November 24 - Cabo San Lucas

This morning we anchored in the bay off of Cabo San Lucas.  Already at anchor was the Majestic Princess and later in the day the Navigator of the Seas arrived.  Including land-based tourists that meant there were lots of us wandering around.  I can’t really remember in what year I last came here, but it was a long time ago and the place had certainly grown.

Cabo is at the tip of the Baja peninsula which separates the Pacific from the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez.  Excavations have shown evidence of human habitation for over 10,000 years.  One of the first Europeans to see Baja was supposedly a shipwreck survivor who upon returning home told tales of an island inhabited by Amazons and rich in gold and pearls.  When Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who caused the fall of the Aztecs, heard the stories he sent an expedition to explore.  They didn’t find Amazons or great riches, but they did probably find sea lions of which there still are many in the area. (In fact, when I stepped out on my balcony first thing this morning I could hear them barking on the beach nearest our port side.)  One of the navigators of the ships established the first permanent European settlement in 1537. A fortress was built in  1587 to keep away pirates. In 1730 some Jesuit missionaries established a mission just north and called it San Jose del Cabo. The two neighboring communities became known simply as Los Cabos.

Today the two cities have a combined population of close to 400,000 and are popular tourist destinations.  One of the attractions besides beaches is the sport-fishing industry.  The marlin fishing tournament in Cabo is the highest-paying one in the world. In 2023 the payouts to teams totaled nearly $13 million.  In the late afternoon after I got back to the ship and sat on my veranda I saw a steady stream of sport-fishing boats coming back into the bay.  In 2022 more than 3.3 million tourists arrived at the airport that serves the area.  I don’t know how many more tourists came for at least a day via cruise ships.  Today alone there must have been at least 5 or 6 thousands of us in town.

Cabo is known for its spectacular rock formations.  Perhaps the most famous is Los Arcos de Cabo so here are a few pictures.

My friends Claudia and Colleen and I tendered ashore around 11:00 and began our wander.  The waterfront is bounded by souvenir shops, bars and restaurants.  There were lots of vendors selling everything from silver jewelry to green plastic iguanas and lizards.  People were hawking boat tours, bicycle tours, scuba tours, and driving tours.  Near the tender dock it was sort of a carnival atmosphere. On the other side of the walkway around the bay were marinas and docks with all kinds of boats. There were everything from small boats with outboard motors to multimillion dollar yachts.

Just a little boat

I love pelicans and there are lots of them here.

It was sunny and blazingly hot as we walked along.  Our friends Patricia and Susan who have spent a lot of time in Cabo and who were meeting relatives who were visiting in Cabo for a couple of months (they’re snowbirds from Canada) told us about a good restaurant away from the waterfront so we set out looking for that.  Eventually we found it a couple of blocks inland and we decided to have lunch at the Cabo Cantina.  Just a few minutes after we sat down our friends showed up and sat at the table next to us.  I don’t like this picture of me at all but I’m including it anyway so I can remember the gigantic glasses our margaritas were served in and the excellent food we had.  I want to make note of the fact that I only had one of those huge drinks whereas my two friends each had two margaritas.  We decided that I was the designated walker.  Everything was delicious including my shrimp fajitas and watermelon margarita.  After lunch we set out to find a mall because some of us needed a few supplies.  The mall turned out to be a very upscale place with stores like Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton.  My friend Patricia and I decided we’d walked enough, especially in the heat, so we left the others and took a cab back to the tender dock.  Our boat was waiting for us and off we went back to our home away from home.

In the evening after dinner with friends I went to a dance party out on deck.  I came back to the table I’d been sitting at before I got up to dance and on the other side there was a youngish man sitting who suddenly slammed his drink down and yelled about something (not to me or in fact to anyone else).  He stormed off and then came back and sat down again.  There were a number of officers on the staff around and then the Security chief showed up along with a couple of his security people and a big conversation ensued with the guy.  I moved my chair over to the next table and met two lovely couples from Maryland.  I think the man in question was very drunk because I heard from friends later that they had seen him at various times during the day and he had seemed smashed even then.  I don’t know what happened to him because the party ended and I left but he was still there surrounded by staff people.  We’re at sea for two days, so unless he has to walk the plank, he’s going to be here until LA on the 27th.  It was an interesting evening with a little drama to liven things up.  Never a dull day here on the Seabourn Quest.