Cabo is a beautiful location. A spectacular bay with miles of beaches but now somewhat marred by its promotion as a tourist mecca. Slip fees at the marinas ran around $180 PER NIGHT!!! for Trick but we were happy to share the huge anchorage with other cruisers and even the cruise ships which come in almost every day.

The anchorage was one of the roughest we have ever experienced simply because of the volume of traffic, especially PWCs and the water taxis which ferry people from town to the various hotels on the beaches. The boats stopped at night and the anchorage was wonderfully calm and peaceful, apart from a few nights when loud music and DJs reverberated into the wee hours of the morning.

Some of the beaches, especially close to the center of town were very crowded but others were relatively quiet.

The cruising community is proving to be quite small and very friendly. We had been told to look out for fellow SMWYC members Joe and Sharon Boyle on Lucky Lady II. We had made radio contact in Bahia Magdalena as they anchored nearby in Bahia Santa Maria. We then crossed paths in the night on the way to Cabo and finally met up with them in Cabo. They were joined in Cabo by club members Ron and Marty Offerman and we had dinner together in one of the many great restaurants in the areas of Cabo slightly removed from the hustle and higher prices around the marina.

Life below the water seemed quite busy too. The water along the cliffs teemed with life, encouraged by abundant quantities of food used by the glass-bottomed boat opertors. The water was clear and relatively warm, although we still needed a thin wetsuit to be comfortable.

The next stop North is usually a sheltered bay called Los Frailes (The Friars). We caught our first fish on the way there - a bonito. It didn't take our lure, rather was the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our lure apparently hooked it in the belly as we sailed by. We made best efforts to eat it, but it didn't taste too good. Fishing friends tell us they are better used for bait than eating.

The fish was the first sign of the abundant life around Los Frailes. Next was an aerobatic show by dozens of small rays which launch themselves out of the water and perform somersaults and twists before landing back in the sea with a big splash.

Southerly winds made Los Frailes a risky anchorage for us, so we continued a couple of miles further to the other side of the point and anchored in the Southern end of the next bay. As we approached the bay we were somewhat concerned by a boil of water ahead of us. These boils can indicate underwater rocks. Our sonar assured us that there was plenty of water beneath us and as we drew closer it became clear that the boil was caused by fish. They moved on as we approached, so we weren't able to identify them.

Another reason for heading to the bay just North of Los Frailes was that several books mentioned the bay for its sea life and a coral reef called Pulmo Reef. We planned to snorkel on the reef the next day but first followed some of the local dive boats to a small cove at the Southern tip of the bay. It was so beautiful that we spent most of the day there.

Corals were growing everywhere with pockets of fish swimming around them. We saw some huge parrotfish which were a little too shy to take good pictures of and some of the corals seemed to have scrape marks probably caused by these coral eating fish.

The land was equally spectacular with strange looking rocks and equally unfamiliar creatures such as the iguana we spotted sunning itself on the rocks.

We talked to a few of the visitors to this spot and learned that it is a very popular tourist spot and part of the Mexican National Park collection. We were told that there was a spectacular collection of sharks close to Pulmo Reef so we headed up there, thankful that we hadn't chosen to snorkel there first. Sure enough we found the sharks in shallow sandy areas close to the reef. They were difficult to see and impossible to photograph because they moved so fast - and we weren't about to go swimming with them because they were probably bigger that we were. Our experiences - the miles of quiet beaches and the enthusiasm of other people we talked to makes this a definite spot for a return visit. There are well recommended resorts at the Northern tip of the bay and there is lots of information on the web if you search for Pulmo Reef.

The next stage of the trip was a very peaceful sail up to a bay called Los Muertes (The Dead). We sailed alongside mountains with almost deserted beaches at their bases. Just a few isolated houses with no signs of traffic anywhere. We anchored at Los Muertes overnight and started out early the next day to take advantage of the tides in the narrow channels we would have to pass through on our way to La Paz.

The wide Cerralvo channel lies between the Baja peninsula and the large Island of Cerralvo. Our GPS read a couple of knots faster than the knotmeter, confirming the benefit of sailing with the tide.

The San Lorenzo channel comes next , between the tip of the land along the Eastern side of the Bay of La Paz and the island of Espiritu Santo. The wind picked up significantly a few miles South of our turn into the channel. It made for great sailing North but meant a beat through the channel. Slightly nerve - wracking for our first time through a fairly narrow channel with unfamiliar navigation aids. We made it through without incident and turned South for the 12 mile run towards La Paz. Of course, the wind changed direction too so that we were still heading into it. It was getting late and also close to the time for the tide to turn so we decided to anchor in one of several beautiful bays on the Eastern side of Bahia La Paz. We chose Bahia Falsa because it was the closest to La Paz and spent a quiet night in the company of a couple of other boats in this half mile wide bay.

The next day we motored the remaining 6 miles into La Paz. The bay here is quite shallow and there is only a narrow channel along the shore into La Paz. A huge Mangrove-lined peninsula call El Mogote almost cuts off a small portion of the Southern end of the bay and La Paz lies on the Southern side of the channel formed between El Mogote and the mainland. Dozens of boats were anchored in this channel, directly off the beaches of downtown La Paz. We chose to anchor a little South of downtown, close to the famous Marina La Paz where a few of our new-found cruising friends were staying.

Our friend Paul came to visit for a long weekend shortly after our arrival in La Paz. We took him out to the the islands Just North of La Paz - Isla Espiritu Santo and Isla Partida. These two Islands, about a dozen miles from tip to tip have more than a half dozen major anchorages and a few additional small anchorages to choose from. We chose to sail up to the Northern end of Isla Partida and anchor in Ensenada Grande - about a mile wide with three separate bays to anchor in. The beaches were spectacular, the water turquoise and so clear that we could see the anchor in 30 feet of water.

The vegetation is a little novel for us, with huge cactus growing everywhere.

Even the rock formations were spectacular.

The water was so clear that we didn't even have to go diving to see the fish. Here is an octopus we watched for several minutes. He even changed color as he moved from place to place.