Traveling with Legends | Todo Bien EP.05
Welcome back for week 5 of Todo Bien. We took a much needed break in the realse schedule last week to let us get caught up on post production. Let’s jump right in.
Puerto Adolpho sign near the dock to the boats
After we parted ways with our friend Kirk, we headed south along the coast and came across the small town of Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos. It’s known for its whale watching, this small port town is one of Baja’s premiere places for see Ballenas Grises, or Grey Whales. Obviously, we decided to stop and see the whales.
We paid to camp in the parking lot of the port for a small fee. We arrived too late in the evening to go out the day we arrived, so we decided to stay the night and go out in the morning. The small plaza on the water was lively with music, food stalls, and skateable pavement. That evening we watched the sun set over the water, skated, and eat more than should have.
In the morning, we woke up early to be one of the first boats on the water. The protected cove had more whales in it than we could count. It was so cool to be able to see them up close and personal. But the most moving part, was being able to feel their breath reverberate through your body. But that closeness made us realize that perhaps we shouldn’t be this close. These whales come to these warm, shallow waters to raise their young. We both left with the feeling that maybe it isn’t the best for the whales that we were out there. But as we arrived back at the dock, it was clear how many people’s livelihoods relied on these whales. A complicated issue, like so many in life.
Moon over Baja
After we wrapped up our visit with the whales, we stopped in to check out a surf spot that had been recommended to me because it’s a point break that breaks in both directions. I am a goofy foot surfer, which means I put right foot forward on the board. In order for me to surf frontside, the wave has to be breaking to the left when you’re looking on shore. It’s far more common in Baja for point breaks to break going right, so a goofy foot break is a rare treat.
MAK surfing alone, frontside, for the first time since being in Baja
When we arrived, I was surprised to see that no one was in the water with such perfect little waves rolling in. Apparently, we were arriving just as the swell was ending. So I was picking up the very tail end of the waves. For a few hours, I had the place all to myself, it was glorious.
As the swell was ending, I got a message from our friends Mali Mish, a family of five and two cats who have been traveling full time for the last 14 years. They’re a huge inspiration of ours and we are so lucky to have them as friends. They asked if we would be coming to La Paz anytime soon as they wanted to see us before catching the ferry to Main Land Mexico.
Luca, Lenox, and Owen walking the beach
We were just a little over an hour from them, so it was a no brainer. We made the small drive to La Paz for a week with the Mali Mish family and the Akela World family. Akela World is made up of Leander, Maria and Lenox. They’ve been circumnavigating the globe since 2016 and we had the pleasure of meeting them back in 2020, right before COVID.
Luca with the day’s catch
Leander, who is an avid spearfisher, took us out a few times to catch fish for the whole group. Thankfully we were successful, and many of our dinners were made up of the fish that we’d caught that day. It was a fun process of waking up, fishing, catching your own food, then preparing it that night.
It was such a treat to be surrounded by such accomplished travelers for a while. Owen and I decided to come down to Baja for three months as a trial run for full time international travel. The Mali Mish and Akela World families were prime examples of what going for it looks like, and with families no less. We both soaked up so much inspiration from them while we were together.
The rigs at sunset on the beach
Our little camp lineup
While we were sitting still here, Chase, Aimee, & Levi caught up with us. They had been in Baja for a few weeks but had focused their time on areas further north, as always, they were looking for trout. They had had a rough go of things thus far in their Baja trip, so I’m sure it was nice to finally be able to slow down for a little while.
Everyone standing around a fire at the end of a long day
Long walks on the beach, playing in the shore break with the kids, and beautiful sunsets made for an incredibly relaxing time together.
Sunset over the water
We said sad farewells as we had all reached the end of our food supply. It was tough to go our own separate ways, but the road always has a way of bringing us back together again.
We then headed to the town of Todos Santos with Chase & Aimee. Even though Todos Santos is a bit of a tourist town, its adorable and is home to some incredible food that we couldn’t pass up. So we made a stop for a few days. Even though there are no photos, we spent a fair bit of time in town skating. It was such a blast to do something we love with such a beautiful backdrop.
Thank you so much for following along! We hope that you enjoyed this post and the video! Join us next week for episode 6!
Love, MAK
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Presenting Sponsors
We’ve now been living out of a flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 5 years. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that our FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all our years on the road! If you reach out to them, tell them MAK & Owen sent ya!
Power and power management are key to living and working full time from the road. Our mobile lives run on a Redarc Manager 30. It’s a state-of-the-art battery management system that charges and maintains auxiliary batteries by incorporating AC, DC and solar inputs. We’re not sure where we’d be without it!
Supporting Sponsors
When you go to travel through Mexico by car, you need Mexican car insurance. Baja Bound is our all time favorite car insurance. We’ve used Baja Bound for every single one of our trips south of the border. We’re proud to have them as a sponsor for Todo Bien!
If you’re looking to get into overland travel, inspiration, education, or gear Overland Expo is our favorite event series that happens all around the US every year. We love attending as there is always something new to learn, innovation to see, and incredible people to meet!
Our entire life is powered by Dakota Lithium. They make the best lithium batteries and are an essential part of our power system that enables us to work from the road! Dakota Lithium makes the biggest capacity batteries for the footprint which enables us to have twice the power in the same footprint.
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
