Whale Watching to Tijuana

Finally, a photo update! This morning we woke up, hit the road, and crossed the border. It was a little more involved than that of course, but the actual crossing part was rather easy. We ended up crossing in Tijuana instead of Tecate though, and I have to say there were a lot less roving bandits and tumbleweeds than I had expected.

Enjoy the pics!

World expeditionist and ceaseless adventurer, Arthur J. Fanshaw ready at the bow!

Cute, be-whiskered, and STINKY, wow.

Whales were spotted by the spray they puffed out of their blowholes before their head surfaced, closely followed by their back. Some of them would stay at the surface for a few breaths like this before diving deep and swimming far away again. It seemed we were always chasing the spray, trying to get close enough to see the whale. A few times we got close enough to see their bodies under the water. A few times they would raise their tails high enough for us to see. They were amazing despite not getting a super good look.

Large birds of prey of some sort that built their nest at the top of this pole that sticks out of the water in the middle of the bay/lagoon.

Guerrero Negro, the town we stayed in for the whale watching, is actually known for it's salt. They trap lagoons of water and let it evaporate, a process that takes months, and then they scoop up the salt, wash it, then load it onto barges for delivery all over the world.

On the road to Ensenada. The landscape turned into forests of cactus and succulent plants of all types. It was amazing. The earth was red and brown, spotted with boulders, and treed with cacti.

More cactus.

And more cactus.

There is a MASSIVE flag in Ensenada and this was the only way I could get a photo of it. If you stood at the base and tried to put your arms around it, they would perhaps fit around half the diameter of the flag pole.

On the road from Ensenada to Tecate. The land was full of vineyards and wrinkled mountains covered in green. It was SO beautiful.

More landscape.

The view on our way into Tecate. This is a border town but we discovered we couldn't cross here because we needed to get our deposit back that we had to pay in order to bring vehicles into the country and they had no office at this particular border crossing.

After we loaded the motorcycle into the back of the truck so we could all be together at the Tijuana border crossing, Shawn noticed this guy sitting beside the fence watching us all. This picture hardly does him justice as he is actually a MASSIVE mastiff. I knelt down to see him and he was larger than I was in that position.

On the way into Tijuana, just a random photo out the window.

Looking back behind us at the border crossing in Tijuana. You can hardly tell from this photo but there are actually eight or so lanes of traffic and it goes back for blocks behind us. Back under that bridge was where the street was lined with market stalls packed with goods that guys were trying to sell to you while you inched along in your lane. They were walking up and down the lanes offering blankets, statues, candies, churros (donut type things), and other souvenirs. It was crazy!

We are staying in San Diego tonight and hitting Sea World tomorrow morning. There will be more photos soon!