Is La Paz getting a nude beach?

The ultimate trial balloon was recently let loose in La Paz regarding nudity. Nude beaches, of course, are a rarity in Mexico. Outside Zipolite in Oaxaca, there aren’t any, although Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo used to have one, and the Riviera Maya does have some adults-only resorts where clothing is optional. Tourists have also been known to occasionally take some liberties on the nation’s beaches, but as far as legal recognition goes, Playa Zipolite remains the only officially sanctioned nude beach in Mexico.

However, there might be a possibility for one in La Paz. Well, the municipality of La Paz, anyway. It would have to be an area with little traffic so as not to offend the sensibilities of locals, and indeed, the area proposed by the La Paz comptroller, Jorge Pável Castro Ríos, in an interview with Diario El Independiente, is about as low traffic as it gets: between Playas El Saltito and El Carrizalito.

He noted that no formal requests have been made to date, and that permits would have to be acquired from the appropriate authorities. But the fact that it was brought up at all does seem to suggest that La Paz might be amenable to the tourism dollars and media interest generated by such a proposal.

Vendor access is being limited on Los Cabos beaches 

Life is good on Los Cabos’ beautiful beaches. But if there is a complaint, particularly on the more popular playas, it’s that there are way too many vendors. Local business owners, who have heard the complaints from tourists for years, have been vocal in pushing the local government to crack down on the many unauthorized vendors found on beaches like Playa El Médano in Cabo San Lucas, some of whom come from other states during the high tourist season.

It appears their voices, on behalf of innumerable harried tourists, have finally been heard. Over 300 vendors have been swept from local beaches by authorities, and moving forward, only those who are properly permitted and wear the official uniform—a long-sleeved white shirt—will be allowed to sell their wares. New uniforms are expected to be issued to the 698 paid-up vendors this summer. ID cards will also be issued to those who ponied up the 1,200 pesos to renew their permit, and an additional 600 pesos for the shirt. 

That still seems like an awful lot of vendors pestering tourists, but at least it’s easy to see them coming.

Los Cabos has the only two A+ Blue Flag beaches in Mexico 

When the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) announced its Blue Flag beaches for 2024 – 2025, Los Cabos had 25 of Mexico’s 78 awarded beaches, the most of any single municipality. However, even among beaches heralded for their cleanliness, sustainability, and services, there are levels.

For example, there is an A+ designation that signifies the very highest achievement obtainable under the Blue Flag banner, meaning not only does a beach meet all 33 international criteria for water quality standards, safety, services, and environmental management and education, but it maintains cleanliness at a truly exceptional level (no mean feat given the amount of garbage regularly hauled from local beaches).

These standards are so stringent that to date, only two beaches in Mexico have ever qualified: Playas Palmilla and Santa María in Los Cabos. The two A+ awardees were recently announced after a two-week audit, bringing attention to just how pristinely maintained these coastal stretches are, in addition to their aesthetic beauty. 

Naturally, that means the other local beaches aren’t operating at A+ levels. Blue Flag awardee Playa El Chileno, notably, appears to be struggling to maintain even the basic standard. For example, there have been reports of activities prohibited under Blue Flag rules, including unlicensed food and alcohol sales, and the unauthorized renting of beach chairs to tourists. Vendors without permits, of the kind mentioned earlier, have also allegedly been harassing beachgoers there.

Play El Chileno, it should be pointed out, is a very popular beach, particularly among locals. It’s also very beautiful, with excellent swimming and snorkeling. However, despite being a perennial Blue Flag winner and one of the first five beaches ever to achieve the honor in Mexico (dating back to 2014), it could be in danger of losing that status. 

It wouldn’t be the first. The thing about Blue Flag beaches is that the quality has to be consistently maintained, which is sometimes hard to do. But Los Cabos’ government has shown a commitment to keeping its beaches in excellent condition, resulting not only in its record number of Blue Flag playas, but also 17 newly minted Platinum ones. This honor, like the Blue Flag, is premised on cleanliness, services, and sustainability. But it’s administered not by FEE, but rather by the domestic Instituto Mexicano de Normalización y Certificación.

New signs delivered to popular Los Cabos beaches

New signage is also being delivered to some Los Cabos beaches this summer, as part of a Zofemat (Zona Federal Marítimo Terrestre) initiative to promote self-care and safety. The signs will showcase plenty of useful information, including an explanation of the flag system used to update the water conditions for swimming or other aquatic activities. 

No, this has nothing to do with the aforementioned blue or platinum flags. Rather, it refers to color-coded flags like the green, yellow, and red ones that are occasionally flown, and which, like the colors of a stop light, tell you whether you can swim because conditions are safe, you should take caution, or avoid getting in the water altogether. White flags, meanwhile, mean there are jellyfish in the water, while black flags indicate beach closure.

The signs weren’t installed at all beaches, but only at those that see the most traffic. 

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.

The post MND Local: Los Cabos news roundup appeared first on Mexico News Daily

In its second-quarter earnings report issued last week, SCC, a subsidiary of Grupo México, one of the largest copper producers in the world, said ongoing negotiations are designed to secure environmental and operational approvals needed to move forward with several key projects in the country.

