Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

Cabo San Lucas is located at the very southern tip of the Baja Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez meet and is just over 1000 miles south of the USA and Mexican border. Cabo is one of Mexico’s top tourist destinations, we discovered why. This was the first time that either Kully or I have been to this part of Mexico, we were very impressed by the beautiful beaches, the spectacular rock formations and the picturesque harbor. Cabo began as a fishing village and at one time was a major hideout for pirates. Today the area is filled with beautiful resorts and a thriving sport fishing community. Fisherman come from around the world in hopes of catching the elusive Blue Marlin. The area is also winter grounds for several species of whales all of which were very active during our visit.

For cruisers this is a “Tender” port, meaning the ships anchor in the harbor and passengers are ferried to shore in smaller tender boats. Most ships, including ours, have lifeboats that double as tenders, so the process works very well it just takes a few extra minutes to get to shore in these ports.

We decided to take one of Viking’s optional tours, “Cabo by Land and Sea”. This was a 4.5-hour tour, but it wasn’t scheduled to depart until 1:15 PM. So, we decided to get off the ship early to explore downtown Cabo San Lucas on our own. The downtown area of Cabo wraps around the very picturesque harbor that is teaming with a variety of birds, sea lions and colorful boats of all sizes. We were greeted by the barking sound of sea lions as soon as we got off or our tender…what a sight. 

It became clear that Cabo San Lucas is the “party” area of Cabo. The harbor area is lined with restaurants and bars including Senor Frogs and other similar places. The night clubs and bars continue for a few blocks off of the harbor area with many local watering holes as well as more famous places like the Hard Rock Cafe and the most famous of all, Sammy Hagar’s Wabo Cabo. We strolled over to Wabo Cabo for a libation and lunch, what a great place. Huge menu of tropical drinks, beer and traditional Mexican foods. We ate in the outer cantina area but were able to go inside the main bar area where a lot of Sammy’s memorabilia is displayed. He has copies of gold records, guitars, concert photos and many photos of him with guest performers at his annual birthday celebration. It was well worth going a couple blocks out of our way to see.

By the time we finished lunch we had about an hour to stroll back to our excursion meeting point giving us time to check out a few souvenir shops and take some photos of the harbor.

We joined our tour group and boarded a large double decked boat to take a water tour of the outer harbor area. The highlight of this portion of the tour was a cruise out to the iconic El Arco, a natural rock formation that creates an arch over the beautiful waters at the mouth of the harbor. 

The whales were extremely active today. Several of our friends went on a whale watching tour and returned with some incredible photos. To our surprise and delight two whales breached very close to our boat while still in the bay. Unfortunately, neither Kully nor I were quick enough to get a picture.

After our harbor tour we returned to the dock to board a bus for the land portion of the tour. Our first stop was a local glass blowing factory where local artisans demonstrated their craft. The shop had a variety of glass objects ranging from beautiful bowls and vases to souvenir shop figurines. The building was beautifully directed with stained glass windows and ceilings.

Back to the bus and on to stop number two, at a restaurant named Sunset Monalisa overlooking the bay/harbor. The views were amazing.

From here we continued north along the coast of the Sea of Cortez for approximately seven miles to the mission town of San Jose del Cabo. The highway was lined with beautiful seaside resorts, beaches and golf courses. This is the quieter part of Cabo, not all the noise and night life of Cabo San Lucus. The guide told us that many US citizens own retirement property in and around San Jose del Cabo. Many of the businesses in the area cater to Americans. We saw several American chain stores… Office Max, Walmart, fast food restaurants, and there is even a huge Costco Warehouse Store. 

San Jose del Cabo dates back to 1730 when a Spanish Mission was founded as a replenishing stop for Spanish galleons making the long journey to the Philippines. A beautiful church stands on the original mission square that is now lined with art galleries, leather shops, fine jewelry stores, restaurants and souvenir shops.

From here we headed back to the port for our tender ride back to Viking Neptune arriving back on board at 6:30 PM. This was a great tour for an overview of the Cabo area. Our only disappointment was that it left so late in the day. It was dark by the time we got back to the port and we had little time to get ready for dinner. As I mentioned above, friends that went on the Whale watching tour had a great experience so if you are here during whale season that might be a better tour option. Also, there are many independent tour operators offering a full range of tours from the Cabo San Lucus harbor area for much less than the cruise line.

We will be at sea for the next two days. Our next port of call is Los Angles, California. Here we will disembark and embark roughly 400 passengers. The 400 or so new passengers will be joining as world cruisers and will be with us for the remainder of the world cruise itinerary.