Cabo San Lucas is located on the peninsula of the Baja California Sur where the Pacific Ocean beats against its shores. The peninsula acts like a buffer between the ocean and the Sea of Cortez.The waves are majestic and there seems to be a cadence to them. However, quite suddenly, a whopping, wave rolls in that can swamp you. I tend to walk at the highest point of the watermark on the sand.

On our first visit to Lover's Beach, Darrell was taking photos of me in the waves. He kept motioning me over to the surf so that he could get a dramatic picture of me standing knee-deep in the bubbling waves. We were interrupted by an insightful young man who could tell we were non-seasoned tourist. He had climbed down from his perch on the rock bluff about 500 feet away to growl at us, “Stay away from the waves—they're dangerous.” Later we would hear stories of tourists who were fishing on rocks near the shore and were swamped by a wave and pulled under by the tide. “You swim, you die” is a mantra you can expect to hear from residents.

Incidently, the photos of me in the surf never made it off the beach because as Darrell made his gigantic leap from shore to the glass bottom boat, the Velcro pouch and camera detached from his waist and flew into the water.