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We arrived to sticky heat and a premature swell, to San Jose Del Cabo, and an air conditioned condo that was our new best friend. Let’s just say the pool water was warmer then the Jacuzzi water, (and why they even had a Jacuzzi, I still don’t know....).

Spanish galleons first landed at Estero San Jose, at the mouth of the Rio San Jose, to obtain fresh water near the end of their lengthy voyages from the Philippines to Acapulco in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. As pirate raids along the coast between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz became a problem, the need for a permanent Spanish settlement at the tip of the cape became increasingly urgent.

In 1730, Jesuit Padre Nicholas Tamaral traveled south from Mission La Purisima and founded Mission San Jose del Cabo on a mesa overlooking the Rio San Jose some 5 km. north of the current town site. Due to the overwhelming presence of mosquitoes at this site, Tamaral soon moved the mission to the mouth of the estuary on a rise flanked by Cerro del Vigia and Cerro de la Cruz. Soon after Tamaral punished a Pericu Shaman for violating the anti-polygamy decree, the Indians rebelled and burned both the San Jose and Santiago missions in October of 1734. Tamaral was killed in the attack. Shortly thereafter the Spanish established a presidio, which served the dual purpose of protecting the community from insurgent Indians and the estuary from English pirates.

By 1767, virtually all the Indians in the area had died either of European diseases or in skirmishes with the Spanish. Surviving mission Indians were moved to missions farther north, but San Jose del Cabo remained an important Spanish military outpost until the mid-19th century when the presidio was turned over to Mexican nationals.

A few farmers and began trickling into the San Jose area in the 30s and in 1940 the church was rebuilt. San Jose del Cabo remained largely a backwater until the Cape began attracting sportfishers and later the sun-and-sand-set in the '60s and '70s. Surfers have secretly known of the awesome lustre of waves in this region for years. Many make the trek by driving all the way from the United States, but in years past, airlines and more flights have made Cabo San Lucas a more attractive surfing destination.

The Baja Peninsula is anchored between the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean. Its isolated ecosystems range in climate from Mediterranean to desert, wetlands, to tropical forests. Mountains extend from the northwest to the southeast. It is cooler at the higher elevations and on the Pacific side, and warmer in the desert and on the Sea of Cortez side.
Global currents in the atmosphere create high-pressure, insulating this area from the low-pressure fronts usually associated with rain clouds. So, Baja has very little rainfall, the wettest months being December through April. The driest coastal area is the northwestern shore of the Sea of Cortez. And yet, one can see snow covering the peaks of the Sierra de San Pedro Martir in the winter time.