“We are in talks with the current administration to continue SCC’s US $10.2 billion investment in Mexico,” it said in the report.

SCC identified several Mexican projects it hopes to develop, including mines in Angangueo (Michoacán) and Chalchihuites (Zacatecas), as well as the El Arco copper deposit (Baja California) and the El Pilar project (Sonora), which is a conventional open-pit mine with an annual production capacity of 36,000 metric tons of copper cathodes. 

The company also hopes to revisit plans to invest in a copper smelter project in Sonora.

SCC’s mines in Mexico produce more semi-processed copper, or concentrate, than its plants can handle, forcing the company to rely on offshore smelters. Before Mexico’s latest mining reforms in 2023, the company was considering spending US $1 billion on a new smelter in Sonora.

The reforms significantly altered Mexico’s mining regime, emphasizing enhanced environmental and social protections. The reform included modifications to mining concessions (reducing them from 50 years to 30 years, among other changes), water rights and obligations for concession holders.

Regarding fracking and open-pit mining (the latter being of interest to Southern Copper), the reform authorizes contracts and concessions at the discretion of the president, “due to their strategic nature for national development.”

BCS legislators call on Baja California to reject copper mining mega-project

Mining.com magazine reported that as of late 2024, “there were 116 pending environmental approvals with [the Environment Ministry] and 107 awaiting clearance from [the National Water Commission] Conagua.”

Southern Copper, with operations in Mexico and Peru, said its investment plans include an immediate expenditure of more than US $600 million by the end of 2025 in both open-pit and underground operations in Mexico. 

The company said it would spend roughly half of that to modernize infrastructure and ensure long-term viability. It would also target “water efficiency, tailings management and operational improvements to boost productivity and sustainability,” according to the industry platform Mining Reporters, which focuses on mining in Latin America.

The planned investments would go a long way in strengthening SCC’s position as a fully integrated copper producer, it said in its earning report.

With reports from El Economista, Mining Reporters and Mining.com

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The regulations specifically target the community of La Ventana on the southeastern, or Gulf of California, side of the peninsula where the overwhelming majority of the boats offering orca-tracking services operate.

Swimming alongside orcas at La Ventana Beach, Mexico pic.twitter.com/PS4x2XJgv2

— ViralRush (@tweetciiiim) June 24, 2025

The protocol — published by the state Environment Ministry (SMADS) — requires that tourism boats interacting with the animals acquire permits and limits the number of boats that can surround an individual or family of orcas on any given day.

The Model Management Plan for the Conservation and Non-Extractive Use of Orcinus orca aims to ensure that tourists are allowed to swim with orcas only in La Ventana.

Georgina Saad, a marine biologist who studied at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, called the site limit the most important part of the pilot program.

“We can send the message that this is the only place to do it, and this is how it is going to be done, and the rest is illegal,” she told the newspaper The Guardian.

Saad and Erick Higuera, a marine biologist and documentary filmmaker based in Baja California Sur, were among the scientists advising the SMADS as it sought to address the legal gray area being exploited by tourism providers.

The activity, which reportedly took off after several Instagram posts went viral in 2019, fell between strict whale-watching regulations — which apply specifically to baleen whales and the sperm whale — and the orcas’ status as a species “Subject to Special Protection.” 

So while the “Special Protection” norm provides guidelines for conservation and management, it does not regulate swimming or other direct interactions with orcas, which are actually not whales but members of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae).

The plan goes beyond establishing a quota on the number of people and boats that can interact with the orcas. It also requires boat captains to respect the animals’ behavior — if they exhibit distress, the boats must retreat.

The revenues from the boat permits will fund training for captains and local residents as well as pay for patrol boats to enforce the decree.

“The goal is to teach captains and guides how to read the whales’ behavior so they know when to interact with the animals, how to do so safely, and when to give the orcas space,” Saad told The Guardian.

Not everyone is happy with the SMADS decision. Local boat captains have expressed concern that the permits will go to established tour companies in Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

Some tour company operators complained that they were not involved in crafting the plan. Others wondered why the program is limited to La Ventana when orcas roam around the entire peninsula.

With reports from The Guardian and El Sudcaliforniano

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Agricultural bounty in La Paz, as one might expect, doesn’t come from the city, but rather from a few small production areas like El Carrizal, El Centenario, Los Planes, and Todos Santos that account for only a fraction of the land in the larger municipality, but the vast majority of crops. Todos Santos is particularly notable, not only because it and the neighboring community of El Pescadero account for a significant portion of the total growing area in La Paz. But also because they’re the heart and soul of the municipality’s thriving farm-to-table restaurant scene. 

Farm-to-table restaurants in Todos Santos and El Pescadero

Although there’s a history of farming centuries old in these areas, the farm-to-table movement has flourished in the last two decades, led by restaurants such as Cocina de Campo by Agricole, Hierbabuena, and Jazamango. 

Of course, each is distinct. Hierbabuena, founded in 2013 in El Pescadero, has a small garden of perhaps one acre, but grows upwards of 40 different varieties of fruits, flowers, herbs, and vegetables, which it incorporates into its delicious menu specialties. Contrast this with Agricole, the 37-acre El Pescadero farming cooperative founded by Elizabeth Ibarra Vivanco, whose abundant produce may be found in its farm store market and also in its restaurant, Cocina de Campo by Agricole — the latter of which has been celebrated as a Bib Gourmand selection by the Michelin Guide, certifying exceptional quality and value.

