Puerto Escondido: January 24th - February 5th, 2024
Our prime spot in the Puerto Escondido Marina!
Agua Verde was a bust. The weather started getting a bit gnarly. So we couldn’t enjoy it at all. It’s not the most protected anchorage, therefore we knew that we had better book it up to Puerto Escondido if we wanted to be safe & hopefully comfortable.
We were lucky enough that we got a slip at the last minute. It was a little sketchy, as we had less than a foot under our keel when making our way to the back marina. In fact, we met a guy that did scrape bottom on his way getting back into the slip. Yikes!
The marina in the back of the harbor was very protected! I don’t think we felt any wind the few days we were there. I can imagine that it might be a pretty miserable place in the middle of the summer. However, in January, it was wonderful! The wind storm passed by & we didn’t feel a thing.
After a few days, we got to move over to our spot in the main part of the harbor. -We had booked it a few days before our semi-emergency entrance to get in before the storm. Very glad we did! It was right by the market & all of the other conveniences!
As a whole, the harbor itself is really nice! I think it was just taken over by a private company. And that company has turned it into a little oasis! Everything is in prime condition. The bathrooms & showers were well polished, clean & looked like they were just completely updated. I think there were 4 washing machines & 4 dryers. They all worked! Cruisers know this is kind of a miracle in the marina world. They were expensive though. -$12 per load! Ouch!
There was a little market there. And while they were on the small side, they had a lot to offer! Canned goods that we hadn’t even seen since the states! Kind of crazy. But I guess it’s a cruisers spot so there were little things that I guess cruisers requested & now the market carries them. Not completely necessary but nice nonetheless. Plus, they had an ample amount of fruits & vegetables! In addition, they were insanely inexpensive compared to everything else!
What else did the marina have to offer? The most helpful office staff. They were all so friendly & would arrange almost anything you needed. A very tasty rooftop restaurant & bar. A pickle ball court. A kid’s playground. Some hiking trails. Marine services. Haulouts…. Needless to say we were impressed.
There is a cruiser’s net there too! (VHF meet-up every 8am) It’s not quite as large as the one in La Paz but still a good group of people. Matt even lead it a few times! He did great!
In fact, over the net, we arranged a meet up for coffee at 10am just outside of the market. -This is where got to meet a bunch of other sailors. And this led us to arranging to do a hike the next day with a small group.
Well protected Puerto Escondido.
My boys!
We were so stoked that we got to go hiking with a group of new friends! In fact, they were so new, we had just met them the day before. James, who had a car there, drove us to the trailhead. -It would have probably taken an extra half hour or so to walk there. So it was nice to get a lift. He actually didn’t end up even going on the hike. His wife Theresa came down with something & was staying on the boat. But he was nice enough to take the rest of us to the start of the canyon trail.
So we hiked the Tabor Canyon with Sonia, Steven & Michael, (Steven’s brother). It was fun to get to know them while doing this somewhat challenging but beautiful trek! Tabor Canyon is a little oasis in the desert of Baja. I won’t do it justice by describing it. Just take a look at the photos below.
Hiking the gorgeous Tabor Canyon!
The following day, we got a ride to Loreto. It’s about a half hour drive north from Puerto Escondido. James was nice enough to let Steven borrow his car to drop off Michael at the airport. So, on the way, they dropped us off in downtown Loreto.
We walked around & went into some shops. It seems to be a pretty small town. Although, we were just there for half a day. I’m not sure what all we missed. The cruisers that we talked to said it was cute but didn’t have a lot going for it that required more than a day’s visit. Someone will have to give us the low down on the town. From our prospective, it didn’t seem like there was a bunch to do or see. But I do know that people love traveling there.
The main reason we wanted to go there was actually to get some in-depth grocery shopping done. As impressive as the marina market was, there were some things it just didn’t carry.
James had said that he & Theresa were going to go up to Loreto that afternoon after Steven & Sonia had returned his car to get groceries. So they would pick us up. The one thing though is that we forgot we needed WiFi to get our WhatsApp messages. So it was great luck that we ran into them at the Super Ley. -Super Ley is the major gringo supermarket in this part & further north of the Sea of Cortez. It has nothing on Chedraui though. It’s pretty limited. Even the market at the marina had some items that Super Ley did not. Therefore I’m not totally sure it’s worth making the trip up to Loreto just to go to this market.
Anyway, it was awesome to run into our friends instead of panicking on how we were going to connect with them. We really appreciate that they lugged us & our grocery baggage back to Escondido in their comfy car. Thanks James & Theresa!
Scenes from around Loreto.
We had been in the area for over a week & felt like we hadn’t really explored the south side of the port. -The side where we entered from.
One late afternoon we decided to take Zephyr on a walk & explore that part of the bay. It seems that the locals like to fish there. Matt got a few tips on fishing from some guys who had lines out. It always impressess me that he has the courage to talk to locals in Spanish. I mean, he is becoming pretty good with his Español. But most of the battle is practicing with people. I always feel like I forget everything when I get into social situations. It’s something I need to work on.
Anyway, there were a few little treasures here & there on the beach that seem to have washed up. Big pieces of boats. Little pieces of boats. We may have even found a part or two that may be valuable on our boat! We even saw a little crater where it seemed that sea salt was forming. Pretty cool!
Exploring the south side of Puerto Escondido on the last afternoon there.
We actually ended up staying in Puerto Escondido for 10 days! It was so nicely protected that we didn’t want to leave. Plus, meeting a bunch of really lovely people there makes it even less motivating to move on. But there was a good weather window & we weren’t even half the way up the Sea of Cortez & only had a month & a half to make it up to Puerto Penasco for our haul-out. So we needed to get MerSea on the open blue road, that is the ocean.
But it’s definitely one of the places we’ll be back to on our way going southbound. It’ll be fun to see who all is still there!
Zephyr proving that he can get dirty.
Thanks for reading! We’ll meet again next Wednesday for a new blog & video of some more island time. Yay! Islands are fun & beautiful. Excited to share more of this amazing voyage with all of you! Until then, write in the comments below & let us know what your favorite island is or if there’s an island you’ve always wanted to travel to!
