November 19/23 we arrived at Santispac beach a place we have spent many weeks in previous years, creating some lasting good memories. We got a palapa on the south side of the beach and moved to a better one next-door the next day. The usual price was 200 pesos a night which is twice what we paid the last time we were here and the only deal is if you pay for a month for 5200 pesos ($411). When we arrived there were over 40 RVs and 13 sailboats in the bay. The next day we settled into our new palapa where we spent 2 & 1/2 months hanging out on the beach! - we met some of our neighbors - some great friendly folk, lots here until March.
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| the first view of Santispac beach |
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| the crooked palapa |
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| getting set up |
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| adding nice clean, white sand |
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| home sweet home |
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| our fun bunch of new friends |
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| Tuesday Happy Hours at Armandos Resturant |
Some days windy with sand blowing everywhere, most days sunny & calm, warm and a great spot on the beach. Every day there were several men driving around in trucks with water barrels and a water tank where they rent you a 45 gallon drum filled with non-potable water for 200 to 250 pesos that you can use for washing and filling your rig for toilet & shower use. Drinking water was bought in the town of Mulege for 15 to 20 pesos for 5 gallons ($1.50).
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| Armandos Resturant on the beach |
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| Robin took the sunrise photos, too early for me |
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| looking out from Armandos Resturant |
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| one of the daily vendors to the beach |
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| the "water guys" |
Our original plan was to continue on down the Baja, stopping at all the places that we had been to in prior years, but on November 21 we made the decision that this is probably the best place we can find - able to kayak when it’s not windy, vendors come by selling water, seafood, vegetables, tamales, cookies, cinnamon buns, and anything else else you might happen to want, including handicrafts every day & there are 2 good resturants right on the beach. We had a great palapa, which helps with the wind and we had great neighbours so here we sit for the duration of the winter most likely.
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| view of the beach from the kayak |
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| such clear water |
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| cormorants |
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| Blue-footed Boobys |
We settled into a routine pretty quickly - kayaking on days that the wind didn't howl, tried fishing a few times but soon realized that the areas within our kayaking distance have been largely fished out - did catch one little fish. We enjoyed bird watching, especially the pelicans & the odd blue footed booby.
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| Costa hummingbird |
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| Gila woodpecker & Hooded Oriole |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Hooded Oriole |
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| Reddish Egret |
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| turkey vultures |
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| Xanthus hummingbird, only found in Baja |
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| Mr Costa guarding the territory |
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| Osprey |
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| yellow crowned night heron |
Most of the vendors that come to the beach are the same ones that we have seen since 2012! Back to Happy Hour at Armando's Resturant every Tuesday & to Ana's Resturant on Friday's. Robin made the mistake of complaining about the volume of his margarita at Armando's our first HH & the owner, Luce, got him but good - 2 small margaritas followed by 2 very strong ones & he couldn't walk!
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| coconut shrimp at Ana's Resturant on the beach |
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| ice cream vendor |
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| Paulio |
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| Adolpho |
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| another Happy Hour |
We made our palapa comfortable with wind screens (including a quilt found at a second hand store), extra nice white sand to cover the dark, dirty stuff, some solar lighting, a few plants, a borrowed mat & of course, our hummingbird feeder. I posted the first installment of our Newfoundland trip on our blog on Nov. 28. Thanks to a suggestion from a friend I now dictate the blog into my phone vs typing it all out - a big timesaver!
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| see the lovely quilt on the back wall |
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| local nursery where we found our plants |
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| some outstanding sunsets |
We've made some good friends on Santispac, been gifted some fish, invited to many meals & happy hours, enjoyed their company & Traci's peanut butter pie!
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| one of several fish frys |
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| a clam feast (we dug them right on this beach) |
We did a trip to Santa Rosalia every 2 weeks or so to get cash (no ATM in Mulege anymore), get our laundry done at Lavamatica Yessinia, get groceries at a Ley's supermarket, try out a different resturant & look for more seaglass if we had time. On one trip we found a large chunk of obsidian on the beach! We have also been busy filling out applications for summer tradeshows that we want to attend & booking our hotel stays.
