Whale Watching At Laguna Ojo de Liebre In Baja

This trip was a little different than my normal weekend fare since it didn't involve any peaks, hikes, or hot springs.  Victor Gomez and Lubna Debbini are two friends who came through WTC last year and they put this trip together around whale watching down at Laguna Ojo de Libre.

If you're like me and only ever seen whales Newport Beach style in the distance from the deck of a large boat the experience at Laguna Ojo de Liebre will completely ruin that for you.  Whales migrate here from Alaska to give birth and teach their babies how to swim.  These days it's carefully controlled so that only a set number of boats can go out and only in certain areas for 90 minutes at a time.  It's somewhat famous due to the fact the whales come so close to the boats that if you're lucky you can reach out and touch them.

If you're concerned about the ethics of touching the whales see here.

The weekend was about 1200 miles of driving to get down to the lagoon and back so we added a bunch of foodie and tourist stops along the way spread out across three days and leaving a little early on Friday.

Friday: After Work Drive To Ensenada and Exploring Carnaval

We left Friday around 3 pm in three different vehicles.  We had nine of us divided up between two Prius's and Kristen's Subaru Forester.  Adding to the complications Victor was on crutches due to a bouldering incident and I was having knee pain which made it rather painful to drive or get in and out of a car.  But we had a plan!

Leaving after 3 turned out to be a bit of a mistake since we went into the teeth of San Diego traffic.  After about 2 hours we decided to stop to eat along the 805 to let things calm down.


By 7:45 pm we were sitting in the line for crossing the border and we made it through in a very reasonable 20 minutes.  That's pretty much the norm since they let most traffic through and just do random spot checks.


The complication came from the fact we were headed far enough south we'd be leaving the Mexico Free Zone and so had to have forma migratoria filled out and stamped at the crossing.

They don't stamp them at the car crossing instead you have to hit the building to the far right immediately past the inspection stations.  Unfortunately we didn't realize that until we were already stuck in practically the furthest left hand lane.  And they have a lot of lanes.

After a slightly wreckless dive through 5 lanes of heavy traffic we darted in behind a mexican military transport and found a place to park.


A guard asked us what we were doing coming in this direction and then escorted us past a luggage scanner and to the desks above.  After a short wait we had our stamps and headed back for the cars.

A few hours of easy driving south along the 1 later and we pulled into Ensenada about 10:30 pm to find it was a zoo of closed off streets and foot traffic.  As it turned out we'd timed the trip during Carnaval.


This video was from the balcony of our hotel room.  Inside wasn't much different than outside since the music was throbbing through the walls so we decided to go roam the streets.


It was easy to find the party considering it started right behind out hotel room.



It got major bonus points when I noticed you could buy really cheap drinks in really large containers.  (The pots just weren't really sealed so you had to drink before it started to seep out!)  One adios madre later we were having a good time.

There was a sizable police presence at every intersection and police cars with lights going could be seen everywhere.  Both seemed to be more a matter of demonstrating a presence vs actively responding to anything and we never hit any situation where we felt unsafe.


Victor and Lubna took us to Hussong's Cantina.  Per Trip Advisor: "Legendary expatriate bar where literary greats would share ideas over drinks: now a place where you can get drunk, feign pretension and buy a touristy T-shirt to commemorate your trip."

Inside it was standing room only and even then it was hard to find a place to enjoy your drink without getting run over or pushed into someone.  We ended up hanging out in the middle of two different mariachi bands playing very different songs so the music vibe was a bit...discordant.  After the first round of drink we were back outside looking for more.


We wandered around a bit including a stop by a bar specializing in shots and ear damage (the music was loud even standing out front in the street) at which point it came to the attention of the group that Kristen aka Tequila Wonderbread had never had a flaming shot .  We decided this needed to be rectified.


We wandered around enjoying a few street tacos and deserts off of carts until we found a bar that could do what we needed.  $6 for two flaming shots and we even had...interesting entertainment on the TV.


We ended up back at the room about 1:40 am which incidentally was about when the music from the stages below finally stopped.  After the blinds were drawn shut to block out the flashing police lights we managed a decent if short sleep.

Saturday: La Bufadora, A Busted Tire, and A Whole Lot of Driving

The next morning after a quick breakfast in town and a bank stop to withdraw pesos we were off to a local tourist trap called La Bufadora.


La Bufadora is a blowhole along the coast not far from Ensenada.  In addition to watching the waves break and spray the crowd there is a market catering to tourists.


We drove to the very end which took some nudging aside of foot traffic.  The shops were interesting but about 90% of the merchandise was the same in each one.  The most enjoyable part was actually the people standing outside trying to get you to come inside.  They'd promise discounts or free tequila shots or more creative attempts like claiming you'd dropped your wallet.


The shops did have a few unique items here and there.


