Sea of Cortez Marinas

Marinas, they are a necessity while cruising. Staying in anchorages is very fun! I really love anchorages, but marinas have many perks, which I hate admitting, that sometimes I really adore. Showers, protection from rolliness & wind, easier access to land than using a dinghy, power, not having to worry about the anchor dragging….

However, some of them are a little harder to leave than others. Some, well, I guess you would say that you get what you need & leave on the quicker side.

Here are the marinas that we stayed at in the Sea of Cortez & their pros & cons. I’ve put red dots where we had a slip in each of the marinas.

San Jose del “Cha-Ching” Cabo

The Marina at San Jose del Cabo was expensive but had many perks! Such as:

The staff was super nice and helpful. I was able to contact them ahead of time & get a map of the marina & where our slip would be. When we got to the office they also gave us a bunch of useful information. -Which is very nice when you get to your first marina after a whole month of cruising!

The slips were close to 2 great restaurants! -The Hookup, which has almost anything you could want. I got very yummy sushi both of the times we went there. And then there was the restaurant at Hotel El Ganzo. A little on the pricey side but worth it! The food was so tasty. And they served dessert that I could actually eat. One of the times we went they even had live flamenco dancing!

Even though it seems half of the marina is under construction, (the parts outside the docks not the actual docks), it is a beautiful marina. Well landscaped with artistic statues along the walk. The showers were nice & fairly new but no hot water. -Maybe this will change. Maybe it’s so hot most of the time that people want cold showers. Not sure.

The marina is super protected from the swell & wind. As you can tell in the picture above, it’s well set in from the coastline.

There were a few downsides though:

5 - 10 minute taxi ride to downtown area. Not a huge deal. We got an Uber every time. And they come pretty quickly. But just kind of a bummer that you can’t just walk anywhere.

Expensive. I could be wrong, but I think the smallest slips that they actually have are for 40’ boats. We stayed in a 40’ slip. This is where the super-yachts go when they aren’t in Cabo.

No local beaches nearby. The beaches that were right by the marina were owned by a resort there. So, if you wanted to hang out on the beach you had to pay a day fee. Or get an Uber or taxi to take you to a public beach. -Basically, all the other beaches but the ones by the marina.

How do you solve a problem like a marina?

You run it like Marina de La Paz!

This was definitely our favorite marina! We were hoping to stay there during this holiday season again but since it’s so wonderful, it gets reserved way in advance. I tried, but to no avail. We are staying at another marina in La Paz. -Which, hopefully, I will have good things to say about also. Here are just some of the reasons why Marina de La Paz was the best:

The staff is wonderful & so on top of everything! They were extremely helpful -both in the office & in the actual marina. Neil, who owns & runs the marina & has for several years is involved in all aspects of the marina. He’s actually the one who answered all of my emails! Patricia, is in charge of the office & she manages it so well. I can’t believe how organized she is with all the cruisers coming & going! And the maintenance staff is also efficient. They clean the docks every single day. You will not see any bird poop on the docks - unless one of them did their business in the middle of the night. Everyone involved in the marina was just very kind & friendly. Even though we aren’t staying there in December & January, we will definitely go by to say hi.

Everything is super clean! -The bathrooms & showers. The office. The decks! Did I mention that the decks are cleaned daily!

So many amenities! There is a restaurant on site. And it is so good that even locals go to it! Breakfast/brunch is very popular, so you have to get there early or expect to wait. But it’s worth it. Laundry on site. It’s kind of nice to have laundry done for you. Oil discharge place on site. Tiny convenience shop. Meeting area for cruisers on site. I mean you really don’t have many reasons to leave the marina. But the town is fun, so we did!

Yes! It’s right next to downtown! So, we could walk everywhere! The only time we didn’t walk was when we had a ton of groceries to get back to the boat. It’s a mixture of local, cruising & tourist culture. We loved it! It might be a little worn around the edges but the quality of people there is what makes La Paz special.

So, it is hard to think of any negatives to this marina. Oh yes:

It’s hard to get a slip. You have to be persistent. We got one at the last minute back in December 2023.

Puerto Escondido Marina - the marina where you have everything at your fingertips, literally!

Dot #1 is the back marina & dot #2 is in the main marina, where we stayed most of the time.

The Puerto Escondido Marina was fun. I think it was because the closest town, Loreto, was a 30 minute drive north so all of us cruisers were kind of stuck in the marina. But here are some of the other things that made it nice:

Everything was fairly new. -The buildings looked only a year or two old. And they were re-constructing some parts of buildings that were there. Nothing, that I remember, was falling apart. -Which is pretty impressive for any marina. -Even in the states.

Although on the slightly more expensive side, they had their own upstairs, open-air restaurant. The food was great! I can’t remember exactly what I had but it was yummy. And had a pretty awesome view included!

