Loreto - BCS, Mexico

Loreto is a great little town a third of the way up the sea of cortez. It's a nice town to spend an afternoon wandering around, with a nice historic centre.

It's also a good provisioning spot, with a couple of grocery stores you can get pretty much everything you would need for a few weeks on the hook.

It's a great base to use when exploring the neighbouring islands and anchorages. The only downside is that the anchorage is an open roadstead which means you need to pick your weather window carefully.

We typically try to go ashore early and get back and away before the thermals pick up, but you can typically get ashore here in most conditions if you don't mind getting a bit damp in the dinghy ride.

Loreto Dinghy Fees

At some point during the Covid-19 pandemic, Loreto started charging cruisers to use the Darsena and facilities. The price is typically around 100-200 pesos per day depending on how much garbage you bring ashore, size of your boat etc.

A lot of people have kicked up a stink about this, but the reality is compared to a trip to Puerto Escondido, and then a taxi or rental car back, its a tiny fee, and the Darsena and area is well maintained by the API. I certainly don't have a problem with it, but it does mean we tend not to linger in Loreto for more than a day at a time.

We anchor just off the breakwater in 15ft over sand.