La Paz in July?

[dhenline]

La Paz

I am looking for a nice place to charter a boat in July. I live on the west coast Seattle area and I do NOT want to sail in the san Juans. I want a place where I can swim off the boat. I was thinking la Paz area. Is it too hot at this time of year? at DYC, the boats are super reasonable and I could get one with AC.
any other companies to look at ? I am weary of DYC given their less than stellar reputation.
don

[Shrew]

If you want AC you're going to need to run the genny or remain tied to the dock. Yes, it's going to be hot in the Desert on the southern tip of the Baja peninsula in July.

[Marathon1150]

It is super hot in La Paz by June - we usually headed back north before the end of June. While working on our boat on the hard, the glue holding the soles on to my running shoes melted.

June-September = hot and wet (rain), humid and is also the middle of hurricane season.

We normally returned in October/November - the latter is particularly nice.

[dhenline]

OK that was enough for me to cancel that one off my list

[JPA Cate]

You could consider San Diego, or Santa Barbara. SD will be warmer. SB has easy access to the Channel Islands. There are cruising guides for the Channel Is.

Hurricane season in Mexico is June through November.

[SV Coronado]

I did that trip in September and it was very hot. I have a high tolerance for heat, so it didn't bother me too much - our boat did not have A/C.

I would recommend DYC in La Paz. I agree that some DYC locations don't take care of their boats, but the boat we chartered was well maintained. The base manager and staff were all very helpful.

I would not recommend sailing in the Sea of Cortez if you're not an experienced sailor. As soon as you leave La Paz you'll have little contact with the rest of world - especially if you head North - so there's no one to bail you out if something breaks or you get into a jam. Many times the winds change directions at night, so anchor accordingly. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. The diving and snorkeling are fantastic!

I also like JPA Cate's advice. SoCal is a great place to sail in the summer, just avoid Catalina on the weekends. You can swim off the boat, but the water will be about 70 degrees.

[JPA Cate]

^^^^70 degrees beats the heck out of 55 in Puget Sound!

Ann

[dhenline]

yes, Puget sound sailing in the summer is (for me at least) not very amusing. No swimming, not such great diving and no wind.
better to do a bike vacation through the San Juans
don

[Stu Jackson]

Consider The California Delta. 90-95 daytime, 60 at night. Delightful, wonderful cruising and anchoring, some marinas, lots of history. We used to sail up there most summers when I lived there from 78 to 16.


Nice daytime swims.


Downwind sail up, some sailing on the larger rivers, could get a beam reach on some sloughs, but mostly motoring, motor back to The Bay.

Don't know of any rentals up in The Delta, but should be able to get a boat for a week in The Bay. It's only a half a dozen hours up or back.

[DEAN2140]

If you like the Delta, you can charter in SF Bay @ Club Nautique.

[Mithril Bham]

Sailed SJI all my life. There are places with 70 degree water in Canada if you can get in which is doubtful. Also some in the US. That being said you might look at USVI. Friend just bought a ticket for $235 to SeaTac. Pretty open with Covid. Sail around St. John etc. Lots of charter boats. Cabo too hot for me in the summer.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by dhenline

La Paz

I am looking for a nice place to charter a boat in July. I live on the west coast Seattle area and I do NOT want to sail in the san Juans. I want a place where I can swim off the boat. I was thinking la Paz area. Is it too hot at this time of year? at DYC, the boats are super reasonable and I could get one with AC.
any other companies to look at ? I am weary of DYC given their less than stellar reputation.
don

I was in Mexico 2 years on my own boat. Years later I chartered out of La Paz in late Sept/early October. It was 102 degrees some days even then. I would avoid July for sure. Even with a Bimini you can get burned from reflection off the water to the point where you nearly need medical care. And for a charter, it makes it difficult to get off the boat and do anything on land. I wouldn't charter after May and not before Oct 1 personally.

I'm from Seattle too.
Another word of advice; ONLY eat cooked food. If one of your party is starving for a salad. Use handcuffs! We had a few guest parties aboard when we were there. One of them insisted on having a salad at lunch the day they arrived. I warned him. He spent the entire week in the V berth or the bathroom. 102 degree temperature.
There are two kinds of "tourista"; the "Hard Tourista" and the slight diarrhea. You dont want the "Hard Tourista".
If your kid gets that, you may be looking for a hospital.
That's the next problem ...... you dont want to go to public hospital, you need to find a doctor's office who knows what he's doing. My father in law dislocated his thumb. It took us about 6 hours of learning curve to get it fixed.
-First we went to the village clinic. The nurses didn't know what to do and finally started pulling on his thumb! We got out of there.
-Then a cab ride to a 2 hour wait at a public hospital. No hospital person would even talk with us. Then a nice woman warned us, "you'll never get it done, too many people. This is the public hospital for poor people".
So a cabbie told us where to go and took us. It was a house with a doctors office in it. He was US trained and fixed us up right there quickly.

Sea of Cortez water gets up to maybe 65 degrees, maybe a bit warmer depending on where you are. It's not like the Bahamas for swimming, but it's great. Take a thin skin suit for snorkeling or swimming.

I love Mexico and the people there, but it's a different world.

[JPA Cate]

Cheekako, is that a typo on the Sea of Cortez temp? I'd swear it gets up to 85 deg F.

Ann

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Cheekako, is that a typo on the Sea of Cortez temp? I'd swear it gets up to 85 deg F.

Ann

Definitely an error!

Even in Winter, we found SoC water temps around Bahia de La Paz to be 21-24°C (70-75°F). We always were swimming.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Cheekako, is that a typo on the Sea of Cortez temp? I'd swear it gets up to 85 deg F.

Ann

Yeah I think I got that wrong. It warms up well in the summer for sure. Although, we were surprised how cold it could be snorkeling one April. Near Los Frailes it was 63 degrees! but normally near the surface where you swim it heats up well. Still, I always felt cold snorkeling there compared with the Bahamas.