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Crew Gerard is a highly social creature.  In fact social media was invented for people just like him! Like most, he uses the new technology to communicate with friends, family, clients, and business associates.  However Gerard’s social media use flourishes when the topic is fishing.  Well before he boarded the plane to Baja, Gerard had texted, emailed, and called his numerous fishing friends to find out who had recently fished Baja.  Like a gemologist, he mined their minds for locations, techniques, lures, bait, rods and reels.  As word spread that G was coming to Baja, it was no surprise to the rest of us that he had already arranged a rendezvous with Kevin on the sailing vessel Little Haste, an Asian designed ketch.  The meet will be at Isla Espiritu, a couple hours outside of La Paz. And the topic will be…….. fishing.

Kevin has lots of boats, but the majority are commercial tourist vessels which operate out of Morro Bay.  Whale watching slows during the winter months so Kevin and crew get on Little Haste in Baja and cruise the Sea.  He’s been out for a couple weeks now and has fishing and diving tips to share.  He texts Gerard his coordinates via Garmin’s In-Reach Satellite Communicator, and our media connected crewman directs our course.  Soon we arrive in Ensenada del Candelero Bay and set the hook next to S/V Little Haste and crew.  We invite them aboard for a fishing summit.  They arrive with beer, tequila and chocolate.  We supply Chef Ken’s delicious guacamole, chips, more beer and tequila.  The shot glasses and limes appear, and soon the tequila has evaporated, but the fishing stories continue!

Little Haste crew aboard the Wild Blue. Where or where did that tequila go?

This week’s route takes us north from La Paz

 to Puerto Escondido and back.

Monday, February 5, 2018:  Fishing Isla San Francisco

We decided to stay the day at Isla SF.  Gerard and AJ snorkeled the wall connecting with a few small fish.  Ken and Alex trolled Isla SF’s east side with Rapalleas close to shore.  Soon a good sized Cabrilla ate it up and Ken landed the tasty fish, aka “Chocolate”.  This occurred as another gringo watched from a passing dinghy.  Upon landing the Cabrilla, he then called over his congratulations.  Shortly thereafter he lifted a rather LARGE Cabrilla, just to help keep our egos in check.

Solution for Lack of Accurate Charts

In ours and many others experience, accurate charts are a rarity here in Baja.  Our CMAP and Navionics electronic charts look good, but their depth readings are not even close.  Worse, some land masses are up to a mile off from where the electronic chart shows them. Typically the Baja peninsula land mass is close to actual position, but the reefs and islands are not close.  Some well-traveled islands like Espiritu and San Francisco are near accurate, but Las Animas is close to a mile off both on CMAP and Navionic charts.  In fact Navionics has us passing directly through the center of Animas!   CMAP had us anchored on 500 yards on shore at Punta Colorado on Carmen Island.  So, the best Baja chart solution we’ve found is “Sea of Cortez: A Cruisers Guidebook”.  These charts have proved to be accurate.  Electronic versions of these charts are available for use with various apps.  The book lists the waypoints for anchoring, waypoints for safe passages, and waypoints for caution, such as reefs to avoid.  We’ve included three chart scans from the over 100 in the book to highlight the clarity and accuracy of the charts.  We highly recommend buying this book! Of course no affiliation with the authors or publishers (and we hope they don’t sue for displaying this copyrighted material)!

Yesterday we decided to get an early start and fish Kevin’s recommended Isla Las Animas off the east side of Isla San Jose.  We left at 4AM to arrive around 6:30, a prime fishing time of day.  As is typical in the Sea, the boat’s electronic CMAP and Navionics charts show Isla Las Animas location about .8 NM further west than reality.  In fact Navionics had us cruising directly across the island!  Luckily it is well lit even if the charted light location doesn’t jive with reality, something that wouldn’t be tolerated for long in the USA. Oh well, that’s Mexico?

Our track around Las Animas shows an island about 1/2 size, circular as opposed to elongated and approximately .75 nautical miles north and east of reality per CMAP! One would think is this time of satellite mapping, charts would accurate and useful.

