Baja or bust: beyond the beach and the links, the adventures begin in the brilliant waters off Los Cabos

Chief Executive, The, March, 2005 by Scott Henjum

The baggage carousel at Los Cabos International Airport reveals just a sampling of the outdoor activities offered throughout the sun-soaked Baja Peninsula: Hard plastic cases cradling golf clubs and zippered totes in the shape of tennis rackets plug along in fits and starts.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Ever since the ceremonial first tee shot was struck at the Jack Nicklaus-designed course at the Palmilla Resort in 1992, Baja has developed a well-earned reputation as a mecca for breathtaking oceanfront golf. Today, this mountainous and cactus-studded land off the west coast of Mexico is home to more than a handful of championship courses, as well as a host of top-notch resorts.

But as an increasing number of adventurous CEOs know firsthand, there is a lot more to Baja than golf. This thousand-mile-long peninsula, flanked by the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortez, is a haven for exhilarating water and mountain sports.

Speaking from experience, Dick Gebhard, chairman of Pinnacle Holdings Group, a landscaping and horticulture company in San Diego, describes Baja as "a major playground for executives."

"Competitive business people are driven, which is why they work hard and play hard," says Gebhard, a frequent visitor for sea kayaking and big game fishing. "Every month of the year there is something to do in Baja that is off the charts."

A hideout for English, Dutch and French pirates along a popular shipping route between Acapulco and the Philippines during the colonial period, Baja is a land of isolated beauty. The arid landscape is capped by more than 20 mountain ranges, called sierras, which dominate the skyline and plunge, in places, to the water's edge. Eight of the ranges top out at over 5,000 feet, while the largest, Sierra de San Pedro Martir, reaches 10,000 feet. Although the weather is sunny and warm throughout the year, the most pleasant months are April through June and September through November.

In an age of rapid development and globalization, people often refer to Baja as one of the world's last great places. "Baja is pretty remote," says Chuck Cross, the president of Expeditions, a boutique cruise and adventure travel company based in Bend, Ore. "It has a stark landscape, lots of wildlife and an amazing body of water in the Sea of Cortez. Many people think of Cabo when they think of Baja, but there is a lot more to Baja than Cabo San Lucas."

For all its exoticism, Baja poses relatively few travel challenges. It's just two hours by air from Texas and California, and no more than five hours from major airports in North America. Because the time zone in southern Baja, where most of the resorts are, is the equivalent of U.S. Mountain Time, jet lag isn't a factor.

In many ways, Baja has the same type of relationship with the mainland of Mexico that Hawaii shares with the Lower 48--connected yet removed at the same time. In fact, much of Baja seems to be more of an extension of California than of Mexico itself.

Cabo has a growing number of high-end hotels that cater to the chief executive lifestyle. From your fine accommodations in Cabo, you take a side trip to tackle adventure activities, or drive north a few hours to the less developed East Cape region and see what Cabo was like 15 or 20 years ago. While it is hard to choose among the many action-packed activities to tackle on Baja's waters and mainland, Chief Executive researched three of the most popular--fishing, sea kayaking and windsurfing.

Fishing

Among all the sport- and adventure-based activities in Baja, none is bigger, more popular or as storied as fishing. For more than 40 years, Baja has been one of the top places to do battle with a boatload of different species, including some of the most macho fish on earth: huge blue, black and striped marlin.

"Entertainers like Bing Crosby and Desi Arnaz and executives from the U.S. came down here in the early days to fish," says Chucky Van Wormer, whose family owns the Hotel Palmas de Cortez and two others on the East Cape of Baja and who runs one of the largest fleets of fishing boats in the country. "Back then, private planes were the only way to get here."

The fishing has cooled off from when Bing first hooked up in Baja, but don't be fooled--the place is still a hot spot to wet a line.

"There are more than 800 known species of vertebrates in the Sea of Cortez alone," says Jeff DeBrown of The Reel Baja, the only Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide in Baja. "The diversity of fish and the way the different species migrate throughout the year make this a fun place to fish."

Depending on the time of year, you can target more than 50 species of fish. The list includes dorado, sierra, several varieties of tuna, mackerel, jacks, rooster fish and corvina. Baja is best known for its marlin and sailfishing. Striped marlin, which run 125 to 150 pounds, are the mainstay of the Cabo waters and East Cape fishing grounds. Bruising blue marlin can grow to more than 1,000 pounds, although they average closer to 200 pounds.