Monday, November 9, 2009

Los Frailes

[GPS: N 23° 22' 49" W 109° 25' 16"]
We got up early Monday morning, raising the anchor at 6:30 so that we could make the 45 miles to the first anchorage and try to get in before the crowds – we had heard of a LOT of HaHa boats planning to go next to La Paz – and for those doing it in day-hops, Los Frailes and Los Muertos are the natural stopping places. Laura had the same idea – we had not seen them at anchorage off Cabo (they had also moved out to anchorage on Sunday), but as we pulled away from our anchor spot, we saw them right in front of us. The winds were fairly light – so we sailed some, but motored a good bit as well. We were shocked that our wind instrument seemed to be working (though the angle was off by ca 30-40 degrees) – but then it crapped out again after 6 hours. At one point we counted 21 large sportfishing boats along the horizon – they must know where the fish are running.

When we pulled into Los Frailes there were only about 8 other boats there – but by nightfall there were 28 boats in the anchorage – all but 2 were HaHa boats. We dinghyed to shore with Michael and Laurie and took a long walk along the beach. We spoke to a couple of Canadian guys, sitting on ATVs that looked like they used them to pull fishing boats down to the water. They spend 6 months in the winters living in a trailer on the beach at Los Frailes. As the sun set, we dinghyed back to Galatea for drinks, dinner, and movie.

Los Frailes is the easternmost point of the Baja peninsula. It is so named (“The Friars”) for the rock formation on the point at the entrance that looks like friars climbing up the hill:

No comments: