Lucy Y.
Yelp
Located about an hour's taxi ride from the airport, this is a solid choice for an all inclusive resort. The food is overall pretty good, the property is VERY clean, & for the most part service is gracious. The pools are lovely (there is an adults-only pool), the many jacuzzis are heated perfectly, and the shaded lounge chaises on the beach where servers will bring you snacks & drinks are so vacation-y feeling. (Just like all the beaches on this side of Cabo, the ocean is too rough to go in.)
Since I don't drink alcohol, the availability of free flowing alcohol doesn't factor into my personal list of positives. If you do drink, you will appreciate the swim up bar, the servers that bring you drinks on the beach, and the multitude of drinking opportunities & bar areas that serve all day long.
My top reason for coming back here is that I got to see BABY SEA TURTLES released! Strangely, the concierge was of *zero* help in learning about this opportunity, & the property didn't offer a paid turtle release experience like other hotels do. So it was entirely a fluke & due to our curiosity & lots of questions of the lifeguard & servers that we determined that anything turtle related was going on.
There is a fenced-in area on the edge of the beach where hotel-contracted biologists have placed sea turtle eggs in separate nests, so they can develop in a protected area. They find the eggs on the beach in the mornings by spotting & following the turtle tracks left by the mamas when they come up the beach to spawn.
The biologists note the spawn date, estimate the gestation period & label each clutch w/that info plus the species & approximate hatch date so they know when to check on them. In the wild, only about 1 in 1,000 turtles survive - so these biologists are doing a great service to combat future extinction.
Hatchlings can take 3-7 days to dig themselves out of where the eggs are buried, so many die of dehydration or get eaten during their journey to the ocean. So the biologists dig them up after they hatch (using gloved hands) and bring the adorable babies close enough to the water to point them in the direction - but far enough away so that they have to still journey down the sand & into the ocean themselves.
Even with the biologists' assistance, the babies really struggle - walking down the sand, getting flipped over by waves, half buried in wet sand, getting turned around, and sadly sometimes birds can even pick them off before they reach the water. It took the babies 40+ minutes to all get into the water! Their struggle IS real - but important for them to experience because they must learn to deal with the challenges. More importantly - this journey down the beach to the water will enable them to remember where they were born, so one day in the future they can return to the same beach to lay their own eggs. !!!
It is more natural & safer for the turtles to be released at night, so the biologists randomly do large (like 100!) baby releases in the middle of the night. They only hold back a few for tourists to be able to see them in the mornings. I timed my mornings so that I could witness turtle releases 3 days in a row, & I learned a little more each time. One morning I saw the biologists return from gathering 81 newly spawned eggs and relocate them to within the fenced-in area. Amazinggggg!!
Experiencing the egg relocation & turtle releases were the highlights of my trip. I learned so much about sea turtle behavior by asking the biologists questions. They were so patient, & so so sweet with the eggs & babies! They were also gentle yet quick to reprimand guests who tried to TOUCH the babies - aghhh, please DON'T BE THAT HUMAN. What a dream job these biologists have - to do this all day, every day.
Also very cool was that we could see whales from our ocean view room's balcony, plus boats, the beach, the protected turtle nest enclosure, and all the pools. The other side of the property was a marina view - where you can see lots of huge yachts, boat activity, and the working dolphins at Cabo Adventures right across the street. (If you stand for animal rights, I recommend *not* choosing a marina view room for this reason.)
The marina area is just across the street, so activities, scuba diving (Dive Cabo!), restaurants, shops, fish pedicures, and pharmacies are very easy to access. You can also see & hear the sea lions as they beg the incoming boats for fish!
Because I can witness the turtle releases, I would definitely come back to stay here again. The biologists said that the turtles spawn all year round in this area!
A random weirdness was that our private taxi to the resort cost $85usd but a similar private taxi back to the airport when we left cost $110usd. Shuttles cost considerably less as you are sharing with others, but it also takes a little longer because of their multiple pickups.
