cabo vs. cozumel

[ronrosa]

Do the Cabo operators do hotel pickups ? It looks like Cabo hotels are really spread out. Is San Jose far from downtown Cabo ? The location of the accomodations is a little confusing.

 

[hdtran]

Do the Cabo operators do hotel pickups ? It looks like Cabo hotels are really spread out. Is San Jose far from downtown Cabo ? The location of the accomodations is a little confusing.

San Jose is about 30 km from downtown Cabo (approx. 20 statute miles if you prefer customary English units). A nice divided highway most of the way, but don't speed.

Check out the maps on http://www.allaboutcabo.com

You have the following hotel options:
(a) On or near the Cabo marina. This will put you smack where most of the dive ops are, which is on the marina. The hotel formerly known as the Plaza Las Glorias (now Costa Real, I think) is upscale and on the marina. There are a number of less expensive hotels (some quite nice) in downtown Cabo, which are not on the waterfront. All within easy walking distance of the marina & the dive ops. The Finisterra and Solmar are walking distance from the marina, and closer to Amigos Del Mar (across the street from the marina but not on the Plaza LG). They face the Pacific ocean. The Pueblo Bonito Sunset is a good hike up and down the hill to downtown, (it's on the Pacific) but they run a free shuttle bus to the other Pueblo Bonitos on (b). They can drop you at/near the marina if you ask the driver nicely
(b) On or near Playa Medano. This is the beach where all the action is. A short distance as the crow flies (or as the angelfish swims :14: ), but a bit longer walk to the marina. There are a couple of dive ops on Playa Medano. You could arrange for a dive shop at the marina to pick you up at the beach, or you could take a water taxi, a regular taxi, or just walk to downtown (1/2 mile maybe?) and walk around the harbor to get to the marina (another 1/4 mile or so). If you're way out on the far end of Medano beach (Villa Del Palmar, for example), the walk is ~1 mile or so. The Riu Palace is even further out on Medano, but has a house dive op.
(c) Along the "corridor." This is the stretch of 30 km of highway between San Jose & Cabo (technically, between San Jose Del Cabo & Cabo San Lucas; many locals call Cabo "San Lucas." As an aside, San Jose Del Cabo could be translated as "St Joseph of the Cape", & Cabo San Lucas as "Cape St Luke"). Here are all upscale resort hotels with fancy nearby golf courses. Not all the waterfront along the corridor is friendly to swimmers (could be significant current & surf). Two very nice little beaches with good snorkeling, and I'm told shore diving, around 10-15 km up from Cabo; Playa Santa Maria & Playa Chileno. No dive ops there, though. Some ops from downtown will take you to Playa Santa Maria & Playa Chileno for boat dives if the whole group is willing (and presumably if you pay a bit extra ). If you're staying on the corridor, you'll probably want to either take the hotel shuttle to downtown, or the bus, or rent a car.
(d) San Jose. A mixture of upscale & not-so-upscale. San Jose is the county seat (so to speak); the older town, with the more historic church; etc. There's an estuary and a wetland in San Jose. You'll probably want to rent a car if you're staying in San Jose. (Though bus service is inexpensive, and I'm told, pretty reliable).

If you're doing multiple days of divings, the ops will store your gear for you at their shop (if you'e not renting gear).

The upscale hotels generally have some deals with local dive ops and can arrange some discounts off of list price. Again, if you're doing multiple dives, you can negotiate a deal with the locals. The locals will generally offer a fairly generous discount for cash, and a variable discount for multiple dives. (My wife & I were given a 10% discount for 10 dives without asking).

We stay with option (c). Very kid friendly, definitely quiet & relaxing, etc. And you don't get vendors walking by every two minutes trying to sell you a trinket or pushing a timeshare at you

A warning on car rentals: All the agencies arranged (in my opinion) a scam to make purchase of liability insurance mandatory. Decline LDW, CDW, etc. as much as you want, but the agencies (Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, etc.) will nick you for a state-mandated liability insurance fee. You can't decline that. It's the (local) law.

Also, even though the highway is quite nice, I don't particularly like driving after dark. There's an awful lot of alcohol consumption, both by pedestrians, and by drivers who should know better.

HTH!

 

[ronrosa]

Wow, thanks for the very detailed response. That makes thing much easier and I can now see why a lot of the cheaper packages have hotels in San Jose.

If I spend a week in Cabo is it worthwhile to dive everyday ? For reference, I dive everyday when I visit Coz. Aruba and Costa Rica I dive 2-3 days.

 

[hdtran]

Wow, thanks for the very detailed response. That makes thing much easier and I can now see why a lot of the cheaper packages have hotels in San Jose.

If I spend a week in Cabo is it worthwhile to dive everyday ? For reference, I dive everyday when I visit Coz. Aruba and Costa Rica I dive 2-3 days.

When we were there for 2 wks last summer, I did around 6-7 days of diving. Some were repeats (I did Pelican Rock/North Wall many times), but you can always focus on something different.

If you're going in mid-late summer, Cabo Pulmo is probably worth a trip. I think WaterWayne said that when conditions are right, Cabo Pulmo is a can't miss. I had the misfortune of going there on a lower vis/higher current day. Dlndavid has reported Gorda Banks as being a highlight, but you need a boatful of good divers, as it's a truly open water/blue water dive.

There are other things to do besides diving if you like: Harassing the timeshare vendors golf, excurse to Todos Santos, deep sea fish, etc. You really don't need to book all your dives before you go. After your first day, you can decide how many more dives you want to do, and settle up at the end.

If you're used to Cozumel, you'll find the water in Cabo to be colder (unless you're going in July/August/September/October). No hard reefs, but plenty of life. Check out my gallery for photos from our trip last May/June for a sample of what you might find.