Santispac – Bahia Concepcion

Santispac is the first proper anchorage you will come to in Bahia Concepcion, and it’s an excellent stop on a number of accounts. A large bay with room for a few dozen boats, the holding is good with excellent protection from every direction but south. There are a couple of decent restaurants among the vacationing RVers ashore, and this is probably your best location from which to seek a ride into Mulege for a provisioning run. The road noise is fairly disruptive, however. So if you were looking for peace and quiet, you will likely be better off at Santa Barbara.

Approach:

Clear from North as you come around Punta Piedrita north of Isla Pitahaya. If you go south of this island, make sure you mark and avoid Santispac Reef at 26° 45.05 N, 111° 52.95 W. Same goes if you approach Santispac from any of the other bays in this area. With the exception of this reef, all the other navigating can be done by water depth. Just don’t shave too close to any of the islands or points and you’re good.

Anchoring:

This is a wide open bay with so much room you can drop wherever you like, typically in 25-35 feet over sand. The bottom may appear rocky because it has many dark areas, but as far as we can tell that’s all just grass/weed, and not a hinderance to a good set. The turtles seem to like it as well.

Ashore:

You can land the dinghy just about anywhere along the beach and walk up to either of the two restaurants, or head up the little road to the highway, where it shouldn’t be too hard to catch a ride into Mulege for provisions and a meal. There is also a nice beach walk to the east toward the fancy rancho, with nice views of the bay. Lots of expat RVs gather hear from fall through spring, so it’s a nice place to socialize and catch up with news from up north, if that’s your thing.

Don’t Miss:

If there are a few days of feisty northerly breezes forecast, why not settle the boat into place here and find a ride into town? You can probably talk you way into a ride from just about anybody, and on the way back Mulege Brewing Company functions as a transit depot, with some coming south from Mulege, and lots of gringos from Bahia hanging out here in the afternoon and headed back down south to where you left your boat. Perfect!