Time For a Left Turn

From Puerto Escondido we made our way south along the Baja coast. We anchored in several spots, including our usual go to’s Salinas, San Evaristo, Isla San Francisco and Caleta Partida on our way to La Paz.

From Caleta Partida to La Paz we had a great spinnaker sail with Boomerang.

As we were nearing La Paz we were checking vessel names on our AIS looking for a boat named Azura Kai. Chris and Rob are aboard, they had just come down the coast from Vancouver. Yes! We spot them in the anchorage just ahead of us. We pulled in and anchored behind them and had a nice little reunion. We ended up spending several days showing them some of our favourite places in La Paz. 

La Paz is one stop we always enjoy. It’s a great little city with all the big box stores but still has a small-town Mexican vibe. Lots of restaurants and bars along the Malecon and more than a few ice cream shops. Its possible that Rob likes ice cream even more than Barb.

 We organized a dinner at El Mezquite (delicious food if you are ever in the neighbourhood) for us and 3 other cruiser couples. It was a great night as we all shared stories of our adventures.

Normally we would have taken a spot at one of the 5 marinas in La Paz but this season has been so busy that there was nothing available. We have heard there are a lot more boats in La Paz than in the past.  It’s a combination of more mega yachts, more charter boats and boats that haven’t left for the South Pacific and other destinations yet due to Covid.

There is an anchorage just off the town called the Magote (right next to Magote peninsula, go figure.) It’s a unique spot. The tide creates currents that run through there each time the tide changes. It is not uncommon for there to be a 3 or 4 knot current ripping through, you want to make sure your dinghy is tied up well.  There is also a pretty steady wind that blows through there. Its not uncommon to have the tide pushing your boat one direction, the wind pushing it in another and boats all pointing different directions. It’s referred to as the La Paz Waltz. We anchored in 12 ft of water with the recommended 125 ft of chain deployed so we held just fine.  Every week or so there will be a boat that drags its anchor causing all sorts of drama in the anchorage.

We waited for the right weather conditions and left La Paz for a day sail to Ensenada De Los Muertos. We stayed the night, or at least most of it, then set sail for Mazatlan, 190 miles across the Gulf of California. We sailed, motor sailed and just motored for 32 hours and pretty well maintained 6 knots. With our 4 am departure, we arrived at the El Cid Marina in Mazatlan around noon the following day.