Medano Beach seemed like the last spot in Cabo San Lucas to try snorkeling, but I found myself doing it anyway. The beach is busy owing to its proximity to the resort town's crowded port and to the scenic tip of Baja California in clear view across the bay. The long, sandy stretch of coastline is filled with resorts hosting winter visitors trading blowing snow drifts for calm, lapping waves. Jet skis, water taxis, and parasailers compete with swimmers in the azure waters. But snorkelers? I suspected there'd be very few of us.
But there I was, having trekked over half an hour from my cruise ship's tender boat pier, passing hundreds of smaller docks and slips with my brand-new snorkeling gear on my back. To be fair, I was with my husband, and we wanted a scenic, relaxing day at the beach on a Christmas Eve off of our cruise ship. It was only me that wanted to snorkel. And having been to the area the previous month, and successfully snorkeled at nearby Pelican Rock with its fish-loving reefs, I really just wanted to take my equipment out for a test run. A seaworthy, ship shape, waterproof mask and snorkel were all that were on my mind, not any marine life.
So you can imagine my surprise when only seconds after donning my mask and fins and peering into the clear Sea of Cortez, I spotted a stingray. I was only twenty feet from shore, in less than six feet of water, and was more focused on acclimating to my new equipment than I was on spotting sea creatures. In fact, it's probably a testament to the excellent quality of my mask, crystal clear without a drop of leakage, that I saw the stingray at all.
The sea bottom was a flat expanse of golden sand in all directions save for the stingray that almost perfectly blended in with its surroundings. The animal was small too, maybe a little over a foot tip to tail, its faint but distinctive outline the only clue it was there at all. In fact, it blended so well with the sand that had my goggles been just a little bit foggy, I could have easily mistaken the ray for a slight rise formed by a breaking surf.
The stingray had tiny black spots, which is why it's sometimes called the chocolate chip ray. But it's really known as the Cortez round stingray or the spotted round stingray. I was amazed how stationary it was, which gave me a chance to take numerous photographs.
I swam out to the floating line that kept swimmers separated from water craft but I didn't see a lot of marine life. A school of snapper-like fish and a couple of porcupine puffers were the only other marine life I encountered. I kicked closer to shore, fins fitting and working wonderfully, hoping to discover more stingrays, but I didn't even run into that first one again.
Was my contact with the stingray a once-in-a-lifetime find? I doubt it because Cabo San Lucas abounds in marine life. People clearly know that because there were actually other snorkelers exploring off the beach. It makes sense that peering underwater anywhere in the area, even on people-crowded, sandy Medano Beach, will reward you with a fascinating discovery. No wonder even the water taxi back to the port would have substituted as a glass-bottom boat had I paid the skipper enough to open the lid on the window.
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| Cortez round stingray off Medano Beach in Cabo San Lucas. |
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| Cortez round stingray off Medano Beach. |
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| Cortez round stingray off Medano Beach. |
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| Beach hawkers on Medano Beach with view of the tip of Baja California and visiting cruise ships. |
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