| January 2016 - Mexico
Kumi
and I went back to Cabo Pulmo, Mexico. Why? For diving of
course. Two of kumi's friends, Bill and Sherri, were joining
us. We were flying from different locations, but we all met up at
San Jose Del Cabo airport. Once we were all together, we left for
Cabo Pulmo (with a quick detour to Soriano's to pick up some food and
stuff). The drive was about the same with some "slight" improvements to the road... We arrived before sunset. This was a good thing. Kumi and I learned that from our previous trip... Upon arrival, we met up with Pilu and Henri, or divemaster and managers of Tres Amigos, the place we were staying at. Kumi and I didn’t get the place we originally planned on because the owner’s son arrived. But Henri hooked us up with a place that was much better. (Look in the pictures.) After unpacking, settling, etc., we went to Caballeros for dinner. Service was slow. (We knew that.) But the bottom line is "What's the rush?" It's not like we had to be anywhere. Side note: There are multiple places to stay in Cabo Pulmo. Which is not immediately apparent if you visit one of the Cabo Pulmo sites. Here are the ones I know of: Day 2 - Kumi and I went diving. The water temperature was cooler than the last time we were here, so this time we wore wet suits. We did two dives. We saw a lot of sealife. But the only thing that pops vividly in my mind is sharks! We saw 3 bull sharks. After the dive, Pilu explained what we’re supposed to do
(Yeah, we probably should have gotten a briefing beforehand. But in her defense, we weren’t expecting to see bull sharks.) After diving, kumi and I went to La Palapa, our favorite restaurant here. We both had the Grouper special. Delicious. It also resulted in food coma. So we returned to our Palapa, showered, and took a nap… The nap was longer than expected because kumi couldn’t get up later when Bill and Sherri wanted to go to dinner. They went without us to La Palapa. We did manage to get up later and go to Coral Reef restaurant. Day 3 - More diving. Sharks! Amberjack! Grouper! Whales! Oh my! Plus other assorted fish that I can’t remember. After diving, La Palapa again. (Did I mention we really like this place?) Kumi and I ordered different types of fish fillets. Both were awesome. Lunch at La Palapa was followed by the obligatory short nap on a bed, sofa, lounge, or hammock. Drink optional. That night, we went to a party at our “next door neighbor’s”. Short story: We had planned to have Pilu and Henri over for dinner. But the son of the owner of Tres Amigos, Josh, had already invited them for dinner at his place. We rescheduled but there was a little confusion on Josh’s part. The end result being Josh inviting all of us to the party at his place. It was a very nice party. Bill brought some Pork to add to the chicken, sausage, and steak that were already there. There was also potato salad, zucchini, salad, chips & salsa, and a few other things. Everyone was well fed. We went diving again the next day. (For those who don’t know, kumi loves to dive.) We went back to one of the dive sites we previously dove because a new couple joined the group. We were OK with that because I think most of us wanted more Shark pictures. During our previous dives, we never encountered the sharks until we were on the bottom. This time however, we could see one under us as soon as we jumped off the boat. I have to admit, it’s a tad disconcerting to see a bull shark below you as you’re descending. Also, during our previous dives, there was some debate as to whether there were actually 3 sharks. Turns out there were 4. After the sharks, the rest of the dive was kind of ho-hum. After diving, lunch at La Palapa. Then nap. Then prepare for a dinner party at our place. This was our dinner party for Pilu and Henri. We also invited two other divers, Carlos and his son Daniel. (Funny story: We first met Carlos and Daniel in September 2014, our first trip to Cabo Pulmo. They just happened to be here this time.) Josh couldn't make it because he had more guests over. The party went well. We served fish. (Josh fell in love with the pork and kept it.) One surprise from the party: kumi and I are now hooked on Hibiscus flavored Tang. The following day, kumi went diving. I slept in. Later, I did a walk around the town and took a few pictures. Not much has changed since the last time we were here. La Palapa did some renovations. The Cabo Pulmo WiFi has disappeared. It seems they are also building a tire shop. Later, I met kumi for lunch at La Palapa. Carlos and Daniel were there too. We were joined by another couple who went diving with them. Before the couple arrived, I was informed that they got sick on the boat. They were fine when they’re diving. They just get sick on the boat. Apparently, this happens regularly enough that they have pills… I’m guessing they really love to dive because I don’t think I would continue diving if I knew I would get sick every time. That night, Bill and Sherri made dinner from the leftovers from the night before. They also bought chicken. Kumi and I finished off the Hibiscus Tang and called it a night Day 6 - Do nothing day. Cabo Pulmo is a great place to do nothing. Diving was questionable that day so none of us went. The day can be summed up as follows:
