DRIVE AND DIVE MEXICO BAJA CALIFORNIA

Saturday 26th of January 2019

Amsterdam Schiphol – Mexico City – Los Cabos

Traffic jam on our way from Breda to Schiphol Airport but we make it in time. Luggage self-service is working but fortunately we’re directed to the desk. Our bags + machine = problems every time. No overweight so check-in is fast. Security scan and passport control self-service too. Now the trip starts. We’re on our way to Mexico to visit our American friends Chris & Glenn who recently moved to La Paz in Baja California. We also have a liveaboard dive trip to las Revillagigedo planned on the Rocio del Mar.

First we fly to Mexico City. After 2 fantastic episodes of the Orangutan School in Borneo and the movie MI-2 we touch down already. We start walking, walking, walking, through hallways, down stairs, more walking and then we come to a standstill. Immigrations and in front a huge, huge line of people (500+). I think we’ll never make our transfer in time. We move centimetres at the time. It takes over an hour and then we finally get our stamp. Now we have to collect our luggage and drop it off again down the hall. Next we need to take the sky train to the other terminal. Here we have to go to check-in again to collect new boarding passes, leaving just 15 minutes before boarding. The fatigue starts kicking in. 2 more hours on the flight to San Jose del Cabo. We arrive at midnight. The airport is almost deserted except for the 25 arriving passengers. Here our luggage gets scanned and my apple parts get confiscated. My cucumber, carrot and tomatoes can go into Mexico. We try to get money at the ATM but all our cards get rejected. We call the Aeropuerto Hotel and they send their car over to pick us up. We spend the night in a very comfortable bed.

Sunday 27th of January 2019

San Jose del Cabo – la Paz

We wake up early and see the sun rise. We try to make some coffee and tea and then go walking to the airport. There’re 2 terminals. First we visit the International one. Here the ATM is working. Next we walk to the National Terminal where we pick up the rental car. We booked an automatic but the Micra they want to give us is too small for our (dive)luggage. So we end up with a gear shift VW. Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and of we go. Sun is shining, skies are blue but after 5 meters we already ague about directions. Nav wants to go into the mountains but I want to take Highway 1 through Todos Santos. I win. It’s a nice Sunday morning drive and at 13.00 we arrive at the Almira Hotel in La Paz. We drop our stuff and go find our American friends who rented a wonderful apartment right around the corner. It’s great to see them again after so many years. Chris made a huge bowl of guacamole and pico de gallo. We have drinks and snack overlooking the bay of la Paz. Then we go to the Malecon for a walk and a look at the many statues. We end up having drinks and diner on the Malecon. It’s fun seeing the parade of pimped cars drive by, some with loud music.

Monday 28th of January 2019

La Paz

First thing we do is take the car to the Malecon to find coffee. When that mission is accomplished we walk up and down the Malecon. It is a fantastic place. We go back to the Almira for breakfast. They have a nice selection of fruits and yoghurt but if you rather fancy tortilla chips with cheese, beans, chicken in Choco sauce, eggs and sausage this is the right spot for you as well. After breakfast we go to the local harbour to pay a deposit for our whale shark & seals trip with VIP Adventures. Paying with PayPal would have been an easier solution if only our account worked. It’s already 12.00 when we meet our American friends again and take a drive to the beautiful Balandra Beach. The road over is fantastic. Dessert, hills full of cacti, mangroves. We find a spot on the beach of Balandra in the shade of some rocks. No wind, sun, it’s pretty hot. We have a look at the famous mushroom rock, make some drone shots, have some freshly backed oatmeal cookies and move on to Tecolote Beach. Much more wind here but also a restaurant. We have lunch on the beach with a beautiful view of Isla Ispirito Santo. Foods good but I have never been surrounded by so many flies. Next it’s time for some shopping in the local super mercado in la Paz. We watch sunset from the roof of the apartment and have delicious home cooked tostadas for dinner. Back to the hotel. I send some e-mails for information about the Grey whales in Magdalena Bay and the Blue Whales in Loreto.

