Los Frailes to Mazatlan
January 3, 2023 – January 8, 2023
We had a relatively short day sail from San Jose del Cabo to Los Frailes. We departed around 10 am and motored straight into the wind for about 5 hours to reach the anchorage at Los Frailes. This is a relatively protected anchorage that many cruisers stage at awaiting good weather conditions to cross to the mainland side of Mexico. Just north of this anchorage is a superb dive spot within the Cabo Pulma National Park. This area was nearly decimated by over fishing when it was declared a marine sanctuary in 1995. Since then it has become a great success story and the sea life has rebounded incredibly. We had to see it for ourselves. We were able to contact the local dive shop, Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort, and arrange for them to pick us up from our boat. Daniel and Daniel were our dive guide and boat captain and they were great. We did two dives and although the visibility was somewhat mediocre due to relatively rough conditions, the sea life was amazing. We saw large schools of fish, nudibranchs, huge puffer fish, octopus, trumpet fish, rays, eels and even a whale breached right next to our boat between dives. Due to the rough sea conditions, we didn’t actually get to dive the reef itself so we can’t wait to go back and dive there again.
After diving, we dropped the dinghy and headed to the beach. It is a huge beach with a small fish camp, several RV campers on the beach, and a few homes. There is also a turtle sanctuary area where they can safely lay their eggs. Unfortunately we didn’t see any turtles during our stay.
After two nights in Los Frailes, we had a good weather window to cross the Sea of Cortez to the mainland side of Mexico. We departed at 7 am on January 5th, destination Mazatlan. It was a brisk sail with 20 kt winds on the beam to start out. We sailed for about 20 hours until the winds died close to shore and we had to motor the rest of the way.
We arrived at Marina El Cid, Mazatlan around 10:45 am. The entrance to the marina area is dicey for sure. It is very narrow and shallow and the sand shoals shift frequently. We arrived a few hours after high tide and there was a strong current running. Once through the entrance we found a great marina located at one of the El Cid resorts. We have access to all the resort amenities which is a real treat. We can’t wait to explore more of Mazatlan.
