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Kevin Mulvey 6 years, 10 months ago.
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There are only two ferry companies that run ships to and from the mainland out of La Paz. One of the companies, Baja Ferries, is built for the average passenger, with or without vehicles. The other is called Ferry TMC and it is centered around commercial vehicle transportation. There are also two ports on the mainland the ferries travel to, Topolobambo and Mazatlán. Our destination was Mazatlán. After doing some research online, I had a hard time figuring out what to do, so I decided to go to the port and figure it out in person. Here is what I figured out:
Baja Ferry – http://www.bajaferries.com/index.aspx?n=2
From my online searches, all I had heard about was Baja Ferry. Luckily, google translate worked on that particular website, but the website didn’t function very well, so I got some info. I found that it costs about $200 for a standard size vehicle(non-camper) along with its operator and an additional person cost $60. What I didn’t see on the site but learned from talking to another travel was that you don’t have access to your vehicle and only get an airplane style seat with your ticket. Normally that doesn’t seem like an issue, but the ride to Mazatlán was approx. 12 hours, so an airplane seat didn’t sound great. They do give you the option of purchasing a stateroom on the ship where you would get a bed and bathroom, but it costs an additional $90.
So now we were looking at $350 for the ride over with Baja Ferry if we opted for the stateroom. As I navigated the site to see about booking, I ran into a bit of a problem. My truck, although only a midsize pickup with only a camper shell, would be viewed as a truck with a camper. Sounds normal, only issue is they would class me with the big full-size pick-ups with the massive fully built slide-in campers. Considering I only weigh a fraction of what those rigs do, and am a fraction of the size, it was kind of crap that I would have to pay the premium. I would have ended up paying an extra $400 for the ride.
Other issue I ran into with BF was their schedule. They only ran trips to Mazatlán on certain days, I believe it worked out to every other day. Now considering I am vagabonding, one day shouldn’t be an issue, and normally wouldn’t be. This time it was, only because it was a few days before New Years Eve and my birthday and we wanted to get to Puerto Vallarta in time to celebrate.
Negativity aside, Baja Ferry does offer some benefits over Ferry TMC. It’s a passenger focused ship, so they have a bar and a restaurant, along with more common area for folks to hang out. Also, if the extra $90 isn’t an issue with your budget, it is nice to have your own stateroom with a bathroom for the evening to get some good rest outside of truck life. Whether you need that or not will depend on your situation. Its also a bit shorter of a trip, they forecast around 12 hours vs. the 16-hour projection for the commercial boat. I think the difference is from the loading and unloading, maybe a bit having to do with ship size and speed as well.
Ferry TMC – http://www.ferrytmc.com/
So if it wasn’t for my decision to go to the port myself and figure things out, I don’t know if I would have found this other option. Granted, that’s mainly because my Spanish comprehension isn’t very good so online searching had been proving difficult. When I got to the port, I parked and went into the first office I found. At first I didn’t even realize it was a different company than the one I had been looking at online. In speaking with the receptionist, I found that they ran the boat daily to Mazatlan, so already in better shape than the other option.
I asked how much it would cost me for my truck and one other passenger, and she asked to see my truck. This is what turned out to be the major difference for me. After seeing that it was not a full-size truck and camper, she assured me I would only need to pay the rate for a pickup truck and an extra passenger since they charge based on weight and length. So now, I was looking at a cost of about $180 for me and the truck, plus $60 for Lindsey, totaling only $240.On top of all that, on this ferry we would have access to our vehicle, which in our case was great since its our home. No extra expense for a place to lay down, and we got to sleep in our own bed. If you are traveling via RV, I think it’s no question that you would prefer to go TMC since you have access to your home. Granted the truck is crammed into the deck with big old semi-trucks and whatnot, so not exactly camping on the beach, but our own bed none the less. They also give you a meal ticket for dinner and breakfast for free with your boarding pass. Not sure if Baja Ferry does the same.
Beyond your parking space aboard the ship, there are a few other passenger areas. On the top deck, there is an outdoor area for passengers with a few picnic tables. They also have a mess hall with a common room that has a few small couches and a TV playing movies. Down below there are 2 small common rooms with a few rows of airplane style seats, and each room has a TV for movies as well.
Booking online didn’t work, and when I spoke to the woman at the port she said to email them and they will reserve a spot. I went ahead and emailed, 3 times, and got nothing, so eventually I called and reserved over the phone. It wasn’t anything complicated or structured really, they just asked what day I want to go, what kind of vehicle and my name. I paid when I showed up, and honestly I don’t think they even had a reservation list.
So while cost, sleeping, and schedule wise, the TMC option worked out much better for us, its not the most glamorous. It’s a commercial vehicle ship, so filled with rugged truckers and cleaned maybe only with a hose every now and then. There were only a couple bathrooms up next to the mess hall which weren’t the best facilities either. On top of that, and I am sure this doesn’t happen all the time, but I caught my first case of the Mexican Flu after eating that dinner. Didn’t hit me till we got off the boat, but it was a brutal 24 hours the day before my birthday. Certainly sucked, but what are you gonna do, it happens to the best of us.