Isla Monserrate - Sea of Cortez
25°41.02N
111°02.10W
Anchoring - Snorkeling - Hiking - Beaches
Overview
Isla Monserrate (Monserat) is about 8NM North of Agua Verde and 15NM SE of Marina Puerto Escondido. The island runs about 4NM north to south and 2NM east to west. The highest point on the island is around 200 meters.
This island is not visited by cruisers as much as the other nearby cruising destinations, so you can often find a beautiful & deserted white sand beach to explore alone. Most of the places to drop anchor are fairly open and not protected from changes in the wind and swell direction. During the day you will generally have winds from the north or south and this island is in an area that often gets overnight winds from the west. Small fishing boats and pangas pass by and stop occasionally, but most cruising boats in this area prefer to stay at Agua Verde to the south. If the weather is good go out of your way to see this beautiful island!
Isla Monserrate is one of the five islands that make up the Loreto Bay National Park (Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto). National Marine Park passes are required. Realistically you won’t be checked here, but it seems supporting the Marine Park system is an affordable and honest thing to do. Day passes can be purchased at the waterfront in Loreto or in La Paz at the Marina de La Paz office. Visit this Mexican Government website to purchase your annual Marine Park passes: CONANP
The main attraction for most is the north end beach called Yellowstone. It is almost a half mile of beautiful white sand. In addition to the beach, the views of the mountains are epic. I’ve only been here a couple times so I’m not an expert on this island. Hopefully some of what I’ve learned is useful to you.
No cell service or any other kind of services here.
Google Maps Link: Isla Monserrate
Anchoring Options
Yellowstone
Protection from SE to SW
Sandy Bottom with a gentle slope
Navigation/Anchoring Hazard at 25°42.58N 111°03.05W
This rock is approximately 5-6 feet underwater at low tide and not marked on the charts. Our boat nav showed a hazard about 600-800 feet from this rock, but we couldn’t locate anything shallow there. My guess is the chart is off on the location of this shallow spot. We will look for it again when we are out here next. The satellite view of this area shows a rocky patch 700m NNW of our hazard mark. We will also explore that area next time.
NE Anchorage
Protection from SW to NW
Sandy Bottom with a gentle slope
We picked this spot on a night when the sea was mostly flat and we were expecting the normal overnight westerlies. Unfortunately we arrive when it was just a little to dark to spot rock hazards closer to shore so we dropped in about 35’ well off the rocks. My guess is we can drop in about 12’ and still be clear of the rocks. It is about 500’ between the rocks where the sand gets closest to the beach in the little cove. As expected the westerlies did come up after dark and we were well protected and comfortable.
SW Anchorages
I’ve only looked at these anchorages so I’m not going to comment until I have a chance to actually get in there and drop the hook. Some blogs I’ve read say they are pretty, but don’t provide much protection. I’ll update this as soon as I know more. Clearly the photos show a lot of rocks and much caution should be used on the approach.
Beaches
Yellowstone beach is on the north end of the island and is about 1/2 mile long with a small yellow sandstone cliff in the middle of the beach.
I’ll add photos as I explore more of the beaches on the island.
Snorkeling
The rock mentioned above that is a hazard off of Yellowstone beach at 25°42.58N 111°03.05W is some of the best snorkeling I’ve ever done. There is a wide variety and quantity of species to check out.
The Las Caleras islets are about 2NM North of Yellowstone and are reported to also have great snorkeling and diving.
Hiking
We have yet to hike inland, but from the satellite images and drone photos it looks like there are some very pretty arroyos and ridges to explore. It is doubtful that any actual hiking trails exist as the island doesn’t get enough visitors to establish trails.
Insects
As with many of the anchorages there can be a lot of bees on Monseratte. Don’t leave fresh water available on the decks, galley, or heads and they shouldn’t be much of a problem. We haven’t experienced any other issues with insects.
Improvements
Please email me or leave a comment if you have valuable information to add to this post. I’ll continue to improve the information on this page as I learn more about this spot. If you have a good blog post about this island I’d love to link to it.