Javier Plascencia, the scion of a Tijuana family of restaurateurs, needed no introduction when he opened Jazamango in Todos Santos in 2017. He’s the most famous chef in the Baja California peninsula and has his own Michelin Guide credentials, having received a coveted star for Animalón in Valle de Guadalupe. The restaurant was thus eagerly anticipated, and has lived up to its billing thanks not only to kitchen talent, but the restaurant’s reliance on local ingredients, many of them coming from the onsite garden. 

There are other farm-to-table attractions, too, as well as those that don’t fit so neatly under the farm-to-table label, but certainly merit attention from visitors. Baja Beans, for example, is best known for its coffee, which can be sipped in fashionable resorts throughout the region and at its burgeoning number of cafés. The original is in El Pescadero and is also worth visiting for its Sunday Market, a great place to find fresh, local produce. Meanwhile, boutique hotel Paradero Todos Santos, which opened in early 2021, is bounded by family farms, a fortunate occurrence for diners at Tenoch by Paradero, its Michelin Guide-recognized restaurant. 

Agricultural production in the La Paz municipality

Just under 4,000 hectares, or nearly 10,000 acres, are farmed in the municipality of La Paz, producing close to 140,000 tons annually of fruits and vegetables, including asparagus, basil, chile peppers, mango, melon, and tomato. Chile peppers, oddly, are botanically classed as a fruit, and account for over half (51.1%) of all agricultural production in La Paz. The fruit most associated with the region, though, is mango, so ubiquitous during the summer months that its fresh juice can be found at restaurants around the region, and particularly so in Todos Santos, where there’s even an annual festival dedicated to its many uses. 

However, tomatoes and chile peppers remain the staple crops and account for close to 80% of all produce grown in the La Paz municipality. Each is also planted in Todos Santos and El Pescadero, too, although these communities each have their own specialties. In a 2015 study, for instance, it was noted that 41% of the planting area in Todos Santos was set aside for poblano peppers, 17% for basil, 16% for green beans, and 10% for herbs such as chives, marjoram, mint, rosemary, tarragon, and thyme. Plantings in El Pescadero were similarly allotted, with the vast majority of its 488 hectares given over to poblano peppers, basil, green beans, and culinary herbs. 

How meat and seafood are sourced locally

Do restaurants in Todos Santos, El Pescadero, and elsewhere in the municipality source meat and seafood locally? You bet they do, although not exclusively. La Paz is the leading poultry producer in Baja California Sur, accounting for 482.7 tons according to the most recent yearly statistics. The municipality also provided 304.7 tons of pork, 92.7 tons of goat meat, 61 tons of lamb, and was a significant source of dairy products, too. Nearly 9 million liters of cow’s milk were squeezed from udders last year, and 384,000 liters of goat’s milk.

Seafood is an even more traditional part of the local economy, with the most important species harvested from the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortés (as the Gulf of California is always referred to locally) being, from a value perspective, scale fish like tuna, dorado, snapper, and grouper (52.5%), lobster (21.6%), shark (13.3%), octopus (4.2%), shrimp (2.2%), abalone (2.2%), and oyster (0.7%). The fresher these catches are, the better. Hierbabuena, for example, sources its seafood from a fishmonger in nearby Punta Lobos.

The importance of regional aquaculture 

However, not all fish consumed locally are caught. Aquaculture has also become big business in La Paz, and is a valuable source of fish that are critically endangered in the wild due to overfishing, like totoaba, as well as red snapper, shrimp, clams, oysters, and scallops. As Forbes Mexico reports, over one million totoaba are currently being nurtured in nurseries in La Paz by the aquaculture fishery Santomar, with a portion by Mexican law earmarked for return to the wild to replenish the natural population. 

It’s important to note that wild totoaba cannot be legally consumed, but second-generation fish from aquaculture facilities can, and those are the fish that are finding their way onto menus in popular tourist destinations like Los Cabos and Todos Santos.

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.

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Mexico, along with the United States and Chile, had issued a tsunami warning soon after the earthquake.

[Hilo] Comienzan a registrarse en México los efectos del #Tsunami producido por el sismo de magnitud 8.8, ocurrido el día de ayer en la península de Kamchatka, Rusia. La primera de nuestras estaciones en registrar el fenómeno fue Manzanillo, Colima, a las 11:24 UTC… pic.twitter.com/kDjWJXQFh7

— Servicio Mareográfico Nacional UNAM (@SMareograficoN) July 30, 2025

The Mexican Navy (Semar) had reported at a Security Cabinet meeting that Wednesday morning would be the likeliest time for any concern, due to a slight rise in sea level in certain areas of the eastern Pacific Ocean. However, it reiterated that the information did not imply major risks.  

Earlier, the Tsunami Warning Center (CAT) of the Semar issued an alert bulletin to update sea level fluctuations at various points along the Mexican Pacific coast. Mexican authorities recommended that the population stay away from beaches and coastal areas and exercise extreme caution in maritime activities, noting that the alert remained active only as a preventive measure.

