WAY OF LIFE & ATTRACTIONS
Included in its many tourist attractions, San Felipe offers silken and golden sandy beaches that include areas with sections of boulders and volcanic rock that provide a nice diversion to beach strollers. This makes for great clam hunting on a sunny afternoon. The dunes, the desert flora, and the mountains that surround San Felipe offer a spectacular panorama. Once called the totoaba paradise, named after a giant species of sea bass now protected, fishing enthusiasts still flock to this Sea of Cortez port because of its great sports fishing. Popular activities include fishing, whale-watching in the winter time, quad-riding, sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, sky-diving and many others. Another major attraction is The Valley of the Giants, a natural reserve of the thousand-year-old Cardon Cactus. This area has become a major attraction due to the selection of one of these giant specimens that was transported to Seville, Spain during the World Expo of 1992. The area has also become a favorite spot for photographers worldwide as it is a superb background for photo sessions.
San Felipe Mexico
About
Many consider it the next Cabo San Lucas. With a tiny town of 10,000-20,000 people, San Felipe has the geography, natural beauty, and infrastructure to become the next major resort of Baja.
History
Dispatched by Hernan Cortez to map the coastline of the then known "Southern Sea," Fransisco de Ulloa recorded his presence in this area in September 1539. With him was cartographer Domingo del Castillo who identified the San Felipe cove on a map he was making. That voyage included circumnavigation of the peninsula as far north as the approximate location of Ensenada.
One year later, Hernando de Alarcon sailed into the area on an unsuccessful mission of support for the Coronado Expedition to the Seven Golden Cities of Cobola. With Alarcon was the same Domingo del Castillo who, by virtue of the Viceroy of New Spain's orders to sail as close as possible to the shore (to enable sighting Coronado's representatives), was enabled to improve upon the map he produced during the Ulloa voyage.
Sailing in the first ship built on Baja California soil, Juan de Ugarte landed in the bay on July 5, 1721. Twenty-five years later, Padre Fernando Consag landed there and formally christened the place San Felipe de Jesus. San Felipe's modern history dates from 1876 when the Mexican government signed a colonization contract with one Guillermo Andrade who acquired some 30,000 hectares but died before his plans were realized.
Although the first fish camp was formed in 1904, it was not until 1925 that the first sub-delegation was created and San Felipe began to develop as an organized community. The first fishing society was founded in 1928, the first school established in 1929, and the first tourist facilities in the early 1950s. Electricity was provided in 1963 and the first potable water in 1967.
In 1994 a new era dawned in all of Mexico and especially San Felipe when the Mexican government changed the law and allowed foreigners to own land in the restricted zone. San Felipe has shown exceptional growth over the past five years, with global developers continuing to purchase large chunks of property all the way down the coast toward Gonzaga Bay.
Climate & Geography
Much like the rest of the southwest, the climate in San Felipe is characterized by average temperatures in the 50 to 100 degree range, depending on season, and is marked by seasonal storms and high-weather seasons.
The Sonoran region in general - being a desert situated next to an ocean is characterized by temperature swings that can make the nights unseasonably cold compared to the day's blistering heat. From January to May the temperature averages of 60 to 80 degrees. From June to August it is between 80 and 105 degrees.
