"Turtle Bay to La Paz"

Turtle Bay

Turtle Bay is a small and dusty desert town populated by fishermen and an overabundance of children. As you enter Turtle Bay you are right away greeted by Ernesto from the Gordos family. He will offer you fuel, panga rides to town or any other service you might require. A fee is charged of course, as he will very clearly let you know. A few of the locals are trying to compete with Ernesto with little success.

Because of the huge surf created by passing hurricanes south of Cabo, it was impossible to beach the dinghy. We had to use the pier and the thin ladder going up 20 feet to be able to go to town. I’ll let you guess which one of us didn’t like this arrangement too much. As you walk down the long pier towards the beach, the teenagers are running and jumping off the pier. The smaller children play on the beach next to a grounded sailboat.

On the beach is a local mom and pop palapa which sells candies and cold cervezas. This was a daily stop for us after running our errands in town. It’s amazing how delicious an ice cold beer tastes in the hot sun. You certainly can’t beat the price of $ 0.80 for a Corona or Pacifico.

In town, there is one decent market and a few smaller ones. They do have a good Internet Café. There are better places to provision.

All of the restaurants were closed for the summer (off-season). The only one open is Los Maruecos. We ate there one evening. It was very good.

We spent a few days in Turtle Bay enjoying the half way point of our Baja Trip south. One of the tours we took was to the other end of the bay to watch the local fishermen harvest Oysters. It was an impressive operation. We also walked across the landmass connecting Turtle Bay to Thurloe Bay. What a beautiful bay! Unfortunately it was open to the south and was being pounded by the swell. We knew we wouldn’t stop there on the way south. After picking shells on the beach, we noticed a dead rattle snake. It was time for Sue to head back…. Very quickly!!

Ernesto gave us a big piece of blue fin tuna for a beer. One of Ernesto’s competitors came and sold us half of a huge halibut for a few bucks and a soda. Because of the bonus soda, we received 2 lobsters as a present the following day. You sure can’t beat these prices!

August 18th: It was time to lift anchor and go back on the road to continue our southbound cruise. We left Turtle Bay under Spinnaker and had a wonderful sailing day towards Bahia Asuncion. As usual, we had the ocean to ourselves. Imagine our surprise when all of a sudden (a few miles south of Isla Roque), we were hailed on the radio by an American voice. There was no boat in sight. It was Shari, a Canadian ex cruiser married to a local fisherman named Juan. She invited us to stop in Asuncion for a few homemade fish tacos. We never turn down home made fish tacos. Since we planned to stop in Asuncion, it was an easy decision to beach the dinghy and go ashore. Thanks to her instructions and contradicting the cruising guides, we had a very quiet anchorage right down from Punta Asuncion and next to the pangas. The beach landing was uneventful, since it was a protected beach. As we looked further down the coast towards downtown Asuncion, we could see the rollers coming in. Now we knew why the fishermen keep their pangas in that cove.

Shari and Juan are a very hospitable couple. Their house is situated above the point with a view from Punta Asuncion to Isla Roques. The sunsets are breathless!

We had such a wonderful evening with them that we decided to stay another day. Juan was so exited about our decision. He couldn’t wait to catch fresh fish the next morning to make us homemade ceviche. You have no idea how good this tasted. The VHF came on relatively early announcing the fresh catch for the ceviche for lunch. Shari came and picked us up at the beach in her 4x4. A tour around town including the introduction to the mayor and the replenishing of Tecates led to a great lunch. We spent the day with them including Sue going horse back riding on their horse. Very entertaining! While the girls went for a hike, the boys decided to go rabbit hunting! It was a successful mission.

They are great people. Anybody going south should make a point and stop in Asuncion. Besides these wonderful and generous people, the provisioning has a lot more to offer than the cruise books mention. It is a lot better compared to Turtle Bay.

August 20th, off we went again to Bahia San Hipolito. A few miles out of town, the fishing reels started singing. We caught several Mexican striped bonitos. We radioed Juan to let him know where the schools were.

Shari had given us the names of their relatives in San Hipolito but it was too windy to beach the dinghy. We just stayed overnight and went on the next day to Punta Abreojos.

