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Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas
via Alaska First Class
August 2019

Mrs. SFO777 and I are off today for a quick two day trip to Cabo San Lucas.  Summer is certainly not the most pleasant time of the year to visit Cabo, but it's one of our good friend's 60th birthday and we're on our way to join the party and celebration.   Fortunately, Alaska has a five days a week Orange County to Cabo nonstop.  Even better since they are operating a Virgin America configured A319. 

Orange County SNA to San Jose del Cabo SJD
Alaska AS 1224
A319
9:50am-1:15pm
July 31, 2019
First Class
Seats 2AC
 

This plane had the first generation VX seats, but still very comfortable especially on a short two hour flight. 

Excellent service today including pre-departure open bar service.  And after take-off, a breakfast smoothie and my first of two Bloody Marys.

Breakfast today was a choice of yogurt and granola, or breakfast sandwich.   There was only one breakfast sandwich left by the time our flight attendant got to our seats, so we were stuck with one of each.  Unfortunately, the yogurt was disgusting and inedible.   

The breakfast sandwich looked much better...

... and was very tasty.  My half as we split it.

The BOB Economy Cheese Platter from Economy was still available... for $8.50...

... and unlike the yogurt was edible and refreshing.

I guess this sounded cool 10 years ago.

And then there was endless parade of Economy pax to the First Class lav.   IME, Virgin America crews were pretty good about restricting lav access.  Alaska?  Not so much.  Indeed the VX cabin divider rope was still there, hanging useless as Alaska continues to not care about who uses the F lav.

On descent to SJD.

We pulled into the gate ontime at 1:15pm MST.

The deceiving deserted walk to customs.

Looking good.

But whoa Nellie.  At the bottom of the escalator, the customs arrival hall... with 1,000 or so of our closest friends from 4 or 5 flights that beat us to the terminal.  Nary a single person in the Mexican, pregnant and handicapped passport line but a mass of humanity in the Foreign passport line.  No idea what they were, but there were a bunch of kiosks on the other side of the rope against the left wall with no signage as to purpose.  I asked a security person whether Global Entry members could use them and was told no.  OK, not sure about that as all sorts of people started using them, eventually resulting in an even slower line on the left side of the hall.  In the end, It took 50 minutes to get to one of 6 manned booths out of 20 or so.

As if 50 minutes for customs wasn't bad enough, we then had to queue for random incoming bag check.  Not surprisingly, we got a red light and wasted another few minutes before exiting customs and entering time share central.

Outside, to tent position #4 and our pre-arranged ride.

The Resort at Pedregal
Cabo San Lucas

 

Cabo San Lucas is a roughly 45 minute drive from the airport.  The Resort is just on the other side of downtown party town Cabo.  Pretty cool entrance thru an impressive chandelier lit tunnel under a mountain.

  The Resort at Pedegral is simply a wonderful resort in a glorious setting.  But the most memorable aspect was the service... friendly and wonderful staff with amazing attention to detail.  Easy to understand why The Resort at Pedregal was recently voted the #1 Resort Hotel in Mexico.  

Although I had booked a basic Ocean View King, our Virtuoso booking got us an upgrade to a Ocean View Deluxe King, complimentary breakfast and $150 credit.  Very nice room although a little dated and showing its age.

 

With a great terrace...

... including plunge pool.

At 4pm, our daily afternoon snack tray.   Despite the 95 degree temps, a cooling ocean breeze made it very pleasant in the late afternoon.

Just after 7pm, we headed out for the 15 minute drive to a gated community adjacent to Esperanza.

And a special birthday fireworks.

After a fun evening of partying, we arrived back at our hotel well after midnight.

After a late night... a late morning.   The beautiful view from our terrace.

Oh yeah, a filling breakfast goes a long way to help with the hangover.

It was well after noon by the time we finally left our room.  OMG, from 68 degrees to over 100 outside.  Yikes.  Despite the oppressive heat, I decided to explore.

Despite the 100+ degree temps, lots of crazies out in the sun.

The fitness center is the place to be today with much nicer 70 degree temps.

... and a view.

 Now after 2pm, we headed for a light lunch at Don Manuel's, near the beach.

Much more pleasant inside with cooling fans.

Food was excellent as we shared the Blue Fin Tuna...

... and shrimp tacos.  Fabulous.

Then back up to the room to cool down.  A little after 4pm, snack time!  With some creature moving in from the left.  LOL.

By 7pm, the temps had cooled into the upper 80s, and the walk to dinner was more pleasant.

Tonight we're dining at el Farallon, the resort's signature cliff side restaurant.

A drink to start as the sun sets...

el Farallon serves a 4 course quasi prix fixe menu featuring ocean-to-table selections.  The starters are standard, you just have to pick your main and two sides from a variety of choices... all explained here prior to being seated.

 

Yummy bread basket.

Up first, excellent clam chowder.

Then a trio of delicious starters.

The octopus was sensational.

The ceviche divine.

And a lovely beet salad.

Our mains.  Mrs. SFO777 enjoyed the Mexican red snapper and her sides of Mexican rice and zucchini.

And my Cajun shrimp with sides of roasted tomato with pesto and capellini with home made chorizo.  Fabulous. 

And desserts to die for.

Heading back to our room after a wonderful meal.

Poolside entertainment, nice with a drink at the bar.  Not so nice in our room.  Mercifully, they packed it in at 10pm.

The view from our room, with el Farallon off in the distance cliffside.

With an 11:30am pickup, we enjoyed a leisurely morning before heading down to San Miguel's for breakfast.  Nice breakfast buffet station where you order your main which is then delivered to your table.

We brought some fruit and pastry back to the table while we waited for our mains.

Mrs. SFO777's loaded omelet...

... and my huevos rancheros.  Both excellent.

Our pre-arranged Eliker driver was on time and we headed off for today's 30 minute drive to the airport. 

Adios until next time... in the winter, not in the summer.

Terminal 2 at SJD.

We had checked online and printed boarding passes at the hotel, but checked in at the counter for a document check.

And then upstairs to security.

... where they was virtually no one in line.

With six open scanning stations, we were thru in no time, and into the typical duty free shop on the way to the concourse.

I guess it works as there were at least 40 people waiting in line for the cashier.  Go figure.

At the far end of the small concourse is the VIP Lounge, a Priority Pass lounge.

This lounge was quite pleasant and comfortable.  The lounge has two levels, with a bar and food station on each level.  The larger and nicer 2nd level.

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And the lower level.

Our flight today was assigned a bus gate, as half of the terminal and gates are still under construction.  The completed portion...

... towards the not so completed part and our gate.

San Jose de Cabo SJD to Orange County SNA
Alaska AS 1223
A319
2:20pm-3:40pm (sked)
2:15pm-3:20pm (actual)
First Class
Seats 2AC

 

Bus boarding was called at 1:25pm or around T-55.  The usual priority boarding was followed, which at least permitted us to get seats on the bus.

Excellent service again today from our First Class flight attendant Jessica.   In the air, time to dry out.

Lunch choices were a protein plate or chicken and cheese sandwich.

The chicken sandwich was actually very tasty and included real, non-processed chicken.  

For desert, we finished off our parting gift from The Resort at Pedregal, delicious turtle-shaped shortbread cookies.

We arrived home at SNA 25 minutes early.  John Wayne/SNA has a very small CBP facility with only three agents today.  Since we were one of the first to arrive, we bypassed the 3 Global Entry kiosks and just headed directly to an agent.   What an enjoyable quick two day trip to Cabo.  We'll definitely return but never again in the oppressively hot summer.  Thanks for following along on this short report.