Magdalena Bay - Baja 1/26/07

I have been in Loreto for a few days, so I decided to take the 100 mile trip down to Magdalena Bay. After around 75 miles, I reached the city of Ciudid Insurgentes and its surrounding farms. From the city, there is a turnoff to Puerto Lopez Mateos, a small town on Magdalena Bay, the southernmost of the three gray whale birthing lagoons. This is the only gray whale bay that allows kayaks, and the fishing is also good. When I arrived, a couple from Alaska pulled their inflatable kayak out of the water because it was getting too windy. It wasn't really bad yet by Santa Cruz standards, so I launched my kayak off the beach near the whale watching boats. This part of the bay is a channel only a half mile wide and 35 feet deep, with a sand dune barrier island separating it from the Pacific. There were no whales in the channel due to low tide, so I paddled west into the wind across to the barrier island, and I hung around there for a bit. Then I re-launched from that side and drifted back toward the mainland, trolling a 4-ounce metal Marauder:(http://www.charkbait.com/cs/images/lures/Braid/Braid_marauder_metal_all1.jpg ).

I caught and released a cabrilla (spotted sand bass). It was only around 14 inches, but it was a fighter. While I was landing the cabrilla, the wind picked up with a vengeance, and I was blown down an estuary into the mangroves. With some effort, I was able to slowly paddle into the wind, and rounded the bend toward my car. Too bad it was so windy, because the cabrilla were biting and there were probably grouper in the mangroves. It was so windy that I had to crank the rudder all the way to the left just to go straight. Even then, I was still blown into shore about 25 yards from where I wanted to land. It was easier to pull the boat through the shallows along the beach than it was to paddle against the wind. This was Pacific wind. The Sea of Cortez wind can get even stronger. Kayakers are often blown offshore and are forced to take shelter on one of the islands.



This trip was mostly for exploration. Now that I know the area, I hope to come back and spend more time kayaking, fishing, and whale watching. Baja is amazing!

Incredible, awesome, it's all I think about is getting down there...I was just looking through my recent issue of WON 1/27/07. pg. 27...I think these people wanted a bigger boat...A pod of Killer Whales where Playing ( Sizing up ) a fishing boat on it's way in to port in Magdalena Bay, they have a incredible shot of Shamu jumping next to their boat to say " Hi " ..............Danglin

be careful in mag bay, it is FULL of little stingrays!

Thanks for sharing your trip.Sounds like nothing bad happened so that in itself is a great planned-out success.The pics and story get me to wondering what my first out of state or long haul adventure will be like.
GOOD TIMES!

nice report! sorry about the wind.

jason