Rose, my better half by far, my son Tyler, and I left Elko about 1:30pm PST in the Bearhawk bound for Hurricane, UT to meet up with Oso Loco (BCP Handle), his daughter, and Dr. Ron. Oso was a gracious host and invited us to stay at his new house which of course we accepted. Initially we planned to leave Thursday morning and rendezvous in Yuma, AZ mid-day. With Oso’s invitation, we decided to leave the day before and it was a good thing we did. Weather forecasts showed low ceilings, snow, and wind for Elko beginning that evening but we just beat low ceilings south of Ely and watched IMC roll into valleys just as we moved east into the next ones. That said, the ride was not fun with occasional moderate turbulence and 35 to 40 mph headwinds on average. We landed at Hurricane for fuel (mogas at $4/gal) then hopped a couple of miles over to Oso’s place for the evening. With decent internet access at his house we were able to file eAPIS and DVR flight plans for next day border crossings into MX as well as weather briefings.
The next morning we woke to worse than forecast winds that were very similar to the previous day. Maxed at 50 MPH for a while. We took 28M a little further north than Ron did in his 180 and met up with the Colorado River for a second time about 30 nm north of Laughlin, NV. Ron refueled in Laughlin and we just made a bushwheel comfort stop in the desert south of Lake Havasu. Both planes arrived in Yuma just before noon and refueled at the self-service pump and topped off with $3.50 100LL. Lunch at Million Air was great and we were soon on our way in loose formation across the border where we landed an hour later in San Felipe MX.
Upon arrival we taxied up to the pump where there was one plane ahead of us. We were of course asked for our paper work and after fueling proceed to the terminal where we paid for fuel (MX$18/l), cleared immigration, customs, obtained an annual multi-trip ($120) entry permit (same cost as a one-time entry permit) filed a flight plan ($10) and provided more paperwork, then returned to immigration, then on to customs to pay another $27 per person. It all went very smooth and everyone was great to interact with and very professional.
We departed for Gonzaga Bay (Alfonsinas) after about an hour at SF. We met up there with Jim and his dad Jerry who also were out of Salt Lake City (SLC) in a C-210 and with with our group. There were also 2 RV-10's there and a Barron from SLC and the SLC crowd all knew each other but had not planned the trip together, meeting up was just coincidence; they departed in the morning. The next day we relaxed and just spent the day at the Bay. It was a great place to recharge after the previous 2 days flying. Day 3 we headed to the west coast of Baja to see the California Gray Whales that come to Lagoons to calf each year. We flew over a lot of shore line and open water so wore inflatable life jackets that Ron was good enough to loan us. The wind continued and by the time we landed the waves on the lagoon were white capping. I elected to stay on shore as I don’t do well in boats when the water is rough. Everyone else went, some assisted by Dramamine. They returned 2.5 hours later all smiles and we then had a great lunch with a choice of scallops or fish. By that time the winds were diminishing and we departed for Mulege for an overnight at the Hotel Serenidad. They have a pig roast every Saturday night so enjoyed that with the other guests buffet style. It is really nice to fly in, taxi to parking, right at the hotel. There was also a group of medical practitioners there and about 20 planes when we arrived.
The next morning Ron and I both departed solo for Loretto to get fuel. While there we met up with a friend of M6R6V’s. Fuel in Loretto was MX$15 per liter. Loretto looked to be a really nice town and I made a mental note to spend more time there on the next trip. We returned to Mulege to pick up our passengers to begin the return trip to the US. We overnighted again at Alfonsinas where we enjoyed another relaxing stay on the Bay. One thing to note here are the large tidal swings. At the highest tides, the runway becomes mostly submerged with a few inches of water so best to park above the high tide line or at the Rancho Grande strip next door! I did fly over to Rancho Grande to buy autofuel before leaving to see the Whales. Fuel worked out to about $4/gal before I got hit with a $10 landing fee. I couldn’t taxi to the pumps so used the ABW fuel bags to carry fuel to the plane. The caretaker helped and also loaned a ladder to the operation so I tipped him $5 for his efforts.
Monday we departed for the US and had a short 55 min flight to San Felipe. We fueled and got ready to depart when I realized I hadn’t filed eAPIS back to the US. My cell phone wouldn’t dial out so I borrowed Ron’s Irridum Satellite phone and got in touch with Baja Bush Pilots (Highly recommend joining and using their eAPIS service if going to MX) who had my manifest stored from our entry trip. They were able to file for me but I had to wait an hour before departure. In the meantime we used 2” wide blue masking tape to install the obligatory 12-inch numbers. When we left, I managed to reach Prescott Radio after about 20 minutes and open the DVFR flight plan. We landed in Yuma and headed to Customs where the inspector greeted us and was professional and pleasant to deal with. We followed him inside for the passport review where I received a phone call from ATC asking me if I was aware that I had to contact ATC and obtain a discrete transponder code before crossing the border. Well the obvious answer to that was no, so I was politely told very clearly to be sure I do that for future trips. Somehow I think I’ll remember that next time.
Since Ron and Oso left SF an hour ahead of us, they were taxing out as we taxied in from the fuel pumps. Up to this point we had the same head winds as the first day for nearly the entire trip. Our hats were off to them as they headed into that with the intent of reaching SLC before dark. They made it as far as Hurricane.
We were really glad that we’d made plans to visit BCP’er Rob while in Yuma so we grabbed a hotel and rental car and went to meet up with Rob and his wife for a tour of his new landing strip, and dinner. Rob’s new strip is like paradise in the desert with lush green turf and a quiet setting. After eating our fill of Pescado on Baja, we had some great local Pizza courtesy of the owner, Rob’s better half. Rob had to work that night but got a few hour reprieve because of the winds. Thanks Rob, we enjoyed the visit!
Knowing the winds were forecast to be the same headwind that had dogged us for the past 6 days, we got an early start hoping to win an hour or 2 of no wind. No dice, those winds slowed us all the way to Beatty, NV before we finally got out from under them. A quick comfort stop there, then on to Tonopah for fuel and lunch. Mark, the FBO owner was good enough to loan us his truck for the drive to town. The rest of the flight home was scenic and smooth with no headwinds! After nearly 1,800 miles of headwinds that was a welcome relief!
I must say everyone we met in Mexico was friendly and treated us very well. We really enjoyed the people. Like others have posted before, once you get used to the added bureaucracy and rather minor fees it really isn’t much of a hassle and sort of adds to the experience. Having said that, I can see where even a minor mechanical issue or event could turn into a large inconvenience due to the relative lack of infrastructure in Baja and the distances involved. I felt I need to mention that in case any of you are considering a trip. Be prepared and travel with other planes if possible. I was also really glad Ron had a SAT phone along. Getting back into the US can be a pain without internet service and they say you can’t file eAPIS more than 23 hours in advance. Ron did and it worked for him. Next time I’ll be sure mine is in place well ahead of time, too.
The link to the trip photo's is reposted here for easy reference:
http://imgur.com/a/Emxda
For more pre-departure info, the trip was also discussed on this thread before we left:
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/flying-to-baja-18697?p=261172#p261172
BR
