Worldmark Coral Baja in San Jose del Cabo

[geist1223]

We checked into Coral Baja today for a one week stay. We are in a 2 Bedroom Unit on the 3rd Floor of Phase 3. This is the Building that is semi-perpendicular to the Lobby Building and runs behind Mama Mia's. Nice Room with beautiful view. We stayed at Club Regina the previous week. It is located on the Corridor between the 2 towns next to the Westin. Our 1st week was at Royal Solaris next to Cabo Azul.

The check in was slow. It appears that over half the Front Desk Staff is very new and very challenged by English. As most of you may remember the Resort was closed for about a year after Hurricane Odile 3.5 years ago. It went through a major rebuild and major refurbishing after Hurrican Odile. The Resort has been re-open for only about 27 months. Yet one of the two elevators in Phase 3 in broken, has been broken for a while, and the staff has no idea when it will be fixed. The 2nd elevator in Phase 3 is very small. Barely 3 people can fit in it and the carpet is worn out.

There was no TV Channel Guide in the Room. We called the Front Desk. After going through several people we finally got someone that understood. About 20 minutes later one was delivered. Patti likes watching GMA in the morning with her breakfast. Can't do it. The Resort does not get ABC, CBS, or NBC. It does get FOX News and CNN.

We know these channels are available in the Cabo area. When we spent last week at Club Regina they had ABC, CBS, and NBC. Yes we know we are here to enjoy the weather and all the funs things to do. But we do enjoy watching the morning and evening news. We do not think of FOX or CNN as News Channels but propaganda conduits. So this is a Big Down Check and will greatly affect our post stay survey.

Editted to add: The WIFI is very poor. It is slow and we keep losing the connect. Did not have this problem at the other 2 Resorts.

 

[jrogersok]

Would you recommend for a first trip to Cabo?

 

[geist1223]

We have to be honest we love Coral Baja, warts and all. The 3 resorts we tend to stay (All very different experiences) are Roal Solaris (AI we are members but you can get slamming deals through Costco Travel. Though there are definite benefits to being a member.). Club Regina/RVC on the Corridor next to Westin. All patios` have wonderful ocean views. We spend hours watching the whales from the patio`. You really should have a rental car. We use to be members and sold it to a friend. You can get there through RCI. Coral Baja. We have stayed at Grand Mayan. Not that impressed. On our to do list is Cabo Azul.

We tend to stay in San Jose del Cabo area and avoid Cabo San Lucas.

Couple other points. Every activity will pick you up at the Resort and drop you off. If you want to swim with the Dolphins we prefer the activity in the Harbour at San Jose del Cabo. The others are large pools like Sea World. Swimming with the Whale Sharks in La Paz is pretty amazing. If you use one of the tourist activities in Cabo it is $180. If you go online and have a rental car you can get it for about $60. We were there for 3 weeks so we drove to La Paz to tour the city and while there we bought ticket for the next week from a guy on the street. It was $35. Driving to Coral Baja from the Airport is not difficult but they leave out 1 very important point in the directions you get. The Highway has a center divider. So coming from the Airport or San Jose del Cabo you drive about 1km to 1.5km past Coral Baja to a Returno. You drive down a ramp imto the Arroyo, turn left under the Bridge, back up a ramp to the Highway, drive to Coral Baja.

Edited to add: we can talk forever about Cabo and things to do. We have been going there since December 2006. If possible the best time to go is December to April. It can get very hot during the summer.

Edited to add Patti's remarks: You can get a small rental car (VW Polo) from Hertz for about $60 per week. Reserve online before going to Mexico and turn down all additional insurances. Club Regina/RVC has an optional AI for $65 per day per person. You can add days. So suggest signing up for a couple days to see if you like it. Then add days if you want to. You can eat for less than $65 per day if you shop and cook. Club Regina Units do not have oven only a 2 burner stove top. But then need a rental car. If you want to lay around a Resort and not cook Club Regina is a good options. As said above if you sign up for an activity they will pick you up and drop you off.

 

[geist1223]

We checked into Coral Baja today. We are staying for a week. Last week we were at Cabo Azul. The internet is fine in our room. We are in Room on third floor, Bldg 1. Same Bldg as Lobby. There is a sign on one of the elevators that says it is not working due to previous Storms. We have used it many times without a problem. Also the maids use it. I do not understand why an elevator would still not be working when it has been about 6 months since last tropical storm/hurricane brushed Cabo.

Yesterday we took a snorkeling tour to Cabo Pulmo. First snorkel did not go well. Could not get mask to seal correctly. It is my personal mask as it has vision corrected lens. Patti said it was pretty nice. Next snorkel was by a sea lion rock. Patti had no desire to get in there. I was working on my mask. By looking at Patti's mask I discovered I had threaded the straps incorrectly last time I took it apart to clean. Then we searched forever trying to find a large school of Big Eyed Jacks. Never found one. Could have skipped that part. Then we snorkeled the main reef. Could have done this all day. Really bad news most organized snorkel tours are now requiring you to wear a personal flotation device (life jacket). You do not have a choice. No flotation device you stay on the boat. It is horrible. It kept riding up around my neck and head. Forget about going below the surface. Think I will buy my own inflatable device. When not pumped up it does not hinder you. Patti hated it. Next time we go to Cabo Pulmo we will drive ourselves. The north road in was not that bad. The reef comes almost right up to the beach.

We love Coral Baja. We have been coming here for almost 15 years. It feels like home. It is not big and fancy like Cabo Azul. We liked Cabo Azul. We liked having a room overlooking the Serenity Adult only Pool. Never spent any time around the big pools with all the people and kids. Coral Baja just feels better.

 

[geist1223]

Today we leave Cabo. Let me asure you that the presunrise reserving of multiple lounge chairs around the pool and the moving of umbrellas on stands is in full force here. The worse case is one guy that goes down presunrise, spreads towels on about 8 chairs, and moves several umbrellas on stands to cover his chairs. Also the hanging of towels and bathsuits on patios is widely practiced even though management reminds people not to do it. I guess they have not figured out that every Condo has a clothes dryer. Or maybe they think using clothes dryers is not resort living. We have had a wonderful time. We only got to snorkel twice. Once at Chileno and once at Cabo Pulmo. We were going to go yesterday but there were too many morning clouds. We like to be at Chileno between 8 and 8:30. No wind, no waves, and no people. We did visit 1 Open House. It was a Gated Community by East Cape. It was a gorgeous house. It came furnished, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, Infinity Pool, Hot Tub, etc, etc. It was only $1.8 million. The basic HOA's were about $600. If you wanted lawn and Pool care that was an additional $600. They would also manage the rental if you wanted. The house went for $1,080 per night with a 7 night minimum. They took 23%. It will probably be 2 years before we return as next year is Europe and Australia.

 

[SmithOp]

I would recommend a swim belt for snorkeling, easy to pack in your suitcase it lies flat, doesn’t ride up or get in the way.

Try a little vaseline on your mask, I have a mustache and have seal problems under my nose, a little dab fixes it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[geist1223]

Once I threaded the straps correctly no further problems. For flotation device I am thinking about one of those that does over the neck and around the waist. You can open the valve and roll it up tightly, then seal the valve and put on. I used one provided by a snorkel company on Kauai. It worked really well and did not keep me from diving down.