Fall, 2006

The Original Online Magazine Dedicated Exclusively to the International Angler

Real
"World Class" Fishing

Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort believes strongly in conserving our natural resources, and supports the Billfish Foundation and its catch-and-release program. In fact, 80% of our billfish are released to fight another day (more than 1000 this year alone). Buena Vista anglers who release fish receive a special patch, signifying their commitment to the program.

In addition, most of the Hotel Buena Vista's captains are participating in the Captains 25+ Release Team awards program, sponsored by the Billfish Foundation and Penn Fishing Tackle. As part of the Billfish Foundation's worldwide effort to promote the catch-and-release concept, the Captains 25+ Release Team provides special recognition to captains who release more than 25 billfish annually.

So far this year, Hotel Buena Vista has released more than 1,000 billfish to fight another day.

Hotel Buena Vista offers sixty Mediterranean-style bungalows, each with private terrace and hammock. Each is cleaned daily and include individual air conditioning control.

Guests wake up each morning with in-room coffee service and feast nightly on authentic Mexican cuisine , including fresh seafood and our traditional buffets. Thanks to a natural spring that flows beneath the hotel, all of the Hotel's water is deliciously drinkable straight from the tap. The high mineral content will also make your hair and skin feel soft!

Hotel Buena Vista abounds with ways to relax. The resort grounds have beautiful gardens and a white sand beach. Guests can enjoy a cool dip in one of two swimming pools or a warm relaxing spell in one of our 20-person Jacuzzis. At day's end, treat yourself to a massage by our licensed massage therapist or enjoy a refreshing drink at the swim-up bar.

If you're mixing business with pleasure, the resort's conference center can accommodate all of your business needs. The resort also has a safe deposit box for valuables and a gift shop where guests may purchase souvenirs.

Theme buffets such as Taco Night, Seafood Night and Pasta Night will add a pleasant pizazz to your evening out. If you've enjoyed a successful day of fishing, bring your fresh catch to our kitchen, and they'll prepare it just the way you like it.

All meals are served on the oceanfront terrace, where cool breezes and the gentle sound of waves against the shore provide the backdrop for wonderful food and fascinating conversation. Most guests choose the American plan, where they have three meals each day during their stay. Don't be surprised if the hotel's owner, Chuy Valdez, joins you for dinner or at least stops by for a visit. He makes a point of meeting and greeting every guest, and dinner provides him the best opportunity to do this.

Deemed "excellent" by scientists in La Jolla, CA, the entire water system at the Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort uses mineral water drawn from a natural hot spring. Originating from the mountains which feed into the Colorado River, this water travels through tributaries into an underground volcano, where it becomes quite hot. The water is pumped to the hotel, where it must be cooled before use. The spring ultimately empties into the beach just in front of the resort, so if you're walking along the shoreline and discover a very warm spot, you'll know why!

Scuba Diving and Snorkeling

As the youngest sea in the world, the Sea of Cortez is a unique body of water where both novice and experienced divers experience the unexpected. Divers come here to see "Seņor Big" - the enormous whale sharks that hang around the Sea of Cortez. In addition, they'll find groupers, mantas, sharks and gigantic schools of reef fish.

Hotel Buena Vista works closely with Vista Sea Sport, a local dive operation, to offer our guests complete scuba diving and snorkeling services. From resort courses to certification to guided dive trips, equipment rental, etc., Vista Sea Sport has everything you need for the ultimate East Cape diving experience.

During the summer months (June through December), Sea of Cortez water temperatures range from 78 to 88 degrees, with visibility from 50 to 100 feet. In the winter months (January through May), water temperatures drop to 68 to 78 degrees, with visibility from 30 to 60 feet.

Vista Sea Sport offers several scuba courses. The most popular is the Resort Course, designed to allow those who have never tried it to safely experience the thrill of scuba diving. Participants learn about scuba diving in three simple steps. A PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) Instructor conducts a brief orientation, followed by your first underwater experience in the hotel's swimming pool. Then, under the careful supervision of your PADI Instructor, you will go on an actual scuba dive in the shallow, calm waters of the Sea of Cortez. Here you will experience the same sense of wonder and excitement shared every day by scuba divers throughout the world.

Those who want to earn their scuba certification may do so through Vista Sea Sport, though complete certification is very time-intensive. Because our guests are on vacation and probably are not interested in spending much time in the classroom, we recommend that you complete your academic coursework before coming to the East Cape, then join us for the open water diving portion of your training. For those coming from cold water locations, the warm waters of the Sea of Cortez are a welcome option! Advance courses for certified divers are also available.

About 20 minutes away by boat, this spot offers a large rock bed that begins in 25 feet of water and drops to about 70 feet. This area features large schools of amberjack and ladyfish, and also harbors wide varieties of starfish, including chocolate chip, tan, panamic crown of thorns, yellow spotted and spiny varieties. You'll also find a community of Cortez sting rays living in the sandy floor on the north side of the rock bed. Because it's somewhat protected, this spot usually has great visibility.

Fifteen minutes north of Cerro Verde, this site definitely lives up to its name. The deepest part of the dive is about 45 feet. Here unusual topography and rock formations are home to many species of tropical fish and some game fish as well. Larger amberjacks and groupers are fairly common, and there is a lot of branching stony coral and colonial cup coral as well as several different types of gorgonian sea fans. During certain times of the year, conch are here in numbers. Lucky divers will also spot green moray eels, octopus, camouflaging stone scorpion fish and a turtle or two!

This area was officially declared a marine preserve by the Mexican government in June 1995. It's about 25 miles south of Buena Vista (about one hour by boat). The Cabo Pulmo area boasts several beautiful dive spots.

