Baja 2025 Trip Report

We just returned from our THIRD annual Flying Monkey Mexico trip!

What a blast. We had lots of interest in the trip this year again, with several returning members making the trek all the way down the Baja peninsula to Loreto. We even had one member and his wife fly all the way from the Portland area for this trip! We had a few last minute cancellations due to illness, airplane mechanical issues, and weather but still had a great showing.

The trip was eventful even before it started as the day before departure we saw an "out of fuel" NOTAM at our fuel stop and Airport of Entry San Felipe! I had been coordinating with the office there for weeks and had given them a solid estimate of our fuel needs so this was a huge suprise! I managed to get in touch with them and they said that they were trying to save us the remaining 340 gallons of AvGas. But we decided the safest thing to do would be to stop at Imperial KIPL just north of the border to top off in case San Felipe would run out.

The flight down was beautiful. A few of us were able to coordinate flying down at similar times and we either flew entrail or saw each other at the Imperial KIPL fuel stop or at San Felipe to clear customs. Daniel at MMSF had received all of our paperwork (AIU applications) and was very organized and efficient about processing us. On the return trip I had a nice chat with him and he expressed interest in making things even easier for our members in the future. They really want us to stop there to clear and are going out of their way to help make it easy for us. This is really great news for future trips and we have a direct line with them.

We all landed at Loreto, fueled up to be ready for our next flights and met up for rooftop drinks and then a very nice dinner at Ocotillo restaurant. The staff there was incredible and very welcoming.

We had a nice relaxing day on Saturday in the Loreto Bay area chatting with some Flying Monkeys and then making our way to the town of Loreto where we met up with most of the group for dinner at the (now) legendary Tacos Los Poblanos. A true local and authentic experience, this meal was incredibly delicious. We followed this up for ice cream at a local shop close by.

Sunday was an early start with everyone meeting at the Loreto airport for filing flight plans and paying the overnight parking fee. We briefed the one hour flight to the Laguna San Ignacio airstrip and flew in sequence over there. I can't believe we were able to carry SIX ADULTS in the Cherokee 6 while keeping under Max gross and having 1.5 hours of fuel reserves!

It was nice and smooth at 6,500 ft across the peninsula and the field was in great condition. A few members experienced their first time landing on dirt (and with a decent wind to boot).

Our group did great on the comms and adapting to the situation when 2 caravans departed the airport with less than ideal comms and traffic pattern standardization! After landing safely the van picked us up and we went whale watching.

The staff at Kuyima told me that this year due to some climate change pattern and colder water, there were far fewer babies and mothers in the lagoon. They've only counted 2 babies and mothers this year. So our experience was very different this time. While we saw SO MANY whales up close, they did not curiously approach the boats like last year. It was still incredible to be so close to these magnificent creatures in such a special setting. Because of the wind and slightly choppy water on the way back, it was a pretty wet ride for a few of our group!!! Next time we will call out bringing rain jackets! 🤣

After drying off and eating a nice lunch provided by the whale camp, we loaded up and flew back to Loreto. You can see some shots of the takeoffs on my Instagram. The flight back was beautiful with the low afternoon sun and thanks to everyone's cooperation throughout the day we managed to make it back well before sunset!

Those staying in Loreto Bay met up on the Aventuras Hotel rooftop bar for drinks and dinner bites.

The flight back on Monday was in all honesty a pretty rough one! 40-50 knot headwinds and all altitudes slowed us down and caused moderate and sometimes severe turbulence. Luckily those stronger areas didnt last very long and were fairly predictable based on observing the terrain. We stopped in San Felipe for our exit paperwork and fuel and then cleared US customs at Calexico where the winds were gusting into the 30s. North of the border the winds calmed down a little and the ride became smooth. Made it back home mid afternoon and was glad to be on the ground after a long day of flying. I crashed out pretty hard when we got home after such a fun and exciting weekend.

Once again it was super fun sharing this adventure with those who made it. It's a really special trip and I'm grateful to everyone who makes it what it is. If you're interested in coming on this or other adventures (hopefully will be doing more than 1 Mexico adventure per year), don't forget that Captain level members have priority for limited space trips. Upgrading your Patreon membership is an easy process!