Puerto Penasco to El Golfo road now open.

Well there's another way to get to the hotels of Puerto Penasco, especially if you're coming from California. The new highway, SON 003, is now open connecting El Golfo de Santa Clara with Rocky Point.

According to an article on Rocky Point Weekly, it's 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Puerto Penasco to El Golfo, and provides scenic vistas of both the Sea of Cortez and the Gran Desierto de Altar. So now you can cross the border in Yuma and buy a condo in Puerto Penasco the same day.

I have mixed feelings about this road, which is part of a grander project to complete a coastal highway to Guaymas. On one hand, it's going to bring in more travelers from California to help boost the tourist economy of Rocky Point and other locations along the mainland coast.

On the other hand, it's going to bring in more travelers from California.

Not that there's anything wrong with travelers from California. Some of my best friends are Californians who have traveled. But I do fear for the inevitable changes that go along with increased accessibility.

After all, those who know Rocky Point have watched expensive condos and homes explode from the sands and replace quaint beachfront RV parks and open camping areas. Dirt roads are now paved and, maybe it's just me, but prices seem higher.

Then there's the sprawling desert north of the new highway, part of the El Pinacate/Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Preserve, one of the last great wilderness areas in Mexico. It's illegal to go off-road in the preserve, but this vast area is hard to patrol. How many yahoos are now going to be tempted to drive their ATVs into the huge dune fields?

And what about the miles and miles of undeveloped beach, one of the greatest attractions for me in this area? We will probably see more condos, gated housing communities, restaurants and bars filling up the sea view.

Of course, SON 003 also means that more Arizonans may go to El Golfo, forever changing that small community.

We'll see what happens. In the meantime, I think Julie and I need to pop down there and check it out. Simply for research purposes, of course.

From MEX 008, the typical way to Rocky Point, the turnoff to SON 003 is at the Laguna Del Mar exit a few miles north of Puerto Penasco.

Road trip! Mexico gas prices still lower than U.S.

The good people at the Discover Baja Travel Club posted recent Mexico gasoline prices observed in El Rosario, Baja. According to their research the price for Magna, the equivalent to regular unleaded, is about $2.83 per gallon. That's U.S. dollars, not pesos.

How does this compare to the U.S. border states? According to the American Automobile Association's Daily Fuel Gage Report, the average price for regular unleaded as of September 8, 2008 is:

Arizona: $3.57 per gallon

California: $3.86 per gallon

New Mexico: $3.69 per gallon

Texas: $3.52 per gallon

Many U.S. residents who live close to the border are capitalizing on the lower prices by popping over to Mexico and filling up their tanks. However U.S. Customs has said that if you go to Mexico solely to purchase fuel, it must be declared when crossing back into the states and is subject to importation requirements.

As you may or may not know the gasoline industry in Mexico is controlled by the government and PEMEX, which is an acronym for Petróleos Mexicanos, is the nationalized petroleum company. Thus prices are standardized across the country.

Unless you find yourself on a remote backcountry road running on "E." (Why are you about to be stranded this way? Is it because you overheard a conversation in a Tucson bar talking about a mythic beach south of Kino Bay? Is it because you listened to a helpful, but misguided, local who told you "Oh, it's not that far" when you asked directions?) Then, if you're lucky, you might find a grizzled ranchero who drives to town once a week to fill up a barrel for just such an emergency. At this point you should be aware that his price per liter will not conform to state regulations.