L.A Bay

The Gypsy Queen and Little Boat, ready to go.


Well the time has finally arrived and we are ready to set sail. After walking into San Felipe too many times the wind finally died and we are on our way. Heading south from San Felipe our destination was Bahia de Los Angeles, LA Bay, a beautiful bay with about 15 islands scattered across it ranging from tiny specs that almost disappear at high tide to huge mountains rising out of the sea a couple thousand feet and tens of miles long

La Isla Alcatraz

The total trip from San Felipe to LA Bay is about 150 miles about 50 miles out of our cruising range using just the outboard so a stop for fuel was mandatory. As we ended up leaving port in the late morning we decided to run all night to Bahia Willard, about 100 miles down, arriving, hopefully in the morning where we could refuel and make the rest of the trip that day.

early morning sailing

Accordingly we divided into two shifts, Lennis and Andrea and Mike and I, for four hours each. Around 1200 am Mike and I found ourselves alone, piloting a sailboat, at night, in the ocean for the first time for both of us. After some discussion Mike and I decided that we were both very uncomfortable with both the responsibility and the lack of technical expertise currently resting on our meager, non-sailor shoulders. The 2 foot seas hitting us diagonally from the port stern did nothing to help with this as the boat lurched from crest to trough and from side to side sometimes doing 7 knots, as it was surfing down the face of the wave, and sometimes doing 3 knots, as we climbed out of the troughs. Needless to say it was a gripping four hours with mike and I trading off on the tiller after our hands got tired from squeezing the handle.

climbing out of the hold, not a cool place for claustrophobic individuals

Somewhere around 3 am the wind tapered off and the seas got calmer and with the almost full moon lighting up the ocean all around us we had a very enjoyable last hour of our shift. We pulled into Bahia Willard for some gas, and as a small sideline, met Doug and Debbie, who live on the beach there and after answering all their questions about where we were from and where we were going lent us their 70s chevy truck to go get gas at the station a couple miles away. As a side bar, the cruising community down here is amazing, everyone we have met has bent over backward to help us out, give us things or just talk to us.

Sunrise on the sea of cortez

So after fueling up we headed south hoping to make LA Bay by noon the next day. After anchoring at Alcatraz Island for the night we pulled into LA Bay around 10 am the next day and began to plan which islands to visit and what to do.

Corona, where the sea and the sun meet.

we decided to head out to Isla Ventana to stay for a couple of days to explore and snorkel and such. Ta-ta.

La Isla Ventana, LA Bay, Baja California Norte.

at the helm.