Planning a trip to Southern Loop
Long a favored destination of wave-hungry surfers, die-hard anglers, and motivated escape artists, the East Cape is not for couch potatoes. Most settlements here have no electricity or paved roads, which has kept development to a minimum; to get here, residents either challenge the dusty dirt roads by car, cruise by in sailboats or yachts, or fly their private planes to airstrips at out-of-the-way lodges. The reward for your effort, though, is some of the peninsula's most dramatic landscapes -- and chances are, you'll have it all to yourself: secret surf spots, desolate beaches, a coral-reef marine park, road runners, majestic cliffs, empty coves, lone burros, cactus forests, palm groves, craggy mountains, and more.
Visitor Information
The East Cape doesn't have its own tourism bureau, but the Visit Los Cabos office in San José (tel. 866/567-2226 in the U.S., or 624/143-4777; www.visitloscabos.org) has some useful information. Locally, Wolf Property Management (tel. 624/188-3029) in Los Barriles and the dive shop at the Cabo Pulmo Beach Resort (tel. 562/366-0398 in the U.S.) are good, if informal, sources.
Getting Around
You'll need a car to explore this region; there's no public transportation at all. The good news is, automotive mobility enables you to stop at any of the wild and deserted beaches that strikes your fancy as you're rolling down the road.
Getting There
The paved and well-maintained Hwy. 1 travels up the coast from San José to La Paz, hitting the coast at Los Barriles after an hour and a half (La Paz is another 1 1/2 hr. up the road). A few paved roads cut through to the coast, between Las Cuevas and La Ribera, for example, or part of the way from San José Viejo to La Fortuna. But for most of the East Cape's off-the-beaten-path beaches and communities, you'll have to take the unpaved coast road. From La Ribera to Cabo Pulmo it's graded gravel, and in pretty good shape; southward, it's slow going, but you should manage it in an ordinary car as long as there haven't been any rainstorms. Plan an hour and a half from Los Barriles to Cabo Pulmo, and 2 1/2 hours from Cabo Pulmo to San José.
