Bahia Los Frailes-Ensenada de los Muertos
14 March 2022 – Last night around midnight we heard whales singing so loudly and clearly it seemed they must have been right beside our boat. A couple of the mornings we had seen a pair of whales coming in to feed in the big submarine canyon that underlies los Frailes Bay.
The day before we departed another Valiant 42, Reverie, fetched the anchorage. They passed close abaft our stern and hailed us, then hailed us on the VHF as we were outbound. They were staying to snorkel on Cabo Pulmos reef, something we wanted to do as well, but that the wind was strong from that direction while we were there.
Reverie anchored in Bahia los Frailes
In the morning we got up early, around 0530. The Michin knows it portends nothing good when Jimena is up this early so he headed straight for his shark.
Bahia los Frailes astern
I raised the idea of laying up and sailing overnight for Ensenada de los Muertos as it was a bit of a long pull at 48 NM by our route, but we went ahead and departed, which proved to be the right call.
We beat and tacked all day in great winds but just before sunset we were still 13 NM away so we furled the genoa and I cranked the iron genny. We motored for 3-4 hours, broke our rule about not entering an unfamiliar anchorage in the dark, and dropped anchor in Ensenada de los Muertos around 2300. There were at least five other boats already there and a large power boat moved out of the anchorage, either to let us in or to avoid the presumed impending mayhem we might cause.
We got anchored solidly then hit the rack and slept soundly. In the morning we found we were a little ways off the beach but anchored well. It was a bit of a windy anchorage, so better to be just a little deeper and set well. Several of the other sailboats had left but we did not feel any need to shift position or try resetting the anchor.
The first day in los Muertos we finally had some cell signal so we did some planning on the next leg of our trip, and planning to get into a marina in La Paz. Jimena found us space for a week about when we needed it and in the marina farthest out of the long channel leading into La Paz.
The anchorage at Ensenada de los Muertos looking NE
Hotels at Ensenada de los Muertos looking NW
On our second day in Ensenada de los Muertos (which has also been re-branded Ensenada de los Suenos-Bay of Dreams-by developers looking to make a buck) we blew up the dinghy and went ashore. There is a good restaurant with wretched service at the east end of the bay, and some high dollar beach developments at the other end. We walked the beach, poked around in some tide pools and talked with the manager of one of the hotels about rates and how to make reservations, then had lunch and beers in the restaurant.
The tide had gone out during our stroll so when we put the dinghy back in the water I hit a rock shelf with the prop and busted the shear pin in the prop. We did not know that at the time, only that the prop would turn but not move us. After contacting Torqeedo Service (great responsive support from them) and searching the stuff that came with the motor I found spare pins and repaired the motor.
Despite being a lovely anchorage we were getting itchy to get through the dread Cerralvo Channel and so chose to head up to Bahia Bonanza on the 17th.