The road may be paved and fuel much easier to come by than in the early days of peninsular travel, but Baja California remains a classic route for travelers who enjoy the thrill of a long road trip. All you need is ample time, a reliable vehicle, and an ability to cope with unpredictable situations.

Certified divers with limited time to travel have some difficult choices to make when planning a trip to the inviting waters of the Sea of Cortez. The good news is that wherever you go, you’ll encounter one of the world’s richest marine ecosystems, with sea lions, numerous whale and dolphin varieties, manta rays, amberjacks, and schooling hammerhead sharks all living amid the more than 100 islands and islets that dot the sea.

The marinelife in the Sea of Cortez off the coast of Mulegé and Santa Rosalía is more prolific and colorful than in the upper Cortez.

Many of the tropical or Pan-American species appear in reef areas, including the green moray eel (much less shy than its Pacific counterpart), angelfish, damselfish, parrotfish, triggerfish, flag cabrilla, several wrasses, and three varieties of lobster (red, spiny Cortez, and slipper).

Uninhabited Isla Montserrate lies around 13 kilometers (8 mi) north of Puerto Agua Verde and is ringed by rock reefs with excellent snorkeling. The north end of the island features a long and pretty beach known to gringo yachties as Yellowstone Beach, considered a good summer anchorage.

Travelers with a week or more can experience the many dimensions of the lower Baja peninsula by making a circular route around the Cape Region via paved highways Mexico 1 and Mexico 19. Extending a total distance of approximately 564 kilometers (350 mi), this route takes visitors along the lower slopes of the Sierra de la Laguna, through the sierra’s former mining towns, across the plains of La Paz, and along the coastlines of the East and West Capes as well as the Corridor between San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas.

San José visitors must head to the East Cape, the Corridor, or Cabo San Lucas for suitable snorkeling and diving sites. Expert divers who are comfortable in strong currents and choppy seas and interested in exploring the offshore Gorda Banks seamounts may be able to hire a panga from La Playita; however, be aware that even groups of experienced dive instructors have run into complications when attempting to turn a fisherman into a dive-boat captain for the day.

Nomadas de Baja (Calle Zaragoza near the Pemex, tel./fax 624/146-9642) organizes a full range of guided expeditions throughout southern Baja. You can choose from a desert hot springs walking tour (US$65), kayak adventures around Cabo Pulmo (nine hours, US$105), diving (two-tank dive, US$140), and mountain-bike tours (2.5–5 hours, US$85). Rates include a bilingual guide, all related gear, lunch and/or snacks, and beverages.

A little more than halfway to Cabo San Lucas, the wide crescents of sand rimming Bahía Chileno and Bahía Santa María constitute two of the Corridor’s most popular and accessible swimming beaches.

At Playa Chileno, visitors walk through a gate in the chain-link fence protecting the beach from vehicles and follow a path through a grove of fan palms to reach the beach itself. The palms provide natural shade, a component lacking at most other Corridor beaches. Beneath the houses perched on headlands at either end of the bay are rocky areas with good snorkeling. Once run-down, primitive restrooms were refurbished in 2006.

Several beaches along the Corridor feature rock reefs suitable for snorkeling and scuba diving, particularly Playa Santa María (Km 12), Playa Chileno (Km 14), and Playa Barco Varado (Shipwreck Beach, Km 9–10). Santa María offers rock reefs at either end of a protected cove at depths of 13 meters (40 ft) or less. The north point displays sea fans and gorgonians, along with the usual assortment of tropical fish. The south end has sea caves, coral outcroppings, and large rocky areas inhabited by reef fish and lobster.

Cabo’s next most popular beach can be reached only by boat or by a difficult climb over two rock headlands along the ocean. Playa del Amor (Love Beach), also known as Playa del Amante (Lover’s Beach), lies near the tip of Cabo San Lucas—the cape itself, not the town—just northwest of the famous arch-shaped rock formation featured in virtually every Los Cabos advertisement.

The wide, sandy, pristine beach extends across the cape behind the arch to the other side, forming two beachfronts—one on Bahía San Lucas and one on the Pacific. The latter is sometimes whimsically called “Divorce Beach.”