SAN JUANICO (SCORPION BAY), MX
San Juanico, better known to the world as Scorpion Bay. It is a small fishing village. But also, this is probably one of — if not the most famous, surf-spots in all of Baja. One of the most famous in all of Mexico probably. For good reason as well. Scorpion Bay is one of the most impressive waves that I have ever seen in my entire life, and I never even saw it really working. It's a pretty magical chain of 7 or more right-point breaks, that when there's enough size, have the potential to connect. Leading to a wave that is multiple miles long. Truly a thing of beauty. The town of San Juanico, as a result of the pedigree of wave, has see a lot of surfers come through over the years and developed as a result. There are a few restaurants here, lots of gringo houses, a bar or two, and places to rent rooms. But don't let that convince you that it is developed. There is still practically no cell service, the only gas station is as I call it, 'ghetto gas' — or gas out of a plastic bucket, the roads are dirt for the most part, and it's hours away from the nearest airport or large population center. The difficulty of access however doesn't keep the crowds away though —especially when a big swell comes. The people do as well. But San Juanico was a really cool and special place. There's loads of camping spots right along the cliff, a number of waves to choose from (more on that below), lots to explore, and usually a bunch of really cool people around. It's a little surf paradise. Again, not a whole lot to do here outside of surfing, so if you don't surf, I wouldn't say there is all that much to do. It's also quite a trek in. Was one of the longer driving days that we had in Baja. 4-6 hours on a dirt track through the desert to get here. More on that in the location section. But it was worth it for us. If you surf it will be worth it for you as well. It is likely one of the longest rights in the world.
This is probably the most important section when it's related to San Juanico. San Juanico is certainly not an easy place to get to. Especially if you are coming from the North. But there are a few ways to get in. If you look at it on a map you will see it is nowhere near one of the major highways. If you have been in Baja for a while at this point, you know what that means. Dirt. A lot of dirt. So there are two real ways to get here. Depending on where you are coming from the road will take you hours. No matter what you do you have a journey ahead of you. I will get into them below.
THE NORTH ROAD: I guess you can also refer to this as kind of the Ego road. If you want to do it the right way, so they say, you take the north road in. This is the hard way, the overlander way, the way you go when you have a car that can really handle Baja (as it goes at least!). It's an at least 100km slog over dirt and rock to get to San Juanico. You are off the highway the entire time.
- You make the turn-off at a town called 'San Ignacio', located right on highway 1. It's another oasis-town located in the center of the peninsula. It's actually a nice place to see in its own right. There's a little church, and it's an oasis that attracts some tourists. I got lunch before the long trip to San Juanico and nothing more. But gas up, water up, supply up. It's the last time you'll have access to this for a while.
- When you take the turn-off at San Ignacio, follow your directions to San Juanico. The road will be paved for about 50km's then will all of a sudden become dirt. It will stay dirt for the next 125 km's. This is wild desert. There is very little here in the form of civilization. There is an extremely large salt flat that you can and will drive over. It's pretty spectacular to drive to be honest. The drive may be long and 125 kms of dirt, but that's not to say it's not amazing. I fully recommend this way. It's harder, more dangerous, but you'll remember this as one of the coolest drives you did in Baja.
- The road itself is for the most part is nice. You can go about 60mph over the dirt if you want, it's so smooth. It's probably not good for your car and my exhaust pipe fell off upon arrival, but we were moving. This is obviously not the case for the entire road, but it's the majority of it. You will run into some patches of very deep sand that you should look to avoid if you can. But for the most part it's okay. Keep your eyes peeled for wild (or so I thought) horses, vast expanses of desert, tabletop mountains and more. It's a beautiful drive.
- You'll be alerted by a small sign that says 'San Juanico', when you arrive. The drive should take about 4-and-a-half hours after you leave the highway. But this can be much longer if you run into car trouble, go slow over the dirt, get lost or any of the many things that can go wrong out there go wrong. But you'll be fine — multiple people travel this road daily, so someone will help you if anything really goes wrong. Go have a fucking adventure. Below are a few shots of the beauty of the north road.
