The SLOW ROUTE TO CABO
Each November, cruising boats start leaving California for “a winter of fun in the sun down Mexico way.” And having spent the summer and autumn on a leisurely passage down the West Coast on board Distant Drummer, our Liberty 458 sloop, my husband, Neil, and I were now in San Diego and ready to do the same. Not only that, but after cruising for a few months in Mexico we planned to hop along the Central American coast to Costa Rica and Panama, where we would spend the summer cruising safely below the hurricane belt
The west coast of Baja California is a rough and rugged out-of-the-way corner of Mexico that only yachtistas, fishermen and 4WD explorers get to visit. Unlike the eastern coast, where tourist development has restyled the cities to accommodate gringo tastes, there are no towns and few roads along the Pacific side. Many cruisers, therefore, choose to take the fastest route south, stopping at Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria, then pushing on for a last run down to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of the peninsula.
As we found, though, there are a number of other anchorages where shelter can be found from the relentless Pacific swell. Not only that, but these unspoiled coves with their barren, rocky landscape and simple fishing villages are well worth taking
