But there is a wilder side to Bahia de Los Angeles. When strong northeasterly winds clash with the incoming tidal stream, you'll be heaving in the lumpiest seas this side of Cape Horn. The cooler waters around the Midriff islands can be the windiest, roughest, and most treacherous in the Sea of Cortez. Fifteen foot tides north of the Gulf's midriff belt force tremendous volumes of water through the narrow channels between the islands. Strong current effects like overfalls, tidal jumps, and whirlpools are common.
Bahia de Los Angeles' split personality irks some and frightens others, but I love the place. The area is a haven for nesting birds, feeding fish and roaming animals. Knowing that you can get nailed by thiry-five knot winds at almost any time adds adventure and excitement to paddling. The coolest months for paddling are October through April. When approached with foresight and caution, kayaking Bahia de Los Angeles is the best in the Sea of Cortez offers.
This discussion will cover Bahia de los Angeles and the coast as far south as San Francisquito, the western border of Baja's Midriff. I will to discuss the offshore "stepping stone" island route to the Mexican mainland in a subsequent article. I hope that the information here is useful not only to kayakers, but to anyone plying those waters in a small, beachable boat.
The town of Bahia de Los Angeles is about 400 miles (an 8 to 10 hour drive) south of the U.S. border. Some canned food, a few vegetables, beer, and tortillas can be purchased there, but kaykers are best advised to provision in the U.S. The townspeople travel to Guerrero Negro for major purchases. Nova (leaded regular) gasoline is available during limited hours at the Pemex station across from Casa Diaz in town. The station at Punta Prieta occasionally has unleaded fuel. There is no water available on any of the islands near Bahia de los Angeles. Paddlers should carry enough water to allow one gallon per person per day. Everyone has to haul water to the islands, at some expense and trouble. While the local fishermen seem happy to share water with anyone who needs it, I believe that kayakers should only ask the locals for water in an emergency.
Guillermo's trailer park is a good place lay out your gear and prepare for launching your kayak. There is a restaurant there, showers, and they will let you park your vehicle for a small fee. Bottled water in plastic gallon jugs is usually available at Guillermo's. The town's wells are 1/4 mile west of Guillermo's camp. Look for tall green water tanks near a palm grove. Before drinking the water, you should check with the locals as there have been some problems with the potability of the water recently. A First Need (tm.) water filter or the equivalent should be able to clean up dubious water.
Many paddlers like to park and launch near Punta La Gringa, a few miles north of town. During the winter season, Canadian and American RV'ers line the beach so someone will be there to watch your vehicle. The Punta La Gringa launch site is the closest approach to Isla Coronado, probably Bahia de los Angeles' most popular kayaking area. Isla Coronado (also called Isla Smith on some charts) is an uninhabited 3 1/2 mile long island crowned by a perfect volcanic cone at its north end.
The best campsites on Isla Coronado are on the west side of the island, especially around the islet called Isla Mitlan. The southern quarter of Isla Coronado is nearly split by a lagoon. The sandy beaches around the lagoon are the most protected on Isla Coronado. The portage across the sand beach to launch on the east side of the island is short and easy. Fishing is best on the east side of Isla Coronado. Trolling a root beer colored plastic scampi slowly over the rocks in about twenty feet of water will almost always yeild a tasty leopard grouper or a firm, delectable triggerfish.
From Punta la Gringa, paddling north along the coast for about 10 miles will take you to the beautiful white sand beaches of Bahia Guadaloupe. You will probably have the beaches to yourself, as few people go there. The water at the southern end of Bahia Guadaloupe, especially near Isla Alcatraz, is very active. You will see two foot high tidal steps which appear to be huge plates of water sliding over one and hear noisy overfalls, giving you the illusion that you are paddling in a river.
Punta Remedios shelters the north end of Bahia Guadaloupe. "Remedios" means "relief" in Spanish and the point is well named. The low, rocky spit provides solace and protection from the howling winds and lumpy seas near Calamajue. Inside Punta Remedios, the water often turns colder. A full 1/4" wetsuit is needed for diving in Bahia de los Angeles and the surrounding islands during December, January, and February, since the water temperature can dip into the low sixties.
Punta Remedios is the closest jumping off point for a crossing to Isla Angel de la Guarda. There is a good place to camp inside an open bay about 10 miles ENE of Punta Remedios. The crossing should be treated as a major undertaking and should only be attempted in calm weather by experienced paddlers. One strategy is to get up in the early morning when it is cool and calm, get off the beach before 4 AM and be at the Island by 11 AM.