THE SOUTH ROAD: I took this road on the way out as if you are continuing south, you will do as well. Considering the journey that was the northern road you will be surprised at the ease of this road comparatively. It's paved out of San Juanico until you the dirt highway that will take you back to the paved highway 1. I remember laughing out loud at how much easier it was comparatively. If you are coming from Mulegé, this will be the shortest and easiest route to Scorpion Bay, but if you are not going to be passing through the Mulegé area, it will add at least 2 hours to your journey in. I backtracked from Mulegé, partly out of ignorance, and partly out of just wanting to do the great Northern Road.
- The southern road still isn't easy. It's mainly unpaved with at least 60 kms of dirt to deal with. But it's easy dirt and you could, and I knew people, who did it in small sedans. Notably, right as you exit highway 1 the road will begin to be dirt which can be a shock. Curiously enough, the final stretch into Scorps is paved though. You will take this all the way along the coast until you get into town. — Not sure why it's paved. Probably a plan they never finished. As is the story with Mexico.
- The turnoff from the 1 will not say 'San Juanico', it will say 'San Ysidro'. Just make sure you get off on the dirt road to San Ysidro.
- An added benefit of the southern road is there is a gas station about an hour out from San Juanico. It's where you will have to go if you don't want to fill up on 'ghetto gas'.
TIPS
- Bring cash. This is VITAL. Make sure you get money before coming into town. There is no ATM, almost everything is cash only, and the nearest access to an ATM is hours away. So bring all the money you think you will need. We forgot to get cash and ended up broke and relying on the kindness of strangers to survive for a few days, which is also fun. Maybe just show up without any money, and see what kind of adventure finds you.
- Gas Up. Fill up your gas and your extra before coming into town. There is gas, but it's a little more expensive, and comes out of plastic bottles. Best to fill up beforehand regardless.
- Food, get it before. Find a grocery store if you can. The supplies in San Juanico are slim, and they'll be pricier here. So if you can, bring your food in from outside.
- Tell your people you are going to be out of range. There's practically no cell reception or wifi so you're off grid. Well, not fully — but for the most part. This is a good thing!!
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
This place was pretty cool. It's the closest thing to a hostel vibe that I had seen in a long time. It's owned by an old dusty Baja guy, named Mike. The place has a bar, a pool table, comfortable little bungalows, running water (probably my first actual shower here in about a month — don't judge me). They have a really nice little kitchen you can stay in too. If you are coming through town and want a bed, and a warm shower, I personally wouldn't look any further than Cowabunga. Good vibes, cool owners, comfort.
You have options here. I would say the majority of people are camping. Down here in big rigs. Motorhomes. Some people camping out whole seasons here on the cliffs. But if you aren't doing that, there are hotel options, a hostel-like spot, and even some Airbnbs I'm sure. A few of the places I know of, including your camping options, are below. Outside of what I mention there are Aibnb rentals, and other hotels if you would like to look further than this.
Now the Scorpion Bay Campground is certainly the most popular place in town to stay. It's where almost all the campers are parked, and you can't miss it. It's usually pretty full. There's people who stay down here for months at a time. Waiting out those magic days. Which I will get into in the surf section. But this place is nice. There are facilities, showers, there's a restaurant here which is good whether you are staying there or not. But it is pretty expensive. Especially for camping. I personally couldn't stomach $15 per night. They also have a few little palapas and rooms they rent as well.
WILD SITES
Outside of the campgrounds of Scorpion bay, there are wild sites all over the place. The untouched beaches and dunes to the south, or the upper points of scorpion bay. Just pull up, park, and sleep. It'll be free — no one will bother you. Except for maybe an angry gringo if you parked in front of his big house to the northern end of the bay. But I wouldn't pay that much mind. Here is a photo of my brother sleeping in what I can imagine is one of the most uncomfortable positions imaginable at one of the aforementioned wild sites in the northern points.
EATS
There is pretty decent food in Scorpion Bay. A couple places that are designed and built well that cater to the gringos who spend a lot of time here. I found that there was no shortage of good and cheap food here. So it's not like other parts of Baja where you will be going hungry if you don't bring in your own food.
You'll have options here — not wide-ranging, pretty much tacos and Mexican, but you are in Mexico so that shouldn't surprise you. The tacos are great and the locally and more poorly lit, usually the better.
