Camp on San Ignacio Lagoon
What is camp life like? Above is a whales eye view of camp with all the important areas labeled.

The big tent in the center labeled Dinner "Hall" is the activity area. It is one of the desert storm tents and it houses a community area where we have our meals and meet for lectures from the naturalists. The flaps at the ends of the tent can open up for ventilation or close down for warmth. The tent is "el" shaped and one arm houses the kitchen. It is amazing to see what they have hauled in on the boats to make our stay comfortable.

This picture on the left is of the interior of the tent, taken in 1993 when Amanda went to camp.

The food is varied and each of you will be asked to fill out a form on any food allergies, special requirements and dislikes. Much of the fresh produce will come with us on the plane.

Solar power brings many convinces to camp, such are charging camera batteries, but leave you hair dryer or other appliances in San Diego.

The picture above shows the exterior of the "dinning hall" in the background as Jen and Bob enjoy a beer and watch the sun go down.

The "rooms" are nice size tents that allow you to stand up inside and Karen does a lot to make them comfy.

  • The beds are cots with foam pads on top. Baja Discovery provides sleeping bags and pillows with clean sheets and pillow covers. The sheets are attached to the interior of the bags with Velcro. If you haven't slept in a sleeping bag lately, it won't take long before you remember that it is a bit of a challenge to roll over in the middle of the night. Bob and I have just come back from Iceland where we spent 6 weeks in sleeping bags, so we are a little more accustomed to them.
  • There will be solar powered lights in the tents, but you will have to bring your own flashlight (or torch, as some folks say). But that will come later when we do the packing lists.
  • There are doormats on the outside of the tents to wipe your feet on. They also provide Wisk brooms for those who wish to tidy up their tent. Your feet get wet coming out of the boats and then collect a lot of sand as you walk to your tent.
  • You will learn all the camp rules when you get down there.
The pangas (boats) are fiberglass and operated by the local fishermen. Kuyima is the name of the operation at the lagoon that provides the boatmen. We have our own boatmen that stay out on the point with us. The boatmen like to play cards, one of their favorite games in Uno. You are welcome to join in, but be careful some of them cheat. Their primary language is Spanish, but they all speak enough English to get along. All of the naturalists speak English and many are from the States.
You shower in a little 2-room palapa; one room for changing and one for the shower. The "showers" are of solar heated rubber bags. They have large bags full of salt water and small bags with fresh water. The temperature of the water depends on how much the sun has shown that day and the outside temperature. You pick up your rubber bags and haul them to the shower. You shower with salt water, and then do a final rinse with the fresh water.

The toilets are "state of the art". In the picture at the top you see two plywood enclosures. Each one houses a solar powered marine toilet (just like on Randy's boat). There is plenty of seawater to help with the flushing mechanism. The enclosures even have small lights inside.
You will each be assigned a life vest before we enter the pangas, that you will keep for the duration your stay. You get a pillow, so you don't have to sleep with it.

Kelli models her life vest during her trip in 1997.
The picture on the right is the staff on our 1999 trip. As you can see they are a mix of locals and Americans. Some of the people in the picture will be down there when we are.
Full moon is March 18, so we may not be able to do much star gazing. They have a telescope, which we might get a chance to use. But the full moon does make it easier if you need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
One of the joys of the lagoon, a sunset.
Last Revised: Sat, Oct 5, 2002