The hot springs at Puertecitos are not spa-smooth affairs but raw geothermal seeps in the rocky coastline, where heated water from the earth meets the tidal fluctuation of the Gulf of California. The temperature varies with the tides: at low tide, the pools are hot enough to require caution; as the tide rises, cooler seawater mixes in and the temperature drops toward something comfortable. This tidal rhythm dictates the social schedule of Puertecitos. Visitors time their soaks accordingly, gathering on the rocks at the right hour, steam rising from the pools against the desert air. There is a fee to use the springs. No hotel exists — camping is the primary accommodation — and the Pemex station's reliability is not guaranteed. Experienced visitors fill their fuel tanks in San Felipe before making the drive.

Puertecitos receives an average of two inches of rain per year, the same extreme aridity as San Felipe. The climate is fierce: summer temperatures regularly exceed 40°C, and the lack of reliable shade or services means the town empties somewhat in the worst months. Spring and autumn are when Puertecitos comes alive, when the heat is manageable and the fishing is good. The community is a mix of permanent Mexican residents and expatriates — primarily American — who have built second homes or parked mobile homes on the hillside lots. This kind of quiet, fuel-your-own-generator, haul-your-own-water life has a particular appeal for people who find ordinary amenity structures constraining.

The Gulf of California is one of the world's most biologically productive marine environments, and Puertecitos sits directly on its upper reaches. The northern gulf's extreme tidal range — among the highest in the Pacific Ocean basin — means that the shoreline changes dramatically between high and low tide, exposing rock shelves and tidal pools that reward patient exploration. South of town, Bahía Cristina, about 6 kilometers away, offers a restaurant; farther south, Bahía Encantada provides running water and a sheltered bay with calmer conditions for swimming. These small bays extend the appeal of the area for campers working their way down the coast.

Puertecitos is not quite the end of the paved road — from here the Baja highway eventually continues south, though the route becomes increasingly rough and requires high-clearance vehicles. This positioning, at the edge of what ordinary vehicles can comfortably reach, gives the town its character. It is far enough from San Felipe to feel genuinely remote, close enough to be a reasonable day trip or weekend destination. For those pushing further south into Baja's less-traveled interior coast, it is a last reliable provisioning point. For those who have arrived and find what they need — the springs, the gulf, the silence — it can become a destination in itself.