Hello La Paz, I’m home!
When I cast off my lines in Portland the only real plan I had was to make it down and around the tip of Baja then up to La Paz. This is a town notorious amongst cruisers as being a fantastic place to drop anchor for a while. All I knew of it was two of my sailor friends from Portland were already there. Two plus years ago when I got to help another sailor bring his boat to La Paz from Puerto Vallarta I even got a brief glimpse of the town. Looked good to me! Of course already knowing people in the area felt like a bonus.
Arriving here a week ago I have to say I love it already. As the extreme opposite to the party town of Cabo La Paz is way more family oriented, relaxed and no one is running you down attempting to sell you everything from ‘party favors’ to clothing and jewelry or working hard to lure you in to their restaurant. The phrase ’no gracias’ will be forever a trigger and reminder of Cabo San Lucas.
Photo by Aaron Cushman, crew from Cabo to La Paz.
The trip up from Cabo, roughly 80 nautical miles, was relatively easy and enjoyable. We anchored each night in different areas making it day trips only up until the last jump. The following photo shows waypoints along the way. Not all were anchorages but these points kept us on track for where we wanted to go.
The first night anchored overnight just west of San Jose del Cabo (waypoint 1), just 10 nautical miles up from Cabo San Lucas. We simply slept here then left the next morning for Los Frailes (waypoint 3).
We arrived in Los Frailes on the 6th of December. Here’s a glimpse of our sail up:
In the bay the water was clear, beautiful and inviting! We launched the paddle board and the swim ladder post haste. While I was floating along side of Wahine Toa on the paddle board I had a very close encounter with a big sea lion! She was swimming underneath in my boats shadow were fish were congregating but came up and breached in the three foot space between me on the paddle board and Wahine Toa. Scared the living daylights out of me initially since it took me a minute to understand what had just happened. About 3 minutes later she came up again but a little further behind the paddle board yet still close to the boat, maybe 5 feet away from me. Amazing!!!
I called up to my crew to have them pass me down my mask & snorkel and camera before I slid off the board and into the water. Watch the video here:
After my ocean wildlife foray we went ashore for a bit of a land adventure to a dried up lagoon along with a nice walk on the beach. Here in the bay there is really only a fishing village and some larger homes to the south. It was super quiet!
Later that afternoon while hanging out on the boat we were approached by two swimmers. They had their sights set on swimming out to this super yacht that was further out for both the exercise and in hopes of an invitation to happy hour. We asked them to come back by & let us know how it went. Thinking that they may be up for a rest after such a long swim the two were glad to have the invitation.
It wasn’t 30 minutes later when these gals swam back over. They reported being met with less than enthusiasm at the yacht. The one girl said, “I broke out my best moves” and demonstrated a few of her synchronized swimming skills. “They weren’t impressed”. We were! Clearly she wasted such talent on some stodgy boaters however we relished in her performance. Man, those gals are strong!
Here also we met a retired judge who invited Stacey and myself to Cabo Pulmo, a few miles away by land, to meet his wife and tour their retreat center, Tres Amigos. At Tres Amigos he teaches mediation & conflict resolution to higher ups from many different cultures. His wife, Linda, and he were working on a documentary following the work of past fellows of this training however COVID put a halt to it. Tres Amigos was a lovely resort and our visit with Dan and Linda quite enjoyable.
We left for our next leg later in the night on Dec 8th. I do enjoy a good night sail! This would be from Los Frailes up and further around the corner to Los Muertos (waypoint 5). Here we would wait for good wind and current direction before we sailing up the Cerralvo Channel and into La Paz. The channel is relatively narrow and funnels wind and water at a strong rate making it a tough passage. Prudence & patience are both called for here.
I’ve actually done this part of the route before. A few years back I did my first open water delivery when I assisted a sailor by the name of Don in moving his boat Comet from La Cruz, by Puerto Vallarta, to La Paz. Don introduced me to Los Muertos and explained the reasoning for making a stop there. This teaching proved valuable in preparing me for navigating the channel and its potential challenges.
Fortunately for us going to Los Muertos proved easy enough. We had to motor the whole way which is my least favorite thing to do. I may have mentioned this before. I am, however, super grateful for my Perky! (Perkins 4.108 diesel engine). I just hate running her when I know she’s bleeding out fuel and oil! This is my numero uno priority once I get to La Paz.
Los Muertos is yet another sleepy little village.
Bahia de Los Muertos
There isn’t much yet there is a restaurant. Above is the view. As you can see they take their customer service very, very seriously! This was the first familiar place I found myself here in Mexico. It felt good!
We spent only one night here in Los Muertos. Choosing a time where the tide would be with us even though we’d be mostly experiencing a head wind we had a fairly easy transit.
Here Stacey is taking in the scenery before heading to bed.
I took the first watch. On these passages the crew and I have been working on 3 hour shifts however this time I wanted to step and and do it on my own. This development was pretty on the fly. I simply let my crew sleep. Of course they knew something was up when I wasn’t coming down to get them so they checked on me a couple of times to ensure all was bueno, which it was.
I had been up all day and now I found myself on what would be a 12 hour watch. At the beginning I flew sails since the wind was just far enough off the nose we could actually make way towards our destination. With that, however, I had to do a good amount of tacking back and forth. Since I was solo it was quite a lot of work. Regardless I was enjoying it. Later, however, when the wind shifted I dropped all sails to motor the rest of the way.
Arriving at Bahîa de Balandra at 0400 I was tired! Luckily my crew members came up to help with the anchoring. We dropped the hook in 20’ of water that happened to be conveniently close to the main attraction in Balandra.
Mushroom Rock
Many people were enjoying snorkeling and swimming in this calm bay however I was too tired and after a nap really wanted to make the last tiny jump to La Paz. The others felt the same way so off we went.
A few hours later we were tied up to the fuel dock at CostaBaja. Here I also was referred to a mechanic in town that came highly recommended from the local fuel attendant. How lucky!
Once we topped off the tanks we made our way to Marina Palmira where I had just that morning reserved a slip. The marina is about a 25-30 minute walk to town however it’s got many other perks, to include a big cruiser community! This I was looking forward to. Here I said good-bye to both crew members. Thus begins my real solo adventure!
The past week here has proven to be very productive both in boat work and connecting with the community of expatriates living in La Paz. With in 3 days I had Gil, the mechanic who spoke NO English, onboard and ready to get to work on my leaks. Thank the Universe for Google Translate!
Gil was amazing! He and his team got right to work. I think it was a total of 3 more days until they wrapped up the work Gil felt confident would solve the problems. And the cost… so reasonable! Soon I will be taking Wahine Toa out to the islands close by to test it out.
Yesterday I tackled my sump pump problem and made contact with a canvas guy to do a few other projects. The list of things to attend to is long and growing on a regular basis however prioritizing those jobs that are best done dockside will keep me in a marina for up to two months. I’m grateful I can afford this. The slip fee is triple what I paid in Oregon. OUCH!
I’ve come to realize recently that a mission I am quite committed to is having Wahine Toa be of service to women sailors. I’ve been devising a way to advertise her as a safe place for women to come cruising for a few day and step into their sailing ‘badassery’. I envision it being on a donation basis that helps offset the cost. This has me super excited.
May the wind be gently on your back!
Thank you for your interest in this journey of mine.
Until next time,
Cheryl