Cruising down the Baja 2022

[mvweebles]

Curious as to diesel fuel stops along this trip.

Correction- fuel stop, not plural. Turtle Bay, roughly 275 nms south of Ensenada. Ita then about 475 nms to Cabo, the next fuel stop.

Turtle Bay is a long way from the highway so getting fuel in for boats is difficult. Reportedly, Enrique is the only game in town. As you can imagine, expensive. Quality of fuel has been reported as questionable.

https://www.mexicoboating.com/fuel-in-turtle-bay/

Peter

 

[AKDoug]

Rumor has it fuel is available in Asuncion and Puerto San Carlos by arrangement and they will run it out to you in a panga. I have a dock worker who offered to provide a phone number I will share for fuel in Puerto San Carlos when he provides it to me.

One of the reasons I like to run at 5.5 knots is that it extends my range to 1300 miles, at 7 knots it's only 1000 nautical miles, no reserve. It's a good trolling speed as well

 

[ksanders]

Correction- fuel stop, not plural. Turtle Bay, roughly 275 nms south of Ensenada. Ita then about 475 nms to Cabo, the next fuel stop.

Turtle Bay is a long way from the highway so getting fuel in for boats is difficult. Reportedly, Enrique is the only game in town. As you can imagine, expensive. Quality of fuel has been reported as questionable.

https://www.mexicoboating.com/fuel-in-turtle-bay/

Peter

475 miles is a long way without fuel. I have a safe range of 600NM but am thinking about buying a few 15 gallon jugs for the trip, just to be sure.

 

[hollywood8118]

Curious as to diesel fuel stops along this trip.

I would plan to non stop regarding fuel.. as reported it gets expensive and has been sketchy for as long as I can remember. Fill in Ensenada and in Puerto Los Cabos is easy and consistent. I would deck carry fuel if necessary.
Hollywood

 

[rslifkin]

475 miles is a long way without fuel. I have a safe range of 600NM but am thinking about buying a few 15 gallon jugs for the trip, just to be sure.

What speed gives 600nm range? And how much reserve? Would slowing down a knot be an option? Depending on where your normal cruise is relative to hull speed, dropping a knot may give you a decent range boost.

 

[mvweebles]

Rumor has it fuel is available in Asuncion and Puerto San Carlos by arrangement and they will run it out to you in a panga. I have a dock worker who offered to provide a phone number I will share for fuel in Puerto San Carlos when he provides it to me.

One of the reasons I like to run at 5.5 knots is that it extends my range to 1300 miles, at 7 knots it's only 1000 nautical miles, no reserve. It's a good trolling speed as well

Recently, I have read that fuel might be available in Mag Bay where Pto San Carlos is located. That would be a good stop as it breaks the long fuel-leg to Cabo.

In looking at the chart, Pto. San Carlos is a decent diversion. Calling ahead would be helpful - would suck to divert for a half day and get skunked.

I'll also check on SouthBound.io net.

Peter

 

[ksanders]

What speed gives 600nm range? And how much reserve? Would slowing down a knot be an option? Depending on where your normal cruise is relative to hull speed, dropping a knot may give you a decent range boost.

I get 1.7 nmpg at around 7.5 knots which is 1250 RPM. The boat carries 440 gallons of fuel. 600NM is leaving just shy of 50 gallons reserve in each tank.

I might be able to improve that a bit but I need the RPM to drive the alternator to recharge my batteries. That said I do have solar now so I might be able to reduce RPM a bit and add to my efficiency.

 

[ksanders]

Recently, I have read that fuel might be available in Mag Bay where Pto San Carlos is located. That would be a good stop as it breaks the long fuel-leg to Cabo.

In looking at the chart, Pto. San Carlos is a decent diversion. Calling ahead would be helpful - would suck to divert for a half day and get skunked.

I'll also check on SouthBound.io net.

Peter

In reality fuel is available in any Mexican community, but it is at the local gas station. This means using 5 gallon jugs in your skiff to go get fuel, which is not something one would look forward to.

 

[mvweebles]

Doug/Kevin - I did a search on SouthboundGroup -

1. A 2016 note from Pat Rains saying fuel may be available at Cedros Island. She speaks highly of the owner of the outdoor sports facilities Jose Angel Sanchez. CedrosOutdoorAdventures.com. Note the above post from A Guy With a Boat that there may be some issues with Cedros.