Tuesday 29th of January 2019 

La Paz

Whale sharks & Seals

Up early. Got messages. No baby Greys in Magdalena Bay and no Blues in Loreto yet. If we’re flexible they advise to come medio February. That would mean we go to Cabo Pulmo first, then our Revillagigedo liveaboard trip and then visit Loreto and Magdalena Bay. We could do that but first breakfast and find some whale sharks. This could be our 9^th time with whale sharks after Cenderawasih bay (Indonesia), Tofo (Mozambique), Mafia Island (Tanzania), Utila (Honduras), Maldives (2x), Daedalus (Egypt) (2x). And still we’re very excited. At 8.30 we’re at the harbour. We have a semi private boat with 5 Americans. A parade of little boats leave the harbour. 14 in total have a permit to take visitors on a whale shark trip. Conditions are perfect. Sunny, no wind, little waves. It’s not long before we spot the first whale shark. We take turns going into the water. 2/3 pax max at the time and a guide. Regulations are pretty strict and that’s good to protect the whale sharks. I miss the first one but there are so many more to see. Must be about 30 or 40 of them. You’re support so stay at least 2m distance but at one point I almost get sandwiched between two whale sharks. After 2 hours the game’s over and we sail to a rock to look at some blue footed boobies. Lots of nice colourful crabs here too. The water is much clearer at this point. The captain tell us they had a jumping whale the other day. He shows some great photo’s. We go to the rock where a seal colony resides. Must be about 50. We go snorkel around the rock. The water feels really cold in our 3mm rentals. We see sealions in the water and lots of fish but I’m happy to get out of the water after 30 minutes. I’m shacking all over and my lips have turned blue. We go to a nice stretch of Balandra Beach, a part only accessible by boat. Here we have a fantastic lunch. For us they brought veggie burritos. Slowly I heat up in the sun. We hang out for a bit before we sail back full throttle to the harbour. It’s a pricy trip but well worth it.  

We head for the Malecon. Now I want to try the ice cream place. My Spanish is not so good so we end up with 3 big scoops instead of 2. But the Baileys Ice cream is great and the Ferrero Ice cream even better. We park on a bench in the shade on the Malecon. Before we go over to our friends we stop at to hotel to shower and rinse our snorkel gear. We used our own mask, snorkel, booties and fins. While Chris is preparing diner I book a room at Cabo Pulmo. Diving Cabo Pulmo Marine Park was on our wishlist. So that’ll be our next stop.

Wednesday 30th of January 2019

Cabo Pulmo

After breakfast we go in search of an ATM and do some shopping at the super mercado. Both can’t be found in Cabo Pulmo I’ve read. Bring food, bring cash. We buy yoghurt, fruits, cereals, avocados and dog cookies. Now we get the African Feel. It takes a while before we’re out of la Paz. The town turns out to be much bigger than we expected. We still have difficulties understanding the traffic rules. But once out of the city the road gets real quiet. The landscape is fantastic. Cacti. Mountains. Seaview. The asphalt ends and now we drive on gravel. The African Feel and an African Massage! Around 14.00 we arrive in Cabo Pulmo. We find our room but as there is nobody there we decide to have lunch first in the number 1 restaurant according to TripAdvisor: La Palapa.  It’s very busy and we have the last available table. The waiter is running back and forth and many dishes are out. But we still have a wonderful lunch with a great view. Next stop is Cabo Pulmo Watersport. Daniel brings us to our little room. When I ask for the key, Daniel breaks out in laughter. There is no key. Here we don’t lock things. Wow, this is a very special place in Mexico. Later we also meet Arturo. We make reservations for our dives tomorrow. We take a walk on the pebble stone beach and for sunset we head for Tito’s Restaurant where they serve fresh apple tea. They also have the most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen called Cati and a friendly dog. Cabo Pulmo is not much more than 3 streets. No shops, no electricity, no street lights so when it’s dark we go back to our room. We have a fridge that runs on solar power. No coffee or tea facilities, no drinking water. We have big windows on 3 sides but no curtains. Than again we have no neighbours and the starry sky is superb! Even from bed you see stars everywhere around. We go to bed early.

