February 2022 - Puerta Penasco, Mexico

 A mere three hour drive from Yuma to Ajo, Arizona and down Highway 8 to the Gulf of California, one will find a port city called Puerta Penasco or Rocky Point.  Brett purchased a 5-night stay in a three bedroom condo for $1,000 last year for the week of February 7 - 12. Polls, Davis', Simonsens, and us drove there to have a wonderful experience.  The weather is about the same as Yuma and the ocean breezes make it a little cooler in the evenings.  The ocean water is quite cold this time of year so it was just the pool and the hot tub.

In years past, we would not hesitate to drive through Mexico, but the immigration problems and cartels are taking over the road routes, so we hesitated a little.  No need to worry.  There are hundreds of Americans driving this route and staying in the beautiful little city.  The only prohibition for us were guns and ammo.  Easy - don't take them.

Driving through the small towns I again was thankful for all of our blessings, prosperity and education.  It's a hard life selling trinkets or running a restaurant or washing car windows at stop signs, or . . . .  The town of Puerta Penasco is built along some beautiful sandy beaches and some very rocky reefs.  It's a contrast in geography and the layout of the city is without the use of a good surveyor and city planner.  But, it works and it was a very pleasant city.

This is Rodeo Drive.  Typical street.

The pool from our 10th story window.

Lori had never been in a foreign grocery store and watching her look for things that were familiar or even worth purchasing was a delight.  Everyone spoke very good English so language was not a problem.

There were a couple of activities we wanted to do:  whale watching (The whales are in the gulf this time of year along with the dolphins.) and laying on the beach.  We added two other activities - riding ultralights and eating.

Whale Watching

We sent the guys to the harbor to rent a boat and find out how this is done.  On Wednesday, we loaded up and met our boat.  Wear your mask from the harbor entrance to the boat and then discard.  What a joke, but no mask no boarding the boat.

Brett is not a whale.

We did see the back of a few whales, but nothing really exciting.  The dolphins win!!

Ultra Lights

Every day we would see these ultralight aircraft fly by buzzing the water and chasing the seagulls, swooping along at rooftop height, circling the seashore and whizzing by our 10th floor rooms.  It took all of us Googling to finally find where they were coming from - a five minute ride from our condo.  Theron wanted to ride for sure, the rest of us were, well, a little afraid.  After seeing Theron take off, problem solved, we all had to have a ride.  It was a blast!!!

I recommend this as the best way to see Puerta Penasco.

All the food was terrific - Mexican, steaks, wood fired pizza, pina coladas, fish tacos, and fried ice cream.  Most of the time, we could eat on balconies with great views.

We also walked the town and bought our souvenir shirts and trinkets.

Coming out of Mexico toward Ajo, you travel through the Organ Pipe National Cactus Park.  Wow, these cactus are fantastic to look at.  Tall ones with arms are about 100 years old.

We are standing in front of an organ pipe cactus.  The picture below is an organ pipe cactus.