2. I also found a 2015 post mentioning fuel in San Carlos. Also mentioned fuel in Man O War (also in Mag Bay). Fuel was a bit more expensive than San Carlos, but more convenient to take-on.

"We could buy fuel from Gregorio in Man o War cove, he gave us fuel for 17 pesos per liter, which was even more convenient. He can be reached at 01(613)1360042 or cell 01(613)1377811"​

Sounds like you may have some options. The folks on Cedros sound like a cool setup - he's a marine biologist, she's a gringa. They do adventure tours and fishing trips. You can probably ping them for current info.

Good luck -

Peter

 

[KnotYet]

I get 1.7 nmpg at around 7.5 knots which is 1250 RPM. The boat carries 440 gallons of fuel. 600NM is leaving just shy of 50 gallons reserve in each tank.

I might be able to improve that a bit but I need the RPM to drive the alternator to recharge my batteries. That said I do have solar now so I might be able to reduce RPM a bit and add to my efficiency.

Have you looked into changing to a smaller alt. pulley?
It's a common upgrade.

 

[mvweebles]

In reality fuel is available in any Mexican community, but it is at the local gas station. This means using 5 gallon jugs in your skiff to go get fuel, which is not something one would look forward to.

Normally, that would have been my reaction, but there are simply not many towns along BCS south of Turtle Bay (which is 100 miles from Hwy 1). I would think there would be more mention of fuel in the sailor forums as they are more apt to jerry-can fuel.

Fuel at Mag Bay/San Carlos gives you a lot of breathing room. But I would definitely check. May want to drop Pat Rains a note as she seems to have current info.

There are a lot of ways for fueling to go wrong in Mexico. Even when they have fuel, there's half a chance there is no electricity to pump it.

Peter

 

[heysteve]

When we came down in the fall of 2019, you could give your jerry cans to a local guy to fill in town. It’s a looong dinghy ride from Man-o-War cove so much easier that way.

You could also hire a panga to take you into town for provisioning and lunch. That was a lot of fun as they loaded the panga onto the trailer with us sitting in it and drove us into town! Gotta love Mexico [emoji846]

Edit: sorry… I’m talking about Bahia Magdalena here.

 

[twistedtree]

I found the blue latitude books to be be quite good, and their mini charts to be excellent. I hassled a couple of companies about including them in their chart packages, but I don’t think anything came of it.

The approach I ended up with was pretty simplistic, but it worked. If I was planning to anchor somewhere, I would first bring up a sat image of the location. Then I’d used the coastal explorer draw feature to draw a rough shoreline and mark any prominent hazards. Then I’d switch back to the vector chart, with my sketch showing where the shoreline is actually located. Between the depths on the vector chart (where there actually are any), and the blue latitude charts, I could get a pretty good idea where the hazards and I were, and was able to keep us apart from each other.

Being able to geo reference the blue latitude charts, or create a corrected chart would be awesome, but I didn’t get that far.

Underway we just kept a good distance away from shore. There was one incident that could have been really bad, especially at night. I plotted a route based on the cmap charts from one place to another, navigating around an intervening island. Well, it turned out that island’s actual location was smack in the middle of my route. Had it been a shallow rather than visible land, I could have been pretty screwed.

 

[heysteve]

I found the blue latitude books to be be quite good, and their mini charts to be excellent. I hassled a couple of companies about including them in their chart packages, but I don’t think anything came of it.

Four years ago you were able to download the Blue Latitude charts in a generic format and thus import them to a chart plotter. I did this for my Raymarine Axiom and just switch chart source when entering a covered area. Very nice!

Alas, it now appears you can only download for iNavx, OpenCpn and AquaMap (whatever that is).

You can still download all the waypoints from their books and that is also very handy. They all come in as generic symbols so you need to spend a couple hours to manually edit the symbols to show obstruction, anchorage, dive spot or whatever. Kinda tedious but a one time thing.

See https://bluelatitudepress.com/digital

 

[rjwilliams11741]

Correction- fuel stop, not plural. Turtle Bay, roughly 275 nms south of Ensenada. Ita then about 475 nms to Cabo, the next fuel stop.