Of course timing is everything: you'll want to do your crossing on the flood tide and you'll have to allow for the strong current. A compass sighting on whatever you are steering for will confirm your intuitions about the direction of your drift. Accurate tide tables are essential for boating in the Midriff area, as the tides there are highly irregular. When I have paddled along the coast, I have found that my progress was always better against the predicted tidal flow. This is because there are usually helpful backeddys close inshore where kayakers travel. Offshore, in the channels between the islands, the tidal stream is very strong, running south on the ebb and north with the flood. Tidal currents run strongly on both sides of Isla Angel de la Guarda and tide rips are common between Punta Remedios and the island.
If you do make the crossing to Isla Angel de la Guarda, you are in for a treat as the island offers solitude and a richly diverse ecosystem. Finback whales often congregate in Canal las Ballenas. In calm weather, their powerful blows can be heard for miles. Puerto Refugio is a delightfully well-protected anchorage at the north end of Isla Angel de la Guarda. Most cruising boats anchor in Puerto Refugio. The Puerto is well protected from swell, but it is a windy place. There is a fish camp there which is inhabited most of the year, expect during a few winter months.
I have seen my share of wild weather and raging rivers and I'll wager that Punta Rocosa, on the outside of Isla Angel de la Guarda gets as rough as Patagonia's Magellan Straits or Southeast Alaska. If the wind is stronger than twenty knots, especially if the tide is running against the wind, paddlers would be well advised not to attempt rounding the point. Tide races off the point run at seven knots or more and currents close inshore can hit five knots.
Isla Estanque, at the southeast end of Isla Angel de la Guarda is connected to the main island by a reef. There are tidal rapids on the reef. Isla Estanque is also known as "Pond Island" because of the well protected lagoon at its southern end, and "Isla Vibora", for the many red rattlesnakes that live there.
Returning to Bahia de los Angeles from the north end of Angel de la Guarda is easier than returning from the south end. Both the nautical charts and Mexican topographic maps indicate that there is a cluster of island off the southwestern tip of Isla Angel de la Guarda. These "islands" do not exist. When strong winds are blowing in the Canal las Ballenas, there are few protected landings along the southwest side of Isla Angel de la Guarda, but beaching a kayak and even camping is possible in a few places.
It is possible to buy a ride on a panga to the Angel de la Guarda. But bring extra food and water with you. If El Norte is strong on your appointed pick up day, you will have to wait.
While you are camped on the offshore islands, you should be wary of the westerly winds that can blast out of the arroyos and sizzle across the channel and tear your tent out by its roots. These off-shore winds are called "Elefantes" by the local fishermen because the violent west winds are heralded by clouds resembling elephant trunks forming in the canyons leading to the sea. Less poetically, these winds are called katabatic winds and are really cold air masses which form over the high central plateau. This cold air is held inland by the hot winds blowing off the Sea of Cortez all day. When the sea breeze subsides in the late night and ealy morning hours, these cold air masses roar down the canyons and fan out over the open water. These winds can reach several miles to sea.
The elefantes winds are dangerous because they are strong enough to tear the paddle from your hands and capsize unladen kayaks or any small inflatable or aluminum powerboats. In the early morning you should hug the beach if there are cool offshore gusts. If you happen to be caught by these offshore winds and you are unable get to the beach, the best defense is to put out a sea anchor. In an emergency, a parafoil kite, empty dry bag, or even a properly tied windbreaker will slow your drift until the winds blow themselves out.
One experienced party of kayakers lost their Klepper folding kayak to the elefantes. They woke to their hollow thumping sound of their kayak tumbling down the beach. By the time they got to the beach their kayak had been swallowed by the dark dancing water. All four paddlers squeezed into their remaining kayak for the trip back to the peninsula. As bad as all this sounds for kayaks, it is even worse for owners of open aluminum boats. One group of kayakers shared their food and water with a boatload of divers who were stranded for days on Isla San Lorenzo. Their 14 foot boat was unmanageable in the strong winds off the islands, and they needed to wait for calmer weather before thay could get back to the peninsula. For kayakers, weather prediction isa more instinctual than scientific affair. But one trick kayakers and others can use is to pack a small AM radio in their gear. Listening to weather reports on KNX radio (AM 1070) at night you will yeild clues for the central Baja's weather. If it is raining in LA, but clear in Bahia de Los Angeles, you can expect the winds to increase as the low pressure system over California moves southeastward into Texas. If the weatherman mentions that LA expects a "santana" (strong easterly or northeasterly winds), there is a high pressure system over the California desert and a relatively lower pressure along the coast. This situation funnels strong northerly winds down the Sea of Cortez.
