Want to see whales in Los Cabos? Go snorkeling at Santa Maria Beach, Cabo San Lucas. Seriously!
But let’s start this fishy-sounding tale from the beginning…
Santa Maria Beach, Cabo
There’s not a ripple stirring the sea. The water is so clear, we can spot tiny irridescent blue fish (damselfish?) at least 50 feet away, darting about the reef.
We love scuba diving in Cabo in October when the water is bathtub-warm. But even this December day (winter here, when daytime temps can sometimes be in the low 70s F.), the sea is warm enough for snorkeling.
We’re not fish experts, but the little blue fish we saw looked like these neon damselfish (Credit: Nick Hobgood)
So that’s what we’re doing – snorkeling in Santa Maria Bay in Cabo. Bumping fins with schools of colorful reef fish, and loving every moment!
Great snorkeling in Cabo
Santa Maria Beach, Cabo San Lucas, is one of the three top places to snorkel in Los Cabos.
The beach (“Playa Santa Maria” in local lingo) is also one of the best beaches in Los Cabos.
Where else to go snorkeling in Cabo? Best snorkeling tours? Get the scoop here
Having gone early (around 9:00 a.m.), we almost have the bay to ourselves. And good news, there are palapas that we can plop under for some welcome shade.
The only other souls are a group of Mexican workers raking the sand. The coarse golden beach is pristine – they’re not raking to collect any bits of garbage, but rather to make meticulous patterns of vertical and circular lines in the sand, presumably so snorkelers on the tour boats that will arrive later around 10:00 a.m. will gasp in wonder at this beautiful beach.
Isn’t the beach gorgeous? And see how there’s nobody else on it early in the morning
There are lots of colorful fish to be seen underwater at Santa Maria Beach (Credit: Joakant)
More of the kind of fish you see when snorkeling off Santa Maria Beach, Cabo San Lucas (Credit: Alice Key Studio)
Look, there are whales!
Later, drying off in the sun after more than an hour in the water, we spot the whales. They’re about 100 feet away from us on the beach.
At first, we see only plumes of spray.
And then – we see the slick round humps of humpbacks as they swim on the water’s surface.
And tails!
Admittedly, we’ve seen closer-up views of whales in Cabo on whale watching tours. But these whales are totally unexpected. And they just keep spouting and finning and showing us a whale of a time. A nice way to finish off a glorious morning of snorkeling…
Don’t laugh now, but here we are ready to see what’s underwater at Santa Maria Beach, Cabo
Snorkeling at Santa Maria Beach your own way
Here’s the key. We didn’t take a tour to go snorkeling at Santa Maria Beach. (If we had, we’d be sharing our views of Captain Nemo with up to 100 other eager snorkelers jumping off their catamaran or sailboat.)
No, if you want pristine conditions, the best way to go snorkeling here is to do it on your own.
Practical tips for snorkeling at Santa Maria beach, Los Cabos
Getting there by car:
Drive along the Corridor highway connecting Cabo San Lucas with San Jose del Cabo to Km 12 (8 miles east of Cabo) and look out for a turn-off toward the ocean. Follow the dirt road for about 1/4 mile to the sandy parking lot.
Getting there by bus:
It’s easy to to hop on the bus if you don’t have a car (we took the bus). It’s not a “first-class bus” like we took for longer distances when visiting Mexico’s colonial towns. But it’s very inexpensive, and not a hardship, if you’re feeling a little adventurous.
Buses will stop along the Corridor highway if you flag them down. Tell the driver you want to get off at Santa Maria Bay for snorkeling.
Need to know – few facilities:
Bring your own snorkel gear, water and snacks, as there’s no gear rental stand or public restaurant/bar (the attractive, often-empty, private beach club/restaurant at the far side of the bay is for nearby residents and doesn’t serve the public, even if you’re happy to pay).
You also won’t find any changing rooms, so you’ll probably want to wear your swimsuit under your clothes. But there are a couple of (reasonably clean) porta-potties out in the parking lot.
Santa Maria Beach, Cabo San Lucas – map
See below for the location of Santa Maria Bay.
Photo credits: 1, 3, 6 and 7 Andrea Norrie, Janice’s sister-in-law
We’re Janice and George Mucalov, professional award-winning travel writers, sharing tales of luxury travel with a twist of adventure.
In your article you state Santa Maria Bay is one of the three best places to snorkel in Cabo San Lucas. What are the other two? Thanks.
