Bahia Los Frailes, Ensenada De Los Muertos, Puerto Balandra and then LA PAZ

Eastern Baja Coast South of La Paz

Bahia Los Frailes

On December 16 we sailed to Bahia Los Frailes, leaving at 7:30 am and arriving at 4:30 pm. The wind was poor and we had to motor sail.

This was an exceptional day however because Greg caught his first Dorado or Mahi Mahi on our hand line.  He is convinced now that ANYONE can catch a fish in the Sea of Cortez. After four days of Dorado for dinner and some lunches the remainder went into the freezer.

Just beyond Bahia Los Frailes is Cabo Pulmo. I had read about it in our new “Sea of Cortez: A Cruiser’s Guidebook” by Breeding & Bansmer (from Bellingham, WA). Pulmo Reef is the only hard coral reef found in the Sea of Cortez and is a primo snorkeling spot and I wanted to go there so, so much. The locals convinced the government to protect the area and there is a four mile no-anchoring zone. Unfortunately we were unable to figure out how to get there. It was too far for the dinghy and too far to walk (we tried and gave up). It may be that you have to have a guide and have to travel into the area by car. Oh well, someday I’ll figure it out and then we will get to see it. I have to keep telling myself that I don’t have to do everything this trip.

Ensenada De Los Muertos

After accepting defeat I agreed to move on. We arrived at our next anchorage, Ensenada De Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead), on Saturday long after sunset. 14 hours of motoring and sailing was longer than we had anticipated.

In this remote looking anchorage there was a restaurant that supposedly provided internet access. We couldn’t tell if it was open; we didn’t see any boats or cars that would indicate that it was. We dinghyed in the next day and discovered that it was open 7 days a week from 8 am to 9 pm. One couple was there before us; there were 6 staff. The restaurant, named 1535 (an important date for Mexico), was run by a development company selling lots in what they called “The Bay of Dreams” (apparently they didn’t think that Bay of the Dead would have a lot of selling appeal - too bad, it might have been the first Gothic community in Baja). The staff spoke English and the food was great and reasonably priced.  Another couple arrived as we were leaving. The staff didn’t seem to mind much - they were watching soccer on one of the three TVs. I got exactly one hour of internet access in exchange for dining at the restaurant.

We left Ensenada De Los Muertos at 5 am the next morning, having gone to bed at 7 pm the night before. We had the sails up by 7 am under a beautiful clear blue sky. We were peeling off layers shortly after and it was 76 degrees by 11 am.

Puerto Balandra

We were approaching La Paz by noon and decided to anchor at Puerto Balandra.

This anchorage is not good in north winds but we were experiencing a rare south wind. Even though the wind howled all night the boat barely moved.



Snorkeling spot



Not long after anchoring we were suited up for our first snorkeling. It didn’t look far, but it was a long swim there and back. The next day we decided to dinghy over for our second outing. We saw lots of tropical fish, sea urchins and rays. I was disappointed to discover that I didn’t have a single book on reef fish and we couldn’t ID what we had seen.

Snorkeling was wonderful all around these rocks.

Beautiful sandy beaches.

 

This turned out to be a great anchorage.



Brown Pelicans at snorkel spot




Great Blue Heron




Fishermen at Balandra



La Paz

We left for LaPaz on Wednesday, Dec 22^nd, looking forward to a Mexican Christmas.

At this point we have traveled 2,755 miles. We have only used 175 gallons of diesel. By my estimate, this means we sailed 1700 miles.

La Paz Anchorage



New Marina de La Paz





Sandstone cut above La Paz Road



We anchored in the bay, successfully negotiating the sand bar thanks to our new “Sea of Cortez: A Cruiser’s Guidebook”, and discovered that there wasn’t any reason to pay for a marina slip since we could dinghy in and leave the dink and our trash for 15 pesos per day (the exchange rate is $1 US =  12 pesos). LaPaz reminds me of home: the sandstone cliffs look like Sucia Island, the aquatic park reminded me of the Birch Bay water slides and the development at the end of El Magote spit looks a lot like the development at the end of Semiahmoo.



Water Park



Semiahmoo on El Magote?



A modest 5,000 sq ft La Paz house. Note the spiral staircase.



I was hoping for something special like parades, festivals, interesting decorations or cultural events. Nada.  It was hard to tell that Christmas was imminent. There was music, loud Mexican music, until 3 am though. It kept me awake for three nights.

Our Baja guide told us about Club Cruceros in La Paz. Founded in 1988, it was formed to help the boating community. For a 100 pesos annual membership fee they will receive your mail and make their library and club house available. Sounded good to us. They were having a Christmas Eve potluck, which I was looking forward to and had prepared for, but the wind shot up to over 20 knots and a dinghy ride back to the boat in the dark, after a few drinks, didn’t sound prudent, so we passed.



Evening in La Paz



We’ve gone into town several times, walking for miles, for various reasons. One thing really distinguishes Mexican towns from the US - the sidewalks.  All shapes and sizes abut one another. There are incredible holes waiting to swallow small children and curbs that need ladders. Lawyers probably don’t get much work here except to sell gringos property.

Some things are the same as when we were here 10 years ago and some have changed. The CCC market that we had provisioned at before has changed hands and is now a Mexican version of Wal-Mart (there is also a Wal-Mart a few miles down the road). I was impressed with the cleanliness and order of the store. All the employees in the food departments wore hair covers and face masks.

We took a walk on the El Magote spit and found a pair of birds that seemed to be couple, even though they were two different species (White Ibis and Snowy Egret). They moved around together, one seeming to

guard the other as it fed.

I came upon the skeleton of a swordfish. I had just finished reading Linda Greenlaw’s book The Hungry Ocean, her account of being the captain of a commercial swordfishing boat. Greenlaw was captain of the companion boat to the Andrea Gail which was lost in the Perfect Storm. I was fascinated by the unusual vertebrae, which are large plates, and the thousands of tiny teeth that felt like sandpaper. The skull was very large and the bill had been sawed off. I really would have liked to have seen it.



Swordfish on El Magote



Today we are making one last run into town for a visit to the farmers market and the wine store then its time for us to head out to the islands. By Wednesday we should reach Isla Espiritu Santo.