Sea of Cortez, Mexico

Darrell snorkels at the Living Reef on the Sea of Cortez

If you want to surf or snorkel, go inland to the Sea of Cortez. That’s what we did in May 2005. We embarked on a kayak tour to a living reef and had the most glorious adventure with Inea and Eric, our guides.
There were five on our outing, the two of us, two guides, a couple from another resort, and a diver who traveled to and from with us but went deep-sea diving while we went snorkeling. We were picked up early morning and were on our way. Our guides made a stop at a bakery in San Jose del Cabo and came out with a bag of scrumptious pastries, which we ate during our 45 minute jaunt down Highway 1, the one and only highway on the peninsula (it runs north and south from California to Lands End).

Our guides to the living reef on the Sea of Cortez

We veered off the highway to get to this most amazing restaurant where the owner and cook has the fame of not only being written up in a gourmet magazine but sleeps out under the stars every night. She has thatched cottages to rent to fisherman and a sprawling estate that includes other dwellings, but she prefers to sleep outside on this simple iron bed tucked between her restaurant and some shrubs. In the restaurant, she keeps a small traveling library where guests can drop off books or, more importantly, take one with to read. We put in our lunch order and were off to the sea.

After a brief intro on the beach as to how to navigate in a kayak, we jumped in and paddled to the living reef. I saw a stingray and other beautiful fish, but I was most excited to see the stingray because he fluttered down just beneath my feet to and wiggled himself into the sand where he stayed, letting the sand filter over top of him.

Of course, all the time, I was keeping my eye out for a gold dubloom or something shiny and valuable. The Sea of Cortez has a huge pirate history, and in fact, on another tour we met a Ms. Taylor, who was, according to our tour guide, of English and pirate descent.

Next on our tour, Inea led us on a two-mile kayak trip to see a den of sea lions while Eric stayed behind to practice swimming and diving for an upcoming athletic event. Before getting us out in the middle of the sea, the guides assured us that we did not have to kayak for two miles if we felt we were not up to it. I am sure there was some concern as to whether the two golden-oldies (Darrel and I) would be up to the trip, but we found it invigorating. The kayaks glide across the water. It was great seeing this herd of seals and their baby cubs, but the most fun thing happened when we arrived at shore and disembarked. Eric was waiting for us with the van. He had driven around the cape and had set up lounge chairs for us so we could plop and have something cold to drink while he and Inea loaded up the kayaks.

Cabo Favorites:

When we arrived back at the restaurant for lunch, there was a chilled pitcher of freshly-squeezed lemonade waiting for us on a table set for food and conversation.

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