I’ve contemplated how to write this article on Cabo Pulmo for a while now. Normally, I write a “things to do” post upon visiting a small town, but with Cabo Pulmo being a solar village of only 100 people, there is not a whole lot to do, which is the beauty of it.
Adding Hurricane Norma into the mix of limited local food supplies, dirt streets, and solar power without air conditioning, our glamping vacation in the Villa del Mar turned into quite an adventure! All things considered, we had a remarkably good time. But first here are things to know about Cabo Pulmo.
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Things to Know About Cabo Pulmo
Cabo Pulmo is located 80 miles northeast of Cabo San Lucas on the southeast corner of Baja California Sur. It is best known for the Cabo Pulmo National Marine Park. Once overfished, after many years of protection, it is now teeming with 25% of marine species in the Sea of Cortez and features the oldest of the three coral reefs on the North America’s west coast.
It draws SCUBA divers from around the world. Typically, for comfortable weather and water temperatures, October and November are the best months to visit Cabo Pulmo. Despite October being the end of hurricane season, it is the high season for diving in Cabo Pulmo.
Cabo Pulmo features a handful of houses for rent on VRBO, a few restaurants, a tiny store with non-perishable items, and several dive shops which line the road to the beach. During the high season, it is best to make your plans in advance.
Getting to Cabo Pulmo
Getting to Cabo Pulmo is straight forward if the dirt roads are not flooded by waves before a hurricane touches land (more on this later)! Simply fly into Cabo San Lucas’ airport, San Jose Cabo, rent a car, and take Highway 1 across the peninsula toward La Paz. Upon reaching the village of Las Cuevas, follow the signs to La Ribera and Cabo Pulmo. When the road Y’s in La Ribera, take the right hand side. Eventually the roads turn to dirt.
While most of the way is highway, the final six miles or so are dirt roads. You don’t need to be a 4×4, but it is best to rent a high clearance vehicle. We rented from Hertz and National, bought the full insurance, and everything was fine. Though I’d recommend skipping driving at night, mostly for the cows on the roads.
Is it Safe to Drive in Baja California Sur?
Because we had different itineraries after our planned three days in Cabo Pulmo, we three 45+ year old women rented two separate vehicles. Two of us traveled together all the way to Loreto, and one traveled solo to and from Cabo San Lucas. As far as safety was concerned, our travels were uneventful. Only hurricane Norma turned the trip into an adventure (more later).
On our way to Cabo Pulmo, we stopped for groceries at El Rey in La Ribera. This is a small store with a minimal selection, but it works for anyone who doesn’t have significant food allergies traveling to the area for a few days. There is a refrigerated section and several shelves of non-perishables.
Where to Eat in Cabo Pulmo
Anyone needing a more robust selection should visit a bigger store like La Comer or Sorianos near Los Cabos Airport.
Remarkably, for such a small village, there are a decent number of restaurants. While we ate our groceries for breakfast, lunch and snacks, we went out for dinner and drinks. During our short time in Cabo Pulmo, we ate at the Cabo Pulmo Dive Center’s Coral Reef Restaurant twice and went for beers at Tacos and Beers.
I can’t profess to amazing food, service, or ambience at the Coral Reef Restaurant, but it was good and walking distance from our VRBO accommodations, The Villa del Mar. Tacos and Beers, however, had great service and a view of the ocean! Some other restaurant choices include Pepe’s Pizza, Restaurante El Caballero, and La Palapa. Opening days and times varied during our visit in October with a hurricane in the forecast, but there will always be a choice.
Do You Need Cash in Cabo Pulmo?
While the Cabo Pulmo Dive Center takes credit cards, many of the other vendors only accept cash, US dollars or MX pesos. It is good to have small bills. That said, the bigger towns took credit cards. And now that cell service is available in Cabo Pulmo, this trend could change.
With the traveling tips to Cabo Pulmo covered, it’s time talk about our adventure, and an adventure it was. On a normal day, Cabo Pulmo, caters to the adventurous, off the beaten path travels. When a hurricane comes along, it’s more exciting!
We arrived in Baja California on a Wednesday afternoon. After claiming our bags, renting cars, stopping for groceries and beer, and making the two-hours drive, we finally arrived at Villa Del Mar in the late afternoon.
VRBO in Cabo Pulmo
Villa Del Mar is the nicest home to rent in Cabo Pulmo. The three bedroom, three bath home, includes a large dining area, kitchen, living room, and a nice outdoor space just feet from the ocean! Julie organized this trip, so we gave her the master.
Angela was nice enough to let me stay in the second bedroom attached to the house by a walkway to the main house through a covered patio. The third bedroom was a stand-alone structure, almost like a converted garage whose bathroom was across the driveway.
