RV tours in Baja, Mexico

[Texas_Two_Stepp]

We are interested in taking a Fantasy 37 day tour of Baja in 2016. We have a 2015 Chevy one ton silverado dully pulling a fifth wheel. I called tour company asking about purchasing the ultra low sulphur diesel and was assured that would not be a problem. Did she know what she was talking about? Has anyone gone on this tour?

[Tequila]

bighatnohorse wrote:
We took the mainland tour with Tequila's group down to Mazatlan. At least one truck towing a big 5'ver was a 2014 diesel. He brought all the DEF he could ever use.
And never had a problem with any of the Pemex fuel. 100% good!

See the thread I am about to start on Pemex.

[Tequila]

Turtle-Toad wrote:
Tequila,
I'm not following you. What do you mean by 'more shy'? I've never taken a caravan tour (altho I have escorted other people thru Mexico)so am not familiar with the dynamics of tour groups. I would have thought that, with a smaller group, you would have a more open and friendly atmosphere?

Oh, and the Vags are not specifically RV oriented either. They started out as a West Coast fishing/boating club that had club outings up and down the coast and into Baja. Since a lot of the members had campers of one kind or another (especially the ones with tow-behind boats)that they brought to gatherings, the RV scene was a natural progression. They still still have outings/gatherings/armadas/fishing tournaments all over the west coast, not just Mexico; the annual crab fest in the NW jumps to mind! 🙂

I meant organized side tours.The compnay I am wagon master for does them to places like Copper Canyon and the Monarch butterfly reserve where you do not use your RV. Most companies do, some will do a tour of a city with 4 stops and call it 4 tours, others will call it one. That is what I was trying to point out.

[bighatnohorse]

We took the mainland tour with Tequila's group down to Mazatlan. At least one truck towing a big 5'ver was a 2014 diesel. He brought all the DEF he could ever use.
And never had a problem with any of the Pemex fuel. 100% good!

[edbehnke]

lots of new trucks coming down here to mazatlan. for the one time i would not worry.

also, look at bajawinters.com they have pretty decent deal on how they do there trips down the baja.

[ourtravels]

Tequila,
We attended several seminars at the RV show this fall, including the Mexico ones. You and Dan did a great job!

Baja Amigos website states that they have 6 spaces left for this winter, but they certainly could be full, and have been too busy to update. Last season, by Sept they were almost full 🙂

Margaret

[Turtle-Toad]

Tequila,
I'm not following you. What do you mean by 'more shy'? I've never taken a caravan tour (altho I have escorted other people thru Mexico)so am not familiar with the dynamics of tour groups. I would have thought that, with a smaller group, you would have a more open and friendly atmosphere?

Oh, and the Vags are not specifically RV oriented either. They started out as a West Coast fishing/boating club that had club outings up and down the coast and into Baja. Since a lot of the members had campers of one kind or another (especially the ones with tow-behind boats)that they brought to gatherings, the RV scene was a natural progression. They still still have outings/gatherings/armadas/fishing tournaments all over the west coast, not just Mexico; the annual crab fest in the NW jumps to mind! 🙂

[Tequila]

Turtle-Toad wrote:
Haven't taken one of their tours but have run across them south of the border quite frequently. They seem to be better mannered than most of their competitors but still have a tendency to take over any park they stop at. If I were to take a caravan tour, I think I'd go with either one of the baja travel clubs, Discover Baja or Vagabundos del Mar, as they are usually cheaper and smaller; or maybe join one of the many tours posted on Baja Nomads forum. These are normally run by either local guides or expats and are real small.

My rig is gas but I've been told by a friend who owns a Pemex in Baja Sur that all of Baja now has ULSD. It comes from US refineries.

Turtle the travel clubs can tend to be more shy on tours within the caravan period. BTW our caravan company is tied with Vagabundos del Mar. We operate their mainland tours (under their name)for their members and outside parties we signup must join Vagabundos, so I am certainly not going to run them down. They operate their own Baja tours. You have to compare prices and what you get, but they are not far off Baja Amigos in price, I believe, and they are far cheaper than Fantasy. A lot of the other clubs in Baja are not specifically RV oriented. Vagabundos is.

You can always find cheaper, it depends on what you want included.

[Tequila]

moisheh wrote:
The Mexican fuel that comes from the USA is not ULSD. Far too expensive for a country with no vehicles that require ULSD. Try one of the Baja forums for first hand experiences. Fantasy used to have some info on ULSD on their website.

Moisheh

Sorry you are wrong, our company has spoken with officials at Pemex, it is ULSD, along with several locations along the border & Mexico City

[Tequila]

Texas Two Steppers wrote:
We are interested in taking a Fantasy 37 day tour of Baja in 2016. We have a 2015 Chevy one ton silverado dully pulling a fifth wheel. I called tour company asking about purchasing the ultra low sulphur diesel and was assured that would not be a problem. Did she know what she was talking about? Has anyone gone on this tour?

Baja does have ULSD, but you need to take your own DEF. I am wagon master for a mainland caravan company and we have had customers with late model diesels that have had no issue although we advise them, and the mainland does not have ULSD. I have also checked with the Quebec caravan companies and none of their customers have ever had problems with the 9-10 tanks they burn on a caravan. However, Dan Goy who runs Baja Amigos down Baja claims all of Baja is using imported US diesel at the moment.

Margaret, I believe Dan maybe sold out for this season. I do agree he runs the best caravan trip available for Baja. I have known Dan personally for years. Good guy and very knowledgeable. We jointly did the Mexico RV Seminars at the Vancouver RV show this season, substituting for Mike & Terri Church.

Fantasy is a reputable company, but as you said they run caravans of many more rigs. Our company provides them with Green Angel escorts. (We have govt. connections). They make larger caravans manageable.

[ourtravels]

Texas,

We took a 28 day tour this past March, with Baja Amigos, and we highly recommend them. Dan and Lisa promised us fun and adventure, and they delivered! They are extremely knowledgeable and personable, and took care of all the little details that helped make our trip memorable.

Baja Amigos run small caravans, with no more than 6 rigs plus the wagonmasters. (I personally couldn't imagine going with a huge caravan of 25 rigs or more.) They pull a TT with a 15 passenger van, and used that to take us all on included tours. They also carried a kayak and a stand-up paddleboard for our use.

They take a 38 day caravan tour in November, and, along with their other wagonmasters, take six 28 day tours in Jan, Feb, and March.

You may want to check out their website, http://www.bajaamigos.net, and compare. We were very pleased with our experience. Our whole group became quite close, and we are even meeting in CA this Feb with several of the friends we made.

Margaret

[moisheh]

The Mexican fuel that comes from the USA is not ULSD. Far too expensive for a country with no vehicles that require ULSD. Try one of the Baja forums for first hand experiences. Fantasy used to have some info on ULSD on their website.

Moisheh

[Texas_Two_Stepp]

Thanks for the very helpful info.

[Turtle-Toad]

Haven't taken one of their tours but have run across them south of the border quite frequently. They seem to be better mannered than most of their competitors but still have a tendency to take over any park they stop at. If I were to take a caravan tour, I think I'd go with either one of the baja travel clubs, Discover Baja or Vagabundos del Mar, as they are usually cheaper and smaller; or maybe join one of the many tours posted on Baja Nomads forum. These are normally run by either local guides or expats and are real small.

My rig is gas but I've been told by a friend who owns a Pemex in Baja Sur that all of Baja now has ULSD. It comes from US refineries.