Cabo - Lover's Beach

"Lover's Beach", located right at Land's End is a popular and famous beach in Cabo thronged by tourists.

Lover's Beach extends from the calm and serene Sea of Cortez to the rough and tumbling Pacific.

While the resort beaches are narrow with less sand area and sloping towards the water, the Lover's Beach has a long and wide stretch of  soft golden sand. When the boat landed us at the Lover's Beach, the place was packed with people. Couple of cruise ships had docked in that day and a big crowd from the cruise ship had just then arrived by boat. I  had another "hmmm ...only in Mexico" moment as Beer was easily available at the beach :))

This beach is surrounded by odd and unique rock formations and rock designs I have never seen any where else. There are also so many small and big caves surrounding the Lover's Beach, adding yet another dimension ;)

You might have guessed by now, the rough and tumbling Pacific side of the beach is called the "Divorce Beach" - no kidding!!!

Cabo - Lands End

"Land's End", the most distinctive and beautiful rock formations at the southern tip of Cabo  is one place we absolutely wanted to checkout. The Land's End is where the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez merge.The naturally formed rock Arch, called  the "El Arco" at Land's End is a famous landmark of Cabo. The only way to reach Land's end is to take a 15 minute boat ride from the resorts. Water Taxis ($10 per round trip, per person) and Tour boats ply from dawn to dusk and pick you up at any beach near all the resorts.

Land's End rock formations

El Arco, the Arch

View of the rocks from the Pacific side

A cave visible from the Pacific side. Look closely at the right side wall of the cave's entrance. A boy is asking for a ride.
Look at the next pic for a close up view of the boy :)

Boy asking for a ride :))

This place, viewed from the Sea of Cortez side is called the "Pacific Window".
Water is rushing in from the Pacific to merge with the Sea of Cortez.

This unique rock formation is called the "Neptune's Finger" :))

4S @ El Arco

... to be continued ...

Cabo - First Impressions

 







Right after Christmas holidays, we started dreaming and looking forward to our trip to Cabo San Lucas (aka Cabo). Cabo is nicely located at the tip of Baja California peninsula, Mexico, with the Pacific on one side and the Sea of Cortez on the other. The "Tropic of Cancer" runs just north of Cabo and accounts for its nice weather.

As we were flying over the Sea of Cortez, the view below was amazing. At few places, I could see both the Pacific
and the Sea of Cortez at the same time. The land was mostly barren but the views of the small islands and
the light green  & blue Sea of Cortez were enchanting.

We stepped out of the airport and were waiting for our shuttle service to take us to our resort. The first thing that caught my attention was the nice whiff of beer. I turned around and noticed a couple of folks having a Corona in their hand. There is a beer shop just at the exit of the airport building :))  I was thinking, "hmmm...Only in Mexico" and was about to go get one for myself :))  Just then, our shuttle arrived. As soon the shuttle started moving, the driver opened an ice cooler and distributed Beer to everyone :)). Again, I was thinking "hmmm...Only in Mexico".

Once we passed "San Jose Del Cabo", a small town on the Sea of Cortez, the scenery changed completely from barren desert to shining blue ocean. The road from "San Jose Del Cabo" to Cabo is littered with a series of Hotels, Resorts and amazing houses on the beach. The driver was rattling of the names of all the celebrities  who own houses along the beach, including Tom Selleck,  Jennifer Aniston, John Travolta, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba, Paris Hilton & Michael Jordon. Even the US Consulate is located on this stretch of the beach.

We checked in, had a late lunch and checked out the resort, "Villa Del Palmar". The resort is located right on the beach with Swimming pools at 2 levels, multiple hot tubs and restaurants located at the edge of the beach.

As we stepped on to the beach the Sun was setting.

Villa Del Palmar

After dinner, with dreams of Margarita on the beach, I slowly drifted off in to sleep :))

...to be continued...

Ciudad Del Mar - Rosarito

Since 2007, every year, during her Christmas trip to San Diego, Asha used to bug us to take her to Mexico. Her motivation: "Shopping" ;)). This year we caved in and yielded to her wish. Rosarito is the first small, coastal town as you drive south from San Diego in to Mexico.

The Hotel is located right on the beach with its own Pier running long in to the Pacific. 

Hotel Lobby

View of the hotel from the Pier. We stayed in the Pent House on the 17th Floor.

Entrance to the "El Nido" restaurant. "El Nido" in Spanish means The Nest.

We enjoyed our lunch in naturally decorated courtyard surrounded by "Nests"

The ambiance at the courtyard was outstanding while the food was good!

"Cool Cousins" :))

Remembered the சுரை குடுவை :) 

Horses waiting for riders.

இளநீர் waiting for drinkers.

It happened at the university, while living in Dallas and at the border crossing. 
This guy thought I am a Mexican and started talking to me in Spanish.
Once he realized, he asked me to wear the Sombrero (the hat) and Sarape
(looks like our ஜமக்காளம்)  and transformed me in to an authentic Mexican.
Really enjoyed the interaction. :))

Asha had a field day at the shops. I remembered in 2008, Kumar, Usha and I walking in to Mexico to do some
shopping like this in our border town, Tijuana. Kumar and I had to literally drag Usha out of the shops
as she was refusing to leave the shopping area :))

2 Amigos :)) During this entire trip, Ganesh kept repeating the 4 spanish words he knew: 
"Siesta, Fiesta, Margarita, Senorita" ;)

கண்ணுக்குள் நூறு நிலவு (Lunar Eclipse)

Life on earth is a miracle!!! Nature conspired a series of events that made life possible on earth. In addition, nature puts on a grand show every day/night for all of us. All you have to do is look up and enjoy. Since I missed last year's Total Lunar Eclipse due to clouds, I was desperate to watch this one. The next Total Lunar Eclipse is due only on April 15th, 2014.

The only problem for us in the US west coast was that the eclipse started at 4:45 AM :( Sheila told me NOT to wake her up so I went to bed without setting the alarm. Exactly at 4:30 AM, I woke up on my own, drank my tea and stepped in to the dark, cold backyard. I setup my telescope just in time to watch the beginning of the Eclipse :))  Right next to the telescope, I setup the camera on the tripod and switched back and forth between the telescope and the camera.

The following  fotos show the progress of the earth's shadow on the Moon:

 
  4:56 AM

4:59 AM

                                                                                                             

5:25 AM

5:28 AM

5:31 AM

5:59 AM

The following fotos were purposefully overexposed to bring out the golden/red shadow part of the Moon: 

5:29 AM

5:33 AM

5:48 AM

5:55 AM

 

5:58 AM

Total Lunar Eclipse started at 6:05 AM

6:05 AM

6:06 AM

Finally the Moon started setting behind the backyard fence, the Sun was rising up, the sky was getting more bluish and the Moon started fading out.

6:12 AM

Next Lunar Eclipse project:

Not sure whether the next Total Lunar Eclipse would be a morning eclipse like this one. If yes, I would love to capture the Eclipse over the Pacific in Torrey Pines Beach :)) 

Vedic Astronomy:

Finally, how could I end this post without referring to our Ancestors' astronomical and mathematical brilliance. They came up with precise calculations of the timings of the Solar and Lunar eclipses with the concept of Raaghu and Kethu. Here are sculptures of Raaghu with the Moon and Kethu :))

Raaghu

Kethu