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| $8 per load, washed, dried & folded! |
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| local police & military seen here & there |
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| excellent shrimp taco stand |
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| one of many resturant meals |
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| pozole! |
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| pork tacos |
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| black sand beach in Santa Rosalia |
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| the chunk of obsidian that we found |
Christmas on the beach was a quiet affair - we did get to enjoy a turkey dinner at Ana's Resturant with friends on Christmas Eve & a potluck on the beach on Christmas Day. We Facetimed with all our kids & got to watch the grandkids open presents from us.
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| Christmas Eve |
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| Christmas Day |
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| the military & lifeguards - a show, only seen on Christmas Day |
We have been braver out in the kayak, venturing further away out & around several islands - more bird life to watch. We are always vigilant to keep the tiny sugar ants out of the RV - no food left out & always cleaning. We are often over run by bees, attracted to our hummingbird feeder - I have been stung 5 times! My Fitbit died one day & after doing an online chat with the company they offered to send me a new one once I return the 1 1/2 year old "broken" one - (it got really hot when I tried to recharge it - guess they don't want to be responsible for a fire).
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| a friend took us out for a tour of the islands & beaches in his motorboat |
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| kayaking in the mangrove lagoon |
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| in the lagoon |
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| a stop at one of the islands |
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| orange coral |
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| looking towards Santispac beach |
The weather has been good - lo temps 13-16C, highs of 19-28C. The beach has slowly gotten busier, the busiest we saw it there were 93 RV's parked along the kilometre plus long beach! The demographic of the campers has changed a lot since our last trip 6 years ago - there are still a lot of "snowbirds" from Canada & the US but now there are many younger folk in their 30's & 40's, lots of them with several children running up & down the beach. Every second or third RV has a Starlink satellite receiver allowing "work & schooling from anywhere". And unfortunately there are still dog owners who let their pets run free & poop wherever!
We took in the Chili & Pozole cook-off in Mulege which was fun & filled our tummy's with yummy pozole.
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| garage sale at Posada - crazy busy |
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| Pozole & chili cook-off |
We spent a lot of time hiking, both walking the 4 km. beach (end to end), & up into the hills - for some amazing views & great exercise - all the while avoiding all the spikey, thorned, spined vegetation!
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| a panoramic view from a hilltop |
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| Santispac from the hilltop |
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| pile of very old conch shells |
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| very spikey! |
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| one of the hills we climbed |
Of course we tried out many local eating spots, enjoyed shopping in the town of Mulege (14 km away) - at least 6 grocery type store to choose from, a fish market, a meat shop, many tortellerias, a nearby farm for even fresher veggies, souvenir shops & even a shop selling Costco stuff. Prices have certainly gone up but fresh foods were quite reasonable, non essentials more expensive - eg. peanut butter & processed foods.
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| Dannyès Asadero |
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| a ceviche stand - we used to buy from him when he sold out of the trunk of his car at the Pemex gas station |
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| we used to have a house plant of this |
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| lots of narrow one way streets |
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| on the way to the farm |
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| paintings by a local artist |
We did a day trip with friends south to Loreto, our only venture south.
A few more photos of random days.
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| an example of Robin raking of the beach |
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| birds feeding just off the beach |
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| a music jam down the beach |
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| one of many European rigs |
A visit to Mulege Mission, along the palm oasis.
We were happy to have a couple visits with some old friends from the NWT.
Life on Santispac was very enjoyable - lots of kayaking, hiking, happy hours, visiting with old & new friends but we decided that a change might be good - so after 2 & a half months we pulled up stakes & headed into the town of Mulege.
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| our empty palapa |
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| Chicho washing the RV |
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| New Years Eve shenanigans |
We continue to Live the Dream!
