Cabo Pulmo Beach Camping

A couple from Phoenix named Bill and Tommy picked us up out of Cabo, they were heading north and doing a driving loop for the day. We'd had a great time in town, two girls who we'd hitched a ride with had put us up in their spare house, now they'd dropped us at the edge of town where we were getting this ride, ready to slowly make our way back to the States.

We stopped into Todos los Santos with the couple and wandered around with them, this is where Hotel California is, we saw that as well as several other galleries. We continued on with them on their loop, eventually hitting Los Barriles, a town we'd visited a week before getting to Cabo San Lucas.

They were going to get some food, so we went to walk around and meet them afterwards. We went straight to Charlies Chocolates where I returned a book I'd got the last time, we grabbed a few chocolates then headed back towards Bill and Tommy. They were still eating, we sat down and they offered to buy us a beer, then tacos as well, we happily drank and munched away.

We hopped back in the car with them, they were about ready to head back to Cabo San Lucas. We looked at a map and saw Cabo Pulmo, a place that people had suggested we check out along the coast. They decided they wouldn't mind going that way instead of the more direct highway.

Once we made the turn the road turned to dirt and started to get a bit sketchy, nothing too bad, but perhaps a bit much for the rented car they had. Bridget and I were on the lookout for a good place to camp at this point, we spied a couple beaches along the way that looked decent, but figured we'd get as far as we could. Once we hit the "town" of Cabo Pulmo we stopped to take a break.

Bill talked to some people inside and confirmed that the roads wouldn't get any better, if they wanted to get back to Cabo San Lucas they'd be much better off turning back around. Bridget and I back tracked with them several miles to one of the beaches that seemed pretty remote and hopped out there. We thanked them and exchanged some information, then we were on our own, our personal beach for the night awaited.

We set up in the sand, gathered some firewood and cooked out. The dark came and the full moon rose up as the stars came out, we laid under it all and went to sleep.

The wind was roaring in the morning, fits of sand being blown at us for a wake up. Bridget swam around, we relaxed as best we could, but soon opted for the road to get out of the wind. We headed back in the direction of Cabo Pulmo, slightly south.

A guy named David came driving along and stopped to give us a ride. He'd been coming down to Baja the past twenty years, the last six of which he owned property. He knew the area well, so when we said we were looking for a good beach to relax and camp at he was happy to show us a couple. He was living in Cabo Pulmo, but took us south of there to one beach, really windy there too, but then to yet another one south of there. The second one was windy as well, but there a huge rock wall far down the beach and we figured if we hiked down to it we'd be out of the wind.

We thanked him and hopped out there, sure enough we found a little nook in the wall where we could get out of the wind. It was easy to gather a whole bunch of firewood, we got some coals going, cooked our rice and soon enough dark settled in.

The next day brought plenty of swimming and relaxation on the beach before we hit the road, there were very few people there, none at times. We had La Paz on our minds now as a next destination. Our first ride was from a couple who lived up in Cabo Pulmo, they offered to let us come in and use their internet. From there I sent out a message on couchsurfing to see if we could find a place to stay by the time we got there.

We sipped some coffee with the couple and talked for a while. Their son had invented this shirt that had mask built into the collar for construction workers and other sorts of jobs, they ended up giving me one on the way out.

We caught one more ride back closer to the main highway as it started getting into sunset. Not much of a hitchhiking day left, but we hoped to catch one more ride. A car coming the opposite direction pulled over, driving was a guy named Kent with a woman named Sheryl with him. "Where are you going?", he shouted over at us.

We told him La Paz, "It's too late, it won't be safe, why are you going there anyhow?", he said, we came over to the truck at this point, it was packed with all kinds of stuff. We breifly explained our trip  and what were up to.

"Well this is one of the most beautiful places in Baja!", he told us. "Let me tell you what you should do. I'd give you a ride right now, but there's absolutely no room. Right behind you is my friend's organic farm, it's beautiful. Just slip in the gate and if you can find him, tell him that Kent, that's me, said you should crash there for the night, he'll be totally fine with it. It's a beautiful place anyway, you'll love it. In the morning hitch a ride back to Cabo Pulmo and find Baja Bungalows, that's my spot. I'll set you up with snorkeling gear, wet suits and everything and show you the most beautiful beach there is. I'm not gonna charge you anything, you just can't leave Baja without seeing it!".

We didn't need anymore convincing. He drove off and we got through the gate of the farm. We started looking around for the guy who owned the place, but it was pretty massive  and a bit of a maze, on top of that it was getting dark. We tucked away in the orchard and found a place to camp. It was beautiful indeed, but a pesky cat messed with us for a good while, just happy to have someone to play with, but eventually left us alone to sleep.

In the morning we wandered the farm for a good while until we finally found the guy who owned the place, he was holed up in a dark little room, we would have never found him if not for a guy working there who brought us to him. My first thought was that the guy had done massive amounts of acid in his life, we'd later find out though that we was suffering from some sort of illness. We talked just for a minute, explaining that Kent had told us to camp and thanking him and so forth.

Back on the road it took several short little rides to get back to Cabo Pulmo. First was the back of a garbage pickup truck, then a guy working in the area, then the next pickup truck where I ripped my shorts wide open upon hopping up on it, then finally a therapist going to Cabo Pulmo.

We saw Sheryl right away, the woman in Kent's car. She was full of live and happy to see us, she pointed us towards the bungalows where we could find Kent. The guy was laid back and amazing. Within minutes of being there I had a new pair of shorts he gave me to replace my freshly ripped ones. We were both able to take showers and we talked with him for a bit.

He'd set up the bungalows a while back and was expanding slowly but surely, he toured us around the few living spots he rented out on the property. There was a common area kitchen with food leftover from various people who'd stayed, he gave us a whole bunch of it, even some coffee, tequila and limes to go with it. We got fitted up in wet suits and snorkeling gear, then we were good to go.

The beautiful beach he knew about was the very beach we'd camped on the other night, apparently there was plenty of living coral to be seen there as well. He gave us a ride to it, saying we could stay as long as we want and just drop the gear off in a couple days or however long. Some Canadians were staying in a trailer between the beach and the road that he knew, the three of us sat down for a beer before Kent finally split.

Bridget and I headed back to the rock wall where we'd camped before and got set back up, there was still some remaining firewood that we'd gathered the other day and hadn't burned. A kayak was beached nearby and we talked to the woman who'd come from it while all watching a pelican bounce around. Her and her husband had sailed down from Canada, they pointed out their little ship anchored out just a little ways in the bay.

Bridget and I climbed up the rock wall a little way, she went down after a bit, but I continued on to the peak of the big hill until I had a great view that stretch across the sea and clear to Cabo Pulmo. I took it all in, then walked the sketchy walk along a path I made my own hopping from rock to rock with little room for error down towards the water again.

Eventually we got our fire going, our coals, another dinner, tequila and in love in the firelight, everything was perfect.

We talked with the boat couple a bit more in the morning, but excitedly got back to camp and got our snorkeling gear together. We went out together, but soon realized that Bridget's mask had a leak. We went back on shore to try and get it sorted and have some lunch. Eventually we decided we'd just have to go one at a time.

I went out first and was completely amazed. It was so peaceful, rocking on the surface of the water with the waves and looking down into the under sea world of colorful fish darting around and flowing with the waves about as same as me. I did a big loop feeling completely blissful by the time I got back to shore.

In the late afternoon, after Bridget had her turn snorkeling around, we headed back to the Canadians trailer and swapped stories for a while, munching on some fish and sipping on some beers, a fox wandered around sniffing things out. We headed back to our campsite after dark, another good night of fire and tequila.

The Canadians gave us a ride back to Kent's place in the morning. We returned the snorkeling gear and hung out for a while talking. We managed to get another shower, I also got online to find a message waiting for me, we had a place now to stay in La Paz. This beach adventure had been all kinds of great, unexpected and peaceful, but the next leg of our journey was now in front of us, back to the road we went.

March 7, 2012 to March 12 2012