The covered back patio with a couch came with a stray yellow lab every morning. She was the spitting image of Angie’s previous dog, Remy. So that’s what we called her when she greeted us with a wagging tail over coffee.
The shared space, with ceramic tiled floors, solar powered fans, and a strong ocean breeze was nice. That said, the rusted screens, ants, an occasional roach and limited cross ventilation in the bedrooms s subtracted from the ambience.
Having spent many a nights camping, I was OK with it, but at the tender age of 52, I have now decided I require air conditioning in hot, humid climates. Mostly because I get a migraine headache when I overheat!
Angie who lives in the Colorado Rockies, quipped “Well you live in Texas, that’s hotter than here, Colorado, or Northern California where Julie lives.”
“Yes, but I don’t go outside after 11am. And then I live in air conditioning!”
After going for dinner and prepping our dive bags for the morning, I sprawled out on top of the sheets in nary pajamas in front of the standing fan trying to keep my inner thighs from sticking to each other as I drifted to sleep.
Diving in Cabo Pulmo
The following day, we drove to the dive shop next to Taco and Beers, where we met Claudio and Mani. Without our gear, we would have walked, but it was just a bit too far with loaded bags in tow. Claudio would be taking Julie and a few other clients out for freediving while Mani would be taking me and Angela SCUBA diving with another couple from Colorado.
What an experience! Our adventure began with just getting the boat into the water. Mexico does not allow a marina in the Cabo Pulmo National Park. As a result, they drive each dive boat to the beach on its respective trailer.
The boat captain, divemaster, and divers load into the boat on the beach. Then, they use the suburban to back each dive boat and trailer into the ocean. They time reversing the boat into the ocean with a wave to pull the boat off the trailer away from the beach. We waited our turn and finally lurched into the water.
The next thing we know five Mexicans, rattling in Spanish and waving their arms, are running into the ocean with their eyes as big as saucers. Our boat went forward instead of backwards. They pushed the boat onto the trailer and saved us from whatever impending doom they expected. Our second launch was much improved!
El Islote Dive Site
Since they only have one suburban, we were the last boat to launch, and as a result the last at the dive sites. With the storm brewing in the Pacific, we dove El Islote, a site minutes from the beach. We slithered into our 3 mm wetsuit, hooked on our BC’s, strapped on our fins, placed our masks on our face, put the regulator in our mouth and back rolled into the choppy ocean.
Upon signing OK, we dumped the air from our BC’s and descended into the murky water in hopes to see the schools of jacks and many of the other 900 species of fish that make the Sea of Cortez home. Near the surface, the storm surge was strong, but as we dropped to 50 feet, the water stilled. That said, the visibility stunk as we peered through a green tint.
Despite the crummy conditions, we saw some schooling fish, trunkfish, butterflyfish, seastars, eels, and a few of my favorite angelfish. And though we didn’t experience the world-renowned marine life for which Cabo Pulmo is famous, at least the dive was good enough to stay down a full hour. And from my perspective, it was great to see some of the Pacific fish that aren’t in the Caribbean in warm water without having the travel across the international dateline to Palau, the Philippines, or the Solomons.
Pedragal Dive Site
During our surface interval to off gas excess nitrogen, we motored to the west in hopes to dive with the sealions. The shallow waters combined with big waves nixed any idea of that, though we saw a few sea-lions relaxing on the volcanic rocks before we returned to a quieter location for our second dive, Pedragal.
Aside from the hundreds of tiny crabs tucked in the coral, there was nothing interesting to see on this dive. And the surge was horrendous. We shortened our dive and surfaced after 45 minutes. I couldn’t even stay still long enough to snap a photo of a crab that wasn’t blurry.
In fact, even on the first dive, if it weren’t for Dive+, the underwater photo editing app ever, I wouldn’t have a picture show. I sure wish they had an affiliate program, because that’s a brand I could get behind! Instead, they are getting a free plug! I highly recommend it.
Returning to Shore
Upon finishing our two-tank morning dive, the boat captain brought us back to the beach for another adventure. In these three hours, the rolling waves had probably tripled in size. This is when I thought to myself, I hope he is good at timing the crests of these swells, or our little boat will be filled with water in an instant.
Fortunately, he sped up and slowed down, timing the peaks and troughs perfectly. When the waves allowed, he zoomed into shore. We jumped out of the boat in mid-thigh water and outran the next breaker to the shore with many Mexican men tugging our arms. And the adventure only got more exciting from there, at least for Julie anyway.
Dinner at the Coral Reef
Diving was cancelled for the following day, so we rinsed our gear, set it on the patio to dry, went for a beer, and later had another dinner at The Coral Reef. The most charming young Mexican lady, who Julie met free diving was on her own, so we asked her to join us.
