May 11, 2011- Chileno Beach

If your arrive in Baja by airplane, than you will pass by Chileno Beach on your way to Cabo San Lucas. From the road it has a pretty coastal beach appearance, but once you actually get down to the beach, you discover that it is probably one of the most well maintained beaches at least in Baja.
Almost every day you will find goverment workers out on the beach picking up little bits of trash and guys dragging rakes through the sand to groom it. There are little palapas you can use for free, a bathroom with outdoor shower, and even a lifeguard on duty sometimes. One of the best parts? No vendors. No one selling you anything. You want a snack, well you better have packed it with you. I love to see the vendors, but honestly after the barage of vendors on Medano beach, this was a welcome respite.



Palm trees frame the golden sand, and perch on small cliffs surrounding the beach.
There are no big hotels right there, and most of the people actually seem to be locals. Tour boats do arrive every so often for snorkeling trips, but most of the people do not come off to the beach.




Speaking of snorkeling, it was way better than at Bahia Santa Maria. Large schools of fish in many varieties swam just off the beach against small, unthreatening rocks. The water is much clearer earlier in the morning, so even if the water has a bite to it at first, it is better to get in before the waves and snorkeling tours cloud up the water.




To the immediate right and left of Chileno, there are some even more secluded beach areas. You can walk to either location, and suddenly find that you are the only one in sight. The sand gets coarser away from Chileno, but that is probably because they do not maintain the smaller beaches as heavily.


One thing I really enjoyed was the colors of the beaches. Brilliant aqua, dark blues, and radiant yellows. The water was so soothing that we even lost track of time, getting back too late to see Amanda swim with the dolphins.



Poor Dad was so tired during this trip. He really would have loved to just fall in bed every afternoon, but we dragged him out to eat each night. This day we went to a restaurant I think called The Shrimp Factory. Way over priced, even though the food tasted really good. I did get to try the cheese stuffed bacon wrapped shrimp, which is suprisingly good, even if you can hear your arteries clogging while you chew.
One neat thing is that there is a board where people can write their name or a date all over it. Dad climbed way to the top and wrote his team name.


I could get used to a life with more days spent at the beach and shrimp on my plate at night.

May 10, 2011- Medano Beach

Tuesday was another beach day. After how rough the sand had been on my feet, I was looking forward to the slightly finer sand I had heard about at Medano Beach. Melissa was also dying to try paddle boarding, and had heard Medano was the place to go.

We picked a patch of sand out, and I rented an umbrella for the day. I knew I would need the bit of shade every now and again, and figured $7.00 was well worth it. I thought about paddle boarding too, but for some reason I struggled to spend money in Cabo. I had enough with me, but I guess my current over frugal nature prevented me from buying too much. The poor vendors were frustrated, as I wanted to look at everything, and I would ask the price, but I would never buy.



Here are a few picks of Melissa and Cameron learning to paddle board.



The water in Cabo San Lucas has such a suck and pull motion. You can be standing in the water, and think your feet are firmly planted under the sand, but suddenly you are being bounced forward or back. As long as you know how to swim, it's not a problem, but I can see how it would be scary if you didn't. Medano beach doesn't have the super strong rips though, so it tends to be a popular location for tourists.



Here's one of me in a posing mode.

After a couple of hours at the beach, we headed back to the hotel. The waves were huge, and we could even see them from way up in our room, so Melissa, Cameron, Amanda and I walked down for a little stroll on the beach. here are a few picks of views from the room, of the pool, and on the beach.








All in all another great vacation day. I am sitting here right now, enjoying the rain falling, but still wishing I was somewhere near the beach. I just love the ocean.

May 9, 2011- Shotgun Start and Bahia Santa Maria

Monday morning dawned bright and early. Really early for vacation. We were up and to the lobby by 5:30am. Teams of eager fishermen were loading the shuttles and heading to the marina. Friends and family were invited to attend a Shotgun cruise on the Oceanus. The ship was a little late starting out as we had to wait for the Govenor or Mayor, not exactly sure who he was, board the ship. We had an armed escort as a result of him being on board, which was kind of entertaining.

Some type of dolphins were jumping in the waters in front of the boats, using one of the many cruise ships as a back drop.



Orange and golden hues painted the skies as the teams gunned their engines and headed to their adventure.
After the boats were on their way, we cruised past the Arch and Land's End. There was sand underneath it, which I guess only happens every 5-10 years or so.




After we had made plans to drive to Cabo Pulmo, but with the delay in the cruise, and some other minor delays, we decided the start was a little too late, and it would make more sense to go somewhere close. We ended up gong to Bahia Santa Maria, which is just a few miles outside of Cabo.
The beach is pretty private if you get there early enough, although the sand is very coarse, and wears your feet out after a while. We snorkelled in the water, swam, and soaked up the sun.


I of course, had my Reef Safe Sunscreen with me. I have burned on trips before, and am now much more diligent about applying sunscreen, putting it on at least two or three times over the course of 4 hours, just to be safe.
Afer a pit stop at Melissa and Cameron's place,
we headed back to the Finisterra to see how Dad's day went, and to go to dinner.


They had caught some tuna that were just under weight,(bummer) so we took that to Captain Tony's restaurant, where they cooked up a huge plate of fish. I am not always a fish fan, but that was some amazing, fresh tuna. I ate several small peices, plus various other seafood. The food in Cabo is awesome, although a little pricier than I expected.