Five Tips for South-bounding Baja

This fall’s annual migration of recreational boats into Mexican waters is expected to be quite a bit larger than it was last year, mostly due to the fact that Richard Spindler is retiring so this is probably the last Baja Ha Ha. The statistics are already showing a healthy increase.

For example, as of August 30, 2023, the venerable Baja Ha Ha southbound group already had 180 sailboats entered for their October 31 exodus into Mexico. The Panama Posse (Mexico to Panama) already had 244 early entrant boats, and more than a quarter of those were long-range trawler cruisers.

This cruising season (2023-2024), some Panama Posse participants are expanding their cruising plans beyond Panama, well into the Caribbean and South Pacific. Obviously, this year’s southbound migration will not be a one-size-fits-all activity. The only common factor is that all of us West Coast boaters will start our southbound adventure by voyaging down the 800-n.m. Pacific side of the Baja California Peninsula.

The outside of Baja is ruggedly beautiful, but it is also infamous for its lack of yacht services (fuel docks, marinas, yacht repairs) after Ensenada and for its paucity of reliable overnight anchorages.

Five Tips for Successful South-bounding

Here are 5 little tips for successful south-bounding down the Baja Peninsula. These tips were learned in the proverbial school of hard knocks, by trial and error, lots of errors, discovered by myself and by dozens of more experienced Mexico cruisers. May these tips enrich your planning and especially your actual doing.

1   Don’t think your boat must cross the border on November 1 just because that’s the first date your marine insurance allows it, or just because the Baja Ha Ha departs en masse from San Diego on October 31.

Why? Because hurricane season ignores calendar dates. Just last week, Hurricane Norma damaged or destroyed almost a dozen cruising boats in La Paz harbor alone.  Also, the onslaught of newly arriving U.S. boaters in Baja tends to book up all the marina slips, suck up all the boat fuel and fill up all the best anchoring spots.

So you might wisely choose to wait seven to 10 days, or until all the Ha Ha folks have sailed south of Turtle Bay’s anchorage and Maria’s fuel pier. Or wait and spend the year-end holidays with friends and family, then set out after New Year’s Day – as many independent boaters do.

2    Do plan to officially clear into Mexico at Ensenada. Why? Because the CIS office makes it easy and safe, and because it’s actually the law. The CIS (Centro Integral de Servicios) building is across the street from the NE corner of Ensenada harbor. If you don’t clear in at Ensenada, the next Port Captain’s office is at Cabo San Lucas; until you clear in there, you’ll officially be illegal immigrants.

3     Nobody expects you to be fluent in Spanish, but a huge help is “Spanish for Cruisers” by Kathy Parsons, used as a textbook by La Paz cruisers. Learn words for things on your boat, for weather and sea conditions you’ll experience on Baja. Practice speaking Spanish on the VHF, using “cambio” for “over.”

I was northbound from Turtle Bay going slow in dense fog, totally dependent on radar. As I approached the south side of the Punta Eugenia headland, I dutifully got on VHF 16 to notify all vessels of my location, course and speed. Then using my pocket dictionary I somewhat timidly repeated it all in Spanish, using “cambio” for “over.”

Immediately, the Cedros Island port captain blasted out some kind of warning. Was he talking to me? Flipping through my dictionary, I found his strange word: Remolcador? Does that mean tug boat? No, I’m not a tug boat. Just to be safe, I pulled back to slow bell as my radar peeked past the point of land.

Ah ha! I picked up a tiny blip only 1500 feet ahead of me. It was barely moving, definitely westward, and had already crossed my northbound course line. So I might very easily have aimed for a point east of his stern and proceeded north. But, whoa! Trailing a full mile behind that tiny blip of a tug boat came a great big blipping barge! Turning hard to port, I made a couple donuts in the foggy Eugenia Channel. Not until after that tug, its mile-long tow cable and big barge had all passed safely to the west did I breathe a sigh and continue north. That’s how I learned that “remolcador” means: a tug boat that’s probably towing something, so don’t try to sail through its tow line. 

4    Before departure, do sea trial your (a.) boat and (b.) crew by running non-stop for 36 hours, even if it’s just over the horizon and run in circles.

(a.) Monitor your fuel consumption at your boat’s optimum slow-cruise speed, because south of Ensenada’s marinas and fuel docks, it’s 315 n.m. to the first rickety and expensive fuel pier at Turtle Bay. Beyond there, emergency fuel is difficult and not always available inside Magdalena Bay, which lies 300 n.m. south of Turtle Bay. Otherwise, you’ll need to run 420 n.m. from Turtle Bay to get fuel at Cabo San Lucas.

(b.) Sea trial your crew by assigning them to stand helm watches 24 hours around the clock, including one or two overnights. Plan to NOT stop the boat to sleep every night. Why? Because even in fair weather the geography of the Pacific side of Baja provides only a few relatively safe overnight anchorages: San Quintin, Cedros Island, Turtle Bay, Santa Maria Bay and nearby Magdalena Bay. Many boats need to make three or four overnight runs to get down Baja. I normally schedule a crew of three experienced watch standers to operate the moving boat “four hours on, eight hours off.” Off-watch crew needs to sleep during the day, so each person will be alert for their night watch.

This sea trial also reveals folks with undiagnosed Thalassophobia, a terror that strikes only when they sail beyond the sight of land. Even veteran coastal cruisers can be surprised by this issue, and you’ll need to make three offshore passages while migrating down Baja.

5   Communications. Most of Pacific Baja’s coastal waters have the worst cell phone coverage. After the border areas of Tijuana, Ensenada and Maneadero, cell towers are few and far between. Then Isla Cedros, parts of Turtle Bay and Asuncion are good, then zero down Mag Bay. Zero again until you reach Los Cabos.

In the Sea of Cortez and mainland, when you’re near a tower, many U.S. iphones with AT&T and Verizon programs work well. The primary Mexican cell company, TelCel, sells iphones and also a signal booster that’s popular aboard cruising boats for improving voice and limited data.

But I think the best keep-it-simple solution is Garmin’s InReach, a hand-held satellite gizmo. It lets you text and email to and from any phone, tracks your GPS position worldwide, can send Mom a daily/weekly location report. You can download targeted weather forecasts, and it can emit an SOS to get you help.

How’s it work? You buy the gizmo and subscribe at whichever level meets your voyaging and budget needs. Set the gizmo in your pilothouse window so its stubby antenna has at least a 180° view. Or carry it ashore in your pocket. It’s chargeable like a cell phone with USB.

Full disclosure: My husband and I have an InReach Explorer and we pause our monthly Freedom Unlimited plan whenever we don’t need it.

We wish you success as you southbound down Baja. Buen Viaje!