Turtle Bay is a long way from the highway so getting fuel in for boats is difficult. Reportedly, Enrique is the only game in town. As you can imagine, expensive. Quality of fuel has been reported as questionable.

https://www.mexicoboating.com/fuel-in-turtle-bay/

Peter

Since every boater getting fuel from the "barge" seems to give out a beer or two, make sure you fuel up before Enrique get drunk.

 

[EngNate]

Several of the stops shown are open roadsteads and highly subject to conditions. I wouldn't give better than 50/50 that any one is suitable when you arrive - you have to be prepared to bypass and run on, even two in a row.

Colnet should be fine as you'll have chosen your weather. San Martin Is is better than San Quentin, reliable in most conditions, as is Cedros. But definitely not shelter in storm.

If you have bad luck with your anchorages you may end up much more weary than if you'd done straight shots. One comfortable stop will rest you more than two uncomfortable ones.

Be prepared to keep on trucking, and go with the assumption you'll have to do that at least once, besides the lower stretch.

 

[rpackard]

When we motored Lilliana (a Willard 40) to Baha a few years ago, we minimized the stops. Most anchorages are not particularly protected and we wanted to get off the ocean asap. The apprehension before entered a new anchorage did no warrant the stop. If weather was poor we may have done this differently. After checking in at Ensenada we only stoped twice before reaching San Jose del Cabo. There were three in the crew and we stayed about five miles off the coast. 3 hours on and 6 hours off.

Richard

 

[Ross Macdonald]

My wife and I just completed this trip for the eighth time last year. Once in a past trip we tried the short hop, multiple anchorage plan and would never do it again. Most of those anchorages are marginal at best. Weather is very fickle along the outside of the Baja. We depart from San Diego for the 70 mile run to Ensenada to check in and top off fuel. We wait for a 30 hr. window to make the next leg to Turtle Bay. We have anchored once at Cedros which is about 50 miles above TB entrance It was not a comfortable anchorage. TB is a safe rest anchorage. Well protected. Enrique will screw you on fuel price but we have always gotten good fuel there. You can med moor to what they call a pier which is a pain in the ass or he has a panga that carries about 265 gallons of diesel in a polyethelene tank that he side ties to your boat. Our next leg is about 240 NM to Bahia Santa Maria. Huge bay, safe, secure anchorage. Rest and wait for the next leg of about 190 NM to San Jose del Cabo. Or about 150 to Cabo. If you want good weather you have to be patient and not have any deadlines or time constraints. On a side note we have used Weather Routing out of New York (WRI) for every trip. They are not cheap but have been about 98% spot on with their weather info. You give them your wind and swell/wave constraints and they will give you the go or no go. We also use their internet site SeaWeather as well. So that's how we do this trip. Maybe not for everyone but works for us. Also you can get fuel delivered in Man O War anchorage inside of Mag Bay. It is the next anchorage above Belchers. Hope this helps. Remember....No deadlines, and weather weather weather.

 

[Csellars]

Hi Kevin,
Just got back from 5 months in the Sea of Cortez. Been going down to Mexico since 1973. I would highly recommend getting a Mobile Starlink set up, it works great down there. Cellular data is spotty and really only available in larger metro areas like Cabo and La Paz. You will want the starlink for weather. Down load Sail flow, Windy and Bouyweather. The best weather models to use are the ECMWF, GFS, NAM 3K and HRRR 3K. Also charts suck, at the app store download ISailor by Wartsila and download the Mexican Charts on to an Ipad or smart phone. Pick up "Sea Of Cortez" a cruiser's guidebook by Shawn Breeding and Heather Bansmer. The Anchorage charts are very accurate in the guide.Have fun!

 

[Csellars]

Hi Kevin,

Also when you check into Mexico in Ensenada I would go to an ATM and get enough Peso's to cover fuel cost in turtle bay. Enrique who runs the fuel will only give you an exchange rate of 17 Peso's to the dollar so he makes an additional 15% right off the top. Most everyone gives you 20 Peso's to the dollar. We paid between 32 and 39 Peso's per liter price is negotiable. Also if you don't want to deal with Enrique and your not taking huge amounts of fuel, head to Asuncion 50 miles south. A guy named Lery Espinoza runs a water taxi service and has jerry cans. He will run to the gas station with your credit card and charge you one dollar a gallon premium for the service. He can carry around seventy gallons a load and is very professional also will ferry you to shore for a small fee. His contact info +52 615 109 1881. Also looking at your itinerary, I would go straight from Ensenada to Cedros or Turtle bay. Those other stops are marginal at best. Also from Asuncion I would go to Abreojos then it is only a day run to San Juanico and then to Bahia Santa Maria (only a day run at 8kts) before going into mag bay. Also that time of year good lobster trading in most places on the way down.

