Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Duration: 1 week
Who went: Dad and three high school grads (all 18 years old)
Here is a recap of our adventure to Mexico as a Senior Trip for my son, Bix, and two of his friends, Carter and Ryley. All three boys are headed to college in August and did very well in school, so it was time to blow off some steam. We originally had a cruise planned, but the cruise ships did not open back up in time and we had to get refunded.
Why we chose Cabo
1) I have always wanted to visit there - on my list
2) Not super expensive
3) All-inclusive options just like the cruise - easier for foreigners and price fixed
4) Bonus: you can pay US$ for everything
Where it is
Cabo San Lucas is the southernmost city on the Baja peninsula in Mexico - the one that extends down south of California. The city actually east of Phoenix and is thus on Bill Clinton's favorite time zone - Mount'n Time.
Getting there
We were able to take a direct flight into Cabo from Austin. There are a lot of directs from the west coast and through Phoenix SkyHarbor. The airport is not huge - maybe about 15 gates. We prepaid for a shuttle to get us to the hotel and were able to find it by the name of the company from a courtesy desk inside the terminal after customs. You can also take a taxi - the price is pretty controlled and we paid US$21 for each rider to get there. We took a cab back for $22.50 per rider. The airport is about 45 minutes from the town. Note if you are going to the other large town in the area, San José del Cabo, the airport is a lot closer.
Where to stay
There are two main areas to stay - Gulf side and Pacific side. We chose the location based on amenities and price and also proximity to the Marina, but there are plenty of options on either side. One key factor is that many of the beaches on the Pacific side, including ours, are not swimmable. There are deadly undertow currents based on how the beaches have been formed. The gulf side is much calmer and offers many restaurants and swimmable areas.
Solmar resorts - there are three Solmar resorts in a row at the south tip of the peninsula on the Pacific Ocean side: Playa Grande (mid-price most amenities), Solmar (where we stayed, lowest price), and Grand Solmar (most expensive, luxury amenities). All three have great proximity to the Marina shops and downtown (walking distance, although Uber is Cheap). As a resident of Solmar, we could use the Playa Grande amenities, like mini-golf, workout room, and pools. We could not use the pools at Grand Solmar (which are very nice). We could eat and drink free at our hotel, or pay to eat or drink at either of the other two hotels. If you stayed at the other hotels I am not sure what their rules are for Solmar (regular).
Our room took a long time to get ready, but was very clean when we finally were allowed access at 4:30. We arrived early morning and were allowed to eat and drink and use the pool prior to our room readiness, so that was fine. The room was spacious, with two full bathrooms, a small kitchen, a pull-out couch, and a master bedroom with a king bed. Plenty of space for the four of us. For some reason, the bathtub had three knobs which I found overly amusing and never figured out what the middle one did.
Our place had a large porch that looked out onto the pool area, so the location was great - close to the restaurants and pool and beach.
There are three restaurants at the Solmar Resort - Tejaban is like the breakfast through dinner main restaurant, serving Mexican specialties, grilled food, and seafood. During the day they had a poolside sushi bar and pizza oven. And there was a small restaurant away from the pool area that served lunch plates and drinks. The food was pretty good, but one night I had a really tough steak. The shrimp and Mexican specialties were good. And having fresh sashimi by the pool was nice.
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| Solmar pool and swim-up bar |
The staff is very professional and warm and very accommodating. We saw several of the same staff day after day and they got to know us, as we knew them. They worked very hard to make sure our stay was enjoyable. I would definitely recommend Solmar to others who wish to stay in that part of the city.
Getting Around
Because of our location, we walked to the Marina area and to some downtown locations - less than 2 miles to pretty much anything, but if you want, Uber is very cheap - like US$3 for a trip, plus maybe a one or two dollar tip means you can get around on $5 bills. Off-property activities often will provide shuttle service, so we found a car was not needed and even better to not have one. You can get a bus if you want to go to San José del Cabo and it is also cheap.
Layout of the city
The centerpiece of the city is the Marina area. This is where you can charter boats to take you snorkeling, scuba, or deep-sea fishing. Hiring a boat was really easy - you basically just show up and someone will take you. You can negotiate pricing right there. Or you can book online like we did for snorkeling. Beware: There are literally like 100 salespeople there to not only sell fishing trips, but ATV, Camel rides, and any other activity. We talked to some guys who booked ATV's with a third party for $65 per person which was a little less than the web price. We had to pay $100 in cash upfront which seemed super shady, but it was all legit, with a confirmation number, contact details, and business card. See more below on "Day Three."
