Sea of Cortez

Sea of Cortez

Our first stop after Cabo San Lucas was Los Frailes ( the Friars ) located 38 miles NE. The gray shale slabs looked to Spanish explorers like friars climbing the steep angles. The snorkeling was the greatest, the sea lions didn't mind a bit if you join them for a dip. The sea life is like an aquarium of the most beautiful fish there is to see.

We loved Los Frailes, the anchoring was great and a lot of the boats from the Baja Ha Ha fleet continuing on were anchored there. We had a great fish feast on the beach. We came upon a small campground a few feet from the beach occupied by mostly Canadians, one of which was kind enough to take Howard to the Airport.

From Los Frailes we headed to another bay called Los Muertos, 47 miles NW. There we discovered an out of the way place which has wireless internet as well as local fisherman doing their daily fishing. As in Los Frailes, the water is crystal clear and warm. Upon our arrival we took the digny to shore to check out the great Giggling Marlin Beach & Yacht Club on shore. There is a lot of development in Los Muertos dubbed Bahia de los Suenos ( The Bay of Dreams) by the developers who did not understand the name Muertos.
	The greatest thing about anchoring is the privacy of our surroundings and the beauty of crystal clear waters surrounding us turning the ocean into our own private swimming pool. The night brings thousands of fish which come towards whatever light they may see posing for a photograph

Our next stop was La Paz, there we docked at Marina Costa Baja where we had all the facilities of a resort. The 10 days we were there the temperatures stayed in the low 90's so we really enjoyed having a pool to cool off in. The small city is very welcoming, the people are very friendly. The Baja 1000 race ended while we were in town, so there was a lot of extra events going on.

Mexican Independence day was celebrated with a large parade in town following by the lighting of a large christmas tree located in the waterfront gazebo. La Paz has a large cruising community made up of American and Canadian boats so we were treated to a great potluck Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings.

It's was nice to be in the marina for a while but our favorite spots were the beautiful coves the Sea of Cortez has to offer. Isla Partida is located just north of Islas Espiritu Santos 27 miles north of La Paz. We anchored in Partida Cove for one night and then moved over to Ensenada Grande #1. We love to anchor in the warm crystal clear water so clear we can see the anchor chain all the way to the bottom in 20 to 25 feet of water.

The hills are made up of red lava boulders which circle the white beaches and turquoise shoals with all sorts of wild flowers blooming. Partida Cove connects the islands. Most dinghies can cross to the back side at high tide. There are panguero fishing shacks which cover the tiny ledge and part of the sandbar along with a few park campsites. We walked along the shore and came upon a stack of conch shells which someone had cleaned out and left the shells. From inside these shells you can hear the sound of the ocean.

Ensenada Grande # 1 is a very small cove with not much room for more than one boat. Being the only boat anchored there we enjoyed the small very private beach. The hills here are very steep so there's no hiking trails.

The weather changed quite a bit when the north winds picked up with gusts up to 40 miles an hour in some places. We were very sheltered in our little cove and stayed here for a few days until the winds calmed down.

After three days here we decided to venture further north to Isla San Francisco, about a four hour trip. The seas were very choppy and after a few hours at sea we discovered we had left a forward hatch open.

We loved Half Moon Bay on Isla San Francisco, there was just two other boats anchored there. This bay is great for hiking. There are trails made by other sailors on both sides of the bay.

The views from the top of the rocky hills are spectacular. We hiked from one end to the other. On the North west side we could see Isla San Jose. We came upon a tarantula spider, which I had never seen before.

The hillsides were covered with flowering cactus and as Isla Pardida we could walk to the back side of the bay.
There are still signs of the ponds where the locals harvested salt. This bay so far was our favorite.

We stayed in Isla San Francisco for three days, I was able to get all the wet clothes washed and dried, put the closet and shelves back together and dry out some of the school supplies I had on board for the children in different ports. Fortunately we salvages everything except for five colored construction paper tablets I had on board to take to the kids on the remote islands we hope to visit.

We left Isla San Francisco and headed south to Los Muertos bay where we had stopped for one night on our way to La Paz. It was great to have the opportunity to spend a few days here before crossing the channel to the main land towards Mazatlan. We hiked both sides of the bay and came upon a beautiful little chapel overlooking the bay. Ashore we found the remnants of a stone warf and warehouse which are considered a historic landmark. The word muertos reffered to the deadman mooring system used in the early 1900s for barges that loaded ore from the silver mines at El Triunfo.

We saw a very small portion of what the Sea of Cortez has to offer and really enjoyed what we di get to see. We hope to return again someday to explore the rest of it.

See the for Photo Galery Pt 1 & Pt 2 formore pictures