Thursday 31st of January 2019

Cabo Pulmo

Bull sharks

Whales

From bed we see the sun rise. It was a chilly night with only a bed sheet and a small colourful blanket. But when it’s light I spot a huge soft blanked in the corner of the room. So I call Arturo to ask if we can stay here another night. I make some yoghurt breakfast while Gerard walks over to Restaurant Los Caballero for coffee and some hot water for tea. Of course I brought along my own (rooibos) tea. At the dive shop it’s busy. Lots of tanks outside. 2 boats are loaded up. We join Arturo and will be looking for sharks at the wreck of the Vencedor. We have all our own gear. At 9.00 we walk over to the launch site. It is hot. Launch is super relaxed. We get in the boat and they push the boat in the water. What a difference with an African boat launch. First stop is the corner of the bay where our fellow divers do a check dive while we stay in the boat. We’re not asked to do a check dive because we did our last dives in Egypt over Christmas and New Year on a tour of the Great Islands and North on board the Golden Dolphin III. In no time we’re off to the dive site.

Dive: Wreck of the Vencedor

Time: 9.41

Dive time: 47 minutes

Depth: 14 meters

Temp: 22 Celsius

Viz: 10 meters

El Vencedor was a tuna trawler that sunk in the early eighties. The wreckage includes motor parts, a large holding tank, propeller, pieces of the huge tuna net and a fly wheel. It’s become an artificial reef surrounded by sand, schools of fish, yellow snapper, graybar grunt, puffer fish, moray eels, garden eels and bull sharks!

When we roll viz is bad. I need extra weight to get me down in my new double 7mm wet suite. We land on a sandy bottom. Fish everywhere. Bath fish, yellow snappers, porcupine fish, puffer fish. We swim past pieces of the wreck when we spot some massive bull sharks, 3-4 at one time. We lay down in the sand to watch the show. Some come really close. Fantastic.

After the first dive tanks get changed for the second. We’re given water and some snacks. We cruise for a bit until we spot several whales. A little one is jumping out of the water several times. We get plenty of time to watch the show. It’s an amazing interval.

Dive: El Bajo                    

Time: 11.45

Dive time: 45 minutes

Depth: 15 meters

Temp: 22 Celsius

Viz: 12 meters

I was told el Bajo should be on my dive list. It’s a shallow dive and the bottom is not much more than rock with cracks but there is so much fish. It’s simply wonderful. Many species I’ve never seen before. 2 beautiful rays, different schools of fish. Several nudibranchs as well. A very entertaining dive.

After diving we change and go for lunch at la Palapa. It’s very quiet and supplies are restocked. I decide I’d like to dive again tomorrow. Gerard is done. My dive gear can stay overnight at the dive shop. We go back to our little room with great view and try the shower. Warm and lots of power. Solar heated. Fluffy towels. We enjoy the view from our balcony, take another walk, head over to Tito’s for sunset and go back to our room when it’s dark. Stars are again plentiful.

Friday 1st of February 2019

Cabo Pulmo

Bull sharks

Fish tornado

Whales

Another fantastic sunrise. I join Gerard when he goes to get coffee. I get myself a cup of hot water and make myself rooibos tea. A yoghurt breakfast and to the dive centre. I join Arturo and put in a request for bull sharks and the fish tornado that Cabo Pulmo is famous for. Gerard makes drone images of the launch.

The new fellow divers have to do a check dive again. I think it’s a good thing. They finish fast but we still have to wait for our time slot. That’s a nice feature of diving in Cabo Pulmo. Every dive company gets a time slot to dive a place so the dive site is never crowded.

