We thought we should do a summary post on our cruising experience in Mexico, for those planning a visit in the near future. As we never made it over to the mainland, this summary is only about Baja California and the Sea of Cortez, and, naturally, only represents our very objective impression.
General recommendation:
We love our cruising at Baja California and the Sea of Cortez. People were so nice, both local mexican and gringos. It was safe – all the bad things we heard occurred on the mainland. As for itinerary, even if you have limited time, try to make your way up around Loreto. For us, the cruising between La Paz and Loreto is the best of the Sea of Cortez. The northern islands (north of Punta San Francisquito) are very cool, remoto and mysterious. But it was cold up there in the winter – temperature dropped significantly once we passed Santa Rosalia.
City
- Loreto. Our hands down favorite city in Mexico. Loreto retains a real mexican flavor, decorated with European elegance — city square, cobblestone walkway … Best of all, Loreto has great access to the best cruising ground of the Sea, Isla Coronado, Isla Carmen and Isla Danzantes … with great diving, fishing, hiking within hours. The only drawback – Loreto does not have marina, mooring, not good anchorage. On the calm day, you can anchor right outside of Loreto, but it is very exposed. For boats with fast dinghy, you can anchor at the nearby islands and use the dinghy to cover the 8 miles distance to Loreto.
- Cabo San Lucas. Cabo San Lucas turned out to be a surprising bonus. We stayed here for our solar panel project, rather than by choice. But we ended up enjoying the stay much more than we had expected. True, it is touristy, loud and very Americanized. But it is beautiful, clean, convenient, safe, with great weather. IGY marina is a huge place, surrounded by restaurants, bars, flea markets and street vendors, walking distance to grocery store, tackle shops … Recommend stop AFTER some cruising time in remoteness, when you’d be ready for civilization again. You can anchor in the bay but be ready for jet ski and boat traffic.
- La Paz. La Paz is in the middle, smaller than Cabo, bigger than Loreto. In contrast to the overwhelming sportfisher fleet at Cabo, La Paz is more about cruising boats. The weather at La Paz was disappointing in our experience. It was the winder and colder, than both south (Cabo) and north (Loreto). We stayed at two marinas. First time at Marina Cortez during the northliers. Terrible experience, as the marina has no break wall. Second time at Costa Baja. The most luxury marina we ever stayed, golf, tennis, restaurants, and MAGE yachts … It was a bit more expensive, but as we fueled up there with the marina internal discount, it paid off well. La Paz’s anchorage is big, but crowded – watch out for anchor dragging.
- San Jose del Cabo. Nice town, similar to Cabo, but newer. The marina is far from town so not as convenient. No real anchorage.
- Santa Rosalia. Marinas are cheap. The town is nothing special in my opinion. No anchorage.
Favorite Anchorages (in rough order)
Honeymoon cove; Bahia Agua Verde; Isla Coronado; Isla Espiritu Santo; Isla San Jose; Isla Salsipuedes; Los Frailes; Los Gatos; Posada (Bahia Conception);
See previous posts for details.
Guidebook
Sea of Cortez: A Cruiser’s Guidebook by Heather Bansmer and Shawn Breeding
Best of the best. Highly recommended.
Last piece of the puzzle
At the time of writing, we have yet to make one high-anticipated stop in Mexico, the Revillagigedo Islands, or commonly referred as Socorro islands. They are four offshore volcanic islands, roughly 200-300 miles from Cabo San Lucas. These islands offer amazing marina lives, top dive site in the world. We will be stopping by them on our way to Marquesas, South Pacific. Stay tuned…