Chapter 12 - Los Frailes at Cabo Pulmo

 Leaving Cabo was a relief.  It has to be the noisiest place on earth.  The constant boat traffic (especially jet skis) all day makes for very churned water.  Regardless, we enjoyed our visit there, but alas, a weather window opened up and it was time to go.

We left Cabo at around 0630 and headed left.  Very shortly, we realized we were now actually heading in a northerly direction.  No longer heading south, we pointed our bow towards our next destination - Los Frailes.

On the way, we saw lots of whales.

The story of Los Frailes.  

Los Frailes means “The Friars” in Spanish. The name refers to the rocky sea stacks and ridgelines south of the anchorage. Early mariners thought these tall, eroded stone formations resembled hooded friars standing in a row, watching over the cape. This type of religious naming was common with Spanish explorers and missionaries mapping the Baja peninsula in the 1500s–1700s.

Los Frailes sits near the southern tip of the Sierra La Laguna, forming a natural stopping point long before modern cruising.  Indigenous peoples (Pericú) inhabited the region, traveling along the coast for fishing.  Spanish galleons and explorers used the lee of the point as a rest or repair area when rounding the cape into the calmer waters of the Gulf. Its deep, protective bight made it one of the safest anchorages on the otherwise exposed East Cape. It was never a major settlement, but was consistently referenced in early navigation accounts due to its reliability as a calm anchorage.

Just 5 miles north sits Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park, home to the only hard-coral reef on the West Coast of North America, a marine ecosystem 20,000+ years old, and one of the greatest conservation success stories in Mexico. Cabo Pulmo was definitively protected in 1995.

Through the 20th century, Los Frailes remained a tiny fishing outpost; a place where pangas launched for snapper, dorado, and marlin; and, an otherwise remote landing area with almost no infrastructure. Even today, aside from the cluster of fishing shacks and the dirt road leading north toward Cabo Pulmo, the area remains undeveloped. There is no cell service there whatsoever.

That's Tazzy at anchor in the background.

We enjoyed days sitting on the beach, walking and excellent snorkelling on the reef just out front; an easy swim from the boat.  The visibility was excellent and we enjoyed swimming with great schools of fish - tang, parrot fish, wrasse, angels, puffers, and more.  

And, I was not the only "toro" on the beach.

Not every day....

At the end of the day, the place was pretty magical; a naturally protected anchorage named for rock formations that resembled friars to early explorers. Los Frailles has served for centuries as a safe coastal stop and now sits at the edge of one of the most important marine reserves in the hemisphere. 

Parenthetically, locals sometimes repeat a soft legend that the stone “friars” represent priests watching over sailors — a symbolic safe haven after the treacherous waters off Cabo Falso. It’s not a formal myth, but a widely told Baja story that fits the look of the cliffs.

At the end of 4 days, it was time to go.  Our next destination is a place called Ensenada De Los Muertos (Bay of the Dead) —now often called Bahía de los Sueños (Bay of Dreams), a calm, historic anchorage once used for mining shipments, now prized by cruisers for its sheltered waters and quiet, scenic setting.

And, no sailing-with-cats story would be complete without mentioning how they found a dead flying fish on the deck and, of course, had to bring it down into the salon to play with.  UGGGGGHHHH!

And, Garmin has not been very responsive or cooperative in response to my warranty claim.  They guy assigned to the matter does not speak English and is not being very helpful.  I am still navigating with my phone.

More later -