The Hidden Port has 3 parts: the "Waiting Room" (the anchorage outside the harbor), the "Ellipse" (another, smaller anchorage, just inside the harbor), and the main bay with the marina (only 10 slips) and dozens of mooring balls. There is some skinny water (less than 10 feet) as you pass the narrow (30 yards wide) entrance into the main harbor, but after that, it's 30+ feet deep. There's fresh water and a fuel dock, but you'll need to wait for an open slip to fill your tanks unless you want to jerry jug it in your dinghy. Then, it's out to the mooring balls. Overall, the marina follows the standard Singlar design and has nice facilities (the Harbor Master's office on the second floor; a mini-tienda selling beer, sodas, some veggies and some staples; a cruisers lounge below the Harbor Master's office; an on-site restaurant; a small pool upstairs; and a nice restaurant and large pool at the RV park about a 20 minute walk away) and a friendly staff. Some long-term cruisers have swallowed the anchor here and store their boats in the marina yard while living ashore. Others keep fishing boats on trailers and launch when they need something for dinner.
Apparently, someone had great plans for this area many years ago. There are wide, paved streets, pedestrian bridges over Italian-style canals, and a couple of lighted roads leading a few hundred yards to nowhere. But, that's as far as anyone got. The place has been unfinished for 20 years.
Escondido is home to the Hidden Port Yacht Club, a great group of folks, with a large book exchange (especially one for kids), a DVD lending library, and a surprisingly active social calendar. They also host "Loreto Fest", the annual cruiser event at the end of April/beginning of May. We plan to be back for the Fest the first weekend in May.
We happened to be in town for one of the weekly Sunday afternoon pot luck suppers and had a great time. One of the sport fishing boats donated tons of fresh fish (yellow fin tuna and swordfish) to the party, and each boat brought a side dish or desert to share. The mini-tienda at the marina sold beer and sodas, and no one went hungry! We met folks that drive down here each year from Canada and the US, as well as cruisers like ourselves. Luckily, we met one other kid boat from Canada that had a boy and a girl the same ages as Kelly and Ryan. The boys spent the days playing what else - video games - while the girls hung out and learned to play about a 1000 versions of "cat's cradle" from one of the cruiser ladies. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the girls or the ladies who were re-living their childhoods and sitting on the floor playing.
While we were in Escondido we managed to get into Loreto - see the next installment of the blog
Sunrise on the west side of th anchorage at Puerto Escondido
The eastern side of the anchorage and all the mooring balls at Puerto Escondido
The northwest corner
The North side of the anchorage that if you walked across would open up to the Sea of Cortez
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