This stone-wall ledge-like reef is one the deepest dive spot in the Cabo Pulmo area, lying in about 90 feet of water. An excellent deep dive, its high points and crevices make excellent hiding places for large grouper. Bring your dive light if you want to see them eye to eye!

Also in Cabo Pulmo, El Bajo is about a mile and a half from the shore and therefore offers good visibility and current. This is a fabulous drift dive (one of Mark and Jennifer's favorites). The reef is a half-mile long and only 20 to 30 yards wide. The colors, coral and vegetation are reminiscent of Disneyland. Here you'll see large schools of tropical fish along with resting turtles. Surrounded by sand and thousands of garden eels, this spot also boasts large pargo and grouper. Divers often comment that the visibility could have been better because they couldn't see through all the fish!

As the name implies, there are many ledges and crevices to swim in, under, around and through. The top ledge, with large heads of elegant coral, is in about 20 feet of water, with the outer ledge going as deep as 50 feet. The cliff itself is more than a mile long, and we always see something exciting here, including bat rays, amberjack, crown of thorns, purple and red starfish, sea urchins and rock scallops. This place is a diving delight!

One of the prettiest places for photo opportunities, these caves lie in about 40 feet of water with openings large enough to swim in and around without feeling claustrophobic. The bright colonial cup coral and multicolored gorgonian coral and sea fans make a beautiful setting where you might expect to see a mermaid!

This is an old tuna boat that went down in 1939. Most of the wooden hull has long since disintegrated, but there is still some wreckage here. Lots of netting and huge, intact refrigeration units and fans lie in about 45 feet of water and act as a safe haven for young fish, including large schools of reef fish and lots of eels, rays and pargo.

With a maximum depth of 95 feet, this long, narrow ledge is filled with cracks and crevices that are home to thousands of reef fish, grouper and snapper.

This unique location offers a small island or pinnacle-like formation which is the perfect spot for a multi-level dive and is like diving "in the round." The bottom depth is 60 feet and there are many boulder-type ledges around the basic pinnacle. Here you'll see boulders, fan and colonial cup coral, scorpion, stone fish and large bump-head parrot fish. We've become acquainted with a grandfather pargo (dog-tooth snapper) who is always there. On the way back up, you'll also find species changes in tropical fish, including scrawled leather jacket file fish. There are also small cave-like areas that offer great photo opportunities!

Great for videos or photos. About a mile south of Iguana Beach is a sea lion colony, home to California sea lions who are very friendly and love to frolic with snorkelers and divers alike.

Approximately 35 miles north of Buena Vista, this island provides excellent and diverse diving. Because of the depths and possible strong currents, this is one of our more advanced dives. The deepest of these dives go to 125 feet at Punta Perico (Parrot Point) ad Punta de la Ventana (Window Point). Punta Perico used to be home to thousands of parrot fish until the commercial fishermen got a bit overzealous, but you'll still see good-sized parrot fish and many other tropical species. Punta de la Ventana is a long, ledge-like structure with crevices and large caves. You'll see larger grouper fish and sea bass from 80 to 300 pounds!

The other site at the island is Roca Montana, which begins at 50 feet and goes to about 70 feet. Here there are also many cracks, crevices and cave-like ledges where large grouper and pargo hide. It's also home to the largest population of green morays we've found!

This is the farthest and deepest dive offered by Vista Sea Sport. About 50 miles from shore (two hours by boat), this reef lies in blue water and goes well beyond the recreational dive limits. The top of the shallowest pinnacle is in 100 feet of water. Here you'll see large game fish in action, including hammerhead sharks, marlin, dorado, tuna and wahoo. The major attraction, however, are the whale sharks (during the right season). These docile creatures can grow as large as 35 feet long and are very curious about humans (but no threat). This is a true diving adventure!

For non-divers, the East Cape offers several fantastic snorkeling locations where you'll enjoy a beautiful underwater world.

Iguana Beach is in the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park, which can only be reached by water. This is a very private white sand beach surrounded by huge rock formations. Here we see many varieties of living coral and tropical fish in numbers rivaling those anywhere in the world. In fact, Dive Travel magazine has listed Iguana Beach has one of the world's best snorkeling locations.

About a mile south of Iguana Beach is a sea lion colony, home to California sea lions who are very friendly and love to frolic with snorkelers. Vista Sea Sport offers a tour hitting both the sea lion colony and Iguana Beach.

At Punta Pescadero (Fisherman's Point) to the north of Buena Vista is this beautiful white sand beach with lots of shallow living coral and tropical fish.

About four miles north of Punta Pescadero, this location is ideal for snorkeling from the boat. It's the closest thing you'll find to swimming in a life-size aquarium. This large area of living coral is home to more sea life than you can imagine, including green, jeweled and zebra moray eels, large schools of reef fish and, if you're lucky, you may even sea some sea horses! Vista Sea Sport is the only operation offering tours to this locale, recently featured in the Los Angeles Times.

Mark and Jennifer Rayor, proprietors of Vista Sea Sport, moved to Buena Vista eight years ago from southern California. Both are certified PADI Instructors, having taken thousands of dives in the Sea of Cortez. They've explored every inch of the Sea of Cortez, and love sharing the experience with guests.

Located 70 miles southeast of La Paz, Baja California Sur, and 35 miles north of Los Cabos Airport off Mexico's Highway 1, Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort is set on the coast between the fascinating Baja desert and the Sea of Cortez.

Transportation is easy: Alaska Airlines, Aero Mexico, Mexicana, Continental, America West, and Aero California all have frequent flights to Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. We would be happy to arrange transportation for you, including ground transportation. Just let us know when you make your reservations.

E-Mail: info@worldangler.com

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