Restaurants
This is a nice little restaurant that is attached to the campground. They are a bar and restaurant right along the cliffs. The food is good, not too expensive, and will certainly fill you up after a long day of surfing. This is also where people will go at night to have a couple. Nice spot to get some food, meet some people, and get a little drunk.
Probably the 'coolest' restaurant in town. It's a little taco restaurant that is well-designed and kind of trendy to be honest. They have really nice tacos, and beer in a cool setting. Surfboards on the wall, a TV with surf videos playing, hammocks, wifi, etc. A cool place to grab some food or beers.
This was my favorite spot in town. It's a little hole-in-the-wall taco place, that was full of locals. That was obviously a good sign. She was making delicious tacos, tortas and burritos, and it was cheap. Recommend it highly.
NIGHTLIFE
You will be able to find some people getting drunk in places. The cantina will have a little bit of life some nights. But you don't come here for the nightlife.
SURFING
This is really why anyone comes to San Juanico, I guess I will start calling it Scorpion Bay. I think I intentionally called it 'San Juanico' on the menu page so that people might just scroll past not realizing this is where Scorpion Bay was and get confused. If you have made it this far, you are at the part of the guide which is the reason why anyone ever comes here. Scorpion Bay. It has to be one of the best waves in the world when it's working. But that's the thing — it has to be working. I had an old dusty Baja guy tell me, anyone who comes to Scorpion Bay looking to score, is going to be sorely disappointed. It's a fickle wave. It hardly ever works, not even when it's supposed to. I heard stories though, of 20 foot days, multiple-barrel sections, 2-3 mile long waves. Waves so long that there would be ATV's waiting for the surfers at the bottom of 1st point to take them all the way back up to 7 after the kicked out of their multiple-minute ride. Just to do it all over again. That's when it can be magic.
Apparently the wave used to be even better also. Something like 20 years ago, there was a massive storm that knocked out a portion of the cliff, ruining, or worsening, the connection between points [] and 0. But who knows who to believe on that one.
The bay though is a collection of points. 6, really. It's a series of six points, and 1st, 2nd and 3rd points face south — 4th, 5th and 6th will pick up more west swell and is more exposed, but they will often receive a side afternoon wind in the afternoons. All have the potential to be perfect, but they also vary in terms of their exposure. First point will be the least exposed and typically the smallest. It's full of little kids and longboard dads practicing their cross-stepping on perfect small dribblers. It also is the easiest (by far) of all the walkouts. I will get to that in a second. But here it's just sand. 4th, 5th and 6th will be larger most of the time, and filled with less people. 3rd will always be the most crowded, as it's usually the best.
One major thing to be aware of here at Scorpion Bay is the walkouts. I will go ahead and say on record it is my least favorite place in the entire world to get in the water. I have never encountered such a terrible place to walk in and out of the water. The shoreline is cliff, which gives way to shelled (.5-1 foot) razor-sharp rock for anywhere from 50 to 100 meters that you have to walk over. Now if you have booties it's not too big of a deal, but I'm not a kook, right!! So I just put myself through misery in the hopes of looking cooler. How stupid us surfers are. Just be aware this is a thing. There are urchins, razor sharp rocks, and the walk is long and hard. It's going to suck, but you will do it, the wave is too good not to. Especially at 3rd point. I found this to be the worst of all the walks, but arguably, the best of all the waves.
There are other waves in the area outside of the 7 points. I am sure there are other names for some of the points as well but I only ever referred to them as such. There's a beach break to the south that we checked out. A secret river-mouth down there that picks up more swell. Some spot where you paddle out deep into the ocean past the fishing boats. But if you are down there and want to find these, ask around and maybe you will find them.
The surfing here is legendary. You won't soon forget it. But the crowds will be real. There will be a million guys from San Diego in the water, especially if you are there when there was supposed to be a swell. But don't bet on a swell either. People come, and camp out and wait on waves and most always get disappointed. The only way to surf San Juanico and be happy, is to go in there with no expectations, be stoked when it's good, get in anyways when it's 'bad', and kiss the fucking ground and thank whatever you consider to be God when it gets epic, cause you are one of the lucky few who got to score one of the best waves in the world when it decided to turn on.
Scorps is straightforward enough when you get there. 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on... but I have outlined a few of the waves below.
