San Ignacio

Underground springs make San Ignacio one of the most verdant spots in Baja California. Date palms and flowering shrubs are a welcome sight after hours of driving through a beautiful but starkly barren desert whose vegetation consists mostly of towering cacti. This tiny town has a small central square dominated by the Misión San Ignacio, which was founded in 1728 by Jesuit priests. The attraction of San Ignacio is that it’s the closest town for visiting the whales in San Ignacio Lagoon (about a two-hour, rough drive beyond the town). There are no hotels on the lagoon, only tent camps. There are four tent camps on the lagoon. All are without electricity or private bathrooms. They only provide very basic communal bathrooms and showers (with limited warm water). Two of the camps, one owned by Baja Discovery and the other by Baja Expeditions, cater to clients on charter airline tours from San Diego. Two other camps, one owned by Ecoturimo Kuyima and the other by Baja Ecotours, are available for the independent traveler. Ecoturismo Kuyima has an office on the square in San Ignacios opposite the church and offers single or multi-day whale-watching tours (email: kuyima@prodigy.net.mx, website: www.kuyima.com). Baja Ecortours offers tent accommodations at their Campo Cortez with a minimum stay of two nights and has an office in California for making reservations (tel: USA 877-560-2252, email: info@bajaecotours.com, website: www.bajaecotours.com). In addition to independent travel, Baja Ecotours can also arrange tours originating in San Diego or Loreto.RECOMMENDED PACING: To follow this itinerary we recommend eight nights. For those traveling independently, we suggest flying into Loreto and spending two nights there, giving you time to explore the town and then travel south to view whales at Bahía Magdalena. From Loreto, drive north to Guerrero Negro, where we recommend a stay of three nights in order to have two full days to take several whale-viewing outings. We then suggest driving south and settling in at Punta Chivato for three nights so that you have an entire day to look for shells along the beach and enjoy the beauty of the setting, and another full day to travel to Mulegé to explore the prehistoric caves. Depending on your departure from Loreto, it might be possible to drive directly from Punta Chivato to the Loreto airport (approximately two hours), or you might want to consider an overnight in Loreto, if you have a morning departure. Note: If you have a tendency for seasickness, before your departure, you might want to ask your doctor about the advisability of purchasing Transderm patches, as the sea can be rough.