In the advisory, Semar mentioned the variations in wave heights at key cities along Mexico’s Pacific coast. These include Ensenada, Baja California, which recorded a height of 0.70 meters at 6:15 a.m. (12:15 GMT), and Salina Cruz in Oaxaca, with a height of 0.25 meters at 6:14 a.m. (12:14 GMT). 

Also mentioned were Clarión Island (one of the Revillagigedo Islands off the Colima coast), with a height of 0.25 meters at 6:20 a.m. (12:20 GMT), and Manzanillo, Colima, with 1.15 meters at 6:15 a.m. (12:15 GMT). 

No material damage or injuries were reported at these sites. 

During the tsunami warning, dozens of people, including locals and tourists, crowded the Mazatlán promenade to watch the sea, ignoring official warnings to stay away from the coastal area for safety reasons. The warnings urged people not to approach the beaches or the seawall, due to the risk of sudden currents and changes in sea level.

Despite these warnings, on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, groups of families and friends could be seen sitting and walking along the boardwalk. The atmosphere was festive, according to images shared on social media. 

The Semar temporarily closed several Pacific Ocean ports as a precautionary measure in response to the tsunami warning. These include:

Closed to large vessels: 

• Zihuatanejo, Guerrero
• Puerto Peñasco, Sonora
• Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas

Closed to small vessels:

• Cabo San Lucas, Baja California
• Puerto Peñasco, Sonora
• Zihuatanejo, Guerrero
• Chacala, Nayarit
• Puerto Chiapas, Chiapas

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the quake struck at a depth of 19.3 kilometers (12.2 miles) and occurred 126 kilometers (78 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 people on the coast of Avacha Bay, Russia.

The USGS said it was one of the 10 most powerful earthquakes on record. 

With reports from Infobae, Milenio, EFE, El Economista

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That’s not to say, however, that there aren’t plenty of things worth doing, and this seems an opportune time to spotlight some of the smaller, often recurring events at area hotels, resorts, bars and restaurants.

Cooking class at Acre

Not only does this class offer the opportunity to tour the property of one of the most acclaimed farm-to-table restaurants in Los Cabos, but it also provides participants with a chance to learn how to prepare a few delicious Mexican specialties from scratch. 

Dates: Weekdays, 11 a.m.–2 p.m. in August
Location: Acre Restaurant and Cocktail Bar, C. Rincón de las Animas, Animas Bajas, San José del Cabo
Cost: 2,100 pesos per person

Yoga + Mimosas at Drift

Best known as a 29-key boutique hotel in the heart of San José del Cabo’s Gallery District, Drift also prides itself on its weekly Yoga + Mimosas event, held each Saturday. The yoga and first mimosa are complimentary for those who RSVP, but rental mats for non-guests or brunch afterward at Drift Kitchen + Mezcal Bar are extra. 

Dates: Aug. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Location: Drift, Miguel Hidalgo 613, Gallery District, San José del Cabo
Cost: The class is free, but RSVP to ensure space availability

Martini and Jazz Nights at Humo

 

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Some things never go out of style. For instance, jazz and martinis have each achieved classic and forever stylish status. Up to four signature examples of the iconic cocktail are featured on Saturday nights at elegant, Ritz-Carlton-based Humo.

Dates: Aug. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Location: Zadún, A Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Blvd. Mar de Cortez, San José del Cabo
Cost: Call (624-172-9000) for reservations

Fiesta Mexicana at Playa Grande

Playa Grande, a beachfront resort under the Grupo Solmar banner, celebrates traditional Mexican music and dancing each Monday night with its Fiesta Mexicana. Mexican culinary favorites are also featured, with tacos and margaritas headlining the buffet and open bar.

Dates: Aug. 4, 11, 18, 25
Location: Playa Grande, Playa Grande 1, Cabo San Lucas
Cost: US $52 for adults, free for children 5 and under

Hook and Cook at Pueblo Bonito Pacifica

If you can’t catch dinner while shore fishing in the Pacific Ocean at luxury resort Pueblo Bonito Pacifica, don’t worry. Your chef guide has fresh fish and ceviche to serve up for this memorable breakfast activity.

Dates: Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27
Location: Pueblo Bonito Pacífica Golf & Spa Resort, Previo Paraíso Escondido, Cabo San Lucas
Cost: Call the resort for reservations and details (624-142-9696)

World’s 50 Best, Guest Bartender Claudia Cabrera, at Viceroy

Viceroy Los Cabos has been showcasing cocktails from some of the world’s best bartenders this summer. In June, it was Kevin Tocino from Aruba Day Drink in Tijuana. This August, it’s Claudia Cabrera from Kaito del Valle in Mexico City.

Dates: Aug. 7
Location: Viceroy Los Cabos, Zona Hotelera, San José del Cabo
Cost: Open to guests of the resort, rates start at US $500 per night

Boogie Nights at Rooftop 360

Retro music from the 1980s and ’90s rules during weekly Boogie Nights at Rooftop 360, the bar with spectacular views set above Playa El Médano at Corazón Cabo Resort and Spa. Women enjoy two-for-one prices on domestic drinks from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Dates: Aug. 7, 14, 21, 28
Location: Corazón Cabo Resort, Pelicanos 225, Col. El Médano Cabo San Lucas
Cost: No cover charge

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.

