Pichilingue - BCS, Mexico

Playa Pichilingue is a reasonably attractive anchorage, if not for the view, for the location which puts it in close proximity to Balandra, and the La Paz channel. It's a great place to wait for the right tide to enter la paz, or to overnight after leaving la paz before crossing the various channels.

It's a pretty good base if you want to avoid going into La Paz on the big boat too, in calm weather you can take your fast dinghy into to la paz directly, or you can take the Playa Bus or arrange a taxi (Around 120Peso) into La Paz for provisioning.

Ashore there's a couple of restaurants, some good snorkeling along the north wall, and you can do a bit of exploring around the coast between here and Lobos by kayak or dinghy too.

The main downside is the proximity to the port, which is a bit of an eyesore, and can be quite noisy, additionally it can be quite busy here with panga traffic and beach party goers.

The bay is deeper along the north wall, and shoals towards the south east corner. We anchor in line with the pier that extends from the restaurant in 20ft.

In strong northerly weather its worth getting closer to the north wall, but you'll get more panga traffic due to the proximity to the launch ramp.

At night the wind tends to pick up from the south, which will bring a bit of a chop in the anchorage, with some swell wrapping around the point, which can be a little annoying but rarely anything serious.