Dive: Wreck of the Vencedor

Time: 9.51

Dive time: 53 minutes

Depth: 14 meters

Temp: 21 Celsius

Viz: 10 meters

When we roll the whole scenery is different. Fish is gone. We soon spot a big female bull shark. She swims past fast, followed by a big school of sardines. It’s almost as if she’s running from the little fish. We also see a male bull shark but that’s it. Where there was plenty of fish yesterday, today there is none. The big school of yellow snappers are on the move. We circle the site and just before we go start our safety stop I see a huge fish standing vertical. The fish I’ve never seen before is at least 2 meters tall. On our way to the surface another bull shark.

After the first dive we get water and several nourishing snacks one could survive on for 2 days. No jumping whales today. Captain Paco starts looking for the fish tornado that I so much like to see. These fish move around all the time, so seeing them is not guaranteed. Suddenly a fish smell hits my nostrils. Fish tornado found on top of el Bajo.

Dive: El Bajo 

Time: 11.43

Dive time: 42 minutes

Depth: 16 meters

Temp: 22 Celsius

Viz: 12 meters

We roll. The school of jacks is enormous. We swim with them for 40 minutes, passing underneath, through the middle and on the sides. In the centre of the school it’s like somebody turns of the light. Big fishes pass through the school as well. We miss the scenery of el Bajo completely. Only at the end I spot another nice school of fish.

After the dive we spent some 45 minutes looking for whales and we get lucky. We spot a whole family and the  little one is jumping near our boat.

Back on shore Gerard and I decide to try out the sea kayaks that are available at our rental place. It’s a fun trip but paddling is always much harder than it looks.

A hot shower followed by guacamole and pico de gallo on our balcony. Veil clouds move in. No sunset. The little town is completely deserted. After dinner we use our little flash light to find our room. The stars are fantastic.

Saturday 2nd of February 2019 

Cabo Pulmo

From bed I see the sun rise and whales jumping. We put all our stuff in the car because we plan on leaving early. We go to get coffee and hot water at Los Caballeros. It’s the only place in town that also has a little shop. We meet a nice lady when Arturo walks in. We also meet Katy, manager of the holiday rentals. We chat a bit about wakeboarding and before we know it we’re invited to join the friends on a little boat trip looking for whales. It’s a fantastic boat ride and we see lots of whales.     

Of we go on our little (dirt) road trip to José del Cabo. We stop at every beach. At some of the beaches there’re campers parked. The road is gravel, stones and holes. View is beautiful. Gerard loves it. Just about every house that’s not an hotel or B&B is for sale. Some are pretty big and stylish. We’re overtaken by a MadMax car we later meet up with at the Vida Soul Restaurant. A pretty stylish place whit equal stylish prised lunch dishes. The American couple driving the MadMax car turns out to organise off road tours. It’s already getting late when we finally hit asphalt and drive over a long bridge into José del Cabo. Directions to Hotel Marisol are super easy. We drop our stuff and go to find an ice cream parlour right across from Hotel Azul. Wow, this must be a gold coast area. 9 euro for 2 ice creams! For dinner we go in search of Restaurant la Lupito Taco’s. This place was recommend to us by Kathy. The place is packed but they manage to squeeze us in for an hour. We end up in the best spot, out in the garden, band playing in front of us. Foods great. After supper we take a stroll through town looking at different galleries. On the marketplace there is a big show with dance and music. Not much tourists around, the ambiance is very authentic.

Sunday 3rd of February 2019

Early morning we spend walking around el Estero (Estuary) looking at different birds. We see plenty and it’s a nice walk.

From San José del Cabo we take Highway 1 to Cabo San Lucas, a very scenic route. We drop our stuff at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott Los Cabos. From there it’s just a little stroll into town. We spend a lot of time walking around the Marina and checking out the town. Lots of tourist here. This is supposed to be a big party place but first we have to wait for the Super Bowl game to finish before the clubs open. We hang out at The Giggling Marlin and Senor Frog’s los Cabos We spent the night doing some serious clubbin’ at Kitty Nightspot and El Squid Roe. 

