Trip Reports from Baja Mexico
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Santispac on Conception Bay
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Santispac on Conception Bay
Crowded but fun!
Lots of services for RV’ers. Locals provide water from tanks on their trucks, Fire wood and the washing machine fire rings necessary for allowed fires, pastries and bread from drive by locals out of Mulege. Newer dump station for rv’s located on site… not exactly the best situation but functions for those who are need it. 70% occupancy of Canadians for several months at a time. Many options on other bay side campsites like ‘Burros’ or ‘Cocos’ and a few more that don’t have the services provided at Santispac. Easy launch place for your RIB… although the fishing in the bay was not very good, hit and mis, with Triggers the target. Will post more soon as we are in Guerro Negro on our way home and have internet, YEA!
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25 Replies
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Scored a coveted palapa amongst the crowd at Santespac. Took our RIB over to the east side of the bay for some alone time 🙂 Grand-daughter got a photo with Nathan at Playa Buenaventura while Grandma shared some time with ‘Wrongway’ one of the characters camped along the bay (that’s what he is called by everybody on the bay… never found out what his mamma called him). Good margaritas at Armando’s looking out from the inside. Drive down and back pretty nice but Narrow! Gone from a VW bus, to a Skooly schoolbus, to our 34 foot ‘Bago’
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How was the weather and how long did you stay? Was there good fishing outside in the gulf? Nice looking RV.
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Weather was good and predictable… three days of wind (not bad) three days of calm. We didn’t make it out of the mouth of the bay but seemed like the better fishing was on the south end of the bay. Up in the more populated areas the fishing stunk! We stayed for two months and are headed to Gonzaga in May for the month. Stored our RV in San Felipe so we don’t have to fork out for the gas from San Diego. $48 a month with good security and enclosed… San Diego storage is $150 a month.
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Smart!
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What’s the name of the place where you stored your RV in San Felipe?
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Dang it…not paying attention, sorry! Here is the link to where we have stored our RV; https://www.sanfelipesafestorage.com/rates.htmhttps://www.sanfelipesafestorage.com/rates.htm
We leave in one week to return and pick it up. We’re headed down to Gonzaga for the month of May. I’ll try to post an update on how the RV did over the two months there. Sorry again for the delay. 🙁
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Their rates are actually quite reasonable. Whereabouts are they located?
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About ten minutes out of town on the main road on the West side. There’s a small restaurant on the corner of the turn and the storage yard sits right behind that restaurant.
México 5, Rancho El Dorado, 21850 San Felípe, B.C.,
Photo from Googlemaps.com
From the go-around in San Felipe googlemaps says 14km/14 minutes.
Will be there on Thursday 4/28 and will try to remember to post how the RV has made it there for 2 months.
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You know, I have driven by that dozens of times and never even paid enough attention to realize that was a storage facility. I guess my mid is on other things – heading to our destination or getting home.
Thanks and I’d appreciate hearing your report. We have a small trailer we take down to Gonzaga and Puertecitos that I wouldn’t mind leaving there instead of hauling it back and forth every time.
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We made it back to San Felipe and found the RV just as we had left it. Surprisingly, I had expected at least dusty surfaces from being in an open storage lot in the desert, but with the rig lined up and next to a large type A also, it was protected somewhat and was just as clean as the day we parked it two months ago.
It was an easy process to access and leave (they open at 8am…it is not 24hr access and they are closed on sundays).
They do have enclosed storage also.
On our way to Gonzaga: Plenty of Gas in San Felipe.
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SUPER! What a great option that will be for us not having to lug this thing back and forth down there + I know the wife is going to love getting her side yard space back! We’ve been keeping it parked alongside of the house and inside the back yard due to zoning laws prohibiting us from parking it out in front and the monthly storage rental fees are like making a payment for a new one.
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I have heard that it can be hard to find a spot to camp beach-side there in winter some years, with early arriving snowbirds taking all the best spots. Only visited Santispac once and that was for a half day stop in October on the way to Loreto a few years ago. Only a couple of other vehicles and one RV parked then.
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We are going the week before spring break – hope its not too crowded. I will post some pictures.
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How did that time period work out? I had hear that the Easter party time actually goes from the 11th to the 17th. We have always bailed out pretty much two weeks prior. Looking at some of the photos of the crowds posted by MexicoNewsDaily it looked massively crowded in some of the mainland beaches.
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Just got back a few days ago as after Semana Santa I flew with my sister to see my grandmother and attend a cousin’s wedding in Puebla. I ended up going with my aunt and uncle to spend a week in Veracruz for a week which was really nice.
