Sailing Tips 1.2. Sea of Cortez traveling North from La Paz to Loreto APRIL/MAY 2016

Isla del Espirito Santo and Isla la Partida

No cell service and no wifi in the whole park.
If you don’t have a park permit, you can buy it from park rangers in speed boats or on land in La Paz at an office next to the laundry at Marina de La Paz . Buy also a fishing permit, if you intend to fish.
Anchored here during nightly Coromel/south western winds:
Ensenada Ballena is not protected from Coromels.
Caleta Partita very nice, sits between two islands connected by a beach. During high tide ride the dinghy to the bay on the other side.
Protected from Coromels if anchored far in and close to the southern cliffs. There is a shelf of 20′-27′ close to the main beach.

Isla San Francisco

There is a perfect crescent beach in the south of the island, but due to the Coromels we chose the more protected beach on the north side.
No cell service and no wifi.

Isla Coyote
Inhabited by about 20 families working in mining the island. Will sell fish and jewelry from a panga, we heard but didn’t try.

Bahia San Evaristo
Large bay with shelter from all winds. Large 20-27′ shelf right in front of the village to hide from Coromels. Small fishing village. Small tienda/ store and two restaurants right next to each other on the south side of the beach.
The village has a wifi tower and the restaurants give the password to costumers.
No cell service.
Potable desalinated water next to the wifi tower in a small white building with a blue stripe.
The tienda is in a salmon colored building 150 yards from the wifi tower. Getting fresh vegetables from La Paz once a week.

Los Gatos
Very remote bay and beach.
Very beautiful scenery with petrified red sand formations.
Anchorage on a large 20′ shelf.
Shade structure on one of the beaches.
No people, no wifi, no cell connection.

Bahia Aqua Verde
Good shelter from all wind directions, position accordingly.
Large anchoring shelves along all 3 beaches.
Small fishing village with 3 tiendas, 1 goat dairy, 2 churches, 1 school, 1 restaurant on the beach.
South beach dinghy sand landing left side of boat ramp; tienda up the road on the right, past the goat pens. Goat dairy across from the tienda and around a large rock. 2nd tienda further up in the center of valley (we didn’t go).
Restaurant on north side of beach (was closed), sandy landing, north of boat ramp. Follow path next to restaurant back to 3rd tienda.
No cell, no wifi.

Puerto Escondido
Mooring balls inside the bay, anchoring outside.
Fuel dock.
Portable water at end tie of marina next to dinghy dock.
Marina Puerto Escondido took over the docks and mooring balls from Fonatur and doubled the prices (check here the new pricing schedule): mooring balls (0.50$ per foot per night). Includes pool, showers, wifi password and 2 coins for the laundry.
Upstairs pool and restaurant are lovely.
Cell reception.
Free wifi at the nice tables in front of the well stocked tienda at the marina buildings.
Loreto for provisions is 20 km away or 500 pesos by taxi one way. Listen to the morning net for ride shares.

Loreto
Open stead anchorage outside of the commercial port.
The afternoon winds can make it a rolly affair, either hurry out around 4 pm or wait to go back to the boat after the winds die down.
Pretty malecon and beautiful historic small town behind with the oldest mission on Baja California, worth the visit. Across the street a courtyard restaurant, Mi Loreto, excellent food at good prices.
Provisions of fresh vegetables depend on timing when the food truck arrives. Farmers market is on Saturday. Very good cell reception. Many internet cafes.

Please note that different weather conditions make a big difference for anchorages. Also there is personal preference. This is what worked for us.

We traveled here in summer of 2016, updated summer 2017.