We walked out to the blowhole itself which was just a cut in the rock where waves hit the back and spray up next to a sign reading "We are not responsible for accidents caused by people who do not obey the rules" and a small indian boy that appeared to be being made to dance non stop for hours.

And of course we had to get the classic tourist picture.



After that we continued south through a rather extensive winery area and aimed to have a late lunch at the iconic Mama Espinoza in El Rosario.  Unfortunately the specialty was lobster and since I don't eat seafood I can't really vouch for how it was.  My non fish dinner was fine and their flan was excellent

From there we had another 387 km to get to the campground next to the whale lagoon.  That would have been a long drive by itself but the roads down there are in pretty bad shape.  It was paved but had numerous potholes some of which were bad enough to bust a tire at speed and we were driving it at night which was less than ideal.

Kristen and I were the second vehicle in the caravan and we were constantly dodging right or left with very little warning.  We manage to miss most of the potholes and the hits we did take weren't too bad but when we pulled into the military checkpoint near Guerrero Negro we realized the last Prius wasn't with us.


After waiting about 10 minutes we held position there while Victor ran back to try and find them.  Sure enough they'd hit something hard enough to blow a tire and had swapped in a spare.  We continued into Baja Sur driving a bit slower.


We went a short distance past Guerrero Negro and turned on a dirt road promising access to the lagoon campground and whale watching.  You can get places in town to take your money and bus in but according to Victor and Lubna this was more the local operation. 

We came to a gate a short distance down the road where a guy came out and charged us a few dollars for parking and camping.  I was surprised he was out there considering it was around midnight but that seems to be the norm down there.  After paying we continued what felt like a long ways and turned right once we reached the whale watching buildings.

We found an open campsite and sacked out listening to the sound of waves in the distance.

Sunday: Petting The Whales, Fixing A Tire, More Driving

The campsite was quite nice even if the weather was a little dreary the next morning.  There was a cabana and a fire pit along with plenty of space on the soft sand to sack out.



We'd been hearing the ocean off in the distance all night and now that it was light we could make out whales breaching off in the distance!



After packing up we drove back to the buildings we'd passed last night where we parked and took advantage of some interesting two story bathrooms with a rather nice view.  They also had showers in a nearby building though we didn't take advantage of them.


The ticket booth is on the ocean side of the large building and we were the first in line when they opened at 8 am.  There was a slight delay as they confirmed they had a boat big enough to handle all 9 of us so we ended up being the second boat to go out that day instead of the first.

The tour was $45 a person US for 90 minutes on the water.  It appears that the maximum time that is allowed.  There was also a restaurant inside that took our orders for when we came back.


We were fitted for mandatory life jackets and send off towards the dock where one of the captains waved us into his boat.



During the drive out from shore we could see whales all around in the distance.  The captain was an old hand at this and claimed he recognized certain whales that returned year after year and that he had a particular place in mind not to far from the shore.


The captain located a whale and her calf and cut the engine a short distance away.  They sat there watching us for a minute before coming in for a closer look.





They came up close several times sometimes passing under the boat and multiple times approaching the side close enough we could touch them.


The captain said we were very lucky and that the boats had been going out 10x a day for the last 5 days and not had a whale get this close.


On the way back we went by another boat that had a whale checking them out but this one didn't seem as interested in close contact.

It was an amazing experience and we were all buzzing when we returned to the dock.

It seemed like going out first had been a good call since there was a sizable number of people waiting when we got back.  We had a decent breakfast inside and then headed off into town looking for a new tire for the Prius.



It turned out the pothole had shredded the inside of the tire.  Fortunately we found a place to sell us a new tire (which was actually a used tire the first time around and had to be swapped.)


Right next to the place installing the tire was a taco shop and considering we hadn't eaten for at least an hour we decided to try it.  For my money this was the best tasting tacos we had the entire trip and they even offered to send someone across the street to get us a beer.  Even with the delivery it was only came to a few bucks per person for multiple tacos.

The beer options were the usual mexican fare and we ended up having some surprisingly delicious Tecate that inspired a follow up visit to the liquor store.


From here we headed north dodging potholes and stopping to take a look at some of the native boojum trees which look like something out of Dr Seuss.


We were hungry again by the time we reached Catavina and at first went into a small cafe on the same side of the road as the gas station which I think is called Cafe la Entamada.  Despite promising coffee and wifi we walked in the door to find dirt floors and tables set up bordering what seemed to be a personal living space.

When they retrieved some used salsa dishes from another table and dropped them on ours we decided that maybe there were a few too many red flags here and made our escape.  We ended up eating at the Hotel Mision Catavina across the street which was fine if slightly americanized.

Victor chatting with a military checkpoint that was interested

Our plan was to spend the night at Los Olivos RV Park in San Quintin.  I had low expectations going in since the words RV park bring to mind generators running all night and we didn't know how sketchy the area would be since it was located in town.  We arrived to find an open gate and spent some time trying to locate the tent sites until someone came out of the main house.

The entire area felt like the sort of place you'd find in Arizona and seemed to be operated by expats.  They had ample tent sites to the right as you come in and when we asked about dinner they recommended the Old Mill Restaurant we'd seen on the signs on the way in.

The meal was overpriced compared to anything else we ate during the trip but that *may* have been due to the tequila shots.

The local forecast said there was a 30% chance of rain but some of us decided to risk sleeping out anyway.  So of course it rained and Kristen and I ended up diving into the car in the wee hours of the morning.

Monday: Ensenada Food & Wine, Puerto Nuevo, Mermaid House, Crossing The Border

The next morning we had a better look at the entire RV park.  It's actually a really nicely maintained facility and the price was reasonable though the specifics were a little bit complicated by per person and per vehicle pricing.  Whatever we ended up paying for the entire group it came out to 50 pesos a person.

While we were waiting for the last person to finish up with their shower we decided to take advantage of the zipline they had set up in their sizable yard.


Which turned into people racing along the ziplines...


Which once again ended up with someone competing against Emily Nelson and getting taken out.  When will people learn!  :)

When I saw Tao go down and not get back up I briefly thought we were going get to see the inside of a local ER but it turned out he just had the wind knocked out of him and soon recovered.


Breakfast was at a local coffee shop in town and then we planned to head for Ensenada for some more foodie stops.


This is just your average roadside gas station cow skull.  The gas station was located in town and so for me begs all sorts of questions.  Did the cow die at the gas station?  If so how did it get there and what happened to the rest of the body?  Did someone bring just a cowhead to the gas station and discard it?


This guy was juggling machetes for change at a traffic stop.  Sadly I didn't manage a better picture before we were past.


Back in Ensenada we divided up for a little while with some of us going wine tasting at the Santo Tomas store and others wandering around risking the wrath of the cheese lady by taking her parking spot.

Driving in town on a monday was an interesting experience as the lanes are a bit up to interpretation.  Despite having cars coming at us from all directions I found people were generally moving slow and driving well enough it wasn't bad.  The exception are the buses which seemed to be driven by maniacs who would just as soon hit you as use their brakes.


Next up was a taco stand off the beaten bath which Victor and Lubna assured us was the greatest around.  Since it was once again fish I can't vouch and settled on trying the beef and goat tacos across the street.


After a visit to a bakery and buying some coconut concoction off a street vendor we continued north aiming for another touristy stop called Puerto Nuevo.


This ended up being a bit of a bust as there wasn't near the foot traffic and enegery that had made La Boufadora so much fun.  But hey, it was a monday after all.


Being in Puerto Nuevo did give me a chance to check off a personal item of interest.


The La Sirena of Puerto Nuevo was built by artist Armando Munoz Garcia.  At different times it's been the artists house and occasionally a french and mexican restaurant.  It seemed to be abandoned these days.

We didn't approach it from the recommended route however and had quite the adventure getting the two Priuses along the backroads of Puerto Nuevo.  Washouts, steep dirt, and quite a bit of debris made for interesting driving.


The Tijuana crossing was a little more sedate than I'm used to having mostly come through on sunday nights.  No flame breathers or entertainers just the usual carts, food items, and some really sad individuals selling puppies far too young to be away from their mothers.  Looking online these are often sick and you can't bring them across the border anyway without paperwork and while some of the sellers do provide paperwork it's usually falsified and doesn't hold up at the crossing.  Sadly we saw at least two people buy them.


We were rolling through with our windows down for added entertainment.  Beyond the usual tourist junk and offers to get anything we wanted from the surrounding stands we had a full on crazy guy with a water bottle wander up and proceed to have a rambling conversation with me through the driver side window.

Kristen helpfully narrating the crazy man conversation

He eventually wandered away, came back, and then wandered away again.  He never asked for money (which is what most of the folks out there not selling are up to) and I'm not quite sure what he was looking for.

When we got up to the border guard he asked if we had anything to declare.  I said we had 4 bottles of wine, was told the limit is 1 bottle per person per 30 days, and then waved through.  Based on what I've found online it seems to be a crapshoot as far as what you can bring back and declare with some folks claiming 1 bottle per 30 days and other saying you can bring whatever you want there's just an inexpensive tax you have to pay.  If anyone knows the definitive answer please let me know.

We were back in the US by 8 pm and Kristen and I headed off to find some food that incorporated some vegetables while everyone else made  a beeline for home.

We covered a lot of ground for three days and managed to fit in what felt like a lot.  The driving was rather brutal especially the closer we got to Baja Sur but it was a trip I'd repeat in a heartbeat for another chance to see the whales!