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Sailing in La Paz
The capital of Baja California Sur, on the Sea of Cortez, and the jumping-off point for Espiritu Santo and the sea lion colony at Los Islotes.
Why here
La Paz is where you learn to sail in an island wilderness rather than a marina complex. The Sea of Cortez opens straight off Marina Costa Baja into Espiritu Santo and a string of empty anchorages, and both schools here run small-group liveaboard certification rather than day classes. This is the anti-flotilla product: six days aboard, a handful of students, and sea lions and whale sharks in the same water you are practicing man-overboard drills in. Costs sit well below the Caribbean for the same certification.
Best months
The eastern Pacific hurricane season runs through November 30, and although La Paz sits deep inside the Sea of Cortez away from typical tracks, that is the reason December reads cleaner than November. Winter brings the El Norte regime, northerly winds that funnel down the Sea of Cortez and can blow hard for days at a time, so build flexibility into a winter booking. Water cools through the winter and visibility drops from the autumn peak. Days are warm and dry.
Getting there & around
Fly into La Paz directly, or into San Jose del Cabo and drive about two hours north. Both schools work out of Marina Costa Baja on the Pichilingue road northeast of town. One is a resident local operation running year round; the other is a United States company with a genuine but seasonal base here, teaching roughly October through November and again in January, so confirm dates before booking December. Courses are liveaboard, so the boat is the accommodation. Neither school documents Spanish-language instruction despite the location, so assume English.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
GoBaja Sailing
SchoolASA school at Marina Costa Baja founded in 2013, teaching 101 through 118 on six-day liveaboard courses aboard monohulls and catamarans, with a named school director and eight further ASA instructors.
Nautilus Sailing
SchoolASA certified facility teaching 101, 103, 104 and 114 on liveaboard courses docking at Marina Costa Baja, operating as the sailing school for a large charter fleet.
Also good for sailing in November:
Torn between La Paz and Aswan for November?
A plan settles it for your skill and budget, same-day.