A Move to Bahia Balandra

November 7, 2022  

This was our first time since leaving Canada that we moved from one anchorage to another without being out overnight.  We left Bahia de Los Muertos at 06:15 and we were anchored in Bahia Balandra by 14:10.  It was such a treat to be able to move from one beautiful anchorage to another in less than a day. 

Our day started with a beautiful sunrise as we motored up to Punta Arena de La Ventana and rounded the corner into Cerralvo Channel, the point that many consider to be the official start to the Sea of Cortez.   

We had some beautiful beam reach sailing up towards Lorenzo Channel and were visited by a pod of six dolphins.  These dolphins had no white on them and they were larger than the other dolphins that we had seen on the outer coast of the Baja, but they came over to play at the bow of our boat and we could clearly see them in the perfectly clear water.   

We arrived at Lorenzo Channel at a good time as the strong winds that had been funnelling through the channel and giving us great winds for sailing were starting to die down such that we did not have to beat through a steep chop and strong winds. 

As we rounded the corner we were seeing rays jumping out of the water, and we motored down and anchored in Bahia Balandra. 

As far as picturesque beauty goes, Bahia Balandra topped Bahia de Los Muertos, the shallow waters reflected the light from the sand below and created an even more stunning turquoise colour as we anchored in 15 feet of water.  The shoreline was a spectacular combination of white sand beaches and artistic rock formations dotted with picture-perfect cacti; it was a beautiful spot. 

Although the inner beaches of the bay are part of a protected park that is not only very popular with locals and tourists, but also regulated, the outer corners of this multi-bayed bay were quiet, and we had our little bay to ourselves.   

While snorkelling over to the shoreline we saw our third type of puffer fish.  This type of puffer fish seemed to hang out in their own little hole in the sand, and when Jason dove down to get a closer look, one of them puffed up, and out came the little spikes, and then it swam away.  These puffer fish were not curious like the ones at Bahia de Los Muertos, but it was super cool to get to see one actually puff up. 

We made our way along the rocky shoreline and had some beautiful snorkelling with some beautiful fish and also some coral.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  Our anchorage was lovely and calm and as the evening approached all of the tour boats that had groups in the inner bay began to leave and we were left alone in Bahia Balandra. 

After the sun had set the wind began to pick up, but we were well protected as the wind came over the land and although it was stronger up at our masthead, it was only a breeze down at the water.  However, as the wind built up the chop out in the straight, the waves began to wrap around the corner of the land and hit us on the side.  What had been a perfectly calm anchorage through the day quickly became almost as rocky as if we were becalmed out at sea, and we had to make sure that everything was appropriately well stowed for the night.  If this change in sea state had happened earlier in the day we would have simply taken out a stern anchor so as to point our boat into the waves, however since it was dark and we did not know how our boat had moved over our anchor, we did not want to risk dropping a stern anchor and crossing our anchor lines, so instead we simply had to live with the rock and roll through the night, which even in bed was quite uncomfortable.