Again, we had almost perfect conditions with 20-25 knots of wind coming from the STB quarter. It just makes for perfect sailing! As we approached Abreojos (which means “open your eyes” in Spanish) we noticed an increase in swell coming from the SW. It was the remains of hurricane Hillary hitting the Baja coast. Instead of staying right in front of town, we opted for the second anchorage further down the bay and behind a small point. It was somewhat quieter. We stayed there for a few days to ride out the effect of the hurricane. After the second sleepless night (compared to this, Paradise Cove is heaven), we decided in the afternoon to take off towards Bahia San Juanico. At dusk we dropped anchor in front of a small fishing village near Estero San Juan. This must have created a riot in town since nobody ever stops there. All of a sudden a female voice came on the radio in English inquiring if we needed help or were in trouble. We answered that all was OK. We were just stopping for the night and planed to leave in the morning. As the night progressed, the swells got bigger and bigger. Alex had enough of this. He got up, started the good old diesel, lifted the anchor and left dodge. It just wasn’t fun anymore.

We arrived in San Juanico at dawn, dropped anchor in front of the village and went to sleep. It’s a beautiful and protected bay. Again, we were the ONLY boat in it. San Juanico and Scorpion Point is widely known as a surfer hot spot. Watching them ride the long waves makes you understand why.

San Juanico is a very Americanized town. It has 3 restaurants run by American expatriates. Most of the residents and tourists are American. There are a few small stores and that’s it. On our first day the local sheriff drove us around. He dropped us off at Scorpion Bay so we could check our email, send Kent his Log article and watch our first lightning show. It was scary seeing our 50 foot mast sticking out in the middle of the bay with nothing else around.

After a few days of lounging around, drinking beers with the locals and tourists (who by the way thought it was cool to have a sailboat in the anchorage), swimming, having our laundry done and Alex getting a 3 dollar haircut, the weather window was clear to continue heading south.

On our 94 mile journey to Bahia Santa Maria, we hit a school of Yellow fin Tuna. 3 bit, 2 made it to the boat and one managed to escape. We regret not continuing to drop the lures back in. We found out later, we had some additional room in the freezer. These fish were delicious.

Bahia Santa Maria is a huge bay just outside Mag Bay. We stayed for 2 days in relatively quiet waters in front of the fishing village. The next morning we were approached by the local fishermen. For 2 small zip locked bags of candies, 4 AA batteries and 2 throw away sunglasses, we netted 8 fresh lobsters. Again, you sure can’t beat those prices…

We tried to enter into the lagoon by dinghy but opted not to enter due to the high surf. Even a beach landing didn’t look very inviting. Since we were headed for Mag Bay, we always could walk across the small strip of land separating Bahia Santa Maria and Mag Bay.

We left Bahia Santa Maria on September 1st for the 30 mile run to Man-O-War Cove. It’s a nice downwind sail to Punta Entrada, the entrance to the huge Bahia Magdalena, also known as Mag Bay. As you round the point and enter this big bay, the water flattens out rapidly. It’s about 5 miles to Puerto Magdalena aka Man-O-War Cove, a small fishing village with a Port Captain. We dropped anchor, put the dinghy in the water and went to take showers in order to properly meet the local Port Authorities. While showering, there was a knock on the hull. It was the Port Captain (aka Fuel Man) with his Log Book. Since we weren’t ready, we told him that we were going to visit him in his office within the hour.

We beached the dinghy in front of the flag post designating the Port Captain’s location. We walked up the stairs to his office/residence and sat in his living room/office to do the check in procedure which consisted of making an entry in his log book. During this very friendly conversation, Alex questioned why there was a Port captain in Puerto Magdalena, a small fishing village. Apparently it is historically based, since this used to be the base for big whaling operations. Puerto San Carlos, the big port up the bay/channel became a Port much, much later. He took our fuel order at the same time and recommended not to take “Maitairoa” to San Carlos through the channel. He suggested taking the dinghy in the morning and going straight to San Carlos. He also showed us where the entrance to the Lagoon was and when best to enter it.

After the check in was over, we went to “town”. First we looked at the church. They have a nice building but no priest to hold masses. We walked the main drag to the local tienda to check on fresh available produce. The results were meager. ???? Who knew that Roma tomatoes can mold from the inside?????? That was a first for us. The decision was made to make a run for San Carlos within the next few days.

Bright and early the following morning, we left on a mirror like surface for an “E-Ticket” ride to San Carlos. Nothing beats a flat surface with a 15 horse outboard mounted on a hard bottom dink.

A few miles prior to hitting San Carlos we saw what appeared to be a major flock of birds sitting on the surface of the water. As we got closer we realized it was Isla Los Patos, a low island in the middle of the bay. It was amazing the numerous amounts of birds. On the way back most of the low lying land was covered by water and no birds to be seen.