Sometimes the wind simply blows like hell for no apparent reason at all. It can often be windy in Bahia De Los Angeles and calmer a few miles outside the bay. One clue to the presence of high winds is a lense-shaped stationary cloud cap sitting over a single high peak. When you see the summit of Isla Angel de La Guarda, or Isla Coronado's volcanic cone capped by a foggy beret, you can bet it's windy there.
Part of of the charm of Bahia de los Angeles are the many islands dotting the bay. Not all the islands have campsites, though. There are no good places to camp on Isla Cabeza de Caballo or in the Islas Los Gemelos. An excellent campsite with a large white sand beach at the head of a small bay on the northwest corner of Isla La Ventana. Isla Piojo has a good landing on the south side, but the place reeks of bird guano.
La Mona, a cove on the southern shore of LA Bay is well protected and you can drive there. Just north of La Mona, here is a solitary cove with a beached powerboat that someone is using as a cabin. The fishing along the rocks north of the cove is generally good.
Puerto Don Juan has been a popular anchorage for years and so it is fairly trashed out. At present, it appears that someone did major repair work to a boat on the beach at Don Juan. Pieces of fiberglass, sheets of plywood, tin cans, and old buckets are strewn about. The price for bombproof protection from the elements, however, is that the beach can be decidedly buggy. Large halibut and tasty clams can be taken in the shallow sandy parts of Puerto Don Juan.
Ensenada Que Mado (Que Malo) on some charts is the next bay south of Punta Don Juan. There is an excellent campsite, protected from the wind south of the lagoon at the northern terminus of the beach. Kayakers may want to take shelter on this beach as the next point down, Punta Que Malo (best translation: "How bad it is!") is horrendously rough during the strong north winds which blow frequently. The point also projects into Canal Ballenas far enough to feel the effects of the strong tidal currents there. Compounding all this are the shallow inshore reefs north of Punta Que Malo which make that place decidedly lumpy.
I have seen the Punta Que Malo so still that you could hear the individual water drips off your paddle tips, and snorkling there was like swimming in your private salt water aquarium. And I have seen Punta Que Malo in 35 knots of wind, on a flood tide, when paddlers preferred to suffer the consequences of breaking their kayaks on the beach rather than remain among the treacherous ten foot high breakers off the point.
Bahia Pescadero is a perfect place to stay for a while. The beach is on the lee side of the point, so it is protected from the wintertime north wind, but hang on to your stuff. If your boat is blown off the beach, you'll find it in San Francisquito. The diving and fishing near Punta Pescadero is superb.
Ensenada Alacran is the next bay south of Pescadero and is the gateway to Bahia Animas. There are a couple of shacks used by local fishermen on the beach. If you like to eat halibut, you'll like Alacran. The shallow bottom in front of the fish camp is covered with the tasty devils.
My theory is that Bahia las Animas derives its name from the wind sculped stacks of rocks that sit like shrines on top of the hills there. In any case, Animas inspires awe and reverence for the land. Packs of coyotes run through the canyons and the terrain is expansive and majestic. Sea lions like the area around Punta Soldado, and dolphins enjoy fishing off the warm shallow lagoons at the head of the bay. The Animas valley spreads like an opened hand from the lagoons and is a wonderful place for day hiking. There is vehicular access to the west side of Bahia Animas. Kayakers may want to start their trip there and head north into Bahias Alacran and Pescador.
At the eastern edge of Animas, there is a snug little cove called the Animas slot, just outside Punta Animas. The area is very exposed, but in calm weather this area is the best spot in the sea of Cortez. I suspect that only a relatively few privledged people have camped by themselves in that happy cove, Angel de la Guarda glowing gold at sunset, with a fresh halibut grilling over mesquite coals. It is moving experience.
South of the Bernabe rocks, the coast is less indentented and landings are fewer, especially in windy weather. Bahia San Raphael is mostly sandy beach in its southern parts. Approaching Punta Ballena and San Francisquito, you often see towering cumulus clouds and heat lightening is common at night. Because of the cold water flowing from the Midfriff region meeting the warmer water south of San Francisquito, fogs and low couds are common. Sometimes the clouds hand over the peaks all day, adding to broodin ess and mystery of the area.
Punta San Francisquito has some of the strongest tide races in the Sea of Cortez running past it. Paddlers are best advised to roud the point at slack water. The port of San Francisquito is on the north side of the point, the fly-in resort on the south side. side. The swiftest currents flow around the point, south of the port, so it is conceivable that a cartop portage around the roughest parts could be arranged if conditions at the point were unmanageable.
Wherever you choose to kayak in the Midriff region of the Gulf of California, you will encounter the richest variety of plants and animals, the most varied weather and water conditions, and the most ruggedly beautiful land on the Baja peninsula.