On July 5, 2009, the wind rose with the sun and at 20 knots out of the SW it made our anchorage at Isla Mitlán too choppy for snorkeling. However, it was perfect wind for sailing, so sail we did. Destination: about 35 miles NNE to the northernmost tip of Isla Angel de la Guarda ("Guardian Angel") and the multiple anchorages of Puerto Refugio ("Port Refuge").
Once we left Isla Mitlán the wind soon picked up to – and stayed at – what
we estimated was 30 knots true. Luckily, it stayed steady out of the SW, which meant for us an energetic downwind sail with genoa only. Our anemometer showed wind in the mid-20s downwind. The waves stayed at 2 feet or less so the ride was not bumpy at all. Still had to pay attention, though. Especially as we approached the reefs and islets near Puerto Refugio, such as the guano-covered Roca Vela ("Sail Rock") up over there on the right.*
* Note: it has been my experience that no matter how windy the conditions, waves photographed from a boat's cockpit always look much flatter than they do in real life. I don't know why. But believe you me, we rounded Roca Vela in frisky conditions. Yessir.
Anyway, we rounded Roca Vela, bypassing the anchorage called "West Bay" as it was wide-open to the SW and thus to our wind; and also because one can technically drop an anchor there, but it's not really a "bay" but is actually a passage between two islands – one very small in size relative to the other. Meaning, the currents are strong, erratic and change direction 4 times a day. Equals, no thank you. We chose to continue on around the outlying islands and sail our way into the much more sensible and commodious Middle Bight of the large "East Bay". Guess what? Early July is early season this far north in the Sea. We had the whole place to ourselves. Nice.
If you've been looking at the details of our landscape pics (Jeez, get a life), you'll have noticed a conspicuous absence of vegetation north of Santa Rosalia. When life is too harsh for even a cactus to get a toehold, your environment is definitely challenging. Seriously, GB & I occasionally pretend that things have fallen apart and we're on shore trying to survive. We're pretty resourceful, but if we found ourselves marooned on Angel de la Guarda
, it would be very hard to find fresh water — or shade. Even the pelicans fought each other for rocky perches inside small sea caves along the shoreline. The frigate birds preferred much higher perches, so they panted on the tops of tall rocky outcrops, with wings akimbo, in full sun. So much for penthouses as the fanciest real estate.
Our strong breeze continued for 3 days. Two large power yachts came – and quickly went – from Puerto Refugio's other anchorages. With the absence of other boats it was close to a true wilderness experience, which for us is the best kind of cruising. Puerto Refugio in early season is definitely one place to get away from it all.
Hoo-boy, the snorkeling was great, everywhere around Puerto Refugio. Dinghy fishing and spearfishing yielded favorable results. Seashells were plentiful on at least the 2 beaches I explored. The water was warm so we could ditch the wetsuits, yet the temps were still barely cool enough to spend the hottest part of the afternoons wrapped around our anchor chain to avoid the 110+F degree temps. After which we'd crawl back aboard, dry off, and pass out under the fans in the saloon for a couple hours until the sun was lower in the sky. Find a way to manage the heat, and Puerto Refugio is YOURS, baby.
One day, we dinghied about a mile back over to the "West Bay" to try and figure out why some people actually anchored there. It is certainly the most visually stimulating of Puerto Refugio's many anchorages; but we still saw and felt very strong currents here (I recall reading somewhere that they max out at 4-5 knots in the narrow spots) – eddies, whirlpools, overfalls, the works – throughout the West Bay. Granted, we were there on a spring tide. If you can get your anchor to hold in all this action, great. But how confident would you be to go ashore? How well would you sleep? What would you do when things went wrong?
We wanted to see the place in West Bay where, some years ago, a cruising sailboat learned there was a hurricane a-comin', and chose West Bay for shelter. 
Their boat was lost. They scrambled ashore and survived the hurricane by sheltering in a small concrete panguero shrine set atop a rocky outcrop (you can see the little shrine in the pics from 2003 in the above link. Here's a couple more that 
we took in 2009. The interior looks large in the photo on the left, but in reality only 4 people could fit inside — in semi-fetal positions). It must have been horrible weathering a hurricane in there. We came here because we wanted to learn something from this tragedy. But, 20-20 hindsight and all, we could not understand why anyone would think it was a good idea to anchor here in any kind of weather. I emphasize: West Bay is not a "bay," it is a passage between two islands of greatly disparate size. From my point of view, regardless of whatever shelter might be had from certain wind directions, this location is excessively risky, considering the tide rips alone. Now, we've anchored in passages between islands before – for several days, in fact; but those islands were of similar size to each other and the weather was settled. Add sudden, adverse winds to strong tidal currents like what happens in the northern Sea during the summer, and anchoring a boat in a location like this becomes very tenuous. Examples: we saw an 80-foot motor yacht anchored in West Bay, and they bailed out of there within a few hours when the wind got above 20 knots. We also found a nice seashell deposit on one side of West Bay — 30 vertical feet, and 100 horizontal feet, away from the shoreline.
If you find your seashells washed up behind stony berms high and away from the shore, chances are you have found a place of strong winds and big waves – in other words, NOT a place to anchor a boat. I cannot imagine trying to ride out hurricane-force winds and whatever waves accompanied them, on a lee shore.
All that said, West Bay is a nice place to take your dinghy from a safer anchorage and spend the day. As a whole, Puerto Refugio was a wonderful destination and the middle bight of East Bay was comfortable for anchoring and using as a base for all kinds of aquatic and terrestrial exploring. Anchor wisely, mind the weather, be prepared, and you'll have a swell time here.
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