If one were to imagine paradise they may be unintentionally picturing Posada Concepcion. On the Sea of Cortes in Mexico's Baja California the white sand beaches look east towards mainland Mexico on the other side of a massive, dry and rocky peninsula. What is visible are massive stone cliffs shooting out of the turquoise blue water on either side of this small bay which makes up part of a bigger bay named Bahia de Concepcion.

The entire bay is a hot spot for Canadian and American retirees escaping the colder months up north. Much like us in a way. We pulled our van onto the 'free area' of the beach and set up camp. The tide was out and so the beach extended out from our van for another 100 metres or so before many of the locals boats were anchored. They bobbed in the mild chop as the wind blew gently and the sun shined bright in the middle of an endless blue sky. What a beautiful spot we both thought to ourselves.

The thing about this tub is that it is surrounded by such beauty that we forgot to actually capture it with our camera. We were far too busy being blown away by the scenery, melting in the warm water and being immersed in conversation with our new friends.

The 'paid' side of the beach is a funny little community. Once a trailer park that has slowly transformed itself into a trailer park with little roofs over the trailers and then finally into its current state. Tiny multi colored little homes are all stuck together in tiny little streets with no room between anything. Some people still have a trailer tucked away in their somewhere with a roof over it to provide shade from the intense sun, others have built little homes. There is a hostel, a restaurant, a tennis court, weekly yoga classes (we enjoyed a great Tuesday class!) and a little hidden gem of a hot spring tucked away on the far side of the beach from where we camped.

The tub is natural looking and made of stone and concrete and perfectly traps the hot water as it bubbles out of the sea floor. The thing about this spring is that it is only at a usable temperature for a brief few hours when the tide is just right. If the tide is too high the tub is under water and the water is cold. If the tide is too low the tub is pure hot spring water and it is too hot. We enjoyed our soaks around 9 am, when the tide was going out for the day. As soon as the sea water dropped below the edge of the stone tub the cool water quickly began to heat. Within minutes it was a perfect hot tub temperature, but not for long. The soaks here are special because they are fleeting.

We soaked, looking out at the beautiful scene before us and feeling lucky to be at such a place. The first time we enjoyed this tub a Californian gentlemen arrived in his little boat from a neighboring campsite. We sat in the warming sun and enjoyed the cool Baja morning. The second day we were joined by two other travelling couples. One from Quebec by way of France who were driving their beautiful Sprinter to Panama, the other a fruit picking, pot trimming couple who drove to Mexico every winter when the trees ran out of cherries in the Okanagan. We had all camped together the night before on the beach when we sat under the beautiful Baja stars and we told them of this hot spring tub on the other side of the beach. They were obviously in but sadly, soon after our soaks we all went our separate ways. Amazingly enough we would all separately meet up again in the future. But our stories began at this beautiful hot spring on the stunning shores of Mar de Cortes.

Cleanliness - 5 (Natural but super clean)
Amenities - 1 (Just a tub on the shore with no amenities around)
Exclusivity - 2 (It’s quite easy to find for passersby and there is a trailer park community right next door)
Scenery - 5 (Absolutely epic!)
Community - 5 (This would be touch and go obviously but while we were there we had a great community of people around to soak with.)
Camping - 5 (Camping on the beach in paradise! Could it get any better?)