Looking Back at Los Candeleros, aka Ensenada Blanca, aka Wi-Fi Cove, aka Danzante Bay

Whew! We made it to La Paz and have spent the past couple of days getting settled, reconnecting with friends, making arrangements for Cinnabar's stay here during the summer, and reflecting upon the last few anchorages. Except for Los Candeleros, we were completely without internet and phone connections (egad! 7 days) until we got to La Paz. But we were able to communicate via Sailmail and our Single Sideband radio, which is pretty cool.

After leaving Puerto Escondido on June 1st (3 week stay), we went to the nearby anchorage of Honeymoon Cove at Isla Danzante. We had fond memories of this anchorage when we did a bareboat charter here over 20 years ago. We had heard on the morning radio net that several boats had enjoyed this cove, although there was a bit of a bee issue. Sure enough, as we motored into the empty cove to check out the anchorage we were immediately beset by bees swarming the boat.

See ya; wouldn't wanna bee ya! Tom waves goodbye to the Honeymoon bees.

Yikes! We went with Plan B and headed toward Los Candeleros back on the land side (a whopping 7 mile motor).

Los Candeleros, The Candlesticks, gets its name from three tall islets grouped on the southern side of the bay. Los Candeleros is also known as Ensenada Blanca, White Cove, due to its long white beach. Probably the most notable feature of Los Candeleros is the honking big resort, called Villa del Palmar at "The Islands of Loreto" (snort!), that sits smack dab in the middle of the bay.

Our view of the big, 7 story, 2 year old resort in the boonies (but great free wifi!)

Which leads us to the cove's nickname of Wi-Fi Cove, due to the excellent and free internet connection that boats can get from this hotel. It was very odd to see this deluxe resort just plopped in the middle of a dry, remote, desert bay.

Tom couldn't resist that long, white beach, so while he swam to shore for a beach run, I decided to snorkel to shore and go for a walk. Well I never actually made it to the beach because when I hit about 10 feet of water I saw the telltale double siphon holes of the famous local Chocolate Clams (pronounced Cho-ko-lah-tay). In about 15 minutes I had gathered enough of these babies for a nice clam ceviche lunch for two.

They were delicious diced and mixed with some fresh lime, onion, garlic, tomato, and dried chiles.

Clam ceviche with avocado, tostadas and beer. Yum!

One day we dinghied over to the south side of the bay and snorkeled around the point. It was full of schooling fish, reef fish, sea fans, sea pens, hydroids, coral and scallops. Some very cool Mexican barracuda kept swimming by to suss us out. 

After the snorkel we went to check out the resort. The assault of sudden greenery after months of earth tones was a shock. But we had to admit that the hotel grounds were quite beautiful and impressive (4 big pools shaped like turtle shells, but visitors have to pay to use them ($65 pp/day! Ah...NO thanks).

They sure must go through a lot of water keeping this place so green.

Apparently they have big plans for this place and plan to expand the hotel, add a big golf course, and numerous condos that will surround the bay. Oh, and they will give the place yet another name...Danzante Bay. We've noticed that many things in Mexico get started but never completed, so it will be interesting to see if the plans turn into reality.

The Dream - resort diorama, complete with golf courses, vacation home plots, and roads.

When we walked to the patio restaurant we had to admit that the view looking out into the bay was spectacular, and it truly did showcase The Islands of Loreto, the moniker we had originally scoffed at. OK, so we were wrong AGAIN.

Enjoying chilled drinks and eating crow for disparaging "The Islands of Loreto"

We enjoyed (expensive) drinks and yummy wood-fired pizza at the patio café while taking in the beautiful view. The night view was stunning as well, as we could see the lights of Puerto Escondido and the city of Loreto in the distance.

More pics from Los Candeleros can be found HERE.

We hated to leave Candeleros as it was a beautiful and pleasant anchorage, but it was time to keep moving south to lovely Agua Verde. There's lots more to Agua Verde than noise and an "interesting" restaurant, so stay tuned...