Oh, sorry, we should have mentioned the other two! They are Pelican Rock at Land’s End (take a water taxi to get there, or you can kayak over) and Chileno Bay (if you go on a snorkeling tour, both Santa Maria and Chileno are often included – but of course, you’ll have lots of other snorkelers with you).
We are in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Cabo for spring 2018. I am trying to figure out whether to stay in Cabo St. Lucas or San Jose Cabo. We like it quiet but still easy to get around without a car. Can Maria beach be accessible by a bus from San Jose Cabo?
Yes, there are buses that travel the Corridor between San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, stopping along the way (just let the driver know where you want to get off). We’ve taken the bus back and forth several times. Have fun planning your trip! Read here for some more info:
https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Travel-g152516-s302/San-Jose-Del-Cabo:Mexico:Getting.Around.html
http://www.loscabosguide.com/blog/2013/07/carless-in-los-cabos-a-basic-guide-to-public-transportation/
http://www.thecabolife.com/blog/getting-around-town
have you been snorkeling in Cabo in March? we are going in March 2017. Tried the snorkeling tour during our first trip and was very disappointed. Since the guides bait the fish, all we saw was gray striped fish (not sure of their name).
We haven’t gone snorkeling in Cabo in March – mostly October/November and December/January. Maybe try going snorkeling on your own, make it a bit of an adventure – and perhaps you won’t be quite so disappointed as you might be if on a “snorkeling tour.” You can find some good snorkeling around Pelican Rock by the Arch too. Take a glass bottom boat for a tour of the Arch and to see the sea lions, then get dropped off on the teeny strip of sand still in front of Pelican Rock, do some snorkeling and then hail a boat to go back. That’s a fun morning (and not as expensive as a tour). Enjoy your Cabo holiday!
I haven’t made it to Cabo San Lucas yet but hope to have a chance to explore the area one day and, of course, I will want to check out the life under the sea! Even though I prefer to scuba dive, it’s nice to have some relaxing snorkeling time, too, and this looks like a lovely location to do that.
Cabo is so close to where you are, no doubt you’ll get to explore it soonish :-).
Such vibrant, gorgeous colours and the beach to yourselves – that’s the way to do it! I’m hoping to go snorkeling next month in the Caribbean, if I see half as many fish as you did I’ll be happy.
The Caribbean waters are so gorgeous – and warm! No doubt you’ll have a great time regardless of how many fish you see :-).
I think I will go with the bus :) Really amazing place to dive
The bus is a good choice :-). We haven’t dived there, but know that divers go there – we can imagine all the little underwater canyons would make it a great place to dive too.
How incredible that you saw whales on your trip! Is the sea quite calm for snorkelling, I generally like to have my footing in the water?
The water at Santa Maria beach is perfectly calm – smooth as glass :-). You’d feel quite comfortable here. You can even see fish as you wade in when standing just waist-deep.
This is so beautiful! I want to visit this place in Cabo soon.
There aren’t too many swimmable beaches in Los Cabos so thanks for sharing your secret.:-)
Those photos are absolutely amazing! What kind of camera did you use?
Yes, riptides and wave conditions make many of Cabo’s beaches unsafe for swimming, whereas Santa Maria beach is great for this (with the added bonus of offering some nice snorkeling too). And do we know what kind of camera Janice’s sister-in-law has? (She took many of the photos.) A smallish one, that’s as far as we know! Not a good answer, but the best answer for now :-).
Have you snorkeled in Hawaii? I’d like your opinion of if it’s better snorkeling here or in Hawaii. Thanks for the tips though.
Yes, we have snorkeled in Hawaii – in Maui with sea turtles and off the Big Island with wild dolphins and also at night with manta rays. They are different experiences.
We probably wouldn’t plan a trip to Cabo just to snorkel, unless you visit in October and go to Cabo Pulmo (a marine sanctuary) or Los Islotes near La Paz (to snorkel with sea lions), or go snorkeling with whale sharks in the winter season in La Paz (and we’ve written about these experiences on our blog). But if you happen to be visiting Cabo, it’s definitely worth going snorkeling. It’s a fun thing to do there (along with golf, hiking to a canyon waterfall, sailing, etc.).
Where are the canyon waterfalls?
Are you talking about Fox Canyon near Santiago, about an hour from San Jose del Cabo? There’s a great hike there to a freshwater pool at the base of a 40-foot waterfall.
Oh the snorkeling looks incredible! And those little blue fish are just beautiful. That’s so lucky that you happened to see whales, it’s always exciting when sightings like that happen out of the blue.
It was totally unexpected to see whales – so yes, all the more fun :-).