A Sailing Log from the Sea of Cortez – Part One • Exploring Bahia de La Paz
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Waiting for the summer heat to break while refitting the boat, The Defiant finally sets off in search of fun in the Sea of Cortez. With a first leg goal of Guaymas, where some additional refitting will be done to the boat, the sailing vessel Defiant sets sail in a multi part literary adventure in the Sea of Cortez. Welcome aboard...
by Capt. Tomas
I slipped the dock lines and left the comfort of the ‘trailer park’ six months ago. The ‘trailer park’ is a somewhat derogatory term those of us living ‘on the hook’ use for dockside marina life. Don’t get me wrong, marina life is great, local restaurants, cable internet, plenty of fresh water and easy loading of the groceries, but it is a totally different experience and lifestyle. Life on the hook brings a greater appreciation of water and electrical usage and for all but the hottest part of the day precluded air conditioning in the heat of summer. It took me back to ‘cruising’ again.
I spent most of the summer hopping local anchorages near La Paz. The first 10 days or so nearly drove me stir crazy, but I used the adjustment period to work out some ‘bugs’ in my boat systems. For those of you unfamiliar with the definition of cruising it is: "The art of working on your boat in exotic places.” And in fact, I spent the first two months fixing minor boat items that were easy to neglect or avoid in the marina. By late August I had reach the ever so brief and fleeting moment where (and it jinxes me just to say it) everything on the boat worked. It must be time to get a different boat!
September brought a flurry of storms and a couple of weeks back in the marina for security. Without a doubt, the most storm secure marina in Baja Sur is CostaBaja Resort & Marina. The smaller boat inner basin doglegs away from the already protected Ensenada de La Paz and is where I have ridden out 2 Category 2 Hurricanes without more than a few black marks on my hull. The succession of threats to the peninsula this season only matured once (Hurricane Jimena) but it was enough to keep me ‘inshore’ for most of September and much of October. I got my 300 ton "ticket" or Captains License in early October. By late October I was ready to sail north and explore more of the Sea of Cortez during the best part of the year here in Baja Sur.
Monday was a provisioning day. We were loading up on diesel, gas and water took just a few minutes in the morning. The trip around town erased the rest of the day, finding shackles, fuel filters and groceries. By sunset the boat was stowed and we would be ready to make sail by sun up. It was a full moon rise over downtown La Paz as we watched from the Magote, it was awesome. Twenty minutes later we fell asleep.
After we enjoyed a hearty breakfast, cleaned up the bacon grease and walked the dog noon had rolled around on Tuesday. With a nice breeze from the southwest, Innamay, my virgin crew (well, she had never been sailing before) had the unique experience of ‘sailing off the hook.’ I was determined to so much more sailing on this adventure than on trips before because I had become too accustom to switching on the motor and getting to where I wanted to be, at 7kts. In an equally rare event, we sailed free of the Ensenada de La Paz before the tide changed and about the time the wind switch to the north.
With a good 8-10kts from the north our initial objective of Ensenada Grande at the north end of Isla Partida became impractical. Since we had no real time constraints on our protracted journey we opted for an anchorage much closer. We sailed wide across the bay to the northwest in broad tacks of 3-4km. Even still, being a bit out of practice at pointing the wind, our new objective of Caleta Lobos as a first night stop of point seemed ambitious. By sunset we were about 2 short tacks short of our goal when the Sea glassed over. Since hunger was setting in and a crew mutiny would result if the barbecue was started soon, so we fired up and closed the last mile under motor.
It was one night after the full moon, bringing moon rise about 1hr after sunset. Close to the Tropic of Cancer darkness falls quickly after sunset. In the summer, in about 20 minutes it is dark. In the winter, about 30-40 minutes brings total darkness and by the time the glow of the pending moonrise appeared in the east a plethora of stars, planets and the Milky Way were illuminating the night sky.
My best prose can not describe nor any picture bring justice to the moonrise through the rugged peaks north of La Paz through which the moon levitated. With the Sea as calm as a pool of mercury, the face of the moon danced in its own reflection. A bottle of tequila and a tray of limes added to the experience.
Morning came as the wedged moon dropped into the rough cliffs along the west side of the Bay of La Paz. And so came the Bobos. The secret to be relayed here is anchor as far from brackish mangroves as the protection of the Bay provides. Now, I had a spectacular Christmas in Lobos, but with the rains of the late summer the little anchorage should be renamed Caleta BOBOS! We referred to them as gnats back home and they don’t appear to bite, but drive you ‘buggy’ they will, crawling up your nose and in your eyes. By 11AM we abandon Lobos for a very quick and down wind sail to Balandra.
