San Felipe

On our first full day in San Felipe, we woke up early and watched the sun rise. We sat on the beach and watched as the fishermen came out onto the sandy beach to launch their fishing boats. These men have it down to a science. There are no docks here, so they literally pull up onto the sandy beach at full speed to get to the hard packed sand near the water. They launch the boats and jam right back out the way they came. The entire launch and departure takes less than 2 minutes. It’s amazing. During some of the launches I thought for sure, they were going to lose a vehicle into the ocean. Surely one of the vehicles was going to be swept out to sea.

We finally started to get our butts in gear and went exploring a little later in the day. The town is pretty small, but it’s spread out. The Malecon is beautiful but the weather was cold. I was hoping that being south of the American border it would be at least a bit warmer so I could put on a pair of shorts. That never happened. It was cold. So cold in fact, that we actually had to wear down jackets and beanies. We went to what appeared to be a shrine overlooking the ocean. We found out that it was the Shrine of Guadalupe, a place people come to pray for the fishermen lost at sea. Directly behind it sat a ship boneyard with just a few small ships.

Our RV site at Kiki’s was filled with Canadians who are snowbirding. They spend the months of November-March out here. They’ve developed their own community and were so welcoming when we arrived. There was a very nice lady who had all of her sewing stuff out. I got nosy and asked if I could watch, as I’d never learned to sew. She set aside time to teach me how to thread a machine, sew pieces of fabric together, mend seams and make bags. I was so proud of myself. I sent pictures home to my mom and showed her my progress. From never having sewn anything to making a bag and mending seams!

These Canadians have been coming down here for decades and they know of all the best places to eat and they even know when each restaurant has specials. On their advice, we went for lunch and had THE BEST Fish Tacos at Mariscos La Playa. They were cheap and overfilled with fish. For the price and quality, this place could not be beat (at least, in my opinion). To get there, you have to go up a set of nondescript stairs that lead you to the second story dining area that looks out to the beach. Beautiful view with delicious and cheap food, what more could you ask for? We did do a “Taco Tuesday” at Fat Boys. They serve essentially Gringo Tacos. They are very similar to what you’d get at Taco Bell, but they’re fresh. Even the Taco shells are fresh. On Wednesday at the Barefoot Bar, they have Filet Mignon night, where you get a margarita, 6 oz. filet mignon dinner and flan dessert for $15 USD. They have live music and Kaden danced his little heart out! The best thing about this place was absolutely the view. Located right on the beach you can watch the waves crash just beyond the restaurant.

We spent days clamming, building sand castles on the beach, fishing and riding around exploring the town. Our evenings were spent with the Canadians sitting in a huge group talking and sharing experiences with each other. We had such a great time, our 2 day stint ended up turning into 8 days.

On the final day, we had actually thought about staying for another couple of nights, but ultimately decided that we wanted to start heading South. We packed up our things and headed out the next morning to Puertecitos.