Baja Bound (Part 14)

This entry is part 14 of 23 in the series Baja Bound

April 18, 2023

By Simon J. Lau

This morning I toured Estero el Coyote. It’s a coastal estuary just outside Punta Abreojos, known for its winding tidal channels, abundant birdlife, and a small oyster farm scattered along its edge. When the tide comes in, the water spills over the mangroves and mudflats, turning the area into a sanctuary for herons, egrets, and countless fish and other marine life.

To get there, we followed a pitted highway out of San Ignacio before turning onto an old, dusty road that led toward the coast. The land was flat and empty, nothing but salt flats and low desert shrubs stretching to the horizon.

As we unloaded the canoes at the water’s edge, I spotted two abandoned oyster boats pulled up on the shore nearby. Their paint peeling and hulls cracked from years of sun and salt. They looked like relics of a busier time, now resting quietly at the edge of the estuary.

Soon after, we pushed off from the shore and spent several hours paddling through the estuary, winding our way along narrow channels that opened into wide, calm lagoons. The water was crystal clear, so we could see fish darting beneath us as our canoes glided past. With the tide high, we could slip into places that would have been nothing but mud and roots a few hours earlier.

This was also the first time I had seen mangroves up close. Their tangled roots rose straight out of the water, creating dense walls of green where herons and egrets perched overhead. The only sounds were the dip of our paddles and the calls of seabirds echoing across the channels. The entire estuary felt alive, every corner full of movement and sound.

For lunch, we stopped in Punta Abreojos, a nearby fishing town. My guide and host, William, has been coming here since 1979. Back then, he spent more than a decade camping and surfing beaches all along Mexico, but it was this stretch of coast and its waves that captured his heart.

At some point, he realized he would never convince an American girl to fall in love with this rugged place the way he had. Instead, he met and married a Mexican woman who shared his love for the coast, raised a family with her, and, even after moving to the U.S. for many years, kept coming back. Now retired, they’ve returned here for good.

William is also the first person I’ve spent this much time with on this trip, and it was time well spent. Not just listening to his stories, but visiting the places that have meant so much to him, like the estuary and Punta Abreojos itself. It gave the whole experience a more personal touch, as if I was seeing this stretch of Baja through his eyes.

For my last night in San Ignacio, I returned to the city center to have dinner by the plaza. On the way back, I passed by the oasis, and it struck me again just how beautiful and lush this place really is. It’s unassuming, yet full of character, and probably the most underrated place I’ve visited so far.