Ensenada  De Los Muertos (Cove of the Dead) Nov. 15 – 18, 2011

We departed Bahia Del Los Frailes at about 7:00AM, headed for Ensenada De Los Muertos (Cove of the Dead) some 45 nautical miles away.  The cove got its name in the late 1800's when a boat carrying Chinese imagrants stricken with yellow fervor was refused permission to land. Most all of them died aboard, hence the name "Bay of Death". Sometime later their ship was sunk by the Mexican authorities, and today it serves as an artificial reef, attracting many scuba divers. Presently, coastal development is heating and there are now several small resorts and a golf course within sight of the bay. Developers apparently don't think Bay of the Dead will attract many visitors so they began calling it Bahia De Los Suenos (Bay of Dreams). Apparently they don't know how much attention Forks, Washington is getting from books and a movie about Vampires.

During our cruise north the wind blew 10 to 13 knots from the NW. We could have sailed to Ensenada De Los Muertos but motored to charge the batteries.  At 10:00AM we noticed a Mexican Navy cruiser about 5 miles away. About 30 minutes later a panga loaded with a dozen armed sailors, with helmets and bullet proof vests approached us from behind. We had the sun shade drawn behind the cockpit so we didn’t see them until they were alongside. Cindy was nervous, thinking that maybe they weren't really navy but pirates posing as the Navy. The appearance of their launch made Cindy's fear very understandable. It was in poor shape and had no official markings at all. It looked like many of the pangas we saw in Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria. I was nervous because all the sailors had automatic weapons and not one of them was old enough to shave. The officer in charge, spoke very little English but made it clear with gestures that he wanted to board us. I quickly tied our fenders along the port side to protect our hull from the panga and motioned to him to come aboard. After he jumped onto our boat, he told his crew to pull away and wait. We were floating between the panga and the cruiser as the officer began to examine our papers. After he was convinced that our papers were in order he asked if anyone in Mexico had given us any trouble. If I told him yes, the message I got was that the Navy would kick their asses. Then he asked if we thought we would visit Mexico again. Of course we told him we would, and that was true as most of the people we met were very polite and helpful. The Mexican government is obviously very concerned that the narco-war is keeping many Americans away, as I am sure it is. We were all asked to sign a statement, in Spanish, that said the naval personal that boarded us did not harass us or attempt to bribe us. In the end, the Mexican Navy made us feel very safe, although Cindy was still nervous about being boarded.  

We dropped the anchor at 2:30PM in Ensenada De Los Muertos in 27 feet of clear water. Tomorrow's forecast called for a "norther" with winds of 20-25 knots, so we put out about 200 feet of chain to keep us from dragging anchor. The bay already had eight Baja Ha Ha boats at anchor when we arrived: Charisma, Camano, Pure Vida and Dos Leos were among them. Later, we met a family from Olympia on s/v Perl: Bob, Shari, Sydney, Annie and their dog Salty. They lived on their boat in Olympia for several years. Bob is an airline pilot, Shari is home schooling the girls on the boat, and Salty does a good job keeping his eye on everyone.

Ensenada De Los Muertos is easily the most beautiful bay that we've visited so far. The clear water and sandy bottom give the bay a light green color that reminds me of the Caribbean. It has a broad white sand beach and a large dune line behind it that separates the beach from the golf course. Here and there along the beach are signs that warn visitors of sea turtle nests. The nests are protected by fences and wood stakes that are meant to keep vehicles from driving over the delicate eggs.  Mexican conservationists are working hard to keep their population of sea turtles alive and well. We occupied ourselves by swimming, snorkeling and hiking.

At one end of the beach is a small resort consisting of about 7 or 8 small guest houses, several pools, a restaurant and a shaded patio on the beach complete with day-beds. The restaurant has a large collection of toy trains on the second floor with tracks that wrapped completely around the floor. We discovered that we could use the resort's shower on the beach to wash off the salt and sweat after a day of snorkeling and hiking.

On the other side of the beach, near the golf course, is an open air restaurant that serves fresh seafood and classic Mexican food. The fisherman whose pangas line the beach supply fresh fish every day to the restaurant. We tried both restaurants and liked the one near the golf course best.

The predicted winds arrived on our second day at Los Muertos and the boat rocked and rolled all night long. On November 17th we tried to leave for La Paz but strong winds and high seas, choppy seas forced us to return to the protection of Ensenada De Los Muertos. We anchored close to the spot we anchored at earlier and spent a bumpy night on the hook. The next day we finally made it to La Paz.