Year-End Trip: San Jose del Cabo, Baja

Living in San Diego, I never fully understood the appeal of jetting off to a warm beach in the middle of winter. Well, that changed once we moved up here. The draw of family, sun and relaxation took us to Mexico for 10 days. Four years ago we made the full-on Baja drive in our 76 VW Westfalia. This time, we opted to fly from SFO.  On a side note, Virgin America just started non-stop service from SFO to SJD, so we gave them a try. This was my first time flying with them. I am a fan.

We spent the bulk of our time just outside of San Jose. The days blended together with  lots of pool time, beach lounging, book reading and naps.

Sunrise view from the condo.

Based upon a last minute recommendation from grad school friend Seth, we did a side trip to Cabo Pulmo to snorkel. It's an easy day trip from the Los Cabos area, with just the last 9 km of the road being unpaved. We took the dirt portions slow in our tiny rental car (aka: clown car).

Road to Cabo Pulmo. Totally manageable.

Cabo Pulmo is a tiny community, about 100 residents, on the East Cape. The draw is that this portion of the Sea of Cortez is a coral reef system with a large variety of fish and sea life. We rented some snorkel gear and hit the water. We saw several dozen fish ... lots of different colors and sizes. Quite lovely! Since we didn't have an underwater camera, you'll just have to trust me on that one. It was so relaxing to just slowly swim around, following fish, and bobbing up in the waves.  We broke up our snorkeling with some lounging. Not a bad way to spend the day.

Bob assessing the snorkel options.


And, on a nerdy geography note ... our day trip took us across the Tropic of Cancer, twice. This stretch of Mex. Highway 1 marks the point with a giant cement ball. On another nerdy geography note, we got up a 1:00 AM to see the lunar eclipse. Stunning deep red and right overhead, with the sounds of waves breaking in the background. Super cool.

At the Tropic of Cancer marker, Mexican Highway 1.