Second Trip to Santa Rosalia, Day 7 (Continued)

(Thursday, October 6, continued) In the evening, we decided to continue exploring the area by heading south on Highway One. We’d only been south once, and hadn’t been paying attention as we walked. 

The black sand beach was covered in debris from the storm. Here is a before and after.

August 2022
September 2022

We haven’t mentioned this, but there is lots of debris floating around the harbor, too. We were pretty frustrated with ourselves when we realized that the very first building to the south of the marina had an auto parts store that sold oil (in the building pictured above).

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Bahia de Las Rocas to La Village de Bahia de Los Angeles

Sunday September 25 continued… As we were nearing an island called Isla Coronado (AKA Isla Smith), we saw on AIS that one of our friends was in one of the anchorages on that island called Bahia Las Rocas. We quickly checked the cruising guide and saw that the anchorage would be suitable both for the current winds and for the forecasted winds. We called our friends and asked about the flying bug situation and if there was enough space for us. Our friends reported no bugs and enough space. We were sold!

When we turned the corner and the anchorage came into view, we saw there was a second boat in the anchorage that didn’t have AIS on. They were anchored exactly where we’d wanted to go. We pulled in and dropped anchor in a spot that made us a little nervous. We were only a few hundred feet from the rock in front of us (picture 1), the shore behind us (picture 2), and the boat next to us (picture 3). 

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Leaving Puerto Refugio

People will probably be surprised by how noisy it was in Refugio. In this video of sunrise on Sunday, September 25th, you can hear the fish doing whatever it is fish do while the sea lions barked vigorously from their island (2 miles away). Sometimes the fish get so loud, it sounds like a rainstorm! 

The winds were forecast to change tomorrow to be coming from a direction which would make this anchorage uncomfortable. So at around 0830, we lifted anchor and set off for the Bahia de Los Angeles area. We hadn’t decided exactly which anchorage we’d go to, but there were several in that area that would offer good protection from the new wind direction.  

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Puerto Refugio Day 2

Blog Q: Do you worry about boat thieves?

A: It is difficult to steal a larger boat, like ours. We’d report it to the authorities and it’d be found pretty quickly. 

That said, dinghy theft is a little more of a concern. Dinghies that are fast with big motors have appeal to thieves, but even that kind of theft is rare. We have a slow dinghy with an electric motor, so no one wants our dinghy/motor. 

The biggest concern is people stealing things off of the boats. As far as we know, all the places that we’ve stopped are safe. It was explained that because this part of Baja is off the trafficking routes, there is nothing to attract criminals. There are reports of theft being an issue in some other areas, such as Guayamas, but we don’t plan to go to those places. 

On Wednesday morning (September 21), it was a bit rolly when we woke up. Eric put out the paravanes, which helped. While Eric was working on the paravanes, the family, on s/v Auryn, called on the radio and invited us to go for a hike onshore with them. Here was the view from the shore.

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