We circled the Las Animas three times trolling the big spread but the fishing seemed to be nearer to the island as the Pangueros moved their pangas close in.  We followed suit and watched the Pangueros technique then Gerard started conversing in Spanish.  Whatever was said, we both fished the same rock off the north end of Las Animas,the boats just twenty feet apart.  The Pangueros chummed lots, causing the rock fish to leave their holes in a feeding frenzy.  The fishermen then hand-line cast into the chummed water, reeling in fish after fish.  Soon they backed off, inviting us to try our luck.  It was nice of them to standby and watch as we cast lures into the Panguero’s fishing hole, however they must have been somewhat comforted by the fact that these Gringos were not taking any fish!

Except for AJ’s Triggerfish, after four hours Las Animas was a bust for the gringos.  It was time to move, so we opted for San Marte anchorage near three reefs, good for diving and fishing.  By 10:30 we were watching the spread and hoping for the sound of a “fast clicking reel.” Along our route, we passed between Isla San Diego and Isla Santa Cruz, giant rocks in the Sea, arriving in Bahia San Marte at 3:30.

Gerard and AJ suited up for reef snorkeling while Ken and Alex tender trolled the rocky shore.  By late afternoon, Gerard came back with a good sized dogfish grouper.  It turned into a great dinner.

G’s Pargo Perro (dog) Snapperr speared off San Marte reef.

Wednesday, February 7, 2018:  San Marte to Puerto Escondido

By 11AM we had dined on pancakes and eggs and on our way to Puerto Escondido, a 4-hour motor. The seas were flat and the troll continued with little success, other than looking to be in good fishing form!  Instead, we worked on our tans.

With new tans, we gringos fit right in with the deeper tanned ex-pats in Puerto Escondido.  There are lots of ’em here.  After tie up, the marina check-in was simple.  Instead of the legions of marina staff when we visited last in 2014, just one guy operated the efficient office.  He took our Mexico check-in packet and instead of copying to paper, just scanned it saying “we don’t have a lot of trees down here in Baja”.  Great attitude and instead the regular moorage rate, the power wasn’t up yet, so the charge was just 75 cents a foot!  Hurry Venus you can make it before the increase…..

The marina guy was quite pleasant, and a good English speaker, so I asked him if Carlos the diver was still here. In 2014 we had Carlos watch Dick Squire’s Seagate for 6 weeks.  Well Carlos was there and I ran into him a few minutes later.  Surprisingly he remembered me and the Seagate.  Obviously I must have overpaid for his services, to remember some old gringo from the past, or he just has excellent interpersonal skills.  It felt good being back in PE.

There’s a an outdoor view restaurant upstairs overlooking the marina with a large brick pizza oven. It looks intriguing, but of course with Ken Bruton chef-ing aboard the Wild Blue, why would we dine out?  No worries, Kenny has graciously supplied his recipes for the rest of the world.

Approaching Puerto Escondido from the south.

No this is not Alaska, even though the familiar small passenger cruise ship Safari Endeavor is here in Puerto Escondido.  Just like the birds, whales,  and geese, this boat migrates south for the winter.

Alex checks the lines at Puerto Escondido.  Hey… nice tan!

PE’s new long dock with 200 amp power can handle some lengthy superyachts. Even the 280 foot Jobs Family boat “Venus” can park right at the dock!

Finally a self-powered weather station!

Pretty Puerto Escondido is on the rise.  It has been purchased by a Guadalajara family and improvements and building are happening.

Yard with 100 ton hoist can handle some big trawlers too.

New home construction is beginning near the marina with 80-foot docks in your front yard.  Let’s see, I’ll need one home in PE, one in Anacortes (check), and one in Sitka.

Our yard tour revealed the Cal Yacht Club boat Pied-A-Mer up on the hard.  This is a beautiful 55 foot Tiara.  Bill, who manages a good-sized LA CPA firm, and crew cruised with our CUBAR group to La Paz.  He slipped near us at Costa Baja and came by to say hi when the poultry farmers were aboard in January.  Of course WillieBird provided Bill some fresh Dorado fillets.

Bill Wolf’s Pied-A-Mer a fast Tiara 55 on the hard in Puerto Escondido.

We examined several other boats in the yard.  This particular boat had rubbed a rock or two, but no structural impact, just a little more Bondo than usual is needed here.

It’s Dog Snapper night with Ken’s easy rice on the Wild Blue.

Ken’s Chocolate Rum Cake.

Delicious!

