Travel to El Golfo, de Santa Clara, Mexico

It's a 65 mile trip from the border town of San Luis to El Golfo De Santa Clara. The road is a fair to poor but paved 2 lane road with lots of slow farm equipment to navigate around. Pay attention to the signs! Get Mexican Insurance and drive defensively! We buy insurance at the border. Also, gas up at the border in the US. The Mexican gas is usually a poorer grade but is acceptable. Also, you need 4WD to drive on the beach and check the tides and head down the beach at low tide or when it's going out.

There are plenty of places South of town to camp on the beach. Just pay attention to the high tide marks and setup above them. For the past few years, the Mexican Military have been trying to keep the campers and ATV folks on the beach in stead of inland in the dunes so you may want to check with the local policia before setting up camp very far inland.

You may have to wait to return and stay away from the estuaries, they will get you stuck real quick. There are several military checkpoints to pass through on the road, just don't bring anything like fireworks or drugs along, be very polite to the military and you should be OK. Do not bring any firearms with you either. You will end up in a Mexican jail if they are discovered. Sometimes they do search your vehicle at the military checkpoints along the road. We travel in a group and try to be friendly to everyone. Remember, you are in Mexico not the US. The Mexican military are present along the road and also close to town and they rule.

Very little information is available about El Golfo, as it is not a normal tourist destination. There are a few RV parks, but very poor quality. Basically it is a very poor fishing village. Bring everything you need including water and camping equipment. The beach area is trashed in places but varies from year to year. South of town there is nothing (I mean NOTHING) but beach and desert for 30+ miles. There is a lighthouse about 28 miles down the beach and it is a neat day trip. Again pay attention to the tides. There is a Tide Chart at the El Capitan Bar on the Beach on the South side of town.

When you get there, if it's during the week, the beach will be deserted but on warm weekends in the spring and early summer, there are hundreds of folks around, mostly at the Lighthouse to watch the crazies on the sand dunes.

We bring all out own food and water but others in the group do eat at the local restaurants (there are 3-4 of them) with varying degrees of success from year to year. We haven't had any incidences of theft but we try to have someone in camp most of the time.

We don't do much in the water. There are plenty of jellyfish and stingrays. Almost every year someone gets stung. But some folks in the group do go swimming.

Also if you can, bring vehicle spare parts like axles, hubs, clutch plates, belts, etc. and extra tires in case of breakdowns. We had a clutch go and had to make a cell phone call to San Diego for parts.

The return across the border into the US again will take 2-4 hours plus the drive time so plan ahead.

That's about it, It's a great experience, but you have to go prepared.

There are photos here for our trips from 1995 to 2000.

Wendi Kawa 6/20/02