La Paz Baja as a stayaboard snowbird destination

[Jeffw]

Looks like it's name, "The Peace." I'm sure you know this Kevin, so just a reminder; Mexico's gun laws can ruin your life.

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Wife and I stayed aboard our sailboat at Marina de LaPaz for 5 months a few years ago….it is a truly awesome place to stay aboard. Great cruisers community centered out of there, easy walk to Malecon and a wide array of restaurants - don’t need to go high end to get a great meal!
We really enjoyed our time there, and it doesn’t appear to have changed much.

Might suggest going up inside the Sea of Cortez before heading back up to Ensenada - some interesting cruising, and better places to leave the boat.
+ Don’t miss Espiritu Santo, right on your doorstep!

Norm

[ksanders]

Wife and I stayed aboard our sailboat at Marina de LaPaz for 5 months a few years ago….it is a truly awesome place to stay aboard. Great cruisers community centered out of there, easy walk to Malecon and a wide array of restaurants - don’t need to go high end to get a great meal!
We really enjoyed our time there, and it doesn’t appear to have changed much.

Might suggest going up inside the Sea of Cortez before heading back up to Ensenada - some interesting cruising, and better places to leave the boat.
+ Don’t miss Espiritu Santo, right on your doorstep!

Norm

Thanks!!!

You are 100% right about the food. High end does not always mean better. I just a great meal at the place right on the beach at the end of the malecon. Wionderful, and $25 including drinks. Delicious!

[Jim_Gandee]

Isn’t there an insurance approved hurricane port other than Ensenada? Further north up the Cortez maybe? I’ve been to Ensenada. YMMV but that’s not exactly Valhalla.

[ksanders]

Isn’t there an insurance approved hurricane port other than Ensenada? Further north up the Cortez maybe? I’ve been to Ensenada. YMMV but that’s not exactly Valhalla.

there might be something on the Sea of Cortez side but....

The heat is another issue to deal with. It gets REALLY hot up there.

There is no reason for example not to keep going north for the summer. The harbors along the way (except San Diego) seem to have pretty good transient rates, and many have strict time limits to make sure a transient is truly a transient.

Great examples are Santa Barbara, Ventura, up at Morro Bay (this is a mooring ball location), and Monterey. These are just the ones I know about right now, I am sure there are others.
I might choose to go into the bay area, or up the coast and do some hiking in the redwoods for a few weeks.

One could theoretically even head up the Oregon and Washington coasts to do some exploring.

Mexico is not the end all do all, it is a winter time cruising ground

[gfrodel]

Explore San Carlos or Guaymas on the northern Mainland side for moorage outside of the hurricane area. Loreto or Marina Puerto Escondido north on Baja side is also protected.

[Jim_Gandee]

Kevin, I suspect that once you’re in LaPaz the thought of a lengthily uphill cruise back to California might not look nearly as inviting as continuing south through the canal to maybe summer in the beautiful and warm waters of the ABC islands, which I believe, are out of the hurricane area. Do you have A/C onboard? Geeez, aren’t first world problems challenging and difficult? 😁

[ksanders]

Kevin, I suspect that once you’re in LaPaz the thought of a lengthily uphill cruise back to California might not look nearly as inviting as continuing south through the canal to maybe summer in the beautiful and warm waters of the ABC islands, which I believe, are out of the hurricane area. Do you have A/C onboard? Geeez, aren’t first world problems challenging and difficult? 😁

Right now I am thinking the California Coast for Hurricane season at least for my first one.

Why??? One word Heat.

The tropics are HOT during the summer. Panama for example is hot and humid.

California is warm and nice. Think about it like this... I have been trapped inside for 6 months of my life for the last three decades due to cold. I do not want to be trapped inside for 6 months of the year due to oppressive heat either.

That's not to say that someday as I acclimate to warmer temperatures that I won't want to go south in to a hurricane hole for the summer. I will probably explore south of here extensively in years to come.

I'll make the bash north at least once and then decide what to do years after that.

if... and this is a big if. If I had alternative living arrangements I might consider hauling the boat for hurricane season down the road, but for the time being this is my home.

[Jim_Gandee]

Sounds like a terrific adventure wherever you go! Just curious and not to pry but you haven’t mentioned anything about a crew. Those are some pretty long legs solo, even with an A/P.

[ksanders]

Its just me. My son and his family might join for the san diego to la paz portion but thats of course up in the air till they show up.

Ive been all over the 4,000 mile route and can do it without any overnight legs.

The whole solo or not solo thing was a big part of why I delayed from my planned departure last summer. with those issues resolved i'm good to go.

[gfrodel]

With the Baja Ha-Ha Rally, crew are required and easily arranged by the organization (I think). Possibly 1-2 overnight passages. However, our boats are faster than the sail boats and that might eliminate the overnight issues. I think I need to join you with my 3988! I am based out of Anacortes WA.

[ksanders]

With the Baja Ha-Ha Rally, crew are required and easily arranged by the organization (I think). Possibly 1-2 overnight passages. However, our boats are faster than the sail boats and that might eliminate the overnight issues. I think I need to join you with my 3988! I am based out of Anacortes WA.

We can start a flotilla. I already have a buddy boat from Alaska meeting up in Ensenada, so that would be three.

Even if you do not follow the exact samer schedule is would be great to know others traveling along the same coast just in case one of us might need some help.

[ksanders]

A bit of an update for the digital nomads out there.

My business uses a Voxter cloud based VOIP service. This gives us office phone features like agent login, auto attendant, park, page, etc... all things a business needs.

In the USA this service works perfectly over cellular.

Here in Mexico that is not the case. I am finding that some TCP ports must be being blocked as my phone acts strangely. I brought down my spare router specifically to iron out the issues. The UDP voice component works great but things like the buttons on my phone do not work correctly, making it impossible to use the phone for most of what I need it for.

I think the solution will be to use a VPN service on the WAN side of the router. Unfortunately the router I brought with me is a couple years old (my spare) and does not support VPN on the WAN side.

Another work around would be to go into my Voxter portal and forward my extension to my cell phone but that does not give the functionality that I need to be effective. My business routes client calls into a que so that either myself or my business partner can take the call, whoever is on duty that day or not busy if we are both "working".

Again, this will ber of zero interest for most cruisers but for the digital nomads out there it might be very important information