Thursday, February 8, 2018:  Puerto Escondido to Punta Colorado, then Bahia Agua Verde

After a couple of AJ’s breakfast burritos, we slipped our dock lines, and departed friendly Puerto Escondido.  Our goal today is Punta Colorado anchorage on the southeast side of Isla Carmen.  There’s a diving reef and we hope to tender troll as well.

Not far from Puerto Escondido along the north shore we noticed a kayaker on the beach.  It appeared he had lost his swim trunks…. no that’s maybe a nude beach?

Nude beach just outside Puerto Escondido?

It’s just a 1-person nude beach?  No fun in that…..

View of Baja Peninsula east of Puerto Escondido

This Canadian built trawler yacht has been in Victoria Harbor, Central and Northern BC for the last 5 years or so.  Previously it was named Polar Bear. The new owner has re-named it Sea Forever, says the Captain we contacted for a safe crossing.

Our route took us above Isla Dansante and below Isla Carmen.  After 90 minutes we reached the anchorage just below Punta Colorado on Isla Carmen’s SE side. We dropped the anchor and prepped for more fishing. After a couple hours AJ had a fish.  When the fishing slowed, we picked up and headed for Bahia Agua Verde, setting the anchor just after sunset.

AJ’s Sierra

AJ’s Pargo Barred Snapper

Friday, February 9, 2018:  At Bahia Agua Verde. Evening cruise to Isla San Francisco

Another accurate chart from SEA OF CORTEZ: A Cruisers Guidebook

Kenny’s Peanut Butter Chocolate pancakes got us going this morning.

G spears every body’s favorite… yellowtail!  What a pretty fish!

Around 4pm it was time to get going for a nigh time cruise.  We have so much fun in the sun, we’re finding it best to do some of our motoring during the dark hours, leaving more time to snorkel and fish during the day.  By leaving late in the day, we’ll be trolling with the sun low on the horizon, a good time for fishing.  Along the way, we enjoy fresh barbecue Yellowtail, Ken’s rice and a cool green salad. Our LED’s light up the ocean in front, but it’s all good as we will be anchoring at Isla SF west anchorage, marked clearly on the chart from last Sunday.

Fresh BBQ yellow-tail dinner in the Pilot House while underway.

Saturday, February 10, 2018:  At Isla San Francisco Yet Again

we woke up this morning at anchor in Isla SF west anchorage.  During the night a moderate South wind with chop was blowing against us towards a lee shore, but the anchor held.  It was not a sound sleep and the waves slapped noisily on the hull.  Alex starts the motor and we move to the North anchorage out of the sloppy conditions,into smooth water.  Three other boats had made the same move.  AJ and Ken are off in the tender while Gerard videos the rocky reef with the GoPro.

Isla Coyote with 25-person fishing hamlet is off Isla SF North side.

Wild Blue is anchored off the north side of Isla SF out of the S winds.

Looking Southwest at sunset from our Isla SF anchorage. No matter where you are in the Sea of Cortz, there’s always a great sunset.

Gerard, in his Jacques Cousteau outfit, is ready to video.

Tropical fish just off Isla SF.

More tropicals.

Tropicals again.

Sunday, February 11, 2018:  A Night Cruise into La Paz and Carnival La Paz

The wind switched from south to west late last evening making for a short sleep.  The bouncy night kept Alex on “catnap” anchor watch as the westerly winds made for a lee shore anchorage again.  It’s a common occurrence and the guidebooks recommend moving 4 miles west to Cabeza de Mehudo when the mid-night westerlies blow up.  We planned on leaving at 4AM this morning but at 3AM Alex had had enough and stared the engine, waking the crew.  Most all reported for night duty as we raised the anchor and retraced our course around Isla SF in the darkness, eventually pointing towards La Paz.  We hoped to be in by 8AM, but the westerlies again switched south and we had wind and waves on the nose.  Still we cleared the Costa Baja breakwater by 8:30 with time to clean the boat and take in the last day of Carnival La Paz.

10’s of thousands come out for Carnival on the Malecon overlooking the Sea.

It’s a huge street carival with parade, dancers, food, liquor and chach-ka vendors spread for a mile along the malecon.

Ken recommends this vendor.

There were five major sound stages with LOUD bands.  Later, we could hear them playing 4 miles away in Costa Baja.

View from Wild Blue at Costa Baja Resort.

It was great fun again being on the water with three good fisherman.  It will take some time to recover from the little bit of fun we had this week…. Buenos Dias Amigos!