She was from Morelia where I had visited in February to see the Monarch Butterfly Migration in Mexico. She didn’t look older than twenty, so I was amazed by her nearly perfect English. Wishing to be fluent in Spanish, I asked, “Where did you learn English?”
By the end of dinner, we learned she has a master’s from Harvard in environmental science and her uncle was the former president of Mexico. She was so unassuming, and such a breath of fresh air. She only admitted her connection after Julie asked her how she could fly to Socorro Island, as there is only a Mexican Military Base!
Not only was she delightful, but also she gave us tips for our next Mexico excursion…Oaxaca…which coincidentally was recently voted the number one city in the world to visit by Travel & Leisure readers.
Avoiding Hurricane Norma
We all said our good-byes and spent the evening tracking Norma’s projected storm path and intensity on our phones and looking for alternative places to go. Originally, Angela and I were scheduled to go to La Paz on Saturday.
But that seemed implausible. A 10-mile change in the storm would give La Paz a direct hit. Not to mention, if the storm slowed down it would just be dumping inches of rain on us for our remaining days in Baja California.
Some mutual friends spent a month or two in Baja during COVID, and I recalled that they loved Loreto. And that is all I knew. I looked at the map, saw it was a seven-hour drive, and said, “I think we should go there. What do you think Angie? You are driving.”
Fortunately, Angie, with her easy-going personality, was game! We booked two nights in Loreto with hopes of potentially finishing out our vacation in La Paz.
In the meantime, Julie was contacting the sardine run liveaboard operator, Nautilus, and trying to figure out when and where they would be meeting. The boat was scheduled to depart out of Cabo San Lucas on Sunday, but they delayed it to Monday. As a result, the operator put her up in a hotel in Cabo for Sunday night. But Julie needed Saturday night reservations too and the hotel the operator booked was full! So, she found another one for Saturday.
All I could think of is she is going to drive directly into the storm and then somehow have to lug her bag from one hotel to another in a downpour or flood, as I doubted any taxis would be running.
What a difference a day makes!
Off to Loreto
With plans in hand, the following day, we bid farewell. Angie and I packed some snacks, loaded the car, and headed out between 8:30 and 9 Friday morning, mostly because we were hot and wanted to get to Loreto before dark.
Stuck in Cabo Pulmo
Julie waited until noon to return to Cabo because she couldn’t check into her hotel. That turned out to be a big mistake! The waves had flooded the dirt roads going North and South out of Cabo Pulmo. She was stranded in a solar village with some snacks, water, and Remy also known as Lady the dog!
Danny and Polo who tended the house came to board up the windows. The master bedroom was too close to the ocean as waves were already crashing over the breakwater and spraying the house.
At first Julie moved to the blue room which was the one detached from the house. She brought in important things like the coffee maker as she hunkered down. More of a cat person, because “dogs smell”, but an animal lover at heart, she opened the door to Lady who bounded in and jumped on the bed all dirty and wet. I giggle just picturing that.
If you go to Mexico during hurricane season, buy trip insurance!
Travelex Trip Insurance
Drive to Loreto
While Julie was preparing the blue room. We were driving to Loreto. The drive was very pretty with beautiful views of mountains, turquoise waters, and cactus patches for miles. It was mostly uneventful as well.
We had to off road briefly to get around a semi towing out jackknifed tractor trailer. We stopped once for gas. And while we waited in line for the attendant to fill the tank, the two men in the nearby truck ogled at us blonde beauties! That creeped Angela out. Haha.
Otherwise, we were waived through the government agriculture and drug blockade, similar to those near the Texas and California borders. In all, except for length and rarely knowing the posted speed limit, it was an easy drive.
Escaping Cabo Pulmo
We worried about Julie most of the way and stayed in touch. Fortunately, Julie joined the locals at the Coral Reef for a hurricane party, over time she upgraded from the Blue room to my room so she didn’t have to walk outside in the rain to the bathroom, and Lady became Julie’s new best friend. By the end of her three-day ordeal, she was ready to take Lady home with her.
Instead, she enlisted Danny to help her drive out of the muddy dirt roads so she could make the liveaboard connection which was now scheduled to pick up the clients in La Paz, which ended up taking the brunt of the storm.
Julie and Danny got stuck in the mud! But not to worry, five Mexican guys came to the rescue and pushed her out! Julie made it to Cabo and then took a shuttle to La Paz whose marina was trashed with a broken dock and strewn boats!
Angie and I were happy to know that scrapping our La Paz plans was the right choice. We liked Loreto so much that we finished out our vacation there while Julie safely boarded her liveaboard. Upon our return to Los Cabos to catch our flight five days later, we skirted La Paz whose roads were still covered in dirt from the flooding arroyos!
While it would have been nice to enjoy some good diving, at least we got a good story to tell and a memorable adventure in Cabo Pulmo. Stay tuned for Loreto, a pleasant surprise! ETB
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