In Baja California Sur, Laguna de San Ignacio is a key destination for many – it’s a prime location for spotting gray whales during their winter migration. Every year, these incredible creatures travel more than 10,000 miles between their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic and the coastal lagoons of the southern Baja peninsula. When we decided to van life down Baja, we were excited to realize that our timing would sync up with the chance to see gray whales in the wild!
Laguna de San Ignacio is an hour and a half drive from the colonial town of San Ignacio, with the last 10 miles or so on washboard dirt roads. There are several places to camp and whale watch given the remote location, but we opted for one that came highly recommended: Ecoturismo Kuyimá.
The Campground
Ecoturismo Kuyimá is a community-based organization started by Ejido Luis Echeverría Álvarez in 1990. His goal was to create the opportunity for ecotourism in the largest natural protected are in Latin America, El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve.
Upon arrival, our host David greeted us. We had already spoken to their staff at the San Ignacio downtown office, so he knew we were coming to camp in our van and do a whale watching tour the next day. David showed us the available campsites, and then provided an overview of the amenities (see below).
In addition to car camping spots, Ecoturismo Kuyimá offers comfortable tents set up for two with sleeping bags, cotton sheets, cots and pillows, for rent, but you can also bring your own. (While I didn’t get a chance to check these out, Steven and I did have a laugh that the tents and remote location reminded us of the disaster that was the Fyre Festival. Rest assured, this place is nothing like that!)
Amenities
For being such a remote spot, the amenities are plentiful here. There’s a restaurant on site, where you can order breakfast, lunch or dinner – or bring in your own meals. The restaurant is simple, offering basic meals, soda, wine, cocktails or beer. There’s always free coffee from morning until night, as well as purified water and hot water for tea. Besides the restaurant, there’s a small gift shop on the property that has basic supplies, snacks, clothing and other trinkets. While we didn’t get a chance to go visit, there’s an oyster farm nearby that provides a tour and a dozen oysters for $50 pesos! We ultimately ordered some from the restaurant.
The bathrooms are environmentally friendly, with bucket flush toilets. That basically means that after doing your business, there’s a bucket of water next to the toilet where you take a cup and scoop it into the toilet. Then you flush. The restrooms were always stocked with toilet paper, which is saying a lot – there have been many campgrounds in Baja where you must bring your own.
Ecoturismo Kuyimá also has bucket showers on site. This was a first for us! Right outside the showers, there is a hot water heater where you can fill up a bucket with hot or cold water. Then you carry the bucket into your shower stall, where there’s a small cup to use. It took a bit of coordination – especially since we didn’t want to run out of water! But since this is the way we could take showers outside of our van, we got the hang of it pretty quickly.
The biggest draw to the campground is obviously the whale watching tour! On our second day, we went out on the boat with Captain Shoppy and spotted many gray whales. You can read more about our adventure here.
Cost
It’s really affordable to camp out at Ecoturismo Kuyimá — $8 U.S. dollars per person, per night. They do not charge for the kiddos. If you are camping with Ecoturismo Kuyimá’s gear, which includes a tent, sleeping bags, cots, cotton sheets and pillows, it’s $40 per tent for two people.
The whale watching boat tour – which is what you’re really there for – is $55 dollars per person per trip. The boys were each half off.
Overall, Ecoturismo Kuyimá is well-organized and a beautiful spot to hang out and camp. All of the staff there are super friendly, and especially good with kiddos. If you’re looking for a whale-watching tour while in Baja, this is the place to be!
