Loreto to Bahia Concepcion

Loreto was once the capital of Baja California Sur. The anchorage is an open roadstead exposed to N, S and E winds. Fortunately, there was a fair amount of West in the wind when we anchored off on Monday 19^th February.

We went ashore in the dinghy and tied up in the small boat darsena. It was a short walk into town, where there was a large, pedestrianised area called The Plaza with several restaurants and many shady trees. Close by is the historic mission church, Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreto and the Museo de las Misiones. From here, twenty-three missions were built throughout Baja California.

View from the top of Isla Coronados

We had lunch at a popular, roadside, open air café, where we sat at plastic tables on a dirt parking lot enjoying beef tacos. Afterwards, we stocked up our supplies at the two supermercados, El Pescador and Leys.

It was calm overnight, so we stayed off Loreto and motored down to the marina at Puerto Escondido the next day. A large investment has been made at the marina providing pontoons, an office, a shop, a laundry and hot showers. Sadly, it was too expensive for us at 90USD per night, so we chose to go on a mooring ball in the lagoon for 18USD. Each time we went ashore it was a 7-10 minute dinghy ride depending on the wind waves.

Inside view Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreto

The wind blew strongly from the north and it was cold. Out came our fleeces and thermal socks once again. Ashore, only the office with a work area for cruisers and the shop gave shelter from the cold wind. The food in the restaurant was good but it was open to the weather on all four sides. We had three nights at Puerto Escondido. There was a Cruisers’ Net every morning at 0800 on VHF 22A with a good five day weather forecast.

Mision Nuestra Senora de Loreto

The data on my phone had stopped working at Puerto Ballandra, after only 12 days’ use of the 30 day contract. Soon afterwards, Jeremy’s data stopped working as well. Jeremy topped his up online translating the Spanish instructions. I was not prepared to give the phone company any more money, so I used the Wi-Fi at the marina office to book flights and some of the attractions for our Canada trip in May.

Picking my way down from the volcano

Early on Friday morning, 23^rd February, we left Puerto Esdcondido and motored back to the anchorage off Loreto in a very light southerly wind. When we returned having had lunch and been shopping, the wind had turned to the NE and the wind waves were building. Sal Darago was bouncing on her anchor. We knew strong northerlies were coming, so we weighed anchor and motored seven miles to Islas Coronadas. The only other vessel at anchor was a catamaran called InnCredible.

On top of Isla Coronados

The gas ran out as the pressure cooker was coming to the boil. Fortunately, we had more cylinders on board. The NNW wind blew to 24 knots, wind waves were breaking on the beach, so we did not go ashore. We spent the day navigating and booking rental cars, hotels etcetera for our land trip. We ventured outside for sundowners in the late afternoon and it was cold in the wind.

The lighthouse and darsena wall Loreto

The sea was quieter on Sunday and a few pangas landed passengers on the beach. We went ashore in the dinghy and decided to hike to the crater of the volcano on Islas Coronados. The first part was easy walking on a path through the sand dunes. The middle part was a scramble over rocks and boulders and the last part was a slippery, slidy path, which zig-zagged upwards. The spectacular view at the top was worth the effort. I put my knee support bandages on for the downhill crawl.

Moorings in the lagoon Puerta Escondido

On Monday 26^th February, we had less wind and only 22 miles to go to Caleta San Juanico. The swell through the inner passage between Islas Coronados and Baja was quite big, but it was long with no breaking waves, so SD glided over the sea giving us a comfortable ride. All this was to change by mid-day when the 5 knots of WNW wind shot up to 19 knots from the north. Yes, we were going north. Short, sharp, breaking waves smacked against the hull.

One of the windows in the lagoon

Two hours later, we reached the shelter of Caleta San Juanico. We saw a yacht aground and heeled over on a reef near the shore. It was S/V Veraison with Andrew and Tamara on board. They had offered us a lift into Loreto when we were in Puerto Escondido. We anchored behind S/V Quick, launched the dinghy and went over to help Veraison. Nothing more could be done until high water. On the way back to SD, we saw a motor cruiser, named Suzie, from Yellowknife, Canada. Our friends of five continents, Ann and Barry from S/V Cat’s Paw IV, come from Yellowknife, so we had to stop and say hello. Janet and George invited us on board and soon we were drinking tea, eating scones and talking about the games of Bridge, we had all played, at different times, with Ann and Barry.

Early start. Marina Puerta Escondido

At high water, the combined efforts of many cruising men and women careened and tugged Veraison off the reef, just before dark. Thankfully, she was not taking on water.

Tequila Sunrise!

All the weather forecasts told us that the next day, Tuesday was the best day of the week for going north. We left at first light at 0620 in 3 knots of wind. By 0900 we had two reefs in the mainsail, a tiny genoa and 20-26 knots of wind from the WSW. Jeremy was soaked by a wave as he went forward to adjust the reefing line. For a short time it was almost calm. Then the wind changed direction and gave us 22 knots from the SSW. S/V Quick called us on the VHF radio to ask us about the weather as we were about an hour and a half ahead of them. They had also been surprised by the gusty conditions.

Playa Santispac Bahia Concepcion

We turned into Bahia Concepcion and managed to put the mainsail to bed in a brief lull. Several yachts were anchored off Playa Santispac in Bahia Coyote. We dropped the anchor off the white, sand beach lined with RV’s as large as buses. A bar on the beach was starting “happy hour” but we were too weary to launch the dinghy and go ashore.