You Can Get a Cheap Fun Boat Tour in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Our boat tour in Cabo San Lucas took four of us out to see El Arco.
Our excursion company let us down in Cabo San Lucas.
We knew our ship, Celebrity Infinity, would be showing up to port in Cabo later than a typical cruise ship arrival time, so we checked several times with the tour booking company, Viator, to ensure our 11 a.m. arrival would be OK. We were told: "No problem; they know the ship is later that day. They will wait for you."
Guess what? They didn't wait.
We got a refund from Viator, thankfully. But we were now in Cabo San Lucas with no snorkeling trip after diligently planning (that's what Colleen does) about eight months in advance almost every detail of our excursion plan for our 17-day cruise. I guess we should have expected one hiccup for such a long itinerary.
So, we improvised. It was an extremely hot and humid day in Cabo, which made it uncomfortable walking around after we tendered ashore that afternoon. This also added to the frustration in our group, with all the tour hawkers constantly harassing us.
"Yes, we do want to do something today."
"No, we are not yet sure what."
"No, I don't want to swim with dolphins."
"Please give us a moment of peace to weigh our options. Ugh.”
We finally settled on a boat tour out of the marina to see the famed El Arco rock formation and other sites of note.
The arch El Arco is an iconic rock formation just outside the marina in Cabo San Lucas.
Just the four of us in a boat with a skipper: $10 each for two hours. (Note: you have to pay an additional $1 just to walk onto the pier to get into your boat; thanks Cabo.)
This guy has got relaxing down to an art form. I want to know how it got up there.
While we had missed out on our planned snorkeling outing, I suspect we lucked out. I have a feeling the boat that left without us that morning was now in that ridiculously crowded area that I can see alongside about five other boats that had delivered a horde of fin-flapping tourists to a cramped roped-off spot to look at fish chummed to that same spot with wads of bread.
The whole scene was a chaotic mess, and I wanted no part of it.
Onward to El Arco
A crowd starts to form out at Lovers Beach on a hot afternoon.
We saw several interesting formations, caves, a pod of lounging and smelly sea lions and went past Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach.
Perhaps the coolest thing we saw was how friendly sea lions hop onto the back of fishing boats heading into and out of the marina. Crew treat the sea lions to leftover bait fish, and they love it. It's quite a sight to see these big brown animals crawl right up onto the back ledge of the boats.
After our tour, we escaped to a tavern to cool down and have beers and guacamole. Not the best day in Cabo San Lucas, but we made it work.
Thanks for reading,
JR