Places We’ve Been: Punta San Telmo, BCS Mexico

We took off from Isla San Francisco at a decent hour to run down the Isla San Jose Channel and past the various island/rocks in the Rocas De La Foca area.  This would be a longer run and we wanted to sail but the winds (were) are fluky in the channel so we got the main up and motorsailed.  Our consort (buddy boat) tried to sail and did all sorts of tacks, but we didn’t.  However, on the way we started picking up interesting radio chatter and it really lifted our spirits to be able to talk to several boats we knew from the La Cruz Marina scene, especially as we had basically just gotten into Covid.  We had left La Paz in mid-April, intent on heading up Baja for both hurricane protection and to sit and wait out Covid the best we could.  So, we were on the move.  After a long day done slowly, we had wanted to tuck into Puerto Los Gatos, but the La Cruz fleet of 4-5 boats (had just crossed the Sea of Cortez and headed straight there) was faster than us and had already taken up most of the space in the anchorage.  So there were 7 boats total in Los Gatos, just not enough room for our big girls to get in and safely anchor.

So we had to call an audible, as it would get dark in a couple hours and we needed time to catch our breath.  So…just 1.5 miles past Los Gatos is the beautiful Punta San Telmo- that’s where we headed.

In any sort of weather, neither Los Gatos nor Punta San Telmo would be that great, but it was settled so we headed in.  The best info we had was out of the Shawn and Heather book, Sea of Cortez, A Cruisers Guidebook.  We did not officially use it to navigate…but the info on page 136 was key to putting us on a great spot to anchor.  We dropped in the vicinity of waypoint BCS260 because our buddy boat beat us in and dropped right on top of the waypoint.  We dropped a bit closer to the rock and we found a great spot, dropping in 18 feet of water, with a bit less chain because of swing room.  Here’s a close up of San Telmo: 

We stayed here one night but still talk about the sunset.  So worth it.  Funny thing is, we never made it back to Los Gatos, even with all of the back and forth we did between the mainland and Baja, just wasn’t in the cards for us.  

Here’s more info: 

Ease of anchoring:  We anchored in 18 feet of water over sand.  We put out 100 foot of chain (less than normal) because of swing room and we were anchored next to another 50+ sailboat.    

Noise at anchor:  None.

Provisioning:  None

Cellular reception at anchor: None.

Wifi in the anchorage:  None.

Water Clarity:  Water was clean but not clear. 

Protection:  Some protection from the North and West (Behind the rock).  No protection from the South and East- both wind and swells.  

Bugs:  None. 

Beach:  Sand/rock shoreline. 

Would We Go Back:  Yes!  The red rock and cliffs were phenomenal at sunset and we had a nice night at anchor.  

Ok, my disclaimer:  Please don’t use my post for navigation.  They are meant to be informative and mildly interesting travel blog posts but not navigational aids.  There- nuff said.  

Got questions about Baja, cruising with family, taking a Great Dane cruising on a sailboat- we did all that and would love to hear from you if you wanna shoot us questions.