Los Cabos for Lovers

Photos and article by Eleanor S. Morris

There's a romantic place on the very tip of Baja California, the south end of the California Peninsula, called Land's End. It's marked by El Arco, the Arch, a rugged rocky point around which swirl the waters of the Sea of Cortes as they merge with the mighty Pacific, and it's a favorite place for romance.

Long ago Spanish priests founded two missions, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, missions that didn't do much to save the souls of the native population but today have become havens for lovers of the good life, the happy life, the sybaritic life. The long stretch of waterfront between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas has become a boulevard of luxurious resorts, a perfect place to laze around and play all day.

Lovers and others take a glass-bottom boat around El Arco to the aptly named Playa Los Arcos, Lovers Beach. This secluded cove offers a dramatic contrast of the beautiful blue waters of the Sea of Cortes and the pounding Pacific surf, as well as playful seals frolicking on smaller rocksaround the arch. And you can scuba dive with the seals if you want.

The entire tip of the peninsula is one beautiful beach after another, either secluded or great for people-watching. A chain of fine resorts, Melia Los Cabos, Melia San Lucas, and Melia Cabo Real, offer spacious azure swimming pools framed by lush landscaping, leading to white sand beaches sloping into the cerulean blue waters of the Sea of Cortes.

For relaxing decadence, the Avanti Spa at Melia Cabo Real will soothe you with massages, hydrotherapy, body and facial treatments among other services.

There's a sunset Pirate Cruise aboard an 1885 sailing ship with heave-ho sailors manning the rigging (with whale watching in the January to April calving season). If you want to mix whale-watching with snorkeling, there's a boat or catamaran ride to Santa Maria Bay where the snorkeling is lovely.

Go sportsfishing and test your mettle against giant marlin where 2000 are caught any given year; see artisans at work in a glass factory and buy beautiful hand-blown glassware to take home.

Baja California is mainly desert, and the contrast between cactus and palm trees, sand and water, is romantic. If this calls to you, take a horseback ride, either trail or ecotour, to appreciate the wilderness of the region, the different cacti such as the giant cardon with its many branches, the larambullo, the old man cactus, so called because it's actually bearded, and biznaga, the barrel cactus that's edible.

Or take an ATV tour, 25 miles through the ecological reserve, a network of connecting trails, crossing arroyos, across mountains and canyons. The speed is slow in order to take in the stunning Sea of Cortes view and the flora and fauna of Los Cabos.

If you are golfers, there are championship courses all along the tourist corridor along the ocean. Melia Cabo Real has the "Cabo Real" course, host of the 1999 PGA Senior Slam and the "El Dorado" course designed by Jack Nicklaus. Others are the Jack Nicklaus designed course at Pamilla; another of his at Cabo del Sol; another by Robert Trent Jones II; and at the Cabo San Lucas Country Club, a Roy A. Dye designed course. So you can take your game seriously--or just relax and enjoy socking the ball amid the occasional sagurro cactus along the course. An added challenge is keeping your ball out of the water holes which in some cases are the entire Sea of Cortes bordering the course.

For fun outdoor eating, try the hot-pink-painted Office Restaurant and Bar on Playa El Medano, out at the water's edge on the white sand beach in Cabo San Lucas. And you won't need a boat to reach Billigan's Island Restaurant and Beach Club, also on Medano Beach in Cabo San Lucas. For fine dining, the chefs at Melia Los Cabos specialize in the authentic flavors of the best in Mexican and International cuisine, as do those at Melia San Lucas and Melia Cabo Real.

Shopping? It's fun browsing among the booths at the outdoor Mozulo Market at the Plaza Los Glorias Marina for all sorts of local arts and crafts. Plaza del Mar in Cabos, across from El Squid Roe, has T-shirts, tanktops, sweatshirts, accessories and more. Necru Artesiana in Cabo San Lucas specializes in pewter and talavera pottery. And there are lots of others....

Shopping, dining, golfing, fishing, boating, or just plain lying around in a luxurious resort, what could be more romantic than enjoying this in such a special place, where the desert ends in white sand coves and azure waters? Whether honeymooners, lovers, vacationers, fishermen or golfers come, Los Cabos remains basically untouched in its stark and mysterious beauty.