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However, this fact should not be taken to mean that tourists have grown tired of the sport, or that local developers have grown weary of using it to attract tourists or homebuyers for real estate developments. More new courses, plural, are on the way, with three of them expected in 2026. 

Some context is needed, though. Last year, I reported that there were a handful of golf course projects under development. Two of those are now suspended, with the other three, as noted, proceeding toward completion. Thus, it seems a good time to catch up on how all five stand currently.

The Legacy Club at Diamante, a Tiger Woods design

The Legacy Club will be the third course designed by Tiger Woods at Diamante, an upscale development on the Pacific Coast of Cabo San Lucas. His first completed design, El Cardonal, opened in 2014, followed by the 12-hole, par-3 Oasis Short Course in 2017. As if Tiger’s commitment to Diamante isn’t evident, he also has a restaurant there called The Woods Cabo. 

El Cardonal is currently his most famous local layout, if only because it’s the Los Cabos course to host a PGA Tour event, the annual World Wide Technology Championship. However, that will change in 2027, when the Legacy Club takes over hosting duties for the tournament. By all accounts, the new course will be spectacular. As TGR Design notes, “the concept for The Legacy Club is to create a course that transports golfers from the open desert landscape of southern Baja into a new, secluded environment of lush vegetation—truly an oasis in the desert.”

The Legacy Club, like all of Tiger’s local designs, will be private, with membership capped at 250. The sprigging of grass began this summer, and the course is expected to open by the end of 2026.

Campo Alto at Querencia, a Tom Fazio design

Querencia, too, has hosted tournaments, in its case, the Cabo Collegiate, which was held at the private luxury community’s Tom Fazio-designed course a few miles outside San José del Cabo. Fazio’s layout premiered in 2000 and was immediately hailed as world-class. However, over the years, its reputation has only continued to grow. It was named one of the World’s 100 Greatest by Golf Digest in 2016, by which time Golfweek had already acclaimed it as the best in Mexico.

Originally, that course, like the community in which it is set, was dubbed Querencia. But it has since been renamed Campo Bajo to distinguish it from Fazio’s second course on the property, Campo Alto. Can Fazio craft another masterpiece in Los Cabos? All signs point to yes. Three holes have already been sprigged with a newer Bermuda grass type that is perfectly suited to the local climate, one of two varieties of Bermuda that will be used for the course as a whole. 

When finished in late 2026, Campo Alto will feature finishing holes routed through dramatic canyons, as well as four tunnels and one bridge so that golfers are shielded from any interactions with those traveling along local roads.

Oleada Golf Links, an Ernie Els design

Ernie “the Big Easy” Els won four major championships during his career on the PGA Tour, and is still playing on the PGA Tour Champions. However, the South African has since turned his attention to golf course architecture, too, most notably at Oleada Golf Links, the latest project set on Cabo San Lucas’ duneswept Pacific Coast, with the course and its accompanying oceanfront resort community situated between Diamante’s El Cardonal and the Solmar Golf Links.

“This is one of the most spectacular projects on our books,” Els reported in his latest update on ernieels.com in April 2025. “We’ve got a great team here, and the boys are doing an incredible job. As a golf course designer, whenever we can work in sand, it’s heaven for us! We got a lot of great work done today; we wanted to do as much as possible so that the boys can really get going. This one is going to be very special, and we’re so excited for the grand opening next year.” 

Yes, that means Oleada Golf Links is also targeting 2026.

Baja Bay Club, a David McLay Kidd design

Scottish course architect David McLay Kidd created a legendary layout at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, and his course at Baja Bay Club on Los Cabos’ East Cape, announced in 2024, would likely have generated significantly more excitement had it not been located so close to Cabo Pulmo, the national park and marine sanctuary that is home to a living coral reef and the largest abundance of marine life in the Sea of Cortés. 

Due to this proximity and possible impacts, local activists and environmental organizations protested, and in February of this year, the project was provisionally suspended by Semarnat, Mexico’s environmental agency. Appeals will likely be held soon, so there’s nothing conclusive to report. However, it should be noted that local activists have successfully scuttled large-scale projects near Cabo Pulmo in the past, most famously the Cabo Cortés development in 2012.

A second Quivira course, with another Jack Nicklaus design

Jack Nicklaus, the winningest major champion in golf history, has also had a hall-of-fame design career, crafting six layouts in Los Cabos alone. The most recent was Quivira, a stunning Pacific Coast routing that opened in late 2014. Based on the success of this course, a second Nicklaus course at Quivira has long been expected. However, according to a well-paced source, this project too has been suspended, although no reason was given as to why. 

So, for now, three courses are coming in 2026, which will elevate Los Cabos’ total number of golf courses from 18 to 21. 

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.

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Mexico’s Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Mexico City that seeks to address “the sanitation and environmental crisis in the Tijuana–San Diego Region.”

The MOU states that there is a shared desire to “coordinate cross-border solutions that permanently stop untreated wastewater from polluting coastal communities, harming public health, and damaging the environment on both sides of the border.”

