First we drove up the coast on the Pacific side to Todos Santos. A well know traditional town famous for its charm and surfing beaches. This town is not by the water and most streets are still unpaved and dusty, but it does offer the promised charm and quite. We had one of our best meals of the trip there. Santa Fe Restaurant is an hacienda style building turned restaurant by an Italian family with the taste for restoration and the talent for good food. After lunch we visited the town square galleries and hotels. This town was a bit too quiet to get a Playground rating.
This popular beach faces a portion of the famous rock formation we all have seen in ads or post-cards. These rocks are beautiful, but the view is often blocked by the enormous cruise ships that park in front of it year round. The place was packed with people happy to enjoy this "blocked" view from the comfort of a Corona beer beach chair. With a minimum of $20.00 cover charge anyone can camp on those chair all days long sipping beers and tequila from the early hours of the morning to the early hours of the next morning, while listening to load music and breathing wave-runners fumes.
Our definition of a playground, however, does not include these "extras" offered in Cabo San Lucas. - We look for beautiful locations in peaceful and joyful environments a bit off the beating path.
We walked the beach, took notes, and ran as quick as possible to the car rental office to get out of this crowded and noisy resort town.
Destination: Cabo's East Coast
First we drove up the coast on the Pacific side to Todos Santos. A well know traditional town famous for its charm and surfing beaches. This town is not by the water and most streets are still unpaved and dusty, but it does offer the promised charm and quite. We had one of our best meals of the trip there. Santa Fe Restaurant is an hacienda style building turned restaurant by an Italian family with the taste for restoration and the talent for good food. After lunch we visited the town square galleries and hotels. This town was a bit too quiet though.
We found the balance we were looking the next day when we drove to the other side of the coast to San Jose de los Cabos. We were surprised to find the cleanest and most charming town we have seen in Mexico. This town is becoming famous for its galleries and thriving art community. We visited many interesting galleries and had instructive conversations with the managers about the international art community, the famous weekly art walks and the life-style of the locals.
Muvezi’s Shona, (http://www.muvezi.com/gallery-los-cabos-mexico) a gallery promoting African art offered a vast array of fair-trade, decorative stone designs. The manager, a sweet lady from Argentina, encouraged us to drive the dirt road to Punta Cabo Pulmo when asked for the best places to snorkel, scuba dive or surf. She had just scuba dive there with Whale Sharks during the summer and described the water as warm and clear with amazing visibility and color.
Visitors can reach Punta Pulmo from the main paved road but if we had the time, she recommended taking the dirt road to drive along the coast and see the miles and miles of pristine and empty beaches along the way.
Good. We had our marching orders to go out and explore more. A few minutes into our trip we felt as if we were driving the Baja 500 race. The road was not bad, just dusty and curvy and rather exotic. We had ocean views on our right and desert mountains on the left. The terrain became more interesting as more cacti filled the land and new mountains appeared breaking the horizon. We didn't see any cars or people for hours, instead we had one wild encounter with a family of burros that were cruising down the road. They stopped as we stopped to let them go by, but instead of moving around us they stood by our window staring at us close up. They were hoping we would feed them ! It was a surrealistic moment of mutual observation that can only occur in a place like Mexico.
Cabo Pulmo National marine park is the only live coral reef in the area located right on the Tropic of Cancer. It is naturally protected by about 8 Kilometers of deserted beach in the Sea of Cortez. We found out a few facts worth sharing. Marine life at Cabo Pulmo National Park increased by 463 percent between 1999 and 2009, according to a new study led by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. There are many hotels, bungalows and even home rentals at amazing prices. A front row seat to the "Aquarium of the World" Beach House would rent for 299.00 in the high season.
Summer offers the good conditions for surfing. Offshore winds come from the west northwest with some shelter from north winds. We read that "Groundswells are more common than wind swells and the ideal swell direction is from the south. The beach break offers both left and right hand waves. Relatively few surfers here, even on good days. Watch out for coral and sharks". We also found out the Cabo Pulmo has secret hiking biking trails and kayakers enjoy close whale and dolphin sightings.
In total we drove almost 500 miles in the last 3 days of our 6 day trip. We didn't get to snorkel or scuba dive in Cabo Pulmo so we considered the trip a scouting excursion worth taking. And left with a good reason to come back soon to test those waters.
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Activities
Golf
Beautiful courses designed by some of the most recognized names in golf stretch along the scenic 25-mile corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. Once you step out onto the green in this golfer’s paradise, you’ll soon discover why Golf Digest declared it to be one of the world’s top 15 golf destinations.
Wind/Kite surfing in Cabo
A favorite spot for windsurfing in Los Cabos is situated at Los Barriles along the East Cape, about 45 miles north of the Los Cabos airport. From late Fall through March, the Sea of Cortez is ideal for windsurfing. The strong winds on the East Cape and around La Paz will delight seasoned boarders. Generally, the Pacific Ocean, with very strong winds and surf, demands a very high level of skill.
Surfing Los Cabos
Warm clear water waves, great scenery and a variety of locations with distinct personalities have made this area of Baja Sur popular with professional surfers. June-November is the busiest time of year for surfing in Los Cabos, with seasonal swells bringing consistent surf to areas of the East Cape and the Pacific.
Tennis
We struggled finding a place to play tennis during our trip. After placing a few calls to the resorts we found the Palmilla Tennis Club A world-class facility—the only one of its kind in the greater Los Cabos area.
PTC has been voted as the number-one tennis destination in Baja by readers of Baja Traveler magazine. In addition the American Sports Builders Association has bestowed an award to Palmilla Tennis Club as one of the top new tennis clubs in North America. The club offers five courts, all with state-of-the-art lighting. Three courts (including Center Court) surfaced with Plexi-pave/Plexi-cushion—the same as surface the Australian Open. Two Hartru Clay courts with an underground irrigation system—the first courts in Mexico with this feature and 260-seat Center Court with comfortable seating and overhead protection—fully ready for tournament level play.
Courts are open 8am 'til 9pm, seven days a week - http://www.palmillatennis.com/