer 9 palapas and something resembling outhouses. Again, camp was deserted and having the place to ourselves was simply terrific. No sign of camp dogs or coyotes the entire time. We stayed four nights and enjoyed a lot of fishing, reading, writing, campfires, and stars, stars, stars. We also had wind the first night and day but it all settled down to what would prove to be almost perfect weather. The restaurant at Papa’s is run by the Fernandez family and opens whenever you show up. The walls are covered with photos of Papa Fernandez with the likes of John Wayne and Baja legend Tony Reyes. Camping was only $5 a night! The doors were blown off the outhouses but who needs a door when you are the only ones there? What a view!

Grande Triggerfish!

Beach at Papa Fernandez

Anticipation

Birthday Fish for Tessie

Unlike Gonzaga Bay, the beach at Punta Willard is right on the Sea of Cortez and resembles the Northern California coast when the winds came and the surf picked up. There were tons of pelicans, herons, gulls, and Liz’s favorite bird, the Magnificent Frigate.

Kathy caught many Bullseye Pufferfish (Botete), Triggerfish, Spotted Sand Bass, Stingrays, and a Pacific Porgy. Liz caught some shuteye.

We picked up and drove over to Gonzaga Bay on Day 5, only a short 5 mile, 25 minute drive away. On our way, we stopped to visit the Federalies at the military checkpoint just outside of Gonzaga. Since we didn’t have any drugs, they let us continue on to our campsite at Rancho Grande on Gonzaga Bay.

Rancho Grande has 21 palapas right on the beach and a string of 21 outhouses (most with doors). The shore of the Bay is lined with these palapas, a string of houses, and Alfonsina’s hotel and restaurant. The fishing was slow (except for Botete and one sand bass) but the clamming made up for it. We enjoyed a beautiful, relaxing day.

Rancho Grande, Gonzaga Bay

Something that helped our trip be successful was to sleep in the back of the FourRunner and keep all of our gear in the tent. We discovered this after our first windy night at Papa’s. The wind will always pick up at night, guaranteed, gusting sometimes to 40 mph! After that sleepless night, we discovered the quiet and safety of the car (with an inflatable mattress, of course). We also discovered that Tessie doubled in size the minute we closed the doors…

Our last day at Gonzaga Bay began beautifully with fishing and coffee at the shore early in the morning. Then the winds started up and accelerated until we found ourselves in the middle of a sandstorm! We decided to call it a day. The local fisherman predicted the high winds would last a couple of days so packing up and leaving was a great idea.

Overall, our trip was thrilling, challenging, and a whole lot of Baja fun!

On the drive home to San Felipe we started spotting some of the racers coming into town for the Baja 250 to be held the weekend of March 10^th. Sand rails, dirt bikes, and trophy trucks! Stay tuned for more…

Is it just me or is the road getting smaller (Sand Storm)

Kilometer 117

Sunbathing at Kilometer 117

Doink Doink

The extension of Mexican Hwy 5 south of Puertecitos is a recently paved highway until 127 kilometers south of San Felipe. Then, the road suddenly ends only to continue onto a rocky, dirt trail. Just 10 kilometers short of the end of the paved road is Marker 117, a nice pullout at the Sea’s edge. Easy access to the shoreline makes this lookout a favorite stop for travelers going both north and south.

Fishing Report from Kathy:

This 2-hour drive was well worth it as I hooked on to several spotted sand bass and triggerfish. Triggerfish feed by blowing jets of water at their prey, dislodging them for consumption, and are one of the most common reef fish south of San Felipe.

Bullseye Pufferfish, or Botete as the locals call it:

After losing a few rigs, I tightened my drag to the tightest point, determined not to let the next one get away. Doink, doink, Fish on! At first glance out of the water, it looked like a spotted sand bass but the shape was not quite right. When almost to shore its belly started inflating. It had no dorsal fin and had a ‘beak’ for teeth. Little did I know at the time, this fish is highly poisonous and has deadly skin and internal organs. Gulls have died just two minutes after pecking one. I released quite a few of these pests.

Bullseye Pufferfish "Botete"

Puertecitos Hot Springs

It is a 60-mile drive down Mexico Hwy 5 from San Felipe to the small town of Puertecitos. To call it a ‘town’ is an exaggeration. Sitting around the edge of the small bay are lonely houses some would call shacks; others would call them a dream home on the bluff. There are only dirt roads, a small store, and a Pemex gas station. They have a stop sign, too.

Sharron, Meg, Kathy, Tessie at Puertecitos

Hot Pools

Look a little longer and you’ll find the beauty of the place – the quiet of a living ghost town; the simple life of a fisherman and his panga; a retired American or Canadian far from ‘home’ on purpose. Hidden along the outer rocky shore of Puertecitos is a gem of a place – natural hot springs that cool with the incoming tide. We visited the pools with our friends Sharron and Meg and what a treat it was. The water and wind were calm that day and hundreds of pelicans rested right before us on the rocks, satisfied from a good morning’s catch. We began by entering the pools closest to the water’s edge. As the tidewaters rose and cooled off the natural lava-formed pools, we moved up to the next pool. It was a lovely 2-½ hour visit. Tessie loved the pools, too, and dove right in and swam around. It was a thrill to be sitting along the rocks as the seawater led schools of small anchovies over our legs! We finished off a perfect day with a stop at the famous Cow Patty for a cold drink and traditional hot dog.

Sisters of the Desert Valentine’s Day Brunch

Lisbeth & Liz

Valentine's Fiesta

Lisbeth and Linda hosted this annual event held for years at Carol and Jan’s. Sixteen sisters were in attendance for pancakes, French toast, Meg’s special egg soufflé, and all the trimmin’s. Sharron played bartender and money was raised towards the college education of the young pups – Kaya (Sharron & Lynda’s border collie), Tessie (our girl), and Maddie (Lisbeth & Linda’s border collie). A good time was had by all!

Bahia Cristina

Fish on! We took a camping trip to Bahia Cristina, located just south of the town of Puertecitos. The camp has 6 palapas on the beach, which is a mix of sand and beautiful cobblestone rocks of green, purple, red, and gold. We had the place to ourselves, except for a resident coyote and heron.

Double Hook-up, Spotted Sand Bass!!

Camping the Baja peninsula has its challenges. The wind can come up in a split second and you are suddenly thrown into a grab-and-tie-down battle with the elements.

Uh Oh!

You struggle with the tarp to try and block the wind for a little respite, move the car around to the south side, the north side, the south side again. Not only is the wind unpredictable, it seems to come from all directions at once! During the calmer moments, we fished the rocky shore for a bonanza of spotted sand bass. We caught over 35 fish, keeping only enough for fish tacos and Tessie’s breakfast. She loves fish and she loves TO fish, joining Kathy in the water for every cast and retrieval.

When the second day brought rain, we discovered the only hole in the palapa roof was over our table. This made frying fish an exciting experience. If you’ve never fried fish in the rain, we don’t recommend it. We learned a lot on our first Baja camping trip that would prove useful later in the month. What a delightful place to camp and a good learning experience.

6^th Annual Cancer Walk

Liz, Sue, Nell, Judy, Kip

Ready to Roll!

We participated in San Felipe’s Cancer Walk for the first time on February 25^th. We walked in memory of Joyce Faletti (Liz’s mom), Susan Briant (Kathy’s mom), Andy Craig (Kathy’s dad), and Sharon Marcotte (our dear friend). There was an entry fee of $25 dollars with the option to fundraise. 100% of the money raised goes to support the cancer clinic in town. They are currently treating 34 women. The clinic’s primary focus is prevention. Their goal this year is to expand their services to include screening for prostrate cancer. The crowd was a mix of locals and ‘snow birds’. We felt very proud to be walking side-by-side with our new neighbors and friends. 

The Paella Festival

Mmmmmmmm!

Later the same day we wandered over to the Paella Festival held at the El Cortez Hotel. A dozen different restaurants from San Felipe to Mexicali offered their version of paella to the crowd, along with wine and tequila tasting. It was a fun time relaxing with friends, eating paella and ice cream, and listening to mariachi music. One thing we discovered is that if you all use the same required ingredients, your paella will all taste the same. Yummy leftovers for Tessie!

Liz sitting in with Mariachi band

Massani, Danna, Liz, Kathy