 

[MVDarlin]

It is a long trip with few good overnight stops. I recommend more overnight cruising and no need to go into Mag Bay. Better to stay offshore 50 miles or so. I have made the trip 2x. Radar recommended.

 

[rjwilliams11741]

Most anchorage’s are marginal at best. We did San Diego to Turtle Bay to Santa Maria them Cabo. Fuel is available at Turtle Bay and Magdalena Bay which is a good option to Santa Maria. We carried 1100 gallons so we could have done San Diego to Cabo without adding fuel. Figured as long as we were anchored in Turtle Bay for a couple of day we decided to fill up. We bypassed Ensenada and checked in at Cabo

 

[AKDoug]

Diesel fuel in Ensenada is 23 pesos per liter currently, I checked the price yesterday. Good tip on getting Pesos for the trip down, I will make a run to the atm this morning and get a few more and make sure I have several thousand before heading South.

I get a few good tips every time I log in and read this thread, keep it up!

 

[mvweebles]

Diesel fuel in Ensenada is 23 pesos per liter currently, I checked the price yesterday. Good tip on getting Pesos for the trip down, I will make a run to the atm this morning and get a few more and make sure I have several thousand before heading South.

I get a few good tips every time I log in and read this thread, keep it up!

Doug- I've done better at the Cambio exchange shops than ATMs but you woild need USD/cash. . A few years ago, ATMs seemed to stop giving spot-market rates


Peter

 

[Retriever]

I've done the trip three times, each a bit differently.

First time was with CUBAR, but we were on a Nordhavn 40 and couldn't keep up with the fleet, so we made some different stops. We did a long day-run from Ensenada to San Quintin, then a three night run from San Quintin to Mag Bay. Then a one night run from Mag Bay to Cabo. San Quintin was rolly but tolerable.

Second time was on a brand-new Nordhavn 60 and the owners didn't really like running overnight, so we stopped at lots of roadsteads. We had an overnight from San Quintin to Cedros. Cedros was a highlight...we spent a couple days there, anchored first at the north end, then towards town. Super calm water made it comfortable and walking around town and getting lunch made it memorable. I've heard you can clear in/out of Mexico at Cedros, though haven't tried it myself.

From Cedros we did a short run to Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay is a nice stop for a day or two and the best anchorage in the area. Still gets some swell, but in the usual weather it's nice. A few tiendas and restaurants.

From Turtle Bay we did a day trip to Punta Abreojos. This is an open roadstead. Frankly, I slept worse on the rolling boat than I would have if we were underway. We never got to shore...just a quick overnight.

Then we stopped at San Juanico. Same experience as Punta Abreojos.

Next stop was Santa Maria. Santa Maria is awesome, I like it better than Mag Bay in settled weather. The beach is nicer and the cell signal is stronger, although the cell signal doesn't matter with Starlink.

We spent a few days in Santa Maria, then moved to Mag Bay. Great shelter and since our visit coincided with the Baja Haha, a big party on shore.

I've never stopped anywhere between Mag Bay and Cabo. It's a 24 hour run at trawler speed.

Last year when I took my own boat down, we did Ensenada to Turtle Bay, Turtle Bay to Santa Maria, and Santa Maria to Cabo. We had great weather and two people aboard and the boat is way more comfortable moving and stabilized than it is in the roadsteads like Abreojos and Santa Maria.

Even our day trips often began or ended in the dark. We were always nervous entering/exiting anchorages in the dark because the locals have very poorly marked fishing gear. Think an empty Coke bottle half floating. Kelp can also be a problem, but less so as you move south, and not an issue at all once you're south of about Turtle Bay.

I recommend the Blue Latitude books and iPad charts. They work great in iNavX and provide peace of mind when entering anchorages. Starlink makes it easy to look at satellite pictures, too.

It's a wonderful trip with progressively warmer temperatures. Swimming finally felt comfortable in Santa Maria and we ran the air conditioning overnight for the first time between Santa Maria and Cabo!