Our camping week planned for Santispac did not go very well. When we got there everything was full and we ended up camping on a really poor spot over at Coyote that everybody walked through all day and night. We finally left after two nights to drive down to La Paz to stay with some friends who have a large home and let my cousins camp out in their really big backyard. A couple of days later I flew from La Paz to the mainland to see my grandmother.
It wasn’t quite as bad as the photo but almost! We will be sure to take your advice next time. Just got back a few days ago as after Semana Santa I flew with my sister to see my grandmother and attend a cousin’s wedding in Puebla. I ended up going with my aunt and uncle to spend a week in Veracruz for a week which was really nice.
Our camping week planned for Santispac did not go very well. When we got there everything was full and we ended up camping on a really poor spot over at Coyote that everybody walked through all day and night. We finally left after two nights to drive down to La Paz to stay with some friends who have a large home and let my cousins camp out in their really big backyard. A couple of days later I flew from La Paz to the mainland to see my grandmother.
It wasn’t quite as bad as the photo but almost! We will be sure to take your advice next time.
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Thanks for the report. As much as I like Santispac and the entire Bahia Concepcion area, it’s best to avoid at Spring Break and I finally convinced the family to stay north of the 28th parallel and spend the week in San Quintin where we can get in some good fishing, great seafood, smaller crowds and Ron promised us a day trip out to the island.
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My brother wants to go down for a week in Bahia Concepion this fall but I got a couple questions. Is there campsites around the bay with RV hookups? What is the weather like in late September? Are there any stores or do you have to shop in Mulege?
Thank you @paranewbi
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The first and the largest camp area, Santispac, is about 20 minutes south of Mulege. About halfway between Mulege and Santispac, is a large Pemex station that has a lot of goods (even Ice Cream!) and several restaurants around it. There are also many small restaurants between there and Mulege. So within a matter of minutes from Santispac is food, gas, etc. A couple of miles out of Santispac toward Mulege there is a pull off on the road where you can get a cell signal if you don’t want to go to the Pemex.
Santispac is about $10 a night, has two restaurants (although one may be closed that time of year and it is this one that offers baked bread and goods for sale and has a small store as well), a rv dump station, and vendors who come by with food, juice, etc., every day. There is also non-potable Water available off vendors (Juan Louise is on site) and a vendor who will empty your holding tanks on site if you don’t want to tear-down camp to take your rig to the dump station on site (name is Sheeshel which I would think is Cecil in English).
The weather will be hot and humid, remember that is during hurricane season and sometimes the road gets washed out in the arroyo dips (usually north of Guerro Negro). Some of the services around the bay at many campsites may not be as plentiful, but a camper will probably have plenty of room to themselves. The crowd will pick back up the first of November which is the start of the more comfortable months.
Hope this helps!
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Thank you for all that great information @paranewbi
We probably won’t go in the busy season as that is not our idea of vacation but knowing that there are options closer by than Mulege to shop and eat will keep our wives happy. Are there any fishing captains there to charter a boat from a few days? If so, do you know how much they charge typically? Any kayak rentals? I appreciate your help.
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There are several panga operators for both touring and fishing. We actually gave a tandem kayak to Juan Louis (Water guy) and he rents that and one other he has. Juan also supplies the necessary fire ring and wood for fires as there are no open fires allowed on the site in Santispac. Of course you can also fish from the kayak as the nearest island (far side) is know for Triggers as well as the first point to the right of the beach you camp on. No bait is available and the nuisance little bay fish can be cut up for bait. Most bring frozen squid or shrimp from the states. The Panga guys will put you on fish though and clams, etc.
For the ladies (shopping) there is a nice shop just a couple of doors down from the bank (towards the laundromat intersection – good place to do clothes, purchase tokens from the owner for the machines). There is also another tourist shop near the park but is hit and miss on being open. We have eaten at the open air eateries in the small park (good place for coffee and internet reception) but noticed the small finch birds perched on the bean pot edge on the stove when the owner is distracted and tale-tell droppings being deposited 🙁 Coffee is good and all else without beans is good. 🙂
All of this is predicated on the possibility that much might be closed waiting for the November season to start.
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Great information, thank you! Maybe should change to late October early November. I will talk it over with my travel companions.
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I have not been to Santispac in a long time but we used to make trips down twice a year when my husband was still living. My recollections of that beach are too many people in winter and too many bugs in summer. Choose which one you want to share the beach with @Six-One-Niner
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Yikes! Definitely makes me think the idea of going later is better, My wife HATES bugs in general and I seriously dislike anything that bites me when sleeping.
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And… it seems like what didn’t bother me so much when I was younger is now a dread in my old age… hot, sticky, humid, weather!
And it does get pretty crowded but that’s why we bring a RIB with a good motor 🙂
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Yes, most definitely the weather is a much larger factor as we get older. I am OK with dry heat if there is shade and a light breeze but humidity makes me melt.
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