Balandra is one of my all time favorite anchorages circa La Paz. I spent much of the summer anchored there. There are no facilities, other than trash pick up in the parking lot of the public beach. You can dingy around the corner for a cold beer or very expensive cigarettes at Tecolote and sometimes the roll from north winds and passing large ships can disturb you, but the beauty of the locations more than off-sets those issues.
I have anchored in Balandra in nearly every week of every month over the last 9 years. It almost always blows (and hard) from the southwest about 340 nights a year. I anchor as close to the south bluffs as I can, once seeing 35kts on my instruments at the top of a 50’ mast and hardly a breath on deck. But this night was again nearly flat as glass and very pleasant, you could have anchored anywhere in the bay and ‘been riding on chain’ (This means it is so still the boat is held in place by the deadweight of the chain, not pulling on the anchor)
Since it was still the heat of the day when we arrived we were pleased to find a significant reduction in the population of flies and bobos. The water looked great so snorkeling occupied the second half of the day until we were both as waterlogged as the accompanying Labrador.
Dawn Thursday brought a wind from the northeast, so we shot the gap across the San Lorenzo Channel and sailed up the southwest facing coast of Espiritu Santos. The wind abandon us about mid day for about 45 minutes, providing time to change some battens and trim some lines. Then the afternoon norther began to pick up and we sailed near hull speed in short tacks making an unnamed cove south of Caleta El Candelero by dark. We shared this mostly undiscovered cove with just one other sailboat. They assisted us in polishing off the rest of our tequila and sharing a few songs on the guitars.
Some of the best parts about being out in the Sea early in the season in the number of true mariners about. Not the "dock rats" or the CLODS (Cruisers Living on Dirt) you become familiar with in town, but a whole new species, for the better or worse, of folks still enjoying the vanishing wilderness of the Sea of Cortez.
Friday brought a circumnavigation of the Islands of La Partita and Espiritu Santos. With a new 4 stroke engine and 5 gallons of gas we explore the well known west side of the island as well as the rugged and often forgotten eastern shores. There is a large lagoon of brackish water in about the middle of the eastern side of Espiritu Santos. We were drawn in for a closer look by the vast quantities of water foul winging around the lagoon. We were just as quickly driven off by the hordes of hungry flying pests from mosquitoes and flies to bobos.
(Note: A National Park fee is now required of all non-residents and there is an anchoring fee in most of the anchorages when enforced. Jet skis and fishing are prohibited within 1km of the island and pets are not permitted onshore)
No trip to the two islands is complete without a stop at Los Islotes, home of the resident sea lion colony. This handful of bird-stained rocks attracts most of the dive and snorkel charter boats from La Paz, because it is a virtually guaranteed good time. The yearlings will play with swimmers and are USUALLY pretty amusing. They will steal fins and even masks from rookies and I have found them particularly fond of hacky sacks. 
Keep in mind that April is rutting season and the males get more protective of the herd. Sea lions will usually warn before biting, by blowing bubbles at you (and looking obviously aggressive) This is your clue to back off, as a sea lion bite is a nasty thing and seems to take forever to heal.
The north side of the rocks provides a colorful dive to about 90’ and on this occasion I was able to make out detail in the bottom of my dingy from about 55’ down. There are lots of small fish, a few large pargo and colorful corals. Fishing is prohibited 1km away from shore along most of the two large islands. The current is moderate, so it was a nice refresher dive for me. With just four tanks to 
take us as far as Loreto or Guaymas, we chose to burn both dives here. The rest of the day was spent in beach play, installing my motor lift which I would want to use for the next leg of the journey and cleaning a few small oysters that May had collected earlier in the day in about 20' of water. Note that is is illegal for non-nationals to take shellfish anywhere in Mexico. (May was born in Sinaloa.)
Dawn Sunday took us back out into the Bay of La Paz and a reasonable connection with my 3G Telcel card. Wide band computer communication has been a boon for me. Allowing me to work most of the day to day details of the BajaInsider from anywhere that receives cell signal. But there are 
limitations. Not every tower in Baja is 3G, in fact most are not, except in urban areas. The ‘unlimited plan’ has limits after which you still have service, but at a dramatically reduced throughput. But I am currently able to publish this article and photos while underway to San Evaristo. Most of the Island anchorages doOur eventual destination is Guaymas on the mainland side, after working our way up the eastern side of Baja Sur as far as Santa Rosilia. Look for the next installment of this adventure as we get internet connection along our voyage.