The 62 mile paved highway to Puerto Penasco (also called "Rocky Harbor") starts at Sonoita. This Mexican shrimping port is fast becoming a tourist town, but the beach camping settlements of Choya Bay and Sandy Beach nearby are more primitive than Sonoita. The sun, clamming, and tide pool exploring, as well as the long empty beaches and good shell hunting appeal to beachcombers. The Sea of Cortez is renowned for its abundance of fish. Hotels, motels, and restaurants are more available in Puerto Penasco than in Choya Bay. You'll find boats for hire in both areas; launching is better at Choya (launch permits are required for Mexican waters).
If you want to camp, check the trailer parks in Puerto Penasco, or head toward Sandy Beach and Choya Bay beach. There you can park recreational vehicles for a small fee, but you'll find no facilities, wood, or running water. (You can buy water and some staple foods at the grocery store.)
What to do? The "night life" is usually on the beach. Special events include the Marine Carnival on June I and the Choya Bay Fishing Derby on Father's Day weekend in mid June.
About the only sightseeing attractions in this area are the desalting plant and hothouse experimental station, the new seaside community of Las Conchas with its Moorish architecture, and the marina on the bay where ferries will dock when service is established across the Sea of Cortez to Baia.
The 62 mile paved highway to Puerto Penasco (also called "Rocky Harbor") starts at Sonoita. This Mexican shrimping port is fast becoming a tourist town, but the beach camping settlements of Choya Bay and Sandy Beach nearby are more primitive than Sonoita. The sun, clamming, and tide pool exploring, as well as the long empty beaches and good shell hunting appeal to beachcombers. The Sea of Cortez is renowned for its abundance of fish. Hotels, motels, and restaurants are more available in Puerto Penasco than in Choya Bay. You'll find boats for hire in both areas; launching is better at Choya (launch permits are required for Mexican waters).
If you want to camp, check the trailer parks in Puerto Penasco, or head toward Sandy Beach and Choya Bay beach. There you can park recreational vehicles for a small fee, but you'll find no facilities, wood, or running water. (You can buy water and some staple foods at the grocery store.)
