Trip Report: Sea of Cortez, Mexico

La Paz Sailing Adventure January 2022 John, Arnie, Barry and Geoff joined me for a charter out of La Paz. Dream Yacht Charter supplied us with a 40’ cat for week in the islands. We spent a night in La Paz and provisioned the next day. At l2 we arrived at the base at Costa Baja Marina and prepared for departure. At 2pm we were off to Espiratu Santos. I went down to take a nap and a few hours later we were anchored in a huge bay with one other boat. I prepared dinner and we cheered our arrival to this beautiful location. Barry provided a sound track of Pink Floyd and we retired to the bow for a gourgous evening of looking at the stars and milky way. On Tuesday we were up early for breakfast and a snorkel. We moved to another smaller bay and enjoyed the 70 degree water and some cool fish. Lunch took us up to Isla Partida and the clear waters of the Sea of Cortez. We finished the day with a bocce game on the beach and a lot of laughs. Arnie prepared a shrimp dinner that was out of sight. Our destination on Wednesday was 19 miles north to Isla San Francisco. We arrived at lunch time and proceed to relax a bit. At this point we had mostly motored north. The winds were up so we went for a 2 hour afternoon sail. After returning to SF, we went for a snorkel with millions of fish next to the rocky wall. Very impressive. Arnie went for a paddle and said it was his best in years. A few miles north was another island with a mangrove sanctuary. John and I stayed on the boat as it would have been a tight fit with the five of us in the zodiac. The boys were gone for about 2 hours and they had a great time motoring in waterways. After lunch, we decided to pick up anchor and go sailing. It was glorious. We returned to SF once more as the winds were over 25 at that time. The next morning we took off early for San Evaristo. A small fishing village 30 miles to the north. The winds were in the high 20’s so we motored into the storm. We made it and headed to dinner at a small restaurant. Retired early and slept well. The best day of sailing was upon us. On Saturday we saw winds in the 30’s blowing in towards the south. We had a fantastic down wind sail back to Santos. 4 hours of 5-7 knots and effortless sailing. We ended up in a beautiful bay and more snorkeling. We played a round of Liar’s Dice and called it a night after another great meal. Sunday we were up early for one last snorkel and some hammock time in the bow. We had luch at a busy beach with lots of tourist boats. Then it was time to head home and back towards the base. Dinner was a lot of leftovers. We turned the boat in the next morning and said good by to La Paz. We had an amazing week of fun with great friends and weather! The boat exceeded our expectations. We are very happy sailors!