The Pacific Coast of Baja

We have completed our trip down the west coast of the Baja Peninsula. We are now in the warm waters of the Gulf of California–The Sea of Cortez.

Here are some photos from our trip down. A reminder, you can find more day-to-day accounts from our trip down the coast on our tracking page.

Ensenada

Our first stop was Ensenada where we checked into the country. We spent two weeks there. While there, we enrolled in Spanish classes, took care of some boat jobs, and settled into life in Mexico.

Bahia Tortugas

Bahia Tortugas was a two-day sail from Ensenada. It was our longest sail since arriving in San Francisco and this time we didn’t have my brother Mike with us to share the night watches. It was fine though we were a little more sleep deprived when we arrived at Bahia Tortugas.

We enjoyed a few days in the bay. We were struck by how much life was in the bay. We saw countless sea lions, dolphins, fish bubbling to the surface and thousands of gulls and pelicans.

While we were there, our friends on Palomita arrived so it was fun to buddy boat with them for a few days.

Asuncion, Bahia Santa Maria and Magdalena Bay

We made a few stops before reaching Cabo San Lucas. Each stop had its own charms. For me, Man-O-War Cove in Magdalena Bay was a standout. It had lots of beaches to walk on and a mangrove lagoon that we explored in our dinghy.

Cabo San Lucas

The trip to Cabo San Lucas was a rough one. We had comfortable easy sailing the first day but that night we were hit by strong winds–30+ kts–which made for a very uncomfortable night. We were glad to see the sun the next morning, not because we were in any danger, but because things always feel a bit easier in the daylight.

Cabo was a shock to the system after the relative quietness of the Pacific side of the Baja Peninsula. It was a holiday weekend when we arrived, so the bay was full of sport fishing boats, cruise ships, pangas full of tourists and jet skis zipping between them all. We spent a couple of days reprovisioning and other mundane tasks before moving north to Los Frailes.

The plan now is to make our way across to Mazatlán and south to Puerto Vallarta to meet family that are coming for Christmas!