My friend, Rob & I were in Cabo San Lucas from August 7-12. It was a very different experience than I have ever had both topside and underwater.
We arrived at a modern airport by Mexico standards & made our way to the car rental booths. A car is not mandatory when staying in the city we just decided to get one because we didnt know where anything was. I think we ended up spending about $250 on car with full insurance, since we werent sure if we were covered by our US insurance or by credit card. Make sure you bargain with these folks we talked them down form $150 to $100 for a Jeep Wrangler. The insurance was about double that, add on some charges, and you wind up with $250. Im sure we got ripped off, but Ill do more research next time
The trip from the airport to downtown Cabo is around 25 miles. You first have to go through San Jose del Cabo, which seemed to take forever with the stoplights. This city seemed kind of interesting, but there was a lot of graffiti on buildings, roadway bridges, etc. It definitely took away from the city, but oh well, we weren't staying there.
The hotel corridor is long. I would definitely want my own rental if I stayed out there. I would not recommend it for people who spend much of their time in town or who have to be at the marina every morning.
We stayed at the Costa Real. The good right in the middle of everything, on the harbor, nice swimming pool with swim-up bar & nice atrium. The bad some of the rooms are tiny with poor AC and the construction above our unit during the day was loud. We were originally put in a small room with little air coming out of the vent. It was just too hot. The manager was very accommodating and put us in a bigger room with better AC that we stayed in for the duration of the trip.
We dove with Amigos Del Mar, which is on the Lands End side of the harbor. The good the owner, Kevin, is very fair and goes out of his way to make you happy, the shop lets you dive with the group or with just your buddy once theyre comfy with your diving skills, they have a flexible schedule, and their trip to Cabo Pulmo is well-organized. The bad on Monday, the first day of diving, we had 17 divers on the boat (people were on top of each other gearing up). But to be fair, on the other days, we had 5, 11 and 4 divers respectively. On other small gripe, on Weds, we dove some of the sites in the hotel corridor and the boat was driven out & back very slow. Don't know what was up with that. Even with the couple of minor inconveniences, I would strongly recommend this dive shop they showed us a good time and have very competent DM's. One thing I learned quick - the economy in Cabo isn't dependent upon scuba diving, so a good shop is worth its weight in gold.
This was my first time diving in non-Caribbean waters and I was really blown away. The water was a bit on the cool side (around 75 degrees) and the visibility ranged anywhere from 20-50 ft in Cabo San Lucas, but was much better at Cabo Pulmo. The fish life was awesome. If youve never gotten out of the Caribbean, youve got to see all the different fish in the Sea of Cortez & Pacific. The moorish idols, surgeonfish and angelfish are really unique. We dove with sea lions, saw two huge broomtail groupers do a mating dance, saw many moray eels and even a seahorse. There seemed to be porcupinefish & balloonfish everywhere you looked. Dont expect to see coral buttresses like in Cozumel, though, as the underwater topography is very rocky and the coral appeared to be growing on the rocks.
A quick rundown of sites - Monday: Neptunes Finger, Lands End & North Wall off of Pelican Rock; Tuesday - Cabo Pulmo's El Bajo (awesome) and El Cantele; Weds - Chileno Reef & Santa Maria Reef; Thurs - Neptune's Finger (towards wall) and Lands End.
As far as the food goes, we particularly enjoyed the Office and Panchos. Mi Casa del Mar and Las Palmas were good, but the food at La Quesadilla was disgusting. As far as the bars go, everything on the beaten path away from the boardwalk is pretty loud & wild. We hung out several times at happy hour time at one of the bar/restaurants on the marina just down from the hotel. Can't recall the name, but they had a lot of $2.00 appetizers, a good crowd, and it wasn't overly noisy. We spent several evenings at the Cabo Wabo it was fun & festive without the Squid Roe dancing nonsense and the live music was good. Sammys supposed to be moving down there full time in about a month, too, or so his biz partner says. Be prepared - entrees, drinks and a shared appetizer for 2 at a good place is going to run you anywhere from $50-$90. I am definitely going off the beaten path next time, at least a couple of nights.
The lunch you get at Cabo Pulmo is awesome - especially if you love lightly battered fish in soft tacos. Mmm...
On our off afternoon, we headed up to Todos Santos to see the Hotel California. Its a pretty drive and the town seems very charming. We didn't have time to stay, but it seemed like a perfect place to have a cocktail, or two. The road is supposedly dangerous at night, so be warned.
Other observations - there are lots of cheesy outdoor-type shops that sell their crap to morons, cruise ship patrons and the like. Most of the dinky soft taco places rock. There are some good internet places, even one place where you get a toddy while you're online. There are some great shops a block are or two from the main street that sells very modern, classy home knick knack type items - it is some form of the word artisian - just one word.
