Puerto Balandra y Caleta Lobos

Again we were blessed with stunningly blue, blue water (see Ensenada de Los Muertos y Playa La Bonanza)! And again, it was not THAT warm, but warm enough to get in and do some amazing snorkeling and chillin’ on floaties. Both of these bays are in the northeastern part of Bahía de La Paz, which is pretty huge (roughly 10 miles across and 5 miles long). These nearby places provided a bit of a respite from the hubbub of La Paz and the crazy currents that we experienced in the southern part of the bay where the anchorage and marinas are located (see La Paz post). Not that we ever really needed a respite, especially since we missed out on ice cream when we were gone, but it sure was nice. So nice, we’ll be returning to these two gems over and over again.

Puerto Balandra is absolutely stunning (the featured image for this post was taken from Droney, courtesy of Ryan). There was tons of water play (despite the chill), hiking, droning, night photography (by Ryan), and hangin’ with good friends. It is very popular with the locals as well as tour boats, so even though the bay is quite large, it could feel crowded due to many massive power yachts and jet skis that seek out its beauty. Nevertheless, it’s the kind of place you just don’t want to leave, or if you do, you know you’ll be back.

Caleta Lobos, a bit south of and smaller than Balandra, had bobos. Beautiful, beautiful snorkeling, but bobos – little black, non-biting flies that have no interest in food, but lots of interest in hovering around your head and landing all over your body, which is mostly exposed because you’re always in a swim suit, so it’s very tickley. If you can get Zen with the bobos, or better yet, the wind comes up, then this place is heaven. Erin and Simon made a quick trip down from San Diego, so we spent a night here after a day on the La Paz Bay looking for whale sharks. Unfortunately, we got skunked on the largest fish in the world, but were treated to some excellent fish viewing while snorkeling around Lobos. We were stoked that Erin actually got in the water and experienced the joy here, despite feeling nauseous some of the time (we had some wind chop rolling through the bay – wah wah). Way to tough it out, Erin – you and Si must return next season!

Here’s the vid. Sorry it’s a bit unfinished (i.e., no music), but we wanted to get it up and viewable 😉