Updated* Eye of The Storm - Campo La Poma, Baja MX

[Denis_Ruso]

As always this will be a lengthy recap of my second Campo La Poma experience down at Mako Bob's Paradise.

The drive down was something out of a movie. Long straights, waterfalls, empty deserts, abandoned buildings, sandstorms reducing visibility to just a few hundred feet, rockslides with boulders, downpours of rain , water crossings and creeks running across the road.

Some do say "Baja is for Adventure"


Firstly, before I begin let me back-up. Last years visit and experiencing epic fishing down in Gozaga Bay, I was itching to return. With my birthday coming up I sold this trip to my friends as a "birthday" trip. How else you get your best friends to take off a week off work to play in Mexico? After, much convincing and A LOT of planning, the trip dates were set months in advance. September 1st through September 9th.

2 4x4 cars, 1 hobie kayak, 1 tandem Kayak and 1 L2Fish Paddleboard, Fishing gear, free diving gear, scuba gear and 4 good friends.

With everything coming together and the date coming closer the news of Tropical Storm Lidia made us question our timing and plans. The storm caused some devastating flooding down in Cabo and was headed up the peninsula. All the forecasts called for heavy rains, flash flooding and high winds all the way up into northern Baja. The storm was to reach Campo La Poma on September 2nd.... the day we planned to get there. The question laid heavily on our minds in the days leading up to our trip. "Do we leave a few days late and cut our trip short or do we stick to the plan and drive directly into the storm and ride it out?"


As you may have already guessed, we unanimously decided to leave as scheduled. 3 AM we meet just north of Los Angeles. The drive down showed signs of unstable weather and stormy patterns. There were high wind gusts and hot humid weather at night. Nothing says storm's comin' like 80 degree warm gusts at 4 in the morning. This added to the anxiety of the storm. We make our mandatory breakfast and fuel stop in Calexico at about 7AM. Shortly after, crossing smoothly into Mexico at 8 AM. We were directed to the Tourist Visa office by the border patrol instantly and they even helped us find a parking spot. (way smoother and more clear than the last time we crossed). We picked up our FMM tourist visa which is now 500 Pesos, approximately 30$ a person.

Feeling the accomplishment of being halfway there we departed to the next stop, San Felipe. On our way just out of Mexicali, I was waved off the road by a parked Policia. I get pulled over greeted and asked for my destination and reason for my visit. The officer asks for my driver's license and registration. I am pretty sure I am about to get a ticket as I had been driving 74 KM in a 60 KM Zone. (With oversized tires my speedometer does not read accurately so I was unsure of my actual speed). The Policia officer hands me back my registration and driver's license and sends me on my way. No hassle. No Ticket. No Headache.

After the stop, this leg of our drive produced some spectacular views of the desert and displayed the first signs of the Tropical Storm Lidia. The desert was barren, the wind gusts were beginning to strengthen and before we knew it we were driving through a sandstorm. Visibility was a mere 200 feet which worsened to 50 and then cleared again to about 300. The landscape was surreal, with nothing but a two lane road expansive desert landscape straight out of an old western movie.

The rain began just outside of San Felipe and cleared up very shortly before we pulled into town. The wind was strong and the Sea of Cortez did not look inviting. The sea was producing 3-4 ft waves as far a 300 yards offshore. We stopped at the grocery store to stock up on beer and groceries for the week. Then we drove into San Felipe so my friends could pick up their fishing licenses. This turned out to be a long ordeal as the Tourism office in San Felipe no longer sell fishing licenses. They sent my friends to another guy who sells them across the town. The guy who is supposed to sell them was apparently not working on Saturdays and they returned to the Tourism office in San Felipe. They were directed to a website and they allowed my friends to use their computer to purchase them online. IF YOU EVER GO TO MEXICO, PLEASE REMEMBER TO CALL YOUR BANK AND LET THEM KNOW YOU WILL BE TRAVELING. My friends did not follow this advise although I let them know it would be a good idea. So after the transaction was denied they also had to borrow the tourism office's phone to call their bank. After 2 hours and fishing licenses in hand, we were fueled up and ready to continue on our last leg of the drive.

Leaving San Felipe, it is always interesting to see the amount of failed developments on the roadside. It seems that many have attempted to develop communities, hotels and stores in Mexico but not all have succeeded.

The rain just outside of San Felipe was relentless. The downpour had began and this slowed our drive to a more modest speed. Windshield wipers could barely keep up with the speed of the rain. It seemed that the drainage of water had the same problem. There were deep puddles in the road, most the vados had small creeks running through them. Rocks half the size of cars has fallen on the roads reducing traffic to a single lane for both directions. There were waterfalls pouring down the rocks as we drove through the mountain passes. The valleys once dirt and barren were teaming with water. Streams, rivers, creeks and some places nearly lakes. I now understand how flash floods can really catch you off-guard. What was most surprising to me was that regardless of the rain, there was a crew of 4 clearing the road of rocks and from what we heard that they had cleared everything in the road by the next morning.

Driving through the mountains looking down at the Sea of Cortez the waves have grown exponentially. We were watching 6-8 breakers rolling into every cove, bay and beach. The waves were breaking over every shallow reef, pounding every beach and the water was an eerie brownish green. We were wondering if this would stay through the whole trip.

We pulled up to the "Campo La Poma" sign around 5 PM. Drove down the muddy road down to the beach. The islands were not visible, the rain made visibility a mere 200ft from the shoreline. Waves were breaking on the beach 5-6 ft tall as far as you could see. We stopped at the restaurant to pick up the keys from Bob's place and hid out in the Garage from the storm.

The rain was relentless and as night fell we wondered how long we would be confined to 4 walls...