Hidden Port Yacht Club in Loreto - Come Find Us

“Come Find Us” is the motto of the Hidden Port Yacht Club in Puerto Escondido, Baja Sur California.    The yacht club is the host of the Loreto Fest, a cruisers and ‘dirt dwellers’ time to have fun and make money for good causes.

“…….. Puerto Escondido, the Hidden Harbor, a place of magic.   If one wished to design a secret personal bay, one would probably build something very like this little harbor.   A point swings about, making a small semicircular bay fringed with bright green mangroves, and only when one has turned inside this outer bay can one see that there is a second, secret bay beyond  - a long narrow bay with an entrance not more than fifty feet wide at flood.” That is a quote from John Steinbeck, “The Log from the Sea of Cortez”, (1941).  The bay is two miles east of the Sierra de la Gigantic Mountains and   is 15 miles south of the historic town of Loreto and about 100 miles north of La Paz.  Puerto Escondido is on the mainland part of Baja and can easily hold 200 plus boats.    ‘Singlar’, a Mexican government organization has installed 117 mooring buoys.   You can anchor in the main anchorage or in API waters in the Eclipse or ‘waiting room’. There is diesel fuel as well as gasoline and water available.

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in Loreto and Lugui, helped the bicycle club of Loreto, given financial aid to the battered mothers and children’s program in Loreto, provided table and chairs to the college, alcohol center for men and women,   plus have helped some cruiser friends when they have had disasters.

The planning for each year begins immediately after the end of the present day event in order to evaluate and critique the previous days and then serious work starts about December.  

    Harbor Bay Cleanup morning, a HAM radio test, Spam contest, dinghy race, dinghy parade, chili cook-off and dinner, spaghetti dinner, pancake breakfast, Water volleyball,  silent auction, workshops, horseshoes, a regatta, swap meet, ‘over the line’ baseball,  other games and activities are all part of the festival.
 

Each morning, I sit in our cockpit and sip my coffee and look out at the giant mountains with the early, eastern sun shining on them. The colors show best then, colors of orange, brown, red gold, some green and even pink.   Steinbeck called them ‘mountains of stone’.   To me they look like they have been chiseled with a sharp, artist’s knife.    The elevation rises from sea level to an altitude of approximately 4,000 feet.

 To those who do not know about the Sea of Cortez, as we did not, it is home to many, many forms of wildlife.   There are five different species of whales, dolphins, sea lions and otters to name a few.  We have heard coyotes howling in the evening and have seen ‘roadrunners’ scurry across the road.   There are two small Tienda nearby, an internet and taxis available to get to Loreto or the International Airport.

Hidden Port Yacht Club began November 1993 and there were 36 members.  It now boasts a membership roster of 2100 plus members. The members talked of having a   ‘Harbor Clean Up’ day. But this did not happen until …..   The story goes that a pot luck dinner was announced, however, all coming to the dinner were met with a surprise.   Before the dinner there was going to be a “Harbor Clean Up”.   All agreed this was so much fun, and decided to do it again the next year.   The meeting for the first “Loreto Fest” began in January 1996 and now comprises a four day event.

The purpose of the club is to help national friends and neighbors and for the education of children.   During the history of the club, they have helped send children to school, donated medical supplies to the hospital, helped the cultural center, donated air conditioners to the handicapped school, aided the Internado School

An end to each day’s activities is the music program that is presented by the amateur musicians (who sound much more than amateurish!)  for four nights.    The talented musicians practice six days a week, beginning a month before the festival.  However, the music director is hard at work all year long.  The crowd usually ends up dancing, singing and often calling ‘encore’, ‘encore’!

The statistics of the Loreto Fest give an indication of just the magnitude of the event There were 24 head committee chairmen, with 26 sub committee chairs, 200 plus cases of beer were ordered, (plus soft drinks, water, and mixed drinks) over 2000 hot dogs consumed, approximately 150 boats were moored or anchored, over 100 different songs played by the musicians, and 7000.tickets sold for purchases of food and drinks.

The festival culminates on a Sunday night.   Before the last music program is presented, the awards are given for different actives.   Many wait the awarding of the infamous   “Green T Shirt”.   This award was started in 1995 with tongue in cheek about who was the most frequent talker on the HAM nets. In 2000, the “Help, I am talking and I can’t shut up” a.k.a, “green T Shirt Award”   was handed down to a fellow radio colleague by the former recipient at the Loreto Fest.   It has become a tradition ever since.

The yacht club has a web page and more information can be obtained by going to www.hiddenportyachtclub.com.

Judy Lyon, Lyon Around
 

Additional Resources

Street Map of Loreto
Loreto Information

Baja Weather