Sea of Cortez, Baja, Mexico

Location:  Puerto Escondido, Sea of Cortez, Baja, Mexico

Wow!  We have heard a lot of good things from other cruisers about the Sea of Cortez.  Now we understand why. Here on the Baja side, there are numerous attractive anchorages to choose from, depending on what you want to do and what direction the wind is blowing.  The sea life is abundant.  We have seen blue whales, dolphins, sea lions, and stingrays along with seabirds, songbirds and fish.  We’ve hiked, swam, snorkeled, fished, explored beaches, and small Mexican towns, all in the short time that we’ve been here.  The weather is pleasant - warm during the days (70s / low 80s) and cool at night (60s).  The scenery is desert – arid with plants and cacti that don’t require much water; colorful cliffs with layers of reds, ochres, browns, blacks (obsidian), grays and whites that change as the light of day changes; white sand beaches, rocky beaches and beaches covered with shells.  We started at Isla San Francisco after crossing from Topolobampo on the mainland and subsequently worked our way as far north as Santa Rosalia.  Now we are headed south towards La Paz and Cabo San Lucas.

So, onto the details and the photos…

Seabiscuit at anchor, Isla San Francisco with the
mountains of the Baja peninsula in the back ground

 

Our first stop on the Baja side was Isla San Francisco (Feb. 27^th), about 45 miles north of La Paz.  We anchored on the west side of the island.  We took the dinghy to shore and hiked up the ridge toward the south side of the island and then back down to the beach on the east side.  We saw a huge osprey nest along with a collection of driftwood, shells and bird and fish bones.  Then we hiked back across a salt flat to the dinghy and the boat.

Hiking, Isla San Francisco

Our next stop was Bahia Amortajada (on the southwest side of Isla San Jose) where we anchored for a few hours, took a dinghy ride through the mangroves and had lunch.  Because of the mangroves, the cruising guide reports that the no-see-ums are thick around dusk, so we didn’t want to stay here for the night.  After lunch, we heaved anchor, cruised north to Mangle Solo (on the northwest side of Isla San Jose) and dropped the hook.  We hopped into the water to scrub some of the slime off the boat bottom and then swam into shore to inspect the beach.  

Heron near the mangroves at Bahia Amortajada with
a cordon cactus forest in the back ground

It was raining when we woke up the next morning, so we moved north and anchored up at Punta San Marte (on the Baja peninsula).  It started drizzling again as the sun was setting so we sat up on monkey island and watched as a double rainbow appeared.

Punta San Marte

Double rainbow, Punta San Marte

We usually check the weather each morning and the wind was supposed to blow from the north for the next few days so we pulled into Puerto Escondido (March 4^th), a protected harbor on the Baja peninsula, to wait out the wind.  While there we did boat chores, laundry and took advantage of the internet.  The town of Loreto is about 15 miles north, so one day we decided to go into town to get some groceries.  Puerto Escondido was somebody’s dream resort.  They built a nice marina building and dock space for about 10 boats.  There are wide, landscaped streets and you can see the lot lines platted out.  Somewhere along the way, they lost their funding as there are many uncompleted construction projects and derelict abandoned buildings.  The bay used to be filled with mooring balls for visiting yachts, but most of them have disappeared or are unmaintained.  Now there are some new private docks being put in, the mini-mart at the marina recently reopened and a new restaurant in the marina building opened while we were there.  There are a lot of RVers camped nearby and between them and the boaters, they have formed a small community.  So… the afternoon before we planned to go into Loreto, I stopped at the afternoon social circle to ask the best way to get to town.  The responses were not very encouraging; there is no local taxi service and the buses are unreliable.  Sometimes you can catch a ride with someone headed that way but demand is high and resources are slim.  The next morning, we decided to walk the mile out to Hwy 1 to try and catch a bus.  We wait about 45 minutes and no buses came along.  A local family, who had been fishing at Escondido, stopped and picked us up.  They asked if we were waiting for a bus and then laughed when we told them yes.  They dropped us off in the center of town.  We wandered around, had a cup of coffee, stopped at the church, walked along the waterfront, had some lunch and, after we confirmed that we could get a taxi ride back to Escondido, did our grocery shopping. 

The mission in Loreto

A pig roasting for a street festival in Loreto

Loreto is a nice friendly town – small enough to be walkable but with amenities to support tourism along with the local community.  It was established in 1697 by a group of Jesuit missionaries and was the location of the first mission of the Californias.  Above the entrance to the church it says “Cabeza y Madre de las Misiones de Baja y Alta California” (Head and Mother of the Missions of Lower and Upper California).  Loreto used to be the state capital of region but in 1829 it was hit by a hurricane and the capital was moved to La Paz.  Today it seems to be a center for outdoor tourist activities including kayaking and whale watching.

The next morning we docked and filled up our fresh water tank, then cruised out of the Puerto Escondido harbor.  As we were leaving, we witnessed blue whales spouting from all around the boat.  We got out into deep water and cut the engine so that we could drift and watch them feed.  