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| Viagra Man |
Surrounding the Marina are shops and restaurants, and literally a hundred pharmacies, and though there are some nice places to see, we ventured into town to eat and shop. Just northwest of the Marina, but within five blocks, are a lot of shops and restaurants. Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo is there as well as a lot of nightclubs, souvenir shops, and silver stores.
North of the Marina is the strip of beach on the Gulf side, where there are a lot of restaurants, and farther up, beach hotels.
Day One
Day one was getting there and basically drinking all day at the pool. We got settled in and had a couple of good meals and drank and swam all day. Cabo is a popular destination for 18-year-olds because that's the legal drinking age in Mexico. Our kids were not big drinkers at home, but they picked it up fast and went a little overboard. However, for the most part, they all did really well and no one got too sick. At some point, each of us was feeling the toll of the sun and drinking and had to take some downtime in the room.
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| Mexican Fiesta from our porch |
On Saturday night, the hotel put on a Mexican fiesta, with a delicious buffet and dancers. We met some other guests and just had a good time at the hotel.
Day Two
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| Mini-golf at Playa Grande |
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| Playa Grande, Cabo San Lucas |
On day two, after recovering from Day One, we journeyed to Playa Grande to see what was going on there. The Playa Grande resort is beautiful and, well, Grande. They have a fairly difficult 9-hole mini-golf course and nice pools with other activities on the grounds. We walked on the beach to get there and it was HOT. Like Sahara hot (or what I imagine Sahara hot is like). After walking back, we decided to go out on the town.
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| Cabo Wabo 1 |
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| Cabo Wabo 2 |
We booked an ATV tour at the Marina and headed to the Cabo Wabo restaurant. Only Ryley and I had ID so Bix and Carter had to Uber home to get theirs - that's how we found out Ubers were cheap. Ryley and I hung out at the restaurant until the other two got back and then after eating some appetizers we decided to go further downtown.
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| El Squid Roe |
We headed toward the club area and a restaurant-by-day, club-by-night, called El Squid Roe (hereafter called ESR). Bix had found it on the internet which said it was the number one nightclub spot. We went in and had a couple beers. The staff was hilarious and a little crazy - hazing each other with certain HR violations. We decided to come back during the night - $20 cover includes two drinks. More on ESR later.
We left there and wandered around for a bit - ultimately going back to the hotel and prepping to go out. On our way back, we went through the gauntlet of tour vendors, providing an endless list of optional tours, the best one being, "How about My Seester?" followed by a sealion call, "Ort, Ort, Ort."
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| Bix / Carter / Chicks |
We got back to ESR at 8pm, which turned out to be a little early. Later we found out people didn't show up until 9 or 9:30. This place is pretty big with three stories overlooking the first floor. There were bars on floors two and three and a large video screen with a DJ above it. It is open-air, but they have a tarp that can cover most of the restaurant when it starts raining, which it did one night. By 9:30 the place was insanely hopping and packed. Four of the guys from the hotel bought a bottle service which came with tequila and a booth. But not an ordinary booth. The back of the booth and the table are meant for standing on, and there were rails above to hold the people in. We ended up getting in there with them and lots of partying girls - at least 20 people in that small area and we had a blast. ESR closes around 11:45 so then we headed home. Other nights Bix and friends went to some other local clubs. BTW, we had ATV at 8:30am pickup. :(
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| Mmmm... drinks... |
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| Responsible adult (center) |
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| Lizard after-party Ryley |
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| Lizard after-party Bix |
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| Solmar Hotel at Night |
Day Three
Surprisingly, everyone was in a good mood, and not hungover, and ready to go ATVing at 8:30 AM. We met our driver in the hotel dropoff area and he was already waiting for us with the hotel concierge. It was about a 20-minute ride out of town to Picacho Adventures, at a remote desert location where we signed waivers and got ready to ride. The kids got automatics and I got a manual ATV which I liked a lot. Each ATV was a single rider. It turned out we were the only ones on the tour, so it was us, plus a guide, Emmanuel. We started out on man-made sand tracks through the desert. Various elevation changes and beautiful scenery were for the first four miles or so and we all thought it was super fun.
