CABO PULMO, MX
Cabo Pulmo is a very small town located on the eastern cape of the southern tip of Baja California Sur. It's a diving town. It's all there really is to do there. That's for the most part what it is. It's also a national Park. So it's all protected, which has allowed the diving to stay so good. There's probably something like 10 dive shops at least in this tiny little beachfront town catering mainly to scuba divers, but also to tourists doing snorkel tours, boat tours etc. When you drive into the tiny little town it will just be dive shop after dive shop. So if you are on the hunt for a place with a diving culture, here it is. It's the best diving on the Baja peninsula. The diving here is very, very good. Some of the best in Mexico I would say. It's also significantly less dove than other saturated dive spots in the country like Quintana Roo. It's a bit harder to get to — an hour at least out on the dirt roads in the East Cape, which keeps the crowds down here. It's a stunning drive-in though, on a really nice dirt road with intermittent views of the ocean throughout. The East Cape gets really wild again, which at least for me was extremely welcome after all of the civilization in La Paz and Los Cabos. More on the diving here though, which is realistically one of the only reasons that you would be coming out. There's great big fish diving here. Massive groupers, schools of jacks the size of a bus, bull-sharks at certain times of the year (special dives to see these), humpback whales, turtles, hammerheads, whale sharks, and the famous sea lions. Visibility is really good — on par with Caribbean destinations. Diving will be pricey here though. $250+ for a day of diving. But the sights could be amazing and worth it for anyone who dives for the love of it.
Cabo Pulmo is out on the south eastern tip of the peninsula. It's not the easiest place in the world to get to, but considering most of the people who are probably reading this are planning on or doing this by car, it shouldn't be too difficult. It's a small fishing village that has a diving problem as they say. But at this point it's pretty much just diving with over 10 shops all on the same road.
There are two ways to get into Cabo Pulmo, an easy way and a hard way. The easy way of course is less cool than the hard way. From San Jose or wherever, take highway 1 to the north, and follow it around and enter Pulmo from the north. You'll only have to hit about 6 miles of dirt road in this instance. But it will take you over an hour-and-a-half. Follow the signs for La Ribera, and take that exit to get off highway 1. Follow the Cabo Pulmo Road south over the dirt road for a while until you get there. The dirt road is really nice and easy, and no clearance or 4x4 is needed.
The 2nd way in from San Jose directly. Take the Camino Cabo Este Road out of town. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T TAKE THE EAST CAPE ROAD. The Camino Cabo Este is a newly paved road that goes about 10 miles into the east cape. Skipping a 10-mile or so stretch of absolutely terrible dried out riverbed and rock road along the water leading into the East Cape. I made this mistake and it was a long slow crawl over the rocks. Pretty though, but not worth it. The Cabo Este eventually heads out to the ocean and it turns into the beautiful dusty road that flanks the entirety of the east cape. It's an easy and beautiful drive and after an hour and 45 minutes from San Jose, you will be in Cabo Pulmo. The drive is much prettier, and more memorable, and really not much harder. The road is well kept and easy. And you'll get to see a lot of cool stuff along the way. Even turn it into a few days if you like. There's lots of little places to stop and camp and what not. The dirt road eventually just runs into Cabo Pulmo so you can't miss it.
TIPS:
1. DON'T TAKE THE BEACH OUT OF SAN JOSE. Take the paved road as far as you can. It's the one on google maps. Don't hug the beach after passing the Marina Golf Course. It's a terrible road and you could end up in trouble. It takes forever as well.
2. STOCK UP. Stock up on your food in San Jose del Cabo. The East cape is extremely rural, there aren't really grocery stores, and gas stations are hard to find. Get your supplies before heading in.
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
I just camped on the East Cape, and Cabo Pulmo was no exception. The camping options here are amazing and the East Cape has some of the best wild camping in Baja, Mexico, and maybe anywhere I have ever been. However if you are in Cabo Pulmo and want a place to stay, I would probably just go for Airbnb. There are no hostels or anything. The Airbnbs can be pricey, but so are the hotels here. Airbnbs can be as low as $75 a night. Things won't be cheap here in Cabo Pulmo. It's $250 for day of diving — that should tell you something.
EATS
I didn't spend too much time in actual Cabo Pulmo town. So I don't have much to offer here. I only ate at one place actually, which is mentioned below. But here you're going to find pretty much what you find all over Baja. Fish tacos.
Restaurants
We ate here when we were in town. It's a popularized spot right on the water. They have decent tacos and beer. I know, — great description, man.
NIGHTLIFE
— Pretty sure it doesn't exist. I am sure if you worked at a dive shop or something, there is a nightlife scene amongst the dive masters, but I never saw anything in terms of night life going on here.
SIGHTS
People dive here. That's what there is to do. Go diving, see the bull-sharks, the whale sharks, the giant schools of jacks, and all that. There are also whale watching boats that will go out from here. Other than the diving, there's nothing to do in Cabo Pulmo. There is, however, plenty to do on the East Cape in general. I will get to that on the East Cape page.
SURFING
There is plenty of surfing on the East Cape. And it's great. But this is not the East Cape page. No one comes to Cabo Pulmo to surf. Head over to the East Cape page for that.