Travel day. Bill and Sherri are flying back to California. Kumi and I are going to Cabo San Lucas for more diving and whatever. A quick farewell to Pilu, Henri, tigre, carmelo, and lika, then off we went. Note: It’s a much better drive to the airport when you’re not dealing with rain, washed out roads, flooded arroyos, and an incoming hurricane. We did do a short stop at the Tropic of Cancer for photos. (We crossed it a few times during this trip, but a type of visitors center was at this spot.) Then on to the airport. Bill and Sherri caught their flight. Kumi and I got a shuttle to Cabo San Lucas. Kumi reserved a room for us at Casa Bella. It’s a very nice boutique hotel in Cabo San Lucas. It’s across from Plaza Amelia Wilkes and a couple blocks from the Marina. We did our usual settle in and nap thing. Later, we ate dinner at Doc Wine Bar. It’s an Italian restaurant across the plaza from Casa Bella. Normally when I travel, I always eat the cuisine of the country I’m in. (Why fly to Bali to eat at a McDonald’s?) But we decided to try this place. It was good. Dinner was followed by a short walk through the plaza, then back to the hotel. Day 8 - More diving. (Shocking I know.) We went diving with Cabo Deep Blue. Kumi has dove with them many times before. I first dove with them in 2012. Oscar and Sachiko, the owners, are great. Kumi and I did a 2 tank dive. We dove a wreck site. I think visibility was about the same as Cabo Pulmo. We saw a lot of rays. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera. The depth we were diving exceeded its maximum depth rating. (Must get underwater casing.) After diving, we ate at Baja Cantina on the Marina. It is probably my favorite place to eat on the Marina. The food is good. The prices are reasonable. The view is good. After lunch, we had the obligatory siesta. Later for dinner, we wanted tacos. We wanted them quickly and we wanted them cheap. We went to “El Gran Pastor”. It’s about the size of 2 food carts… Excellent tacos. We got them to go to eat in our room while watching “ The Expanse”… The tacos were great and I don’t think I will be watching anymore episodes of that show. Day 9 - Kumi went diving and I
didn’t. The plan was to pick up my stuff and catch up on
TripAdvisor reviews and Tumblr updates. (I was a bit
behind.) Casa Bella has several nice areas to just relax or sit back and read/write/update stuff. That’s what I did most of the morning. No Tumblr updates though. Just as I was finishing the last few lines of my Tumblr update, my tablet ran out power. No auto-save. Update gone. I figured that was a sign to head down to the dive shop. I got there about 5 minutes before kumi returned from her dive. We went to the Tiki Bar for lunch. It’s a sports bar on the boardwalk that has mexican food and sushi. I had a burger and a sushi roll. While they were both good, they were not anything to “write home” about. Though technically, I guess I am “writing home” about them. I like Baja Cantina better. The rest of the day and night was siesta, eat (El Gran Pastor, awesome!), watch another episode of “The Expanse”, pack, sleep. Travel day. We had packed most of the stuff the night before. Kumi still had to go to the dive shop to get the rest of her gear. (Cabo Deep Blue was nice enough to let her leave her stuff there to dry overnight.) Barbara, a manager at Casa Bella, was also nice enough to drive us to the dive shop so we wouldn’t have to carry our luggage all the way there. Conveniently, the shuttle to the airport is about 50 yards away from Cabo Deep Blue. Kumi got her stuff. We said bye to Oscar and Sachiko. Then we caught the shuttle to the airport. We flew out of terminal 2. It’s relatively new. It’s nice. Passage through security screening is quick. (I know because I went through twice.) The rest of the return was uneventful. Something you always want when flying home. Things of note about this trip to Cabo Pulmo and Cabo San Lucas:
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