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Navigational Changes to the Entrance to Ensenada de La Paz
There has been a significant change to the navigational buoys marking the entrance to the Ensenada de La Paz or the La Paz Harbor. Two new markers have been placed to the west southwest of the previous first buoys. In the image above, taken from the buff at CostaBaja Resort and Marina, the new series of dogleg turns to enter the La Paz Harbor is dramatic. The green and red arrows above indicate the channel markers. The white arrow is the now incorrect mid-channel mark which is just a few yards south of the Pemex mooring can. This change will prove even more challenging at night, as it will be very east to cut the second set of cans short and plot a course across less than 1 foot of water at low tide.
CostaBaja has also installed a series of three yellow caution markers along the northern side of the channel just south of the Marina breakwater. These three markers have flashing yellow lights at night and indicate both a swimming caution zone for power boats and jet skies and the beginning of the reef/shallows area.
At the time of the revise of this article (October 25, 2008) the second green buoy (#3) is not on station.
This information should be updated shortly to the USCG aids to Navigation.
The change to the harbor entrance is intended to route the increasing recreational boat traffic away from the secure zone of the Pemex dock and allow the tankers to 'stern-in' to the fuel facilities..
During spring and summer months some sailors are caught, quite
literally, by surprise as they are brought to a halt by the breast line
of a tanker, tied to the can just yards away from the mid channel
marker.
Some folks have had difficulty with the depth of the new channel, right at the first marker, complaining of insufficient depth. I personally sounded the area with a lead line in May of 2008 and did not find a depth less than 16 feet at mean tide.
The entrance to the Ensenada de La Paz has long proved a booby trap for those who know better than to consult a chart or a Mexican cruising guide before entering the harbor. Nearly once a week during the cruising season someone takes the shipwreck approach to La Paz, plotting a straight GPS course for Marina Palmira or what APPEARS to be the entrance to the harbor.
In fact, a direct approach as shown in red, often results in tragic
groundings. Just two years ago a Baja HaHa rookie's boat was destroyed
during a norther at night on a bad approach to La Paz.
The entrance to La Paz Harbor was closed to foreign navigation after sunset as recently as 1977 and is not an approach to be taken lightly. With the increase in shore lights the range marker system has become increasingly hard to differentiate. With the new dogleg turn boaters in La Paz will be have to take additional precautions not to skip the second set of markers, particularly in the dark.
For first time visitors, also remember that extreme tides twice a month can generate as much as 5kts of current in places in the bay. Because of geography and winds, La Paz can prove very difficult to arrive into under sail.