VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Thankgodiatepastafobreaky: Sandra Rob and Ray I can't wait to hear about the new trail you are blazing in Baja Norte. Could this be an alternate to TJ, Tecate, and all the population? - Friday January 22, 9:24AM

Rvanderbyl: Greg, Sharon and I loved this route! So much less population, great highway for most of it and when they finish the last bit to connect with Mex 1 it will likely be the best highway on the Baja. Prety sure we won't be going the other way again.I think we made up some time by avoiding LA and San Diego too. - Friday January 22, 10:12AM

Sandy Beach: Oh yeah! I agree. The hour and half of brutal (shale rock) dirt road (traveling slow at 10-20km) at Chapala (similar to the Nitinat logging road) shaved at least three hours off our total Baja drive. Plus, we avoided LA traffic. The wide open, newly paved, sparse traffic highway on the other side of dirt to San Felipe all the way to Mexicali border is so much nicer than going through Ensenada and the other Pacific Mexi towns of stop+start. If there's rain, the dirt road may be washed out, but with sunny weather it rocks! There are workers in camps living in mountains where they are building the road (making cement and moving massive new bridge pieces) daily. Lots of tires on the side of the road lol. This route will likely be more popular for travelers once completed. I predict it will open up +++opportunities along the deserted windy beaches all along the Baja Norte on Sea of Cortez shoreline. Live off the grid just south of California. Brave new trails with pavement!:) - Saturday January 23, 5:31AM

After hearing 2 positive reviews I might try going out that way this year. How long was the boarder wait and was there good signage to the boarder crossing?

Border wait was about 1 1/2 hrs for us. Not sure if signage was the issue as we didn't see any right at the end. Haha! The only mistake we made was to not try and get into the one way street running west towards the crossing a few blocks sooner. As a result we had to back track a couple of blocks. Total time lost was less than 5 minutes to correct the mistake. Plus we lost quite a few spots in the line up due to that time wasted. We arrived around 10:00am on a Monday after leaving San Filipe around 6:00am I Believe. We also stopped on the road to make breakfast which also cost us about an hour. Had we arrived at 9:00 instead the crossing would have been much quicker. Stayed at Hotel Los Angeles on the main drag going into San Filipe. They let us park in the hotel parking lot for 200 pesos after the lady at the desk phoned the owner to get permission for us to stay in our van. Normally 600 for a room. We also got wifi for that price. I now know there is also nice camping in San Filipe but since it was dark when we arrived we were not really into cruising all over the place just to find it since all we wanted was a safe place to sleep for the night.

Hey guys, any plans to take this route south? Do you cross at Mexicali, on this route? If so, how did you get a tourist visa? It's so easy at TJ, but does anyone know if you can swing into the border office and pay the visa as conveniently as TJ?

Thanks!

I saw a post (somewhere recently?) about getting your Tourist Visa all filled out online, printed out and then it only has to be stamped at the border. I am wondering that too. Goflyafike that just did it.....I'll see what he did...

found it...reprinted from The View:

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For those of you driving across the border and will be in need of an FMM, or Mexican Visa, the following web site will guide you through the process of obtaining it online. Fill out the forms (click on the English button), make a credit card payment, receive email confirmation and download link, download and print the Visa and have it stamped at the border. This will alleviate the need to go through this process at the border saving potential hassles and time. I just did it, very simple!
https://www.bajabound.com/before/permit ... online.php

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If you do it online let me know how it goes

SWEET!

thanks! yeah i might try cutting through san felipe this year, then. bahia los angeles was a pretty fun flat water spot to sail, on the way as well...