Trip report: San Felipe to San Carlos, Sonora

We just returned from an 8 day Baja and mainland trip. We launched the boat in San Felipe and landed in San Carlos, Sonora about 500 miles later. We made stops at Gonzaga Bay, Puerto Refugio, Bahia de Los Angeles, San Fransicquito, and Dog Bay (Kino).

We saw about 15 whales (one shooting its spout and several making a bunch of noise), a pod of 1,000 dolphins, and one shark about 4-5 foot long (we were running about 35mph on flat glassy water about 10 miles off the coast and the damn thing was sitting side-ways right in our path, I had to swerve to keep from hitting him!). Snorkling at Martini Cove in San Carlos there were about 50-60 different species of fish, and an octopus. A huge sea lion colony was exactly where Gerry Cunningham said it would be in his guide book (I told my friend he was crazy making us drive over to see these supposed sea lions that Cunningham noticed probably 10 years earlier, but there they where!).

It was a little rough on the ride down to Gonzaga (2-3 footers coming at us) and we spent a windy night anchored off Dog Bay. Good size waves were rolling in one way and the wind was blowing another direction so we were taking the waves beam to and had to move around to the other side of the island in the middle of the night. Otherwise, the water was literally flat as glass. So calm that we skipped ahead a day and a half to not waste the great weather window. We where running 35-40mph a bunch of the time, and as fast as 50mph crossing over at the midriff islands!

Getting gas was an experience, as always. It was a different ordeal at each stop. Bahia de Los Angeles was the easiest. We just pulled up to the concrete launch ramp on a rising tide, and they brought the gas down in barrels with a battery powered pump (this is a big deal!). Gonzaga was a royal pain using the dingy, shuttling 5 gallon jugs. The one snag was some water in the gas we got at Kino Bay. We limped into San Carlos on 1 engine for the last 20-30 miles. It couldn't have happened at a better place. For a while I thought I was going to get to try out the 100 foot 3/4 inch tow rope I bought before we took off. We changed out fuel fiters, spark plugs, and added more gas and the problem was solved.

The water temps in Gonzaga where perfect, as was in San Carlos, but it was chilly in a cove about 35 miles south of Bahia de Los Angeles.

One high-light had to be sighting Sail rock off of Puerto Refugio from about 25 miles out. The sun was starting to set and it lit up the East side of the 150 foot bright white rock shaped like a sailboat sloop. An awesome sight with the darker Isla Angel de la Guarda in the back-ground. Bands of wind lined the sides of the channel between the island and Baja (very weird). We cooked up some fat steaks on the George Foreman in this incredibly picturesque anchorage, and had plenty of Pacifico. There was a big fishing charter down from San Felipe, but otherwise not another person.

We had a little incident with the port captain in Kino that made things interesting. Some fast talking from my Mexican friend and we got that turned around.

San Carlos was fun and a good change of pace from the secluded bays. The food was awesome and we hit some jam packed clubs in San Carlos and Guaymas. The variety of restrauants in San Carlos is amazing. We rode ATVs up and down the dunes off of San Carlos Plaza Hotel. At first we where all tenative, but at the end we where competing to see who could take the steepest climb. WiFi access is plentiful at several cafes.

A great experience!

Good report JZ

Picture - Sunrise BOLA

[Edited on 9-25-2020 by JZ]

Finally getting around to adding pics for Jr.


View of Puerto Refugio on Isla Ángel de la Guarda.



Sail Rock rising out of the ocean



Flat calm and warm water in Puerto Refugio



Exploring Isla Ángel de la Guarda



Isla Granito in the background. Lots of sea lions.



Sunset cruise on the Zodiac



Gas run at Gonzaga Bay



JZ on the right at Gonzaga Bay.

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Can you make us a map of the route you cruised?

Here is the route:




[Edited on 9-25-2020 by JZ]

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

I had someone drive the truck and trailer over for me. I left it down in San Carlos until the fall. San Carlos has a very big dry storage. We did a trip from SC to Loreto in October, crossing over at Punta Chivato. There are about 30 anchorages just North of SC spread out over about a 45 mile stretch. Just wonderful cruising. I explored that area for about 10 years before focusing more on Baja when the kids were old enough to ride bikes. Let me know if you have any questions. [Edited on 9-25-2020 by JZ]

Sail Rock from 2018

Quote: Originally posted by JZ

Sail Rock from 2018

Quote: Originally posted by David K

Is this Roca Consag, east of San Felipe?

It is Roca Vela or Sail Rock. About 1.5 miles West of the big bay on the Northern tip of Isla Ángel de la Guarda.

29.531533° -113.597668°







[Edited on 9-28-2020 by JZ]