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)