San Quintin - Road Trip

For the past three years, we have driven down through Tucson, Nogales and Hermosillo to re-commission the boat and put her in the water. Marv did that before Thanksgiving, "sailed" Odyssey across to Santa Rosalia with Steve Terzian, flew back to San Carlos, then drove back to San Diego to join the family for the festivities.

So this year, we drove from San Diego, south on Mexican highway #1 on the Baja peninsula to pick up the boat in Santa Rosalia. The road was good, except for lots of bridge-building and construction south of Ensenada, and the (typical) narrow-to-non-existent shoulder the rest of the way.

We broke up the trip and spent the first night at El Molino Viejo (The Old Mill) in San Quintin. The motel is off the main highway, a couple of wash-board kilometers toward the ocean, but well worth the trip. Comfortable, welcoming, historically of note, we enjoyed our stay. Though we don't have photos, a performance of Christmas carols sung by a man with a wonderful tenor voice (and, when he asked, the audience sang with him) in the restaurant was a nice addition.

You can bring your boat all the way in from the Pacific, though most people who anchor in San Quintin do so outside this shallow tidal bay.