The gates were keyless. Actually, in the first slip we stayed, in the back marina, we did have a key card. But in the main marina you just used your finger! So high-tech! So nice to not have to remember anything to get in & out of the gates. Just don’t get used to it because all other marinas will have keys or cards & it’s best if you don’t forget to bring them with you.

The staff was very friendly & helpful.

They had a market! And it had a decent selection of stuff. -Including produce! And the produce was very inexpensive! Everything else was absolutely not! But having a market right there, I mean, right by the docks, was so lovely! I’m pretty sure this is the first time we encountered this. This doesn’t occur in California even! I loved it! I think I went almost every day to get some fresh fruits or veggies.

The showers were updated & very clean. However, you need to time your shower just right. It’s too cold in the morning because the water hasn’t heated up enough. And it’s too cold in the evening because all of the hot water has been used. So you need to go in the late morning or early afternoon if you want a super hot shower.

You may be asking, “What’s there not to like about the Puerto Escondido Marina?”.:

It’s not near anything else. There are some neat hikes close by but other than that, you need to arrange a taxi or rental car or meet an incredibly generous cruiser who does have a car & doesn’t mind driving to Loreto to get a large amount of groceries or just to check out the town for something different. Thanks again to our friend, James! We owe you!

Santa Rosalia Marina - The unique marina!

I think there are only 20 spots for cruisers to park their boat here. And it you have anything larger than a 40 boat, you might have to pray that an end tie is available. So, we felt very happy to only have a 30’ boat at this time. Yes, it’s a small & different kind of marina. Here’s what we liked about it:

5 minute walk to town! If you run, cut that in half. There are restaurants, there are markets, there are shops for almost anything you need. And you can get to all of it very easily. Plus, it’s a charming town with a very interesting past. Not many gringos, like us, in Santa Rosalia.

It’s super protected. When we got there, we got there heading straight into 30 knot gusts. That was an interesting sail/motor. But once inside the harbor, it just seemed a little windy. And the swell comes in a little bit but it’s about 10 times calmer than what’s going on on the outside.

Unfortunately there are a few negatives:

As I mentioned before, the slips are limited. So you may or may not get one. Good thing that by the time we get our larger boat, we won’t be in the Sea of Cortez anymore. -Or at least not this far north.

The water does get cut off from time to time. I guess they are trying to conserve it but you need to work around their schedule, which isn’t announced to see if you’re going to actually be taking a shower or doing laundry that day.

San Felipe… Marina?

Yes, I covered this marina in our latest video. What can I say about this marina? The navy, who was stationed next to us were friendly & lovely people. -So was the marina staff. The only thing else I’ll say is that I wish them the best of luck!

Puerto Penasco Safe Marina - The Tide is High & We’re Holding On -Until the tide gets really, really low.

Puerto Penasco Safe Marina was our last marina during this voyage. It will actually be the first marina that we stay at for our upcoming voyage this season. And while it was a bit crumbly around the edges, it had just about everything we needed. What made our stay comfortable?:

Michaelangelo. Or Michael Angelo. I’m not sure which way he spells it but he owns & manages the marina. He’s very friendly & helpful. I seriously think he should charge a bit more for the slips so they could do some upgrades. But I guess, his system works for him.

A hot shower! Yes, I said shower. As in singular shower. But it works well & the water is hot! While it’s not the most updated bathroom, it is super clean! And that’s what I need to feel comfortable. -In addition to hot water. Surprisingly it was always available when I needed to take one. I guess most boats are larger than ours & have shower stalls on their boats. So, most people don’t even need a shower on shore. Hey, we’re just lucky to do this at the moment. I know a boat with it’s own shower stall is coming our way in the near future! -I’m just hoping it’s my definition of near & not near as in 10 years is nearer than 20.

It’s the perfect place to line up to haul out! The end dock is a straight shot over to the Cabrales Boatyard boatlift. There can be a lot of waiting around to haul out your boat so it is very nice to tie up to a spot right before it’s your turn. We just moved our boat out of the slip & over to an end tie & viola! Well, it wasn’t exactly that easy but it made me less anxious about the whole process.

What’s not to love?:

The marina is far from most necessities. Groceries & restaurants are walkable. -Just not the hop, skip & a jump type of walkable. But that’s most marinas from our experience. I think we are perplexed about this more than the answer to the meaning of life! Is it really so hard to build up the perfect marina? Apparently it is folks!

The tides take some getting used to. There can be a 24’ difference between high & low tide. I think we may have run aground while in our slip! So walking out to the yard can be like a nice stroll or a hike up Mount Everest! Pretty crazy! Look at the photos below!

The tide is high.

And now it's not!

There you have it! All the marinas that we have stayed at so far in the Sea of Cortez. There will be more next time when we go southbound & cross to the mainland. So stay tuned in for that.

We will rave about the Cabrales boat yard in the future! Technically, they aren’t an actual marina so I didn’t include them in this but they were awesome!

                         Zephyr after a romp with his girlfriend Tuna!

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this was helpful to some of you. But if you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us!