Loreto Bay

Loreto Bay lies on the eastern shore of the Baja California Peninsula, looking out across the Gulf of California. The islands of Carmen, Coronado and Danzante rise offshore, with channels and sheltered anchorages between them and the mainland. In 1697 the Jesuit Juan María de Salvatierra founded the mission of Nuestra Señora de Loreto among the local inhabitants. It became the first permanent Spanish mission on the peninsula and a base for the missions that followed.