The Cactus Trip Diaries

We waited until we heard the tour party departing so that the coast was clear for us to enjoy breakfast. We were served by the guy who last night made us the excellent margaritas – breakfast was good too.

I took some more pictures of the scenery around the Mision Catavina hotel (S3392) and then stopped (S3393) as more Feros were spotted along MEX1 – time for a leg stretch. These were yellow flowered and although flower colour is said to be an unreliable means of IDing cacti, together with the weirdly twisting spines, we concluded that this was F. cylindraceus subsp. tortiluspinus. Echinocereus engelmannii was in bud, so should be in full flower by the time we pass by again on the way back. The small globular Mammillaria were without flower or fruits so for now were given the name M. dioica.

Just before the crossroads to Punta Prieta was the turn to San Felipe. There was a lot of road building activity around here so that it looks like in years to come, there will be a good paved road to San Felipe on the east coast of northern Baja. We followed the road for a mile or two until the Feros appeared alongside. Jonathan keyed these out to be ‘Ferocactus gracilis subspecies gracilis, with a hint of F. peninsularis’ – you need long labels for these plants! No flowers, no fruits but attractive broad spines (S3394).

S3395 was along the road to Bahia de Los Angeles and although I recall seeing F. gracilis here before, the Feros were in hiding today.

S3396 was the Ooh Ahh view overlooking the Bay of Bahia the Los Angeles, always spectacular. We stayed in Hotel Costa del Sol as usual. Great sunrise the next morning!