Then we stopped at an overlook to let the ATV's cool down and to take a rest. Just past the overlook was a view of a secluded beach on the Pacific Ocean. It was a great view. I didn't have my camera because I thought we would lose it, but Carter had some pictures I will post. On the beach was another ATV group racing down the beach and a caravan of camels and riders. We wound down to the beach and sped around fast for a while then went to a beautiful spot where rocks had been etched away by the waves. Emmanuel pointed out various native flora and let us take our time getting pictures on the rocks. Then we headed back the way we came - overall it was about a 1.5 hour trip. I would definitely recommend this type of tour if you like action, but still want to be fairly safe.
We spent the rest of the day chillin' at the hotel. We ate a random restaurant close by. At night we went back to ESR for a second night. No one had bottle service, but it was still pretty packed for a Monday night. After that night, Bix defeated a random guy on the street by shotgunning a beer in about 2 seconds and the other guy took like 10. When we got home we smoked cigars on the patio.
Warning: We were approached by Cocaine (sounds like Co-ca-eena) dealers every day - mostly the same guy, who called us a P* name when we said no thanks. Also, some guy was looking for a girl named Molly.
Day Four
Mostly a hotel day, we went to the Gulf side and ate at Mangodeck - a party place / restaurant, with drinking games for the audience. Bix and Carter walked on the beach and I enjoyed a Mango Margarita. The Office is another popular place next door. The three kids went together to ESR for night number three and I stayed home to drink giant kamikazes and write music. Everyone got home safely and we all went out to the beach and watched the waves for a while - they look really cool at night. While I was drunk on Kamikazes I booked us a snorkeling trip for Day 5.
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Stars and beach at night in Cabo
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Day Five
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| Pelican Rock |
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| Arch of Cabo |
I was not feeling great today. Too much sun and those Kamikazes (and other drinks) were taking a lot out of me. After our mandatory COVID checks at the hotel, I spent the whole morning in bed and prepped for the snorkeling trip at 2pm. After wandering around for a bit we found the snorkel place and to our surprise, we had to put on wetsuits. Then we got to the boat which was pretty dang small with no head (loo, can). Now, I get sick on the ocean very easily and already was not feeling great, but I was a trooper.
We headed out of the marina toward the snorkel spot by Lover's Beach, which is just south of our hotel. See diagram below. We went just past a large rock coming out of the ocean, which is Pelican Rock, and snorkeled between it and the beach. The water was super cold, even for our guide, and the ocean was pretty choppy - after about 30 minutes I was ready to call it quits and I hung out on the giant rock. We did see a lot of fish, and diving down about 15-20 feet I saw a school of about 30 big fish each about 2-3 feet long. Getting back in the boat on the tiny ladder was hard and then we headed toward the Arch, a natural stone arch formation at the very southern tip of the peninsula, formed by the constant waves hitting the stone. It is a must-see for anyone visiting Cabo. On the way to the arch, however, I lost my breakfast into the ocean with some violent puking, recovered, and made it back to the dock, without any further issue.
After snorkeling, we headed back to the hotel, and Bix and Carter played mini-golf again, while I got our COVID results (we all passed). We ate tacos and then Bix and Carter went to ESR. Ryley and I hung out in the room and watched the NBA game between the Utah Jazz and the LA Cleepers (it was in Spanish). The Spanish broadcasters are a lot more exciting to listen to than the US ones.
Day Six
This was our last day at the resort. We didn't do too much., Carter had a rest day, and Bix, Ryley, and I went silver shopping downtown. We walked there and Bix bought a chain at the second place we went to, haggling down to a reasonable price. Since we were leaving the next morning, all but Bix opted to stay in. Bix went to ESR, then a couple of other places. I had to stay up to get him home on my Uber because two nights before, the Uber driver didn't clock out before taking someone to the airport, so he was charged $50 for a $3 ride. Uber still hasn't fixed the error as I write this a week later. We had to get up at 5:30am for our checkout.
Day Seven
We got to the airport at 6:45am for our 8:45am flight only to find out we were the only ones there. There was only one other flight before 11am. Nothing was open except for a gift shop, so I read a book. We had a three-hour layover in Houston flying United and made it back to Austin by 5:30pm Austin time.
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| Solmar entry at 5:30am |
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Headed home
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| First flight out |
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| Empty Airport |
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| Three Amigos Headed Home |