Puerto San Carlos is a bigger village with a few fish processing plants, a couple of relatively well stocked markets, hardware stores, Internet café’s, restaurants and bars. Beach landings are easy; however you must be careful about the slippery rocks. We were warned by the local fishermen not to leave the dinghy beached overnight, since it would certainly disappear. We provisioned, did our email, had lunch and quickly returned to our boat. The trip back was a touch rougher, since the wind had picked up a bit and created some small chop on the surface. It was still a fun trip back.

We spend a few days swimming, exploring the lagoon, walking on the beach, playing with dolphins who were riding in the wake of the dinghy and collecting shells.

On Saturday we went ashore to mingle with the local fishermen. Well, it just happened that Mexico was playing the USA this day in soccer. The next thing we know, we are all sitting in front of a TV on the beach, drinking beer and discussing soccer. Even so the US team won, we all had a great time. After many beers and a bottle of rum mixed with diet coke, we stumbled back to our dinghy for a short ride home. What a way to integrate in the local society!

On Monday our local fuel man brought us our load, we stowed everything and got ready to leave for a short ride to Punta Belcher anchorage at the entrance to the bay. Punta Belcher is the location of an old whaling company. The remains of the processing plant can still be seen. Today a few fishermen camp out during the week at this location to ice their catches.

September 7th, departure for Cabo. We left at 3:00 AM for the 150 miles trip to the cape for a scheduled rounding at sunrise. As the sun came up and the wind started to gain in strength, it was time to sail again. We did sail almost all day. We had encounters with a north bound oil freighter, a turtle and 3 marlin hook ups which all got away after short fights (at 75, 70 and 65 miles north of Cabo with water temps of 84.4 F). We had two gear failures in one day: The snap shackle on furling jib came loose which was easily fixed. The worst was that the screws for the mast bracket of the boom wang came loose. After taking the pressure off the unit, it turned out that the folks who recently refurbished the mast forgot to put Lock-Tide on the screws. All of the screws were loose and on three of them, the threads were actually stripped out of the aluminum mast. We won’t be using the wang for the next few days.

As we approached Cabo, we actually had to slow the boat down in order to see the cape at sunrise. It was worth it. What a scene! As we rounded the cape and headed towards Cabo, we noticed the increased number of fishing boats leaving Cabo’s marina. It was like driving on the 405.

We went by the arches and continued on to Los Frailes, an anchorage another 45 miles north of Cabo. Once we arrived in the north anchorage, protected from the southern swell, it was time for a cocktail and some sleeeeeeeeeeeep!

While lifting the anchor the next morning, we noticed small shells on the deck. They had grown on the chain while in Mag Bay and dried out in the chain locker on the way down. As they went by the bow roller, they fell off the chain onto the deck. They were everywhere. We headed out to Los Muertos, an anchorage 45 miles north of Los Frailes. A great sail with following seas took us quickly there. While we were approaching the anchorage, we were looking at the southern swell rolling in and decided to go on around the point through the Cerralvo channel to the anchorage at Punta Arena de la Ventana. Boy, are we glad we did it. Not only was it flat like a billiard table, all of the fishermen from Los Muertos had their pangas beached there. When in doubt, go where the fishermen leaved their pangas. They know why!

After a peaceful night and the beginning of the Sea of Cortez’s flat waters, we headed towards Canal de San Lorenzo and La Paz. A beautiful Dorado decided to bite one of the trolling lures and ended up in “Maitairoa’s” fridge. Dinner was secured.

We dropped anchor in Puerto Ballandra, a small cove north of La Paz. The end of this cove is shoal turquoise water. What a sight. No wonder most guides refer to it as a nice anchorage. Crystal clear waters, no swells and pure heaven. Water was a nice 86 F! It didn’t take long for us to hit the water over and over again.

The next morning we headed around the corner to Caleta Lobos, another beautiful anchorage situated just birth of La Paz.

On Monday morning, we headed towards La Paz through the well marked channel. Just finding the beginning of it was kind of tricky. You do want to stay in that channel since it gets very shoal just outside of it in the big La Paz bay. The trip takes you past Marina Costa Baja, a new marina outside of La Paz, built by Bellport. Next comes Marina Palmira, the virtual Marina in downtown and finally Marina de La Paz, our first marina since Ensenada. Welcome back to civilization! After docking the boat, visiting the office for check in and slip fees, we went back to the boat to celebrate the end of our trip down Baja’s coast.

WOW, WE MADE IT!