Lyn's Log, 16th March 2009 - Magdalena Bay to Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; N22º53', W109º34'; 20,701 miles.

We were going to leave Magdalena Bay on Friday the thirteenth, but the Port Captain said that the weather forecast looked bad. Normally we don't pay much attention to port captains' prognostications, which are more appropriate to local open fishing boats, but it seemed propitious to stay. In the event the weather was dull, overcast and, in this desert region, even a few drops of rain fell!.

The village at Man O' War cove in Magdalena Bay (above) is little more than a bunch of shacks on the beach housing the fishermen and their families, about 100 people in total. It is the only village on a very long and thin island stretching along the west Mexican coast. We decided to walk across the island from the Bay to the Pacific side. It only took an hour but was fascinating climbing through the desert scenery up a narrow arrayo between the hills. From a distance the hills looked quite bare, but there were actually many low shrubs and cacti, which the sprinkling of rain had brought into bloom with tiny, brightly coloured flowers. Some gave off intense aromas when we stepped on them. There were strange bolders of sparkling quartz scattered among the rocks.

We left early on 14th March and a day later anchored in the bay of Cabo San Lucas. How great to be back in the tropics! Cabo in Baja is like Las Vegas in Nevada: suddenly in the middle of impoverished desert one arrives at this incongruous, lush, expensive holiday-land for wealthy Americans. The long sandy beach in front of us was edged with many hotels, their loungers and sunshades out in the sand. Glass bottom boats, para-sailing boats, banana ride boats, jet skis and water taxis rushed around the entire bay. A marina was tucked into one end of the bay and this was the centre of the tourist area. Walking back from the huge shopping mall to the beach and our dinghy, past all the smaller shops and stalls surrounding the marina, I heard a tout call out, "We don’t rip you off as much as the others!"

Cabo may have had all the charm of a tacky Majorcan beach resort, but it appealed to us for a change, specially as the anchorage was good, free, and we could get free Internet as well. But time was pressing. We decided that we would bypass the well known resort of Puerto Vallarta on the mainland and instead head further south to Barra de Navidad where we were told we could find everything we needed for final stocking up befored leaving Mexico.