FRAILES TO LA PAZ 2025

April 10, 2025
Bahia Los Muertos

The Anchorage at Frailes

We didn’t want to go anywhere on Tuesday. I made pancakes for breakfast and we spent the day sorting out the boat and relaxing. Fred grilled steaks for dinner, which we ate with beans and some spanish rice that I made. We were feeling quite content.

Leaving Frailes

Flying the Spinnaker

The Yacht AV

Wednesday morning, we got up early and got underway. We knew that we would be motoring all day, so had no reason to wait for the wind to come up. We motored north until about 11:00 and then were able to fly the spinnaker for nearly three hours before the wind died. The weather was warm, the seas were flat, and the kite got dry. It was a nearly perfect afternoon. We pulled into the quiet (except for the catamaran, Mango Wind, which was running a generator or dive compressor on deck) anchorage at Muertos about 17:00.

Pulling Into Muertos

We hadn’t thawed anything for dinner, so I heated up all of the leftovers and we had chicken curry, spanish rice, and one package of ramen with the remaining chilorio. We were both feeling quite content to be in normal cruising mode after our arduous crossing.

We could tell from the weather forecast that the wind would be more favorable on Friday than on Thursday, so we planned another layover day in Muertos. Since we had changed time zones upon leaving Banderas Bay, it had been getting light very early and we were usually up by 6:00. We lounged a bit and then set about doing boat chores. Fred replaced the control lines for the wind vane while I did my best to clean the now stiff as a board carpets. I couldn’t do anything about the salt or staining, but did manage to beat the crumbs, paint chips, and flakes of waterproofing from Fred’s decaying foulies out of them.

Tranquilo Anchored in Muertos

Next, we removed the engine cover so that Fred could tighten the bolts securing the prop shaft to the transmission. He puttered with the engine while I polished the stainless steel trash cans and cleaned some of the nooks and crannies in the galley. We repacked the spinnaker from the day before and then declared it time for lunch. After lunch, I sat down to write and Fred threatened to take a nap, but then decided to work on the power supply for his Starlink, instead.

April 11, 2025
Bahia Balandra

Approaching the Ceralvo Channel

There was little sign of the southerly wind that had been predicted a few days earlier, so we left early and began motoring towards Bahia Balandra over calm seas. It was pretty out, even if we didn’t have enough wind to sail. We never even raised the main. By early afternoon, we strung up a sun awning. The sun was intense, but the air temperature wasn’t unpleasant.

We didn’t want to try to push all the way to La Paz and arrive late and tired. Instead, we elected to stop for the night in Bahia Balandra, a gorgeous anchorage with good protection from the Coromuel winds

The Yacht AV

that plague the area during the night. We arrived well before sunset and had time to enjoy a drink while gazing at the scenery and watching the full moon rise. The anchorage was crowded with amazingly large yachts, one of which, the yacht AV, was 330 feet. It looked like a small cruise ship. As the evening progressed, the day trippers packed up and left, leaving us pretty much alone with the behemoths. One power boat was running his generator and we turned on the motor to top up our

Full Moon Rising Over Balandra

batteries. Although we had motored all day, we had also run the Starlink all day, so the batteries were not fully charged.

Sunset at Balandra

April 14, 2025

La Paz Anchorage

Morning at Balandra

The Coromuel winds blew all night at about twenty knots and continued until ten the next morning. As the sun rose higher, the water turned a gorgeous blue-green color. The large yachts had remained overnight, but the day trippers didn’t start arriving until nearly noon. By that time, a southerly had blown up and we pulled up the anchor and sailed off towards La Paz.

 
We were making better than five knots with just a main sail, so we elected not to bother raising a head sail. After a few gybes, we entered the La Paz channel and were able to sail all the way to the anchorage, where we finally started the motor to drop the main sail. Wings does not have cars on the main sail, so when it comes down, it comes out of the mast and is free to flop all over the deck or fall in the water. Sometimes, it can be tricky to lower it by oneself. I managed to get it down and stuff it behind the shrouds without losing control of it. Fred and I were able to fold and secure it before we reached Fred’s favorite anchoring spot just outside of Marina Don Jose. We dropped the hook and celebrated another successful passage.

We decided to celebrate our arrival with a steak dinner at the Mezquite Grill. We took the dinghy to shore, stopping by Edwina to chat with our friends, John and Lynne, who decided to meet us at the restaurant. We called an Uber on the way to the shore. We were busy securing the dinghy and never found a spot shady enough to look at Fred’s phone to determine what kind of car to expect. An Uber arrived as soon as we walked out of the marina. Fred spoke to the driver, but I couldn’t hear their exchange. There must have been a language barrier because we were nearly at the restaurant when the driver was informed that we were the wrong passengers. Fortunately, the correct passengers were our friends, John and Lynne. I don’t know what happened to our designated driver (sorry about that,) but we had a good laugh and went back to pick up John and Lynne. We spent an enjoyable evening gorging on what, in my opinion, is the best steak anywhere.