Spring Break was great last month – the weekdays seemed a little slower, but weekends were super, super busy and though we had some windy days, the weather was still great. This month we’re looking forward to Semana Santa, which draws huge crowds to our beaches from all over Mexico and the U.S. The nightlife on Calle 13 is epic, people watching and cruising the Malecon is great, and spending the afternoon watching everyone shoot up and down Competition Hill can’t be beat. Get out and have some fun over the Easter Holiday.
The big news this month is that Calafia Airlines will be starting their direct flights from Tijuana to Puerto Peñasco, which will hopefully bring us a lot more visitors and introduce Rocky Point to a whole new audience. The airline will be operating two weekly flights, Monday and Friday, which will begin on April 29th. This will be great for us locals too who want to fly to other locations like Loreto or La Paz or catch a connection in Tijuana to big cities like Cabo or Cancun or grab an international flight. We’ll no longer have to drive to Mexicali, Hermosillo or Phoenix to catch a flight…not only are flights usually cheaper when leaving from within Mexico, but you’ll also save a bundle on airport parking. Joseph Sanchez, owner of Rocky Point Home Builders, goes into more detail about flights in his article on Page 10 of this issue.
The Pinacate Biosphere Region is once again open for camping, visiting, and hiking. The visitor center has been open, but we’ve not been allowed to tour the craters, camp, or hike without a guide. I was able to go with a group of friends and a guide and I do have to say that that is the way to go, especially if you’ve never been. Israel Nava out of Caborca was our guide and he was awesome – even set up camp and cooked us meals and he is a wealth of information!
While border hours have not been extended for the Easter Holiday this month, don’t forget that next month on Friday, May 27th and Monday, May 30th, the Lukeville/Sonoyta border will be open until 10:00 PM instead of the normal 8:00 PM…extended hours are ONLY on the Friday and Monday of Memorial Day Holiday Weekend.
I did get out to Santo Coyote Restaurant (at Encantame Towers) again before I left for whale watching on the Baja…I took lots of photos, tried new menu items, copied the menu and even took notes. I had high expectations of knocking out The Eats while on the Baja, but we were just too busy exploring Mexico and hanging with the whales. The weather was absolutely gorgeous over there, and we had awesome encounters getting up close and personal with lots of Mama Grey Whales and their babies. Tony Ballesteros got some great photos of us, and we witnessed a “teenager” breaching 14 times in a row with the first few being pretty close to our panga. Tony said that was a new record for breaches! You can still make a trip over to Guerrero Negro with Tony through the end of the month and I highly recommend it if you want an experience of a lifetime. If you can’t make it to the Baja, hopefully the whales will still be hanging around Peñasco during April as well.
As well as spending four nights in Guerrero Negro, we also spent four nights at Ignacio Springs Bed and Breakfast, which is on the river in San Ignacio – so awesome! Bonnie and Paul, the proprietors of Ignacio Springs, not only cooked us breakfast and dinner, but they took care of organizing our whale watching trip for our group of 12. (Bonnie even babysat my puppy while we were out for the day – so cool!) I didn’t think the whale watching experience would be that much different than it was in Guerrero Negro, but the entire experience was totally different. A lot of the whales had already left the lagoon, but we did have an awesome day. While we were at the Springs, we also took a day and drove down to Santa Rosalia to check it out – what a charming town! I can’t wait to go back next year and spend more time there and to do more exploring down by Loreto and checking out some other whale watching spots…after bothering Tony in Guerrero Negro, of course.
Well, I’m off to the beautiful empty beaches north of Peñasco on this gorgeous sunny day. I was there a few days ago with friends from California, Arizona and Rocky Point and had a great time hanging out, letting the mutt run around getting wet and muddy and working on my tan. How I love all that Mexico has to offer! Hope to see you at the beach soon!!