A blue whale spouting outside Puerto Escondido harbor

The vertebrae of a blue whale as it dives back underwater 

We anchored up in Puerto Ballandra (on the west side of Isla Carmen) mid-afternoon.

Monday morning, we packed a picnic lunch and hiked up an arroyo to an old cistern.  Then a dinghy ride out to the entrance of the bay to see the whales and an afternoon swim.  Tuesday we moved north about 8 miles to the south side of Isla Coronados.  After lunch, we went ashore for a hike and made our way up to the top of island, an extinct volcano – elevation 928 feet. 

Hiking on Isla Carmen

Oyster catcher, Puerto Ballandra, Isla Carmen

Wednesday (March 11^th), we heaved anchor and headed north to San Juanico.  The seas were a little lumpy, especially after all of the calm weather we have had.  We anchored up just before lunch. S/V ‘Quick’, some sailboaters we met in Escondido, called us on the radio as we arrived and offered to share some local knowledge with us.  We met them on the beach later that afternoon and walked to a small farm where they make goat cheese and sell fresh veggies right out of the garden.  It’s amazing to see a prosperous farm like that carved out of the desert.  They used drip irrigation to water and compost to build their soil and to fertilize.  We bought fresh beets, onions, goat cheese, garlic and cilantro. 

A group of dolphins

Goats at the farm near San Juanico

The next day we went ashore for a hike along the beach and up a ridge line.  The colors and shapes of the rocks and hills are spectacular, especially as the light changes and different colors become dominant.  The bioluminescence here is amazing – we sprayed water from our hose into the sea water around us and it lit up like a fireworks finale.

Rock formations at San Juanico

Rock formations at San Juanico

Friday (March 13) we headed north into Bahia Concepcion, a large, narrow bay protected on the east by a peninsula almost 25 miles long and on the west by Baja.  We anchored near Playa Santispac where the beach was filled with RVers.  We spotted two small restaurants ashore so decided to eat at Armando’s tonight and then try Anna’s Saturday night.  Once we got settled at Armando’s we discovered that they are having a pig roast on Sunday, so we decided to stay an extra day in the anchorage for that.  The food at both restaurants turned out to be mediocre (including the pig roast) but it was nice to get off the boat for a few meals.  We also did some beach walking and dinghy exploring before heading to our next destination, Santa Rosalia.

Armando's restaurant, Playa Santispac, Bahia Concepcion

Dave, exploring in the dinghy, Bahia Concepcion

Santa Rosalia is our northernmost destination for this side of the Sea of Cortez.  It is an old copper mining town and we’ve been told that the mine has recently re-opened.  Most of the buildings in town are of French design and were built to house employees of the original French company that operated the mine. They are built out of wood that was shipped in from Canada and the Pacific Northwest by the same ships that carried the copper out of the town.  We docked at the marina inside the town’s harbor for a few days, explored the town, tried out a few restaurants and did some boat chores.

A crucible from the old copper smelter, Santa Rosalia.

The church in Santa Rosalia, designed by Eiffel
(i.e. the same guy who designed the Eiffel Tower
in Paris).

Thursday (March 19^th), we left Santa Rosalia in the morning and headed south to anchor near Punta Chivato.  Along the shoreline, there are several nice houses, a dirt landing strip, airplane hangars and what looks like a desert version of a nine-hole golf course (nothing green, only red flags marking each hole) along with an abandoned resort hotel.  We took the dinghy ashore to walk along the beach and through the resort.  The shells along the beach were amazing; just about every size, shape and color you could imagine – cowry, oyster, clam, conch, whelks, etc.

A great shelling beach, Punto Chivato.

Dolphins riding the bow wake.

A sea lion at rest

We heaved anchor Saturday morning (March 21^st) and headed south back to the anchorage at San Juanico.  So far, it is one of our favorites.  We stayed for a few days and hiked up the road to a different, larger farm and bought some fresh vegetables.  The water is super clear and we saw groups of rays swimming back and forth, rays jumping, and dolphins and sea lions chasing fish.  

A lone ray, San Juanico

A group of rays, San Juanico

Tuesday morning (March 24^th) we continued south and anchored on the west side of Isla Coronados.  We launched the dinghy, got out our snorkeling gear and headed over to the rocks near the beach. 

Today (March 25^th), we cruised to Loreto for some groceries.  Loreto is a fair weather anchorage with no protection from north, south or east winds.  Most boats wanting to re-provision anchor near the town in the morning, do their shopping and then get underway again before the afternoon winds pick-up.  We anchored outside the town’s breakwater which encloses a small harbor used for shallow draft fishing pangas.  A medium-size cruise ship ‘Safari Endeavor’ was also anchored outside; the crew was busy ferrying the cruise passengers into town on the ship’s zodiacs.  We dinghied into the harbor, walked to the grocery store, bought our supplies, took a taxi back to the harbor, dinghied back out to the boat, heaved anchor and headed south to Puerto Escondido.  We’ll stay the night here, use the fast internet, do a load of laundry, load water and then head south again in the morning.

Statue of sea lions on the breakwater, Loreto.

The main walking street in Loreto with the
mission bell tower in the back ground