The islands are why people come to Loreto. Five of them sit just off the town inside a UNESCO-listed national marine park, and the closest is a twenty-minute run from the marina. An island tour on Loreto Star means turquoise water you can see the bottom of, a white-sand beach with nobody on it, a snorkel stop with the sea lions, and a shaded lunch on the sand — at your pace, because the boat is yours.
Which Island?
All three of our islands are inside the Parque Nacional Bahía de Loreto, but each one is a different day:
- Isla Coronado — 4 to 5 hours. The closest and the classic. A dormant volcano with a white-sand beach on its sheltered side, a sea lion colony you can snorkel with, and the clearest water in the park. If you only have one day, this is it.
- Isla Danzante — 5 to 6 hours. South of town: Honeymoon Cove, rock arches, and a rugged, quieter island where the snorkeling is over rock reef rather than sand.
- Isla del Carmen — 6 to 7 hours. The biggest island in the park. Long empty beaches, the abandoned salt-mining town at Bahía Salinas, and the best chance of having a whole bay to yourselves.
Because Loreto Star is booked by the hour, the island you choose sets how many hours you need. Book more and we add a second stop, longer at anchor, or a couple of lines in the water on the way.
What an Island Day Looks Like
We leave from the Loreto marina in the morning, when the Sea of Cortez is usually flat. On the crossing your captain watches for dolphins and blue-footed boobies, and from January to March there is a good chance of a whale before you reach the island. First stop is usually the sea lions: you swim in from the boat and they come to look at you. Then the beach — we set up a shade tent, chairs and a cooler with ice, and the rest of the day is swimming, snorkeling off the sand and doing nothing at all. We run back in the early afternoon before the wind picks up.
Snorkeling
The water off Coronado is the clearest in the park and the reef along its rocky side holds king angelfish, sergeant majors, parrotfish, rays and the occasional turtle. Bring your own mask and fins if you have them, or tell us in advance and we will arrange gear. Life jackets are on board for anyone who wants to float rather than swim.
The Marine Park
Loreto Bay National Marine Park protects over 2,000 square kilometres of sea and five islands: Coronado, Carmen, Danzante, Montserrat and Santa Catalina. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Islands and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California. Every visitor pays a small daily park bracelet fee, which we collect on the day and pass on to CONANP, the park authority — that fee is what keeps the islands the way they are.
