for a fairly large rally. Turtle Bay and Bahia Santa Maria are large, comfortable anchorages with no check in (used to be paid) required. And Cabo is the jumping off point for the rest of Mexico. Turtle Bay is a fine place to stop, besides being the halfway fuel stop. BSM is just a large protected anchorage in the middle of nowhere, and really not very interesting except for the HaHa bringing a party there. Mag Bay next door is more interesting, but it is a POE, has a whole bunch of hazards to a night entry, and no real place to anchor a lot of boats at once. I think that Man O'War was destroyed in the last hurricane, and Puerto San Carlos is not set up for a large group either. But I enjoyed them both. As far as the help, maybe the disappointment at least partially comes from the lack of RTFM of the Latitude 38 material. Besides the stuff I cited above, that I personally observed, there were tows, lots of expert advise, and even boats going back to help other boats. The HaHa is even often criticized as being a hand holding rally. But you are right; if you want to see a lot of rural Baja West Coast you need to go on your own. And the HaHa is not for everyone.