Sailing Tips 1.5. Upper Sea of Cortez traveling North from Bahía de los Ángeles to Puerto Peñasco JULY 2016
Bahía de los Ángeles
Two good anchorages in sand behind Punta Arena point with light and beach and in front of the 3 village piers on sand at 15-30′. The one in front of the town is open roadstead, but has surprisingly little swell.
Check for Elefantes storms with local fishermen. In case that wind builds from the West, don’t wait too long and go directly to Bahía Mona further south in the bay as Elefantes are very localized and don’t hit there. Serious storms, can have 40 knot gusts. We weathered out an Elefante here just fine, but it was very uncomfortable and lasted 10 hours.
No cell reception on boat nor in town. Restaurants and stores offer free wifi.
Best food we found was at Casa del Sol Motel and a guy who makes very large fresh pizzas for 250 pesos on the north side if town. Guillermo’s food is ok, great for the location and view, drinks, nice tienda, art gallery, free wifi and hospitality (they let you hang out all day/charge for Wifi use if you don’t consume anything).
Markets: Guillermo’s, Ísla (large, wide selection, fresh veggies and fruit), for frozen meat is a market past the round-about we didn’t go to, Marisco has some hardware store items (but don’t eat there), one smaller market across from Guillermo’s and a large one on the street off the public boat ramp.
For fishing tours contact Guillermo’s son Igor Galvan Jimenez on his facebook account or through the restaurant/motel. Grandson Ivan Igor Galvan Beltran is deckhand on his fathers fishing boat and sever at Guillermos in the afternoons.
Anchorages near Bahía de los Ángeles. We were told that there are 25 incredible anchorages alone! We will come back to this area after Puerto Peñasco and keep you posted! Check back for our experiences.
La Mona south of the bay, east of the esturary.
Large bay with long beach on either side of the estuary. Anchor closer to the east side where the houses are and further away from the estuary because of possible high tidal currents.
Be aware of rocks coming off the beach.
We anchored in front of the third lobe beach in front of the middle of the settlement sheltered by the east point, and although we didn’t have winds higher than 5 knots, waves came down the bay and seemed to rise progressively mounting into a bouncy anchorage.
No cell reception.
Few bees.
Did not see noseeums, but lots of mosquitos right after sunset on land, flew very fast back to the boat.
Bahía La Gringa north end of the BLA bay
Very large bay with long beach and wetland.
Large sand shelf at 20-35′ for anchoring.
Popular camping and fishing spot. Mostly gringo houses along the beach.
Elefantes and Chubascos can hit here but with less swell than in Bahia de Los Angeles, at least that was our experience.
No cell reception.
No bees.
No noseeums.
Puerto Refugio
Out of this world beautiful. West and East bays with several anchorages. Before passing trough the narrow channel connecting the West and East bay make sure to consult a tide calendar.
30′ sand shelf in most bays.
East bay has bees and noseeums, we didn’t anchor in the West bay.
No cell phone reception.
Puerto Peñasco
Very close to the US/Arizona, great place to haul out, get boat work done for 1/3 of the price compared to the US (but bring time and get on their schedule in advance) and get equipment and parts at West Marine in Phoenix, 4 hour drive, 1 hours to the US border.
Industrial fishing harbor with all the noise and smells. Several marinas, best and cheapest is Fonatur. No anchoring probably not allowed doesn’t seem safe in this small and busy harbor and with the enormous tide changes. Detailed cruising tips for Puerto Peñasco here We left our boat at Cabrales Boatyard for 20 months from July 2017 to March 2019 and were very satisfied with the service and security.
Please note that different weather conditions make a big difference for anchorages. Also there is personal preference. This is what worked for us.
We traveled here in the summer & winter of 2016, spring & summer of 2017 and spring 2019.