The document outlines commitments of both Mexico and the United States that are aimed at achieving those objectives. One of Mexico’s commitments is to allocate US $93 million in 2026 and 2027 to “facilitate completion” of a number of projects to improve the Tijuana sewage system by December 31, 2027, “or sooner.”

The EPA said in a statement that the MOU “achieves the three top Trump Administration priorities and milestones critical to ensuring a 100% solution” to the sewage crisis in the Tijuana-San Diego area.

The agency noted that Mexico will allocate $93 million to sewage system projects and that the timeline for the completion of those projects has been reduced by up to four years in some cases. It also said that “several necessary Mexico side projects have been added to account for future population growth in Tijuana and operation and maintenance costs.”

Zeldin declared that “the Trump Administration is proud to deliver this massive environmental and national security win for Americans in the San Diego area who have been living with this disgusting raw sewage flowing into their communities for far too long.”

He emphasized the need for speed in the completion of projects to solve the sewage crisis, telling reporters “that if any speed changes, that speed will have to be a speed to go faster.”

Earlier this year, Zeldin accused Mexico of being too slow to complete projects it has committed to carrying out in Tijuana, where the population and industry have grown significantly in recent decades and wastewater treatment plants and other sewage infrastructure have become ineffective.

The signing of the MOU came three months after the EPA chief said that Mexico must act to stop the massive flow of sewage and toxic chemicals from the Tijuana River into the Pacific Ocean. 

The sewage has contaminated the coastline of southern California for years, and sickened U.S. Navy seals, Border Patrol agents, beach users and others.

Bárcena said on Thursday that Mexico and the United States are committed to solving the binational sewage problem “once and for all.”

She highlighted that the MOU is “the first binational agreement … between Mexico and the United States under the administration of President Donald Trump and President Claudia Sheinbaum.”

“There is a great commitment on the part of both countries to strengthen cooperation and this is what we’re demonstrating today,” Bárcena said.

The agreement comes at a time when there are range of tensions in the Mexico-United States relationship, including ones related to trade and drug trafficking.

The memorandum in detail 

The MOU states that Mexico “intends to immediately seek internal funding” to initiate construction of two projects in 2025.

One US $13.3-million project will divert 10 million gallons per day of treated effluent to the Rodríguez Dam, located upstream on the Tijuana River.

Another $8.4-million project will rehabilitate the Parallel Gravity Line, a major wastewater pipeline.

Those two projects will be completed by the end of 2025, the EPA said.

The $93 million in funding to be used in 2026 and 2027 is to rehabilitate various sewers in the Tijuana sewage system and to carry out upgrades to the Arturo Herrera and La Morita wastewater treatment plants, among other projects. That money is so-called “Minute 328 funds,” part of a financial commitment Mexico pledged to make in accordance with a 2022 agreement.

Bárcena said that Mexico is also committed to doubling the capacity of the San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant. The Environment Ministry said in a statement that it is “exploring financing alternatives” to achieve that goal, including the possibility of accessing “support” from the EPA “through existing mechanisms at the North American Development Bank.”

Major Milestone Reached! The US & Mexico are collaborating to improve water infrastructure in the Tijuana River watershed. The US will fund key projects, continue expanding the South Bay wastewater plant capacity, and inform Mexico of trash removal expenses. Mexico will… pic.twitter.com/T9nk7WRIuQ

— U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (@usibwc) July 25, 2025

The San Antonio de los Buenos plant “had been spewing at least 23 million gallons of sewage per day (1,000 liters per second) into the Pacific Ocean” before recent repairs, Reuters reported.

Even now, “millions of gallons of treated and untreated sewage from Tijuana’s overburdened [sewage] system makes its way daily into the Tijuana River and reaches the ocean in the San Diego suburb of Imperial Beach,” the news agency said.

Among the United States’ commitments, as detailed in the MOU, is to release EPA Border Water Infrastructure Program funding to complete the rehabilitation of Pump Station 1 in San Diego as well as Tijuana River collection pipes. Pump Station 1 treats sewage pumped in from Tijuana.

The United States also committed to “expand treatment capacity” at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego “from 25 to 50 million gallons per day (‘MGD’) by December 2027, with an interim expansion to 35 MGD by August 2025.”

That plant also treats sewage from Tijuana.

The MOU also states that Mexico and the United States “intend to enter into a new Minute by December 31, 2025, or sooner,” that will contain a number of actions to be “executed immediately through existing or new binational workgroups led by the two Sections of IBWC” — the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Among the 13 actions are to:

• Initiate engineering and financial studies to assess the feasibility of installing an ocean outfall at the San Antonio de los Buenos plant in Tijuana.
• Assess the technical and financial feasibility of expanding treatment capacity of the San Antonio de los Buenos plant from 18.26 to 43.37 million gallons per day.
• Develop a routine schedule and cost-sharing formula for cleaning and sediment dredging operations in the Tijuana River.
• Develop a Tijuana water infrastructure master plan to ensure that sufficient water infrastructure is planned and constructed commensurate with anticipated population growth.

