Some kind of Mexico is better than no Mexico at all, so when the opportunity arose we headed to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, about 4 and a half hours south and west of Tucson, AZ on the Sea of Cortez. This is a popular destination for people in Phoeniz and Tucson, and is also known as Rocky Point.

Being used to lush jungle foliage stretching to powdery white beaches and the crystal clear blue waters of the Caribbean, we weren't sure what to expect. To our delight, we found the water, while not as clear as we would have liked, was pleasantly warm and very pretty. The beaches, however, are coarse sand and shells, and the landscape inland is desert. Another difference is the tide. We've never noticed any fluctuation along the Riviera Maya, although I understand there is some, but here we found changes between high and low tides to be as much as 10 feet. At some times there can be changes on the order of 15 to 20 feet.

We stayed at a lovely condo named the Princessa. It is composed of five buildings, each with five floors. We were on the third floor of Building E, close to the shore. There are two large pools, two wading pools, and a jacuzzi. What is not present is a restaurant. We drove into town for meals...not a short distance. The town itself is fairly large...probably on the order of Playa del Carmen. It is also a fairly busy fishing port, although there is much less commercial fishing now than in past years.

There is much construction in the area. Everything from luxury condos to private homes is being built all along the beach areas. The condos are going for around $250,000 US and the homes for $500,000 to around $900,000 US. From all appearances, Rocky Point will closely resemble the Cancun hotel zone in a decade or so.

For evening meals we tried three different restaurants. The Friendly Dolphin, in the Old Port area, offered pretty good seafood and Mexican food. Unfortunately, it also offered entertainment in the form of a Mayan Palace timeshare shark, masquerading as a restaurant employee. More on that later. Our second evening was spent high on a hill overlooking Puerto Peñasco at the Casa del Capitan. Great margaritas and pretty good food, as well, along with one of the best views you could hope for.

The view from the Casa del Capitan

One morning we tried snorkeling out in front of the condo. We didn't expect to see much and in that respect we weren't disappointed. Of course we really had no idea where to look so just swam around. The water was about as clear as Akumal Bay... after four days of intense winds, that is. Visