At hotrods suggestion - I'm editing the original post for a little bit more of the full trip report.
hotrod180 wrote:Awesome! Paul, can you elaborate on where you went & what you did?
Ok so - flying in Baja is my absolute favorite flying trips - it was what I missed the most when my plane was down for f@ckin ever. I did get to go down once during that time, riding in the right seat of a buddies 180 - but it's just not the same when you are not in the left seat of your own plane.
Anywho so this trip was part of the annual Baja Bush Pilots Whale trip, we fly down in Jan or Feb to see the grey whales, they migrate down to the warm waters in Mexico to give birth to their calves. There are a couple bays where you can go out on a panga into the bay and get really close to the mothers and their calves, sometime you even get lucky get to pet them, usually the calves when they are curious enough to come up to the boat.
My adventure started out from KSJC on Jan 28th and I left Baja for home on Feb 5th, but didn't get back to SJC till Feb 6th (more on that later). My flight plan was to leave SJC at about 6 am (end up being 8 am on a SVFR clearance to clear the bay morning overcast) destined to Mulege, Mexico (El Gallito - XGLL) for 5 days at the Hotel Serenidad, which is pretty much the mecca for the east side of Baja for pilots. I was going to clear customs at MMSF, but was not sure they would have fuel (they did), so I stopped about 30 minute north of the boarder at KBWC (Brawley) to stretch my legs and fill up on cheap 100ll. I then headed across the border to San Felipe MMSF to clear customs. My general route for my south bound route was (5 days in Mulege (on the map it marked as MMMG, but the airstrip in front of Hotel Serenidad is XGLL) - and then fuel in Loreto MMLT, and then down to Punta Pescadero (XPPC) for 3 days.
Made it down to MMSF with no problems, found out they did have 100ll - so I filled up (only about 14 gallons or so) - an old crusty Baja pilot once told me, never leave fuel behind you in Baja... Customs was a breeze as I had already sent my paperwork in advance down to Daniel (who runs MMSF - el comandante). So he already had my paper work ready to go when I arrived. Daniel is a great guy, speaks great English and joined us down in Mulege for a few days. Then I was on my way to Mulege. There is NOTHING in this part of Baja - including radar or ATC - just miles and miles of rocky desert, and beautiful coastline with the occasional small housing communities (lots of ex-pats). After a few hours and me getting to futz around with my new autopilot, XM radio, and IFD-440 - I radioed "Baja Radio" about 10 miles out from Mulege for a position report. Baja Bush Pilots set up a portable ground station (Baja Radio) on the strip at Mulege to help with everyone arriving and parking (25 or so planes). Flew my pattern, landed (strip was in great shape after being underwater from the last hurricane that went through a few months earlier) and pulled my plane in right next to the entrance of Hotel Serenidad.
With being right next to the entrance and the hotel basically full of all pilots - the 180 got lots of attention (and I was all to happy to give them the tour).
Mulege is a great little town - with a really interesting history. I really enjoyed the down time - just walking around town.
And as always - Hotel Serenidad is everything I enjoy about Mulege and Mexico - It's a bit rustic or as others have discribed it "Old Mexico" but that is what I'm looking for. And you just gotta love getting a room with a fireplace, a stack of logs, and a water bottle filled with diesel fuel - I've had some roaring fires after a night of to many cervezas.
And on Wednesday night we had the famous Pig Roast - and it did not disappoint
After 5 days of relaxing with 30-45 other people who flew in for the trip - a smaller part of the group headed down to Punta Pescedaro. I was really looking forward to this, as I had never been there and never been that far south. But first - a stop in Loreto for some tacos:
- and fuel and the required flight plan with the federales:
There were some amazing views on the way down:
And I ended up being one of the first to arrive - as I had to bring down one of the Baja Bush Pilots peeps to get setup before everyone else arrived - so I had the ramp next to the sea of cortez to myself:
But it was not long before my lone taildragger was joined by the group of Bonanzas, 206's, 182's - and a couple multi-engines. We filled up both the parking locations. There was another Cessna 180 in the group but by the time they made it down from Mulege - there was a strong crosswind (I'm glad I came early before the wind kicked up) - they made 2 attempts - and then ended up going back to Loreto.
The hotel at Punta Pescadero was amazing - alot different then the rustic Old Mexico I had just spent the last few days at.
The view from the beach to my room
and the sunrise I woke up to every morning:
This area of Baja is this whole sub-culture of offroad travelers - the nearest town from the hotel is 30 minutes by 4 wheeler on a dirt trail - and then once you get into town there is just a whole town of baja offroaders.
But the best part of the trip, was all the great people I met during the trip - got invited to dinner to one of the pilots houses - who had a private chef and we had amazing food, and he rented a rzr buggie and he showed me some hard to find rock paintings (never would have found them on my own) - but first we had to stop for some refreshments for the road.
we stumbled accross this little bar on one of the trails ( totally random) that had some ice cold beers, pool tables, and eclectic pizza's... in a desert on an offroad trail...
I met a guy that was driving his camper truck down from Canada - all through the USA, and then to the tip of Baja. He pulled up to this hotel in the middle of nowhere, and all of a sudden there are 30 or so planes on this little strip next to the ocean. He had no idea things like that existed, I took him up for a ride in the 180 - he had never been in a plane before - he said it was an experience he would be telling for years to come.
It was an amazing trip - and the plane performed better than I could have expected - everyone that saw it wanted to talk about it. It was a great flight to shake out a few things (to be expected from such an extensive rebuild - but nothing major). It was a long trip back - and I ended up staying the night after crossing the US border due to weather. I hit severer turbulence and icing that was lower then the range I needed to cross - so I turned back and stayed the night in El Centro… the winds were howling 30 mph and gusting to 40-45 during the night, and I was stressed all night that my tie downs ropes were holding. It was my fist strong winds using my new SlideDown tie down ropes. Happy to report it was all in great shape when I arrived at the airport in the morning. Flew home in a 25 headwind, had to make an extra fuel stop. Was a little beat when I got home - but had a great trip.
I can't wait for the next trip - if I see you around the next one of these are on me:
