Blog Post 22 – San Jose del Cabo to Los Muertos

11/21 – 11/23/15

23:59.31 N – 109:49.65 W

When we got back to the marina after driving out to Cabo Pulmo we decided that were going to head to La Paz. The weather, especially the wind, was not ideal with 15-20 knots winds but we decided to go anyway. Many other boats in the marina decided to do the same. Hurricane Sandra was raging 650 miles south of Cabo and we would rather be in La Paz, when and if it hit, than in Cabo. The storm tracks had projected that its outer bands would brush by

Cabo but none of them had Sandra heading as far north as La Paz. We took off at around 10 AM. As soon as we rounded the cape and headed north up into the Sea of Cortez the Baja Bash started. The winds and seas were coming at us right on the nose of the boat and things were a little rough. But they were not terrible. We anticipated this and just made sure everything was secured and tied down below and dug in for the 28 mile trip to Los Frailles. Our boat is a blue water cruiser and it was built to withstand much more serious weather than this.  As I have said before it is the people inside that are fragile.

We pulled into Los Frailles right at sunset. Not only were our friends Bill & Michelle from Adagio there but 2 other boats that had been next to us in the marina in San Jose del Cabo. They were already having a sundowner party on Mark & Cindy’s boat Delta Swizzler. There were also three Taiwanese guys there that spoke almost no English that had sailed across the Pacific as well as a couple from New Zealand and were also headed to La Paz. Literally as soon as we dropped and secured the anchor Bill was at the boat in his dinghy telling us to join the party. It had been a long day and we were exhausted but we went anyway. It was so much fun! It was truly an international gathering. We had 6 Americans, an Armenian from Turkey, 3 Taiwanese and 2 New Zealanders.

We had come back here because we wanted to dive the reef that we had not been able to the day before but it was still too windy and blown out. The sea floor was all stirred up from the wind and the current and you could not see anything.

The next safe anchorage was Los Muertos (the dead) an unfortunate name for a cove. All 5 boats were headed there. Los Muertos was 46 miles from Los Frailles and that is a good 7 hour trip for us cruising a 6 knots. We got up at 5 and were ready to go at 6AM. It was another Baja Bash trip. The wind and 5 foot seas coming right at us on our bow. We settled in for another rough ride.  We got to Los Muertos at 1 PM and when we sailed in to the cove we were stunned. It was picture perfect. It was a wide half-moon shaped bay with a resort at one end and a restaurant at the other end. The water was turquoise blue and we could see all the way to the bottom. It reminded me of Kauai.  It was hot so we immediately put on our swim suits and grabbed our snorkeling gear and jumped over the side of the boat. It was awesome! I have always wanted to do that and had never had the chance. Our friends from Delta Swizzler and Adagio were already there as they have power boats and are much faster that we were.

We snorkeled for a while and then swam to the beach. The local fishing pangas were returning for the day and they had a huge catch of sharks and rays that they were cleaning on the beach. We avoided that bloody mess and headed to the restaurant to check it out and see if it was adequate for dinner. It looked fabulous. It was a huge open air patio covered with a palapa, a roof made up out of palm fronds and held up with palm tree trunks. We made plans with everyone to meet back there at 6PM.

The dinner turned out to be a raucous one. There were about 8 couples, everyone drinking and having a good time, eating delicious Mexican seafood. Nico was the only kid there but he was having a blast.rondse ne was buzzed and so we designated Nico as the bout 8 couples, everyone drinking and having a good timek it out and see i After four pitchers of margaritas at dinner we were all a little buzzed. It was determined by all that Nico would be the designated dinghy driver and he took 4 loads of people back to their boats safely. Surely if he hadn’t someone would have ended up in the water!

It was an amazing night. The moon was full and lit up the entire night sky. As we had a 55 miles run to La Paz the next morning and had to be up very early we turned in and went to bed. When we got up before dark the full moon was still with us to light our way.  The ride to La Paz was uneventful and the seas and winds had calmed down so we had a nice comfortable ride.

The Bay of La Paz is huge with lots of little coves tucked into the shoreline. The bay is very shallow so you must follow a very narrow marked navigation channel to avoid running aground.

We rolled into La Paz about 2PM with about 15 other boats that had all made the run from San Jose del Cabo to La Paz. It felt great to finally be here!