 

[rjwilliams11741]

Doug- I've done better at the Cambio exchange shops than ATMs but you woild need USD/cash. . A few years ago, ATMs seemed to stop giving spot-market rates


Peter

After cruising the Mexican coast for 8 years my wife and I bought a condo in Puerto Vallarta and live there 7 months of the year. In 20 year I have never had a Cambio give me a better exchange rate than an ATM. Hint, get a card that does not charge a fee or reimburses your fee.

 

[mvweebles]

After cruising the Mexican coast for 8 years my wife and I bought a condo in Puerto Vallarta and live there 7 months of the year. In 20 year I have never had a Cambio give me a better exchange rate than an ATM. Hint, get a card that does not charge a fee or reimburses your fee.

We've had a place in Playa del Carmen for about 10 years. Up until a couple years ago I would agree with you. But the ATMs started giving the same lousy exchange rates as the banks. Noticed similar in Ensenada. The rates are now listed on the ATM screen before you finalize the transaction. ScotiaBank and CreditSuisse are the worst. 6%=7% haircut.

Must vary by bank.

PS - another tip on the Cambios - don't exchange first thing in the morning. Rates tend to creep up a bit later in morning as the owners get a feel for the market

Peter

 

[rjwilliams11741]

We've had a place in Playa del Carmen for about 10 years. Up until a couple years ago I would agree with you. But the ATMs started giving the same lousy exchange rates as the banks. Noticed similar in Ensenada. The rates are now listed on the ATM screen before you finalize the transaction. ScotiaBank and CreditSuisse are the worst. 6%=7% haircut.

Must vary by bank.

PS - another tip on the Cambios - don't exchange first thing in the morning. Rates tend to creep up a bit later in morning as the owners get a feel for the market

Peter

I usually use Banorte as there is one close to my condo and let me withdraw up to $15,000 pesos (about $750 USD) What you are saying is true but I find that their ATM’s give me a choice of accepting or not accepting their exchange rate. I always say no and the rate is then based on you card provider. My ATM card provider uses that days wholesale rate. I also use a US Bank that reimburses all transactions fees for ATM use.. I do have to say that I have never found a private Cambio in the Banderas Bay Area that has a better rate than the local banks. Looks like that may be different over on your side of Mexico.

 

[mvweebles]

I usually use Banorte as there is one close to my condo and let me withdraw up to $15,000 pesos (about $750 USD) What you are saying is true but I find that their ATM’s give me a choice of accepting or not accepting their exchange rate. I always say no and the rate is then based on you card provider. My ATM card provider uses that days wholesale rate. I also use a US Bank that reimburses all transactions fees for ATM use.. I do have to say that I have never found a private Cambio in the Banderas Bay Area that has a better rate than the local banks. Looks like that may be different over on your side of Mexico.

Good tip on declining the exchange rate. I always figured the transaction would be canceled. Didn't realize if would go to my bank (Schwab, which also reimburses fees).

Cambios seem to be very competitive locally, but vary dependent on how far from a major metro they are located. The buy/sell spread can be amazingly narrow in some places too.

I try to exchange at cambios near the border and get within about 2% of the spot rate. 75 miles south in Ensenada, it's more like a 3.5% haircut. It's been 4 years since I went to a bank, but Scotiabank clipped me for close to 7% which really annoyed me.

Also, to anyone reading this thread, advice is to only use bank-branded ATMs at large reputable establishments, preferably the actual bank (a large grocery store is a second best).. Skimming devices are unfortunately common in Mexico. Really inconvenient to have your credit card shut down in a foreign country.

Again, thanks for the tip on declining the exchange rate.

Peter

 

[ksanders]

I usually use Banorte as there is one close to my condo and let me withdraw up to $15,000 pesos (about $750 USD) What you are saying is true but I find that their ATM’s give me a choice of accepting or not accepting their exchange rate. I always say no and the rate is then based on you card provider. My ATM card provider uses that days wholesale rate. I also use a US Bank that reimburses all transactions fees for ATM use.. I do have to say that I have never found a private Cambio in the Banderas Bay Area that has a better rate than the local banks. Looks like that may be different over on your side of Mexico.

I use Banjercito for the ATM. Last week it cost me $350.14 for 7,000 pesos which is a effective exchange rate of 19.99:1. This is including any and all fees, and the amount is from my bank statement.

Today according to Google the exchange rate is 20.00:1 so I think I'm doing pretty good.