Places We’ve Been: Bahia Aqua Verde, BCS Mexico

We used Bahia Agua Verde as a stopover during trips up and back down Baja, often staying for days because we loved it so much.  Watching it turn back into a sleeping Mexican fishing village during Covid was interesting, as the Mexicans tended to hunker down…and far less gringos showed up asking for tacos and beer and camping on the beaches.  Cruising boats and luxury yachts thinned out too, except for the hardy few who decided to shelter in place and ride out the initial fear and loathing associated with Covid; in Baja.

Bahia Agua Verde is a (mostly) protected bay between Escondido and La Paz that serves as a good stopover for cruisers moving north or south during spring and fall….or a hang-out in summer.  The Bay has room for lots of boats and we counted at least four different spots where cruisers anchored….while the super yachts just found whatever they thought worked and dropped their massive hooks, mostly without setting the anchor at all.  But those same yachts never stayed long and were mostly there transiting north or south.

The bay is perfectly described in the Shawn and Heather book, Sea of Cortez A Cruisers Guidebook, on pages 144-147.  We preferred the eastern anchorage at the Shawn and Heather waypoint BCS 285, but we were often anchored further out than the waypoint either because another boat was on it or we just didn’t want to be that close to shore.  But….much further out and you’ll soon fall off a slight shelf….dropping from 30 feet to 55 feet pretty quickly.  How do I know this?  Well..this one time at band camp…this one time we arrived and were going to stay a few days but we were forced to anchor further out than usual because several bareboat catamarans had taken up some of the room in the anchorage.  So we dropped the hook in 55 feet of water with 280 feet of chain out and set it.  Unknown to us, those cats were just about to leave….so they took off as the day was winding down.  So we turned everything back on, hauled up the anchor and moved into shallower water, finally dropping the hook in 30 feet of water with 150 feet out and no problems.  On this day, it was clear enough to dive the anchor and see it, but sometimes the water out in the anchorage isn’t that clear.  On this visit to Agua Verde, we stayed three days and loved the time here.  But, as things in the Sea of Cortez happen….we were awoken about 1am to a super yacht in the middle of the bay.  Since Covid was happening most bars, clubs and discos were shut down in Mexico; but the young, rich and beautiful still wanted to party….so they rented super yachts.  The crew had converted the entire top deck of the super yacht into a club….complete with loud thumpin beats, dry ice and strobe lights.  Up on deck, four couples dressed to the nines partied hard.  It was an interesting night.  The super yacht left the next morning.

On another occasion at Agua Verde, we went on shore and explored the village.  There’s a small tienda and we found a taco shack that opened for us with cold beer and tacos.  They were great.  We also spent time snorkeling, there’s not much to catch to speak of….it seems fished out and we only saw smaller fish and no lobster.

But one of my best memories of the place is the goats.  Most afternoons after the tide had gone down, the goats would find their way through the rocky cliffs and eastern anchorage beach, all in a line with tinkle bells, eventually going up a steep hill to do a circle back to the village.  Here’s a pic:

Here’s more info: 

Ease of anchoring:  We anchored in 55 feet and 30 feet over sand.  We put out our usual 5-1 and never had holding problems.    

Noise at anchor:  None except the tinkle of goat bells in the afternoon.

Provisioning:  We found a very small tienda in the village at Agua Verde but were careful not to buy too much.  We also found a small taco stand with cold beer! 

Cellular reception at anchor: None.

Wifi in the anchorage:  None.

Water Clarity:  Water was clean and sometimes clear depending on the tides and wind. 

Protection:  Good protection from the south, west and east.   Not much protection from the north- both wind and swells.  I would not want to be here during a good northerly. 

Bugs:  None. 

Beach:  Sand/rock shoreline. 

Would We Go Back:  Yes!  I would go back just to hang out and see if the goats did their daily afternoon trek along the coastline and hillsides, loved the tinkle of their bells.  

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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. 

Here’s the last post I wrote about Baja: 

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