The MOU states that the 13 actions “are deemed necessary to ensure a comprehensive and durable solution to address transboundary wastewater management issues, human health concerns, and environmental conditions in the Tijuana River watershed.”

On Friday morning, President Sheinbaum described the MOU as a “very important agreement” and highlighted that the United States is committing $600 million to projects in the San Diego area.

“It’s a comprehensive bilateral agreement,” she said.

With reports from Reuters, NBC San Diego and La Jornada

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However, now that the tax has been negotiated down to a manageable US $5 per person, at least for the short term, the substantial number of people in the Land’s End city who rely on the cruise industry —can instead focus on the other big cruise news, which is that the destination is on pace for a record-setting year, thanks in part to an unprecedentedly robust summer schedule.

Why the cruise tax was reduced

Cruise ship companies were furious when the US $42 cruise tax was passed, noting that it would make visits to Mexico’s ports 213% more expensive than those in the Caribbean, and thus no longer feasible from a business perspective. Businesspeople in port destinations in Mexico like Cabo San Lucas weren’t happy either, since the estimated one billion dollars annually generated by cruise ship visits helps to sustain local economies. 

Given this pushback, negotiations between government officials in Mexico and the cruise ship industry began months before the tax was due to take effect on July 1, and a compromise solution was hammered out. The cruise tax would be reduced to US $5 for every person who takes a cruise with port calls in Mexico, regardless of whether they get off the ship or not. 

Of course, the US $5 figure will only apply during 2025 and the first half of 2026. The tax will increase incrementally over the next three years, rising to $10 in August 2026, $15 in June 2027 and finally $21 in August 2028. What’s more, cruise lines will be responsible for collecting the tax — another bone of contention that appears to have been amicably worked out… at least for now. 

Record-setting projections for Cabo San Lucas

Cruise ships have been visiting Mexican Riviera destinations since the 1960s, when Princess Cruises pioneered the idea. But there’s no question that cruise ship passengers to Cabo San Lucas are on an upward trajectory and have risen to record heights in recent years. 

In 2022, for instance, Cabo San Lucas received 227 cruise ships with 540,773 passengers. Ports of call were in the same range the next two years. Passenger numbers, however, shot through the roof thanks to more consistent visits from bigger ships with expanded carrying capacities. A record 735,686 cruise ship passengers visited Cabo in 2023, and although that number slightly dipped in 2024, to 724,331, more than 800,000 are expected by the end of 2025. 

How is cruise ship capacity influencing these numbers? In 2022, each ship brought an average of 2,382 passengers. In 2023, that average jumped to 3,117 passengers per ship, and in 2024 it increased to 3,516. That number likely won’t rise again in 2025: through the first five months of this year, there have been 118 port of call visits bringing 410,648 passengers. That’s an average of ‘only’ 3,480 people per ship. 

However, overall passenger numbers are pacing for another all-time high. Through May, cruise ship visitors were up an astonishing 34% over the same period in 2024. Summer ports of call are also more robust than usual. As a local source intimate with the cruise industry commented, “Usually there are about five ships per month in the summer. This year, it’s closer to 20.”

That makes it difficult to come up with an accurate projection for what numbers will look like by the end of 2025. If we take the arrivals through May and project them for the entire year, the total would be about 985,000. But that’s likely an unrealistic figure, since January through May are high season months, while June to September represent the destination’s traditional slow season, bringing fewer visitors. 

But given that summer arrivals are headed for uncharted territory, too, anticipating upwards of 800,000 passengers in 2025 seems a safe bet. 

Exciting new ships and arrivals

So the cruise ship industry is booming in Cabo San Lucas, with eight cruise companies — Carnival, Cunard, Holland America, Norwegian, Oceania Cruises, Regent Seven Seas, Princess, and Royal Caribbean — and at least 24 individual ships scheduled to visit at some point this year. Those ships combined represent a capacity of over 70,000 passengers, and  several of them will be making more than a dozen visits. Carnival’s Panorama, for example, has already been a frequent visitor to Cabo San Lucas this year, with more port calls upcoming.  

The Carnival Panorama, of course, is a major presence on the West Coast and has been since it launched in 2019. It was Carnival’s first new ship to be permanently homeported in Long Beach, California,  in more than two decades, and since it carries up to 4,008 passengers, it’s a welcome arrival at any cruise port in Mexico. 

However, perhaps the most eagerly anticipated visitor this year is Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas, which since May 28 , has been homeported in Los Angeles for the first time in its history, meaning it’s also making its first trips to Cabo San Lucas. Unusually, overnight stays in Cabo are often included  in its three to six-night cruises. 

It’s not a permanent assignment for the company’s biggest ever LA-based ship — 168,666 gross registered tons, with over 2,000 staterooms accommodating up to 4,180 passengers at double occupancy — as Ovation of the Seas will be redeployed in September, with Quantum of the Seas replacing it. But it does reflect Royal Caribbean’s increased focus on the West Coast. Voyager of the Seas will join Quantum in Los Angeles in October, and that same month, Serenade of the Seas is set to begin Mexican Riviera cruises out of San Diego, with stops in Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. 

