The lure of the Baja Peninsula has brought legendary figures such as author John Steinbeck, underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau and godfather of all things fishy Ernest Hemingway to immerse themselves in the natural beauty that Baja offers up. Now, everyone can experience the wonder firsthand.
More than ever, eco-friendly adventuring options and outfitters are popping up by the day to put you gently into the natural wonder of the area. The proverbial “Desert of Eden” has two federally protected natural playgrounds, including the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, a 20,000-year-old coral reef that spans 45.75 square miles, and the 50,000-acre Cabo Real Ecological Preserve. They’re filled with gregarious dolphins, breaching whales, unimaginable summits, vibrant songbirds — and that’s only to get you started.
Fairytale Dreams. We all know the Disneyland charm of Flipper. But do you know Ende, Toulise or Monet? You most assuredly will, along with the other four friendly bottlenose dolphins that are part of Cabo Dolphins — an experience that will leave you breathless. Enjoy interacting with the beautiful marine mammals in an immaculately clean and comfortable swim tank, learn about their biology and personalities, and get on a more personal level with the joyful creatures. At a cost of US$165, participants are privy to a 30-minute tour to swim freely with the dolphins guided by an instructor, complete with dolphin kisses, fin shakes and water rides. Pick up a stuffed animal dolphin, souvenirs or even digital photos and streaming video of your experience with the wonderful creatures. Just a few minutes of up-close experience with these majestic mammals will make you more aware of the need to preserve our environment and manage our relationships with all living creatures.
Saddle Up! I’d never ridden a horse — until Cabo. Images of cowboys and Indians played through my mind when I hopped on Pepe, a friendly stallion. After we traversed over washed-out arroyos lined with saguaro cacti and rode full sprint along the crashing waves of the Pacific, well, it changed me. Without a doubt, an experience on horseback is the pinnacle of feeling the spirit of the Baja outback. The simple, lazy trodding of the horse on your four-hour jaunt will have you delicately inspecting the desert landscape and will open your eyes to wonderful sparks of nature, including rabbits, hawks, old Indian foundations and whales breaching the Pacific seascape. Amazing! Horseback excursions are available at the Meliá Cabo Real.
Watching Whales. To see a 10-ton mammal on television is one thing; to see it swimming next to you is another. Cabo’s world-famous whale sanctuary in Magdalena Bay is the intercept point where visiting gray, humpback, fin and Bryde’s whales congregate by the hundreds in a majestic gathering for onlookers to observe with humility. Whale watchers are privy to the whale’s 6,000-mile journey from the Chukchi and Bering Seas between Alaska and Siberia to the Baja waters. Main migration time through the Baja area is January through March, when the behemoth mammals seek sanctuary and better feeding off of Baja’s prolific coastline. SunRider Tours and Gray Line Tours offer half-day jaunts to the whale grounds for roughly US$45. Come see the gentle giants in their own world and get one up on the Discovery Channel.
Among the Treetops. Conjure up your inner Tarzan. Literally fly through the air past the treetops over the backdrop of the UNESCO-protected Boca de Sierra National Park on Cabo Adventure’s canopy tour. A series of liquid-quick zip lines cross wide-open canyons over the Commando and Burma Bridges before arriving at the Tarzan “swing” and some unique ascending zip lines. Climb walls and rappel down a 90-foot drop, then race your friends on the tandem zip line to see who’s really got the goods in your group. The canopy tour experience puts you into an arena only seen by treetop-dwelling mammals and birds, and you may just catch a glimpse of something too wonderful for words. Canopy Costa Azul runs a similar program.
Backpacking and Hiking. To really sink your feet into the soul of the Baja, backpacking and hiking takes top billing. Desert Park, the gateway to the 50,000-acre Cabo Real Ecological Preserve, is an oasis in the dusty landscape filled with treasures such as teeming waterfalls, myriad colorful birdlife and dazzling roadside flowers. El Picacho, 6,507 feet high, is one the highest peaks in the Sierra de la Laguna Mountains. It overlooks the unusual La Laguna, a serendipitous 1.5-mile long and wide meadow located at 5,600 feet. From that vantage, you can lay your eyes on emerald pools, massive rock formations and incredible unspoiled desert scenery. The ideal time for backpacking is the late fall, after the rainy season, when the streams are flowing preciously and you can take a refreshing dip in the soul-soothing pools. Try to hikes early in the day to avoid the Baja’s oppressive mid-afternoon heat.
Baja Outback offers hiking adventures in the town of Santiago, a charming village based in Sierra de la Laguna. Enjoy canyons, waterfalls, natural vistas and a visit to Rancho La Verdad, a working farm. Outfitters also make the run up to the La Paz section of the Cape where the uninhabited island of Espíritu Santo lies. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Espíritu Santo offers up surreal backpacking settings, with sea lion colonies, ghostly looking sea caves and immeasurable natural beauty. Don’t worry about making the trip in one day; stay at the Hotel Los Arcos in La Paz, which lies a few steps from the magnificent Cathedral of Our Lady of La Paz and just four blocks away from the Museum of Anthropology.
Turtle Encounter. True midnight magic descends upon the beaches of Los Cabos each year, as thousands of turtles migrate to return and nest on the soft sands along the Sea of Cortés. Known as one of Cabo’s most environmentally friendly resorts, Casa del Mar Beach Golf & Spa Resort has been named by the government as a protected sea turtle hatching ground, only one of three locations in Cabo to earn the honor. Guests of the resort are treated to a rare and delightful spectacle each year as five types of turtles — loggerhead, black, leatherback, olive ridley and hawksbill — nest and hatch between the months of June and December. Casa del Mar offers special Turtle Rates to resort guests from August through December, and ecologically, offers an extraordinary opportunity for resort guests to observe these singular creatures in their natural habitat. Guests can watch adult turtles lay their eggs, observe the hatched turtles in their holding corral, and handle the baby turtles in a supervised setting and even personally release them from the resort’s pristine beach into the sparkling Sea of Cortés. Baja Outback also runs programs that visit the turtle grounds, in which participants can adopt a baby turtle and help release it into the ocean. From July to January, you can find olive ridley and leatherback turtles; and from May to June, black, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles are more prevalent.
The Ocean’s Call. An endless palette of colorful tropical fish embellish the waters of Cabo Pulmo Marine Park and the San José estuary. For snorkelers, the shining emerald of the East Cape is the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, a natural ecosystem with hundreds of species of tropical fish and thousands of invertebrates. Tropical Tours runs snorkeling and scuba jaunts to Pelican Rock, teeming with puffer fish and king angelfish; Sand Falls, with its unique sand mountains that appear like underwater waterfalls; Neptune’s Finger, a rocky substrate dotted with multicolored sponges and turtles; and the more advanced Pinnacle, harboring stronger currents and depths of 50 to 80 feet. One of the most ethereal experiences is to kayak the marine parks. Paddle through the silent, shallow, crystal-clear waters of the San José estuary and Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, both bustling with diverse aquatic life, all the while serenaded by the birdsongs of the marbled godwit, long-billed curlew and great egrets that call the estuary home. Be sure to skim through the glassy waters of Los Chopitos, a magnificent area of the bay containing shallow, vibrant coral bars where it’s easy to get an eye-to-eye view of the coral ecosystem. Outfitters such as Baja Outback offer a four-hour paddle and snorkel tour of Twin Dolphin, Santa María Bay and Chileno Bay to experience a wide variety of the diverse ecological systems of the Sea of Cortés, brimming with angelfish, sergeant majors and myriad technicolored beauties.
Nature’s calling; answer it!
Why is Cabo so much fun? There is so much to do!
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