Monday 4th of February 2019

Cabo San Lucas to San José del Cabo

After a hearty breakfast we go back into town. We’ve made a reservation with Wake Fun San Cabo to visit Cabo’s famous Land’s End arch and Lover’s Beach in style. But the boat’s broken and even though we wait 1+ hour they can’t get it fixed. So we drive back to Marisol Boutique Hotel in San José del Cabo. We stop at the harbour of to find the Roccio del Mar at the dock. We introduce ourselves to the captain and the dive guides and ask if we can already drop our diving equipment. That’s perfectly fine. Saves us a lot of luggage tomorrow. Lunch we have at stylish Casa Calavera at Vidanta Los Cabos. Next on the to-do-list is drop of our rental at the airport. There was a Thrifty car rental at the Zona Hotelera but they charged a lot extra if we’d drop the car there. We fill up the car at the local PEMEX GAS station on HIGHWAY 1 near Paseo del Esterio and Libramiento al Aeropuerto. BE WARE here for the first time ever they tried to scam us. Two employees start by stating their credit card facilities do not work. Ok, fine, we have dollars. So they fill up the tank. The pump shows litres and total price. Because we travel a lot I like to compare European, African and Middle American gas prices. So I always write gas prices per litre, total tanked litres and total price down. This time I get suspicious because we just put over 50L in a 40L tank! We start to make a fuss and all of a sudden the displayed litres and total amount on the pump flips and show a much lower amount of litres and a much lower price.

We drive to the airport, drop the car and take the local bus back to la Zona Hotelera. We have dinner around the corner of Marisol at Cynthia Fresh Organic Restaurant. We also try our luck at ice cream parlour La Dolcevilla. Turns out this one is much cheaper, has more flavours to choose from and scoops are enormous compared to the one across Azul Resort.

Tuesday 5th of February 2019 

Rocio del Mar, San José del Cabo

The alarm sounds at 6.00. Beautiful sunrise. A slight breeze. Some clouds. Perfect weather for a long boat trip. We take it slow because the taxi is ordered for 7.30. At 7.00 a knock on the door. Taxi is there. The short ride to the harbour still sets us back 20 USD. We’re greeted by the captain who helps us carry the rest of our stuff aboard. The rest of the guest arrive. Some slept in the nearby hotel el Ganzo. I start unpacking in our nice room while Gerard starts getting the dive gear ready. We have ‘standing spots’, no seats. I don’t know what to make of that. In the middle of the dive deck is a big camera table that gets fuller and fuller. The equipment is gigantic, worth a small fortune. We feel a little ashamed putting our little camera’s there. Down in the dining room breakfast is served. Make my day! A big plate of fruits, yoghurts, cereals, different kinds of bagels. At 9.30 we have the introduction of the crew and boat drill. The crossing to the Socorro Islands will take approximately 26-28 hrs. It’s a 400 km (250 miles) trip. We depart at 10.30. A huge sea lion says good bye. In front of the harbour a family of whales right next to the boat. Mum and child clearly visible, 5 meters from portside. A women wants to drone and the captain waits about 15 minutes. But the drone don’t want to start, probably because of all the iron of the boat and the running engine. We spend some time on the Top Deck in the sun, chatting to other guest. Lots of experience. I hear about the most fantastic dive trips. 12.30 lunch. The downstairs dining area is in the bow and is devoid of any view. The wooden benches aren’t very comfortable (or stable in waves). But the food they serve us is fantastic. Same goes for dinner at 19.00. A big advantage: our room nr. 7 is right on top of the dinner room. So we’re very close to our morning tea and coffee. Just step out our double bed room and roll down the stairs. In the salon on the Upper Deck the other guest watch a movie. It’s an uninspiring movie and it’s freezing cold with the aircon. We decide to go to bed early.