Cunard, meanwhile, is a far less frequent visitor to Cabo San Lucas, but one of its four ships, Queen Elizabeth, will make a port call on Oct, 3, during its 18-day voyage from San Francisco to Miami. It’s a rare treat in what is turning out to be an extraordinary year for cruises in Mexico. 

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.

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Nope, I’m talking about Tijuana making the world’s largest margarita.

How Baja California made cocktail history 

There are many origin stories for the margarita, one of the world’s most popular cocktails, and virtually all of them are set in Baja California.

The growing consensus among cocktail historians is that the iconic Mexican sipper grew out of Tijuana’s raucous bar scene during the 1920s and early ’30s, when Southern Californians looking to escape Prohibition in the United States would cross the border to slake their thirst for forbidden libations.

A favorite was the daisy, a cocktail made with many liquors, but first mixed with tequila in Tijuana; “daisy” in Spanish is “margarita,” and thus, a new cocktail legend was born.

Tijuana takes the invention of the margarita seriously, just as it does the homegrown Caesar salad, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. So it must have galled city officials that the record for the world’s largest margarita had, since 2011, resided on the other side of the border in Sin City.

Dubbed “Lucky Rita,” the 32,176-liter cocktail was constructed contemporaneously with the opening of the Margaritaville Casino at the Flamingo Las Vegas. 

Tijuana, the true home of the margarita, was up to the challenge of retaking the record. The Tijuana version was called Margarita Cachanilla in honor of its tequila sponsor. Cachanilla, which produces its Agave tequilana distilled liquors in Amatitán, Jalisco, but is headquartered in — you guessed it — Tijuana.

In addition to topping Las Vegas in quality, Tijuana also bested it in volume, officially capturing the Guinness World Record when its enormous lime-garnished cocktail reached 34,419 liters. For context, that’s enough to pour out two-ounce shots for over 360,000 people. 

How was this monster beverage made, you may ask? It took the efforts of over 300 student volunteers from local universities to assemble the concoction, which was stored in a steel tank 8 meters high and contained 8,890 liters of Cachanilla tequila, over 4,000 bottles of Triple Sec, oceans of fresh lime juice and Felipe’s Sea Salt. 

If these proportions seem about right, that’s because they had to be. Susan Reyes was on hand as a representative of Guinness World Records to authenticate the feat and ensure several key benchmarks were met. One was that the proportions were the same as a normal-sized margarita. Based on the tank’s cooling and stirring systems, it was estimated that the monster margarita would remain fresh and drinkable for about three days.

Tijuana, we salute you. 

Baja California’s wine harvest festival arrives soon

Dates for the 35th Fiestas de la Vendimia (Wine Harvest Festival) are set: July 30 through Aug. 24. Yes, that’s more than three weeks long, and the list of events, for which tickets can be purchased individually, is very lengthy. It’s also very popular. Last year, over 120,000 people attended affiliated events and activities in Ensenada and Valle de Guadalupe.

Wine has been made on the Baja California peninsula since Jesuit missionaries planted vineyards in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the first commercial winery in Baja California wasn’t established until 1888. That was Bodegas de Santo Tomás, which remains one of the state’s best producers. 

Official and unofficial events have commemorated the annual harvest of wine grapes for more than a century and predate the formation of Provino Baja California, which promotes the region’s wines and organizes Fiestas de la Vendimia. The first of these was the Primera Gran Feria de la Cosecha de la Uva, held in Valle de Guadalupe, the heart of Baja’s wine country, in 1963. Other harvest festival precursors to the Fiestas de Vendimia continued throughout the 1970s and 80s.

As the current festival has grown, so too has the regional wine industry. Only a handful of wineries participated in the first Fiestas de la Vendimia in 1990, and as recently as 2006, there were fewer than 25 wineries in all of Mexico. Today, there is over triple that number in Baja California alone, with the state accounting for over 70% of the nation’s wine production. As an example of this growth, over 80 wineries are expected to participate in this year’s wine harvest festivities, showcasing 160 labels. 

The most famous event at Fiestas de la Vendimia is undoubtedly the Concurso de Paellas, a contest in which teams compete to make the best paella, to the gustatory benefit of those who’ve bought tickets. This is the concluding event of the festival and has been since its very first edition in 1990. Over 2,500 people attended in 2023 and 2024, and during the prepandemic years such as 2019, as many as 7,000 attendees turned out. 

The paellas that feed festivalgoers are prepared by the 90 or so teams competing for first prize, an honor accompanied by a trophy and prizes Some teams feature professional chefs while others are made up of family members working off of recipes handed down over generations. But all have to follow the same rules, using pans of the same size and the same quantities of rice. Determining the winner, meanwhile, are over three dozen judges, who evaluate entrants based on both quality and presentation.

This being a wine festival, wine pairing options are abundant for the paellas. Tickets for the upcoming Concurso de Paellas, held at winery Viña de Liceaga on Aug. 17, cost 1,450 pesos per person, with children 12 and under admitted free. Tickets for this and other events at this year’s Fiestas de la Vendimia are available through Provino. However, this doesn’t include the kickoff Salón del Vino 2025 on July 30, which offers food from 10 top area restaurants and wines from 72 wineries at the Hotel Coral y Marina in Ensenada, but is invitation only.

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