Isla San Francisco to Marina Costa Baja (in the outskirts of La Paz)

On Monday (January 30), the wind shifted again. We knew that the rolling in anchorage would increase and soon it would become comfortable. It was time to move again. We also knew that there was a storm coming. We’d decided that we wanted to ride the storm out in a marina. We were excited to be able to procure a “real” slip at Costa Baja, complete with water, power and pump out!

We pulled up anchor at about 0830, right after One World did, and followed them towards the La Paz area. It was a 6.5 hour ride to Costa Baja. We were in small 1 – 2 foot (.3 – .6 meters) head seas, so it was mildy uncomfortable. The day started out mostly sunny with some clouds, but as the day wore on, the clouds steadily increased. By the time we arrived, it was mostly cloudy. The temperatures were cool, but not cold, in the high 60s Fahrenheit (about 16-ish Celsius). Thanks to the wind, we did need our heavy jackets to sit outside when the boat moving. Eric saw two whales while he was on watch, but he didn’t get a close enough look to tell which species they were. 

At the turn off into the channel to Costa Baja, we saw that the world’s biggest sloop was on the fuel dock. When we’d booked the reservation, we’d asked about getting fuel on the way in, and the marina had told us the fuel dock was booked for the day. Now we knew why.

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Keith’s Perspective on Punta Salinas, Isla San Francisco and Costa Baja/Le point de vue de Keith sur Punta Salinas, Isla San Francisco et Costa Baja

I enjoyed my time at Punta Salinas. It has salt flats that used to be salt mines; they were fun to explore. We went on the salt flats, which felt like snow and ice. But there were other salt flats that had a layer of mud under it. Well, not quite mud. It was this icky black stuff.

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Punta Salinas on Isla San Jose to Isla San Francisco

Sunrise on Saturday, January 28. The island in the middle of the photo is Isla San Francisco.

This morning, the wind was light and the anchorage was totally calm. Ahhhhh. We were so happy to have a break from the constant motion. The temperature was a bit warmer, too, so we didn’t need the heavy jackets when we went outside (the wind was still bitter cold, but there wasn’t much wind). The water was also amazingly clear. We could easily make out fine details in the sand below the boat. The downside to the wind dying down was that there were quite a few bees flying around the boat.

In the relatively early morning, Keith went to shore with the kids. He said they mostly played on the salt flats. Christi and Eric stayed aboard to get Kosmos ready for sea. As the forecast had predicted, in the late morning, the wind picked up from the south, a direction from which this anchorage was not protected. The anchorage immediately started to get rolly.

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San Evaristo to Punta Salinas on Isla San Jose

Sunrise on Friday, January 27

We were pleased to see that the wind had calmed down significantly. However, it still at about 16-knots sustained, so it was still windy. 

The four boats had all agreed to go to Punta Salinas (also called San Ysidro) on the southwest side of Isla San Jose this morning. According to the cruising guide, there were ruins of an old salt mining operation that sounded interesting. We’d wanted to go there before, but we’d heard that bitey bugs were a big problem there. Now that bitey bug season was over, it was the ideal time to go.

Since it was only a 45-minute ride, in the morning, we took our time getting ready to go. We were last ones to leave. The ride over was uneventful. It was 56-degrees Fahrenheit (13-degrees Celsius), the sun was totally blocked by dark clouds, and the wind was bitter cold. Christi was freezing as we anchored, even in a heavy jacket. The first shot is looking northwest, at the tip of the point that protects this anchorage. In the distance is Baja. San Evaristo is just north of what you can see of Baja in the photo.

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