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Petunia Spring cruise


Docpal

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   Now that we are finally out of full lock down we were able to get out on the water again and do some coastal cruising here in Southern Baja. Wind was fluky, and anywhere from 0-22 mph so I got some reefing practice in about mid channel when it started to blow.

  Some beaches down here let you nose right up to the shore, and the surge keeps me anchored off the beach in other areas. NOT fun remembering that you forgot something out on the boat after dark and you have to swim out to retrieve it...

   I am going to have to upgrade my boarding ladder setup. I can still pull myself up into the boat as long as I can push off the bottom, but when I'm anchored over my head it's getting a little dicey...

   Had one interesting encounter; it's been SO dry down here (I think it's rained 3 times in the last 4 years...) that the local island bees have had their water sources dry up. So when boats land on the island they swarm ANY fresh water source they can find. My 5 gallon water bladder had a slight leak in the nozzle, and the bees used it to suck two gallons out of the bag overnight...!

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Jay,

Probably the easiest/safest place is the marina at Puerto Escondido which is about 1/2 mile from where I have my current mooring, and 20 miles South of Loreto. They are a " world class" facility with every amenity one would want. First world pricing, but they are also the ONLY marina within a few hundred miles...On site facilities for car/van storage,etc. Berthing at a pier is pricier than using one of their mooring balls, but then you need a dinghy to get back/forth from the boat.

Next closest place with facilities is La Paz (200 miles to the South)  which is a very large city/port and you CAN get anything there as well as having the choice of multiple marinas and a larger cruising community. That's roughly half way between Loreto, and Cabo San Lucas. Launch ramps down here are usually used by the Pangeros for their fishing boats, and I have yet to see a floating tie up pier near a ramp in ANY of the marinas, so launching can be a little dicey at times.

Draft IS an issue if you plan to cruise the coastline. More often than not the beaches are rocky, rather than sandy so you don't want to beach the boat everywhere unless you have really checked it out. In the first picture of this post I was able to sail right up ON to the beach because I had been there before and KNEW it was small gravel rather than mini boulders. More often than not we anchor OFF the beach and ferry gear in from there. I've even thought of a small dinghy for some of these locations as the surge can keep one off the beach a ways...We don't get severe tides here  (a few feet at most) .

My local friends and I are just about the ONLY people who are doing camp cruising down here, and the Sea of Cortez coastline is literally unreachable in most areas without a boat.

The Baja coastline looks very much like this, with numerous off shore islands, for over one thousand miles...It would be the PERFECT place for a Water tribe event....

 

 

 

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