The Seven Sisters

Another big day on the road chasing the sun got us to Santa Rosaliíta at sundown where a stop at Jessy (the name of the tiny market) provided us with some cold beer and some rough suggestion of where to camp for the evening, just north of the seemingly abandoned airport project.

We drove around on dirt roads like a drunk looking for a light switch, until finally finding a steep entrance to the beach and the way to the point break.  The entrance is right on the the curve of the paved road entering town, and easy to miss. On one of our searches, we accidentally turned into private property where were were greeted by a Mexican man with a rifle (in a bright orange gun case, but still a little unnerving) who spoke great English and steered us in the right direction.

Luckily a fellow traveller named Isaac, a New Zealander on his motorcycle, had built a fire at his little tent spot on the sand which finally led the way to a nice camping area. Aside from a fair amount of trash, this spot turned out to be very relaxing and beautiful.  We stayed 2 nights and surfed the break, one of the Seven Sisters.

Next we headed north on what the map showed as a “developed dirt road” but was really a huge pile of deep and loose gravel that made for very slow going.  We were aiming for Punta Prieta, a surf break with a charming looking lighthouse, surrounded by white sand beaches and at a small town called El Marron.  Access to El Marron is by driving across the beach which was a little unnerving but also quite fun.  We drove up around lunchtime and found 5 extremely sad looking houses which comprised the entirety of the town.  We drove onto the small dirt “road” in front of the houses but had to turn around because the road was completely blocked by a white Ford Ranger – apparently the designated parking spot for the town.  Not a single soul came out of their house to greet what had to be the first visitors in a while.  It wasn’t even siesta time yet.  We parked on the beach and decided to take a little hike up to the lighthouse.  The hike was beautiful but smelled like human feces the entire way so it was pretty clear where the residents of those 5 houses came to do their business.  We returned to the truck, ate a quick meal of PB&Js, and made the decision to keep moving on to Punta Lobos, a totally secluded point break an hour or two north on the deep gravel road.  We drove away still having not seen a single resident of El Marron.

We drove into Punta Lobos and it was like the sun had parted the clouds and the angels were singing “ahhhhhhhhhhh!”.   There were no other campers, and we had the run of a huge campsite right on the water on the remnants of some Bermuda grass someone at some point took the time to plant and water.  We were instantly in love with the place.  The waves were gentle and forgiving and provided some really pleasant surf sessions.

Nina and Ted both swam in the surf and had a great time.  Jen and I each got in a trail run up above the point.  We’d learned how to park our truck and set up our campsite to maximize shade and minimize wind.  We’d learned how to maximize the charge on our Goal Zero solar-charged battery (via solar panels) and keep our refrigerator/cooler cold enough to properly store food.  We felt good about everything and stayed 3 nights.

 

In the wee hours of the morning after the 3rd night, Nina woke up from a nightmare and asked to climb in bed with us.  Of course we obliged, and she crawled in between us, cuddled up for about 60 seconds, then made a face and said “You guys stink. I want to go back to my bed.”  Time for a shower, I guess!  We had been carrying 10 gallons of water, and we were within danger of running out, so we decided to go back to civilization.  There were more Sisters to be had, but we felt like we had a good run of wild beach camping and surfing and wanted to get on with our progress south.

On the slow drive back down the deep gravel road, we were suddenly passed by a speeding white Ford Ranger – the same one that was blocking the road at El Marron!  The bed of the truck was full of the morning’s seafood catch, and the driver was likely headed to market.

We drove into the Pemex at Villa Jesus Maria with the plastic gas can empty, the jerry can still full, and some non-zero amount of gas in the tank.  We were still happy to have been on the safe side with the extra gas.

Spent the night at a hotel in Guerro Negro, exciting only because all 4 of us got showers!