Ensenada: Blow Hole Winery Tour

[addictedtothevr6]

anybody done that tour? i am thinking about doing it but wanted to get some insider views.

Blow Hole

 

I will be on elation the 23rd of july and Ensenada is one of the stops. Anyway, give me some opinions please if you have any.

 

disclaimer: i did search for this and found nothing. i also know this prolly isnt the right place to post this, but i could find ensenada in the ports of call categories

[Bruin Steve]

anybody done that tour? i am thinking about doing it but wanted to get some insider views.

Blow Hole

 

I will be on elation the 23rd of july and Ensenada is one of the stops. Anyway, give me some opinions please if you have any.

 

disclaimer: i did search for this and found nothing. i also know this prolly isnt the right place to post this, but i could find ensenada in the ports of call categories

 

I've not done THIS tour...but I've done an excursion to La Bufadora...I've viseted the winery at Santo Tomas...and three times I've taken the OTHER "Wine Country" excursion...

 

Here's my take:

La Bufadora BLOWS! It is extremely disappointing and is overrun by junk peddlers...

 

OTOH, I love the "Wine Country" tour ...The ride out to the Guadelupe Valley is very nice and the wine tasting is fun...

 

And, yes, there is NO message board on Cruise Critic that covers Ensenada...but most people just seem to misplace it on the Mexican Riviera board and there are always some Ensenada threads there...

[michaelaz]

I did that excursion and I liked it, I really liked the wine @ Santo Tomas, yes there are junk peddlers @ the blow whole but big deal, walk past ,just say no thank you.

 

On a side note grab you some $1 tacos and good margaritas @ Habana Bananas @ the Blow Hole.

[DreadPirateRobert]

We haven't done the winery but we did do the BlowHole trip, if that info will suffice. Honestly it was a long trip over some pretty boring scenery to see a fairly interesting phenomenon somewhat diminished by cheesy tourism and poor construction. First of all you have to walk this gauntlet of shops and vendors to get to the Blowhole. Some of them were pretty aggressive. I had to become the same to get one of them to take his hands off my wife. To be fair he was not being inappropriate just physically steering her toward his shop. In any case, it was an uncomfortable moment or two.

Once we got to the Blowhole, it was rather cool to see the water jet up through the rocks. The down side was the visitor center. Despite being new construction it still had that slapped together and not really finished look that much in Mexico has. There was a Native Mexican or indian or whatever the PC phrase is, with whom you could take a picture, and lots of trinkets for sale.

The up side to Ensenada, and this was huge, was that in the aforementioned market place they had the most incredible Mexican dresses DW has ever seen. The stitching was silk, not the cheap dyed cotton yarn you usually get. The dress fabric was amuch better quality than you normally see as well. They weren't cheap but worth every cent. Not in all our trips to various parts of Mexico have we seen it's equal. Several people have told us those high quality dresses are unique to Ensenada, or at least the west coast.

Any way I can't really say pass on the Blowhole. It was interesting but....

 

Hope this helps.

[cruisecastle]

anybody done that tour? i am thinking about doing it but wanted to get some insider views.

Blow Hole

 

I will be on elation the 23rd of july and Ensenada is one of the stops. Anyway, give me some opinions please if you have any.

 

disclaimer: i did search for this and found nothing. i also know this prolly isnt the right place to post this, but i could find ensenada in the ports of call categories

 

Yes last Feb I loved it. Great tour

[addictedtothevr6]

I've not done THIS tour...but I've done an excursion to La Bufadora...I've viseted the winery at Santo Tomas...and three times I've taken the OTHER "Wine Country" excursion...

 

Here's my take:

La Bufadora BLOWS! It is extremely disappointing and is overrun by junk peddlers...

 

OTOH, I love the "Wine Country" tour ...The ride out to the Guadelupe Valley is very nice and the wine tasting is fun...

 

And, yes, there is NO message board on Cruise Critic that covers Ensenada...but most people just seem to misplace it on the Mexican Riviera board and there are always some Ensenada threads there...

 

ok well i am glad that i was right in not being able to find an ensenada category, i knew the riviera was not the correct one haha

 

I did that excursion and I liked it, I really liked the wine @ Santo Tomas, yes there are junk peddlers @ the blow whole but big deal, walk past ,just say no thank you.

 

On a side note grab you some $1 tacos and good margaritas @ Habana Bananas @ the Blow Hole.

$1 tacos are super awesome and my second most favorite things in mexico, the surf is prolly my first. i will live off those tacos.

 

junk peddlers are a big prob with me, they dont usually pressure me too much. maybe they dont like 21 year old dudes iono.

 

We haven't done the winery but we did do the BlowHole trip, if that info will suffice. Honestly it was a long trip over some pretty boring scenery to see a fairly interesting phenomenon somewhat diminished by cheesy tourism and poor construction. First of all you have to walk this gauntlet of shops and vendors to get to the Blowhole. Some of them were pretty aggressive. I had to become the same to get one of them to take his hands off my wife. To be fair he was not being inappropriate just physically steering her toward his shop. In any case, it was an uncomfortable moment or two.

Once we got to the Blowhole, it was rather cool to see the water jet up through the rocks. The down side was the visitor center. Despite being new construction it still had that slapped together and not really finished look that much in Mexico has. There was a Native Mexican or indian or whatever the PC phrase is, with whom you could take a picture, and lots of trinkets for sale.

The up side to Ensenada, and this was huge, was that in the aforementioned market place they had the most incredible Mexican dresses DW has ever seen. The stitching was silk, not the cheap dyed cotton yarn you usually get. The dress fabric was amuch better quality than you normally see as well. They weren't cheap but worth every cent. Not in all our trips to various parts of Mexico have we seen it's equal. Several people have told us those high quality dresses are unique to Ensenada, or at least the west coast.

Any way I can't really say pass on the Blowhole. It was interesting but....

 

Hope this helps.

i dont know about the dresses i dont think my and my buddies would shoot for those too much. and i dont have a gf at home since all girls throw rocks at me haha

 

 

so far i have received some awesome responses, thanks a lot guys. all that you said is great info whether you went on the wine tour or just visited the blow hole.

[GTVCRUISER]

I have been to both places forget the blow hole , go on the wine tour !!

[addictedtothevr6]

are all you guys suggesting the wine country tour or the atv adventure wine tour? there are two that i am looking at.

 

any suggestions?

 

edit: i went and checked out the two tours and i think you are talking about the wine country tour, not the atv one. the country tour seems more dedicated to the wine which is what i want.