Category Archives: News & Reviews

Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales 15-17 February. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs’ Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club.

On 16 February, we went on a fuel run from Mulege south to Loreto. We tied down the plane and took a cab into town for lunch and to see what there was of interest. We found out that Loreto is where Father Junipero Serra began to establish the California missions in the 18th century. Over the Church of San Francisco Javier door it says: 25 Oct 1697, Cabeza y Madre de las Misiones de Baja y Alta California (that is: Head and Mother of the Missions of Baja and Alta California). John and I had seen
St. Francis Xavier in Old Goa, India, last year (see my March 14, 2007 blog entry). It was interesting to see another church dedicated to this much-travelled missionary. Loreto is also an up-and-coming tourist resort with interesting shops. Cab
rides cost about double what we had been paying in Mulege.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales 15-17 February. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs’ Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. On 16 February, while the rest of the group went to see the cave paintings or scuba diving, we went on a fuel run from Mulege to Loreto. We filled up for ourselves plus extra for the smaller Flying Club planes.

On the map below, Loreto is at the bottom right: the next big town south
of Mulege on Baja’s Sea of Cortez.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales last weekend. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs’ Webmaster. Our Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. I already published a blog entry called Flying to See Whales in Laguna San Ignacio, Baja which has whale and dolphin photos. Below are photos of our flights from Mulege to Laguna San Ignacio and back on 16 February.

On the map below, the whale nursery at Laguna San Ignacio is in the upper left hand corner – northwest across the Baja California peninsula from Mulege (which is in the middle on the right). The flight took about an hour each way.

Both the Mulege and Laguna San Ignacio airstrips are sand, dirt, and bits of shell
(no control towers or fuel). The surface of the plane parking area at Laguna San Ignacio is like crusty impact-resistant foam, very strange to walk on. Since there is no night navigation support in Baja, we flew during daylight only.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales last weekend. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs’ Webmaster. Our  Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club. Below are pictures of  Mulege, Mexico, where we stayed. Mulege is pronounced MOO-leh-hey.

Mulege is a popular fly-in location for General Aviation even though it offers the simplest runway, no tower and no fuel. The Saturday night pig roast at Hotel Serenidad (immediately next to the runway) is excellent, and day trips include whale watching, ancient cave painting tours, and scuba diving.

There were patriotic posters up around town from 2003 celebrating the 156th aniversary of the heroic defense of Mulege. Other posters celebrated “Mulege Divers Since 1705” and tourist opportunities. Mulege is on the Mulege river at the Sea of Cortez. The best flowers in town were the violet, red, and apricot bouganvillea. The vine trunks were often a foot or more wide.

Our group stayed at various hotels in town: Las Casitas, Hacienda, and Terrazas. Terrazas (where Charlie, Marji, John and I were) offered clean rooms, a friendly lobby
dog (Bellina), a  Lotus 7 parked out front, and a good breakfast that always took over an hour to cook and serve even if we were the only ones eating and we ordered the night before. Hacienda is right next to the town amphitheater (loud music until 2 am) and offered dirty sheets. Las Casitas is next to the church (morning bells!) and offered
a good restaurant and very helpful staff who speak English. We often ate at Las Casitas but they did not have enough rooms for all four planes.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Charlie, Marji, John and I flew to Baja California to see the grey whales last weekend. Our pilot was Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs’ Webmaster. Our  Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club.

Below are pictures of our second Air Charlie flight, from Mexicali to Mulege, Mexico, on 15 February. Mulege is pronounced MOO-leh-hey. At the flight briefing the pilots (and interested passengers) attended several days before we left, the following
overview directions were given: fly south from Mexicali (MMML), keep the land
on your right and the Sea of Cortez on your left, set down at the first green spot, that will be Mulege (GLL).

Charlie landed just before sunset. We were immediately greeted by friendly dogs and kids running around on the runway. After unloading and tying down the four planes, we took cabs into town and had dinner at Las Casitas Hotel.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Last weekend, four of us (Charlie, Marji, John and I) flew from Palo Alto to Mexicali (KPAO to MMML) on our way to Baja California to see the grey whales. Our pilot was
Charlie Jackson, Sun Labs’ Webmaster. Our  Cessna 182 Skylane II was one of four private planes on the trip from the Shoreline Flying Club.

Photos were taken with a Nikon CoolPix S510 camera with an 8G SDHC photo card.
We took about 1,400 photos on the 4 day trip. The photo card was about 1/3 full
when we got home (two lithium ion batteries recharged per day). Here are pictures of our first Air Charlie flight, starting before dawn on 15 February 2008.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher