GOODBYE OCEAN, HELLO SEA

The Sea of Cortez is one of the iconic cruising grounds of the world. Properly called the Gulfo de California, in the 1940’s its abundance of sea life was recorded by John Steinbeck in his “Log from the Sea of Cortez”, and later Jaques Cousteau called it the “world’s aquarium”. It had certainly loomed large in our imaginations; we’d spent many hours watching cruising videos of this region and planned to base ourselves here for some time.

We decided to pass by Los Frailes on this leg. Though famous for its healthy coral reef (where we want to snorkel eventually) the anchorage can be exposed, and we had a narrow window between seasonal strong northerlies to make more miles north – for the first time in months! – so we plotted our course for the better shelter of Ensenada de los Muertos. At almost 80 nm from Puerto Los Cabos this meant an overnighter to ensure arrival in daylight, and we departed at 4pm on 20th March aiming for arrival at the anchorage just after dawn.

After topping up our fuel tanks at the fuel dock we exited the marina, and immediately passed a humpback flapping its flippers just outside the breakwater. Making the turn to port northeastward, we motored through calm conditions, an increasingly pretty sunset of yellowy-orangey-reddish pinky-purply-bluish magnificence, and more humpbacks as we headed towards Cabo Pulmo. Shortly after 9pm, while Andy dozed off-watch, Shan enjoyed a gorgeous starry night with Los Frailes off to port; at a hair under 1600 nm since departing from Alameda this marked our entry into the Sea of Cortez!

Having made good time so far, we had a building current and choppy seas against us as midnight approached. The wind got up to around 7 knots from the north, enough to sail, however with the steep chop we decided to continue motoring; the 1:00am logbook entry noted “so this is the SoC chop!”. By 4:00am we were approaching Los Muertos and slowed the boat to ensure a dawn arrival. Even so, we had to circle around for a while outside the bay waiting for better light to ensure we were well clear of the dangerous reef sheltering the anchorage. By 6:30am the anchor was down, and we settled into our first anchorage inside the Baja peninsula.

We enjoyed four nights at Los Muertos, walking the beach, dining at the restaurant, and exploring the point past the old cannery ruins. A strong northerly wind limited our water-based activities, making us grateful to have Mooch for access to shore. The arrival of a large motor yacht entertained us, it was decked out in a very utilitarian fashion with a dive boat, ski boat, fishing boat, a large RIB tender, and a bright yellow miniature submarine. We were bemused by their apparent inactivity despite all these toys, all became clear when a super yacht arrived the following day and tied up alongside. The crew of the support yacht promptly launched some of the toys and even put out an inflatable “beach club” behind the yacht for the guests. It turns out that the very wealthy now need large support vessels to carry all their toys!

We were excited to have the arrival of SV Lucky Dog; we’d spent several fun evenings with Dan and Jeanne back in California at Monterrey, Avila Beach, and Santa Cruz Island, and were delighted to catch up with them again at Los Muertos on their way south. Cruisers always have plenty to talk about, and with many miles and experiences since we’d last seen them we had a lovely evening sharing our stories. They were about to head across the pacific to the Marquesas, so it was bittersweet to wave them goodbye as they motored out of the anchorage the next morning.

Our timeline was narrowing to make La Paz and welcome Shan’s sister Jennifer for a visit, and we needed to press on northward towards La Paz. On the morning of 27th March, we departed Los Muertos aiming for one of the bays just north of La Paz. Just after departure a school of Mobula Rays were leaping from the water, something they seem to enjoy for its own sake. We had a lovely brisk sail in around 15 kts under all three sails and an increasingly grey sky, until well into the channel between Punta Arena de la Ventana and Isla Jaques Cousteau where we had to motor sail into wind on the nose and another very steep chop. We bashed our way northward in rough conditions until we were able to turn west and enter the channel between Punta Las Plitas and Isla Espiritu Santos. The seas calmed as we entered Bahia de La Paz, and we ran southward under the main only towards our anchorage.

Our cruising guide indicated there may be some no-anchoring areas in some of the bays we’d identified as possibilities for the night, so we had a couple of options depending on what we could see and the expected wind conditions. Our first pick was the iconic Puerto Balandra however it seemed exposed, and we weren’t clear on anchoring restrictions there, so we sailed past and dropped the hook in Bahia Pichilingue where we had a nice, settled night. The bahia is across a low causeway from a ferry terminal but has a nice beach and dinghy access to a secluded bay just to the north. We explored via Mooch the next day, swam in lovely clear and warm water, and had what sadly turned out to be the worst meal we’ve had in Mexico (it still is!) at the beachside restaurant.

We decided to move on, and made the short hop south to Bahia Falsa, which is a lovely little bay sheltered by cactus speckled hills from everywhere but the west. We swam and snorkeled in the bay and had a much happier experience in the little beachside restaurant in the southern cove of the bay. Returning to the boat, we recognized SV Zorba anchored nearby, and stopped to say hello to Tomer and Limor. We’d met them way bach at Avila Beach, and they joined us for sundowners and a good old catch up on Tino Pai.

The next day, March 30th, exiting Falsa to a late season whale breaching just outside the bay, we made the short hop down to La Paz, arriving at the famous dog-legged channel entrance just after 1pm. Motoring the long channel into the anchorage we dropped the hook and headed into town to explore and have dinner. We had a few days to explore this famous cruising stop and get ready for Jen’s arrival.