I would highly recommend a trip to Cabo, especially to divers who have only seen Caribbean waters.
We arrived at a modern airport by Mexico standards & made our way to the car rental booths. A car is not mandatory when staying in the city we just decided to get one because we didnt know where anything was. I think we ended up spending about $250 on car with full insurance, since we werent sure if we were covered by our US insurance or by credit card. Make sure you bargain with these folks we talked them down form $150 to $100 for a Jeep Wrangler. The insurance was about double that, add on some charges, and you wind up with $250. Im sure we got ripped off, but Ill do more research next time
The trip from the airport to downtown Cabo is around 25 miles. You first have to go through San Jose del Cabo, which seemed to take forever with the stoplights. This city seemed kind of interesting, but there was a lot of graffiti on buildings, roadway bridges, etc. It definitely took away from the city, but oh well, we weren't staying there.
The hotel corridor is long. I would definitely want my own rental if I stayed out there. I would not recommend it for people who spend much of their time in town or who have to be at the marina every morning.
We stayed at the Costa Real. The good right in the middle of everything, on the harbor, nice swimming pool with swim-up bar & nice atrium. The bad some of the rooms are tiny with poor AC and the construction above our unit during the day was loud. We were originally put in a small room with little air coming out of the vent. It was just too hot. The manager was very accommodating and put us in a bigger room with better AC that we stayed in for the duration of the trip.
We dove with Amigos Del Mar, which is on the Lands End side of the harbor. The good the owner, Kevin, is very fair and goes out of his way to make you happy, the shop lets you dive with the group or with just your buddy once theyre comfy with your diving skills, they have a flexible schedule, and their trip to Cabo Pulmo is well-organized. The bad on Monday, the first day of diving, we had 17 divers on the boat (people were on top of each other gearing up). But to be fair, on the other days, we had 5, 11 and 4 divers respectively. On other small gripe, on Weds, we dove some of the sites in the hotel corridor and the boat was driven out & back very slow. Don't know what was up with that. Even with the couple of minor inconveniences, I would strongly recommend this dive shop they showed us a good time and have very competent DM's. One thing I learned quick - the economy in Cabo isn't dependent upon scuba diving, so a good shop is worth its weight in gold.
This was my first time diving in non-Caribbean waters and I was really blown away. The water was a bit on the cool side (around 75 degrees) and the visibility ranged anywhere from 20-50 ft in Cabo San Lucas, but was much better at Cabo Pulmo. The fish life was awesome. If youve never gotten out of the Caribbean, youve got to see all the different fish in the Sea of Cortez & Pacific. The moorish idols, surgeonfish and angelfish are really unique. We dove with sea lions, saw two huge broomtail groupers do a mating dance, saw many moray eels and even a seahorse. There seemed to be porcupinefish & balloonfish everywhere you looked. Dont expect to see coral buttresses like in Cozumel, though, as the underwater topography is very rocky and the coral appeared to be growing on the rocks.
A quick rundown of sites - Monday: Neptunes Finger, Lands End & North Wall off of Pelican Rock; Tuesday - Cabo Pulmo's El Bajo (awesome) and El Cantele; Weds - Chileno Reef & Santa Maria Reef; Thurs - Neptune's Finger (towards wall) and Lands End.
As far as the food goes, we particularly enjoyed the Office and Panchos. Mi Casa del Mar and Las Palmas were good, but the food at La Quesadilla was disgusting. As far as the bars go, everything on the beaten path away from the boardwalk is pretty loud & wild. We hung out several times at happy hour time at one of the bar/restaurants on the marina just down from the hotel. Can't recall the name, but they had a lot of $2.00 appetizers, a good crowd, and it wasn't overly noisy. We spent several evenings at the Cabo Wabo it was fun & festive without the Squid Roe dancing nonsense and the live music was good. Sammys supposed to be moving down there full time in about a month, too, or so his biz partner says. Be prepared - entrees, drinks and a shared appetizer for 2 at a good place is going to run you anywhere from $50-$90. I am definitely going off the beaten path next time, at least a couple of nights.
The lunch you get at Cabo Pulmo is awesome - especially if you love lightly battered fish in soft tacos. Mmm...
On our off afternoon, we headed up to Todos Santos to see the Hotel California. Its a pretty drive and the town seems very charming. We didn't have time to stay, but it seemed like a perfect place to have a cocktail, or two. The road is supposedly dangerous at night, so be warned.
Other observations - there are lots of cheesy outdoor-type shops that sell their crap to morons, cruise ship patrons and the like. Most of the dinky soft taco places rock. There are some good internet places, even one place where you get a toddy while you're online. There are some great shops a block are or two from the main street that sells very modern, classy home knick knack type items - it is some form of the word artisian - just one word.
I would highly recommend a trip to Cabo, especially to divers who have only seen Caribbean waters.
