# Charter in Baja / Gulf of California



## Minnesail (Feb 19, 2013)

I'm thinking about chartering a boat in La Paz, Mexico this winter from this company:
Baja Mexico Yacht Charters

Does anyone have any experience with them?

How about Gulf of California, anyone sail there? It sounds like the charts can be kind of dodgy.

It looks remote, desolate, and beautiful.


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

Never boat chartered there..
Love LaPaz and most of baja. 
Bahia Concepcion is....a big picture post card...beautiful.
From Bahia Los Angeles south is really nice...all the way to La Paz.
Its unique place

..edit...if you like to land explore, get a backpacker guide book in addition to cruising guide.


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## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Never had the occasion to charter out of La Paz. 

Where the charts get “dodgy” is when you get close to land. Every thing else is easy. Plan on doing more motor sailing than you would like as the winds will tend to be light (except when their not, of course). The venerable cruising guide is “Charlie’s Charts”. Charlie hand drew most of the bays and anchorages, but he also included a lot of descriptions, hints and recommendations. Every self-respecting cruiser in Mx will have a copy of Charlie’s along with a chart book at the Nav Station. I really like “Sea of Cortez, A Cruiser’s Guidebook” by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. They went the extra mile and sounded around the islands and included GPS coordinates for important anchorages. This is the definitive cruiser’s guide IMHO. 

There is lots of really neat cruising out of La Paz. Espiritu Santo to the south and Isla San Francisco to the north just to name two destinations. When do you plan on being in the SOC? I’m sailing to San Jose del Cabo in a week and will be up in the Loreto area next March.


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## Minnesail (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks! I had already ordered Charlie's book, and just now ordered the Cruiser’s Guidebook ($70 book, ouch!).

You're sailing to San Jose del Cabo? From San Francisco? You'll have to tell more about this trip. If this comes together we would be going in February or March. You know how it is, trying to schedule things with a group.

My wife worked at a marine mammal school down there in the mid-90s but hasn’t been back since. She was immediately on board when I brought up the idea. 

However I’ve never sailed outside of the U.S. before, so I wonder about getting the weather info in Spanish, the possible inaccuracy of the charts, and for La Paz in particular, lack of services if something bad happened. It’s so remote down there! It looks beautiful though.

I’ve been zooming around on Google Earth and it looks like there are a number of cruisers down there. Nothing looked overcrowded, but when I zoomed in on likely anchorages the satellite photos often show boats there.


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## RegisteredUser (Aug 16, 2010)

Parts etc from San Diego are 1 or 2 days via bus. It is well established.La Paz is not 3rd world

Cabo and SJdC = $$s. Its touristaville...US scale


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## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Minnesail, you might be getting a CD with Shawn’s book that has the GPS coordinates already loaded (as well as little chartlets you can use on your tablet.) In Mexico, it is pretty easy to get around with little to no Spanish. If I can put another book on your Christmas list, get “Cruiser’s Spanish”. This book has the more technical terms not commonly found in a regular phrasebook. It helped a lot when we got stopped by the Mexican Navy near Cedros Isle on the Pacific side. (They patrol this area as it is a known choke point on the way heading north to the USA. You won’t see them much in the SOC).

The weather will be nice that time of year. The various harbors (and anchorages) usually will run a VHF net (inquire locally for time and channel). This is a great source of weather info as is the Sonrisa net on the HAM bands. There are only a few weather phenomena besides the nice weather. You may get a “Nortata” (norther) that are strong winds blowing from the north and down the SOC. They can blow for a couple of days which means you either sail south or enjoy another day of snorkeling where you are anchored. The other one is an “Elephante” which are winds that develop in the late afternoons and they blow down the canyons from the Pacific side of Baja. Very localized. The third one – well, I can’t remember it so it can’t be that bad.

We delivered the boat down to San Diego at the beginning of the month and will be flying down to SD on Thursday to do the Cabo leg. Most of the way down we had winds in the twenties to low thirties directly astern and 10 -15 foot swells at 11 secs (it was a very fresh breeze) with a secondary wave train from the NNW. I even got tossed across the cabin when the boat rounded up and rolled off a wave (ouch!). The Santa Barbara Channel and SoCal was a delight. We spent a couple of days at Catalina Island before departing to Chula Vista. We’ll do the usual stops at Bahia de Tortugas and Bahia Santa Maria before finishing at San Jose Del Cabo in early November.


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## Lanealoha (Mar 5, 2017)

Hey George! If you need a hand, which you probably don't, I have some spare time I could volunteer right now. I live in Mammoth, easy drive to San Diego, works slow now.

And to the OP. Yes, Baja is remote. However La Paz will have probably everything you need, its a fairly modern (by Baja standards) city, and if not they will make it manufacture it or get it from SD in a day or 2. Baja is magical.


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## GeorgeB (Dec 30, 2004)

Lanealoha, we have a full complement on our boat. You may want to walk the docks (and bars!) at shelter island this weekend to see if you can get on one of the Ha Ha boats. Also go to the West Marine parking lot party. Bring your sailing resume (money, passport and gear too.) and be prepared to go. Usually there are one or two boats in the Ha Ha that are still short of crew.


