Exploring Baja - Week Five: La Paz thru Cabo to Punta la Tinaja

Another glorious morning on the La Paz waterfront - malecon

Day 29 – La Paz layover day

Took care of errands, downloaded entertainment on Wifi and Andy Zoomed.

La Paz was a great place to walk around, everyone was wearing masks, and city felt upbeat and friendly, It didn’t feel as over run by ex-pats as Loreto. Not usually city people (well, Andy isn’t) we were surprised how much we enjoyed it.

We did an excursion out to Playa Tecolote - north of La Paz to check it out as a camping spot. Although beautiful, by the end of the day we could sense the party brewing with battling radios blasting out of nearby pickups and decided we would leave it to the younger folks.

Playa Tecolote north of La Paz

Day 30 – La Paz to north of Cabo Pulmo – 2 ½ hours driving

Our original intention was to stay in Las Barillas at the Baja Sunrise RV Park. It had been recommended by several fellow travelers to us. In retrospect, we realized they were all in much bigger rigs. When we got there, we just couldn’t do it. It was a sandy parking lot with the beach view covered by semi-permanent RVs. They were also charging $25 to $40 a night depending on your parking space. We got back in the truck.

We chose the coastal route from there around the East Cape toward Cabo Pulmo and found a gorgeous beach site all to ourselves.

North of Cabo Pulmo. After seven months living in it, we are still obsessed with truck photos.

Day 31 – Cabo Pulmo – East Cape

As certified divers we wanted to check out the diving scene in Cabo Pulmo, but the weather was not in our favor – the seas were choppy and windy and we thought we were better off waiting for another time. The tiny town of Cabo Pulmo felt relaxed and very focused on taking people into the national park on diving or snorkelling trips.

Town of Cabo Pulmo

Tourist information

Cabo Pulmo National Park

We found another beautiful remote beach site, just south of the park. As far as we could tell and iOverlander folks were saying, any public access point from the road to the beach (usually short graveled or sandy tracks) was up for grabs as a camping location. There was heavy sand all along the beaches here but Andy aired down we were good to go.

Camping spot south of Cabo Pulmo on the beach. Beauty and solitude. For ever and a day.

Day 32 – East Cape to San Jose del Cabo – 1 ½ hours driving

We continued on the coastal road which was gravel – lots of washboards but good for any clearance vehicle. We appreciated the beauty of the East Cape while noticing the oceanside mansions growing in grandeur and frequency the closer we got to San Jose del Cabo.

Andy’s last week of work loomed so we booked an Airbnb for Wifi and turned to city life. Despite being a big spring break week, people had heeded the COVID warnings and the city was empty. We noted as we walked by empty shops and restaurants with the owners resting outside waiting for customers, that everyone greeted us with Bienvenidos (welcome), no hard sell to patronize, just a simple welcome.

Empty historic town center in San Jose del Cabo

Days 33 & 34 - layover days San Jose del Cabo

In between Andy’s work meetings, we managed a few fun outings.

San Jose del Cabo historic art district

San Jose del Cabo beach - a rarity - no people.

Day 35 - Drive San Jose del Cabo to Cabo San Lucas (45 minutes driving) then 20 minutes north to Punta la Tinaja

Feeling some remorse that we were about to head north again, we loaded up and left San Jose del Cabo. We stopped in Cabo San Lucas to wander a little bit and after an hour felt overwhelmed by the number of people, especially tourists, and escaped back to our truck

Twenty minutes north we found our private beach at Punta la Tinaja. We had been trying for Isla de Foca, an iOverlander site that had been recommended. Unfortunately, it looked like the property had recently been gated off and was being prepped for development. But we camped on the beach below the site and fell asleep to the crashing waves. Life felt extraordinarily complete. In the morning we ate breakfast watching whales breach in the distance.

Punta la Tinaja - looking back at the truck on morning walk.