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## Sfer (Dec 2, 2018)

I've chartered twice out of La Paz when Moorings was there. Their base closed down there years ago and it was replaced by Dream Yacht Charter. The link to the company chartering boats there has the same inventory as when I last looked at Dream Yacht Charter for La Paz, so they are either an affiliate of DYC or they parted ways. 

Either way, we loved our charters down there and loved La Paz. It's a real Mexican city vs. the manicured lawns of Cabo resorts. The city has terrific restaurants and many marinas with services. The charter facility - unless they moved - is in Costa Baja, which has a very nice marina and resort. At first sight, La Paz is a bit busy and dusty, but once you get to know it, it's a fantastic destination assuming you don't need to be in a walled off resort all the time. 

We chartered twice on a Leopard 39 and spent a lot of time out in the islands that are about 15 miles away. They are stunning - like chartering through a beautiful desert. Several great anchorages. The islands themselves are UNESCO heritage sights because of all the widllife. You can even swim with seals if you want to. 

My family always wants to get back down there for a charter but the flights have gotten a lot more expensive out of SFO, so we haven't been in a while. 

As for charts, there are very few hazards if you are staying in the main sailing area that you can reach within a week or two. The one submerged hazard I can remember was clearly marked and easy to avoid.


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## Minnesail (Feb 19, 2013)

Thanks for the info!

My friend who is (might be) organizing this thing is having second thoughts because she's read a couple accounts severe north winds causing some pretty rough stuff. I'd be up for that, but....


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

Hi Minne,
I have spent a ton of time down in Baja, but never sailed there. I am planning an April Cruise there as my wife insists the next sailing trip must include swimmable water. 

Baja in winter it is a kite boarding haven with lots of wind but the water is colder, that is probably where you hear the northern winds stories from. Summer is very hot and water is warm but wind is light. May possibly being the sweet spot for wind and water temps. April is likely low to moderate winds. 

I have been doing some research on the boats available. These same boats are available everywhere I have searched. I think they are a new fleet owned by who knows and are being offered by at least 5 different brokers.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

jephotog said:


> Summer is very hot and water is warm but wind is light. May possibly being the sweet spot for wind and water temps. April is likely low to moderate winds.


I just wanted to correct something.

March is probably the sweet spot with there still being some good wind. May is the beginning of off-season pricing. It will be hot with little wind but the price for a 45 foot boat goes down to less than $4,000 a week.


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## Minnesail (Feb 19, 2013)

I've come to the same conclusion, April looks like the sweet spot with regard to water temp and winds.

But part of the reason for taking a trip is to get the h*ck out of Minneapolis in the winter. April is beautiful here, everything is turning green, tulips are coming up, and the ice is breaking! I love it here in April, so I'd hate to leave.

I think March would be a good compromise. Still miserable in Minneapolis, but reasonable sailing in Baja.


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## Sfer (Dec 2, 2018)

We chartered once in early April over Spring Break and once over Thanksgiving week. I don't know how the water temps vary year to year, but the water was definitely warmer in November than in early April. It was definitely swimable in early April, but slightly cool. I remember thinking that having a neoprene vest would have been perfect. Regardless, we swam a lot without it! 

Winds are definitely variable down there - but it doesn't matter that much because it's so beautiful once you get out to Espirito Santo, the main island about 15 miles out of La Paz. The anchorages just outside of La Paz aren't that great so spending time out at Espirtu Santo and further north at San Francisco is the best bet. We ended up spending most of our time around Espiritu Santo. Our favorite anchorage was Ensanda Grande, which has a nice little beach, some hiking, snorkeling and very good protection from E, N, and S winds. It's also pretty large so it's easy to keep a distance from other boats. We did get some wind in there one night all night, but there's always coffee the next day. 

At the north end of the island, conditions willing, you can get neaer Isla Lobos, where there is a large seal colony. You can leave someone at the boat and run a dingy in, tie up to a small mooring, and actually swim with them. You get really close!

We never made it up to Isla San Francisco, but that looks like a killer spot. It's in a lot of photos of the area. 

The only tricky thing about a charter there is where to spend the last night. Ideally, you stay out at Espiritu Santo, but you'd have to get up pretty early to get back to the charter base by the usual 10 am. We tried one anchorage just outside of La Paz on the last night, but it was near a highway, had lots of those little bugs, and was a bit exposed to the north winds/swell. If we do it again, we might just spend the last night in the marina, especially if they are still based in Costa Baja, which has bars and restaurants that line the harbor.


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## jephotog (Feb 25, 2002)

One thing to consider if you go in March, you can do a day tour with a company over to Bahia Magdalena and see the gray whales during baby season. I have done it twice and it is an amazing experience. Unfortunately there is still skiing to be had in March so it would be hard to leave. Spring does not start here till nearly June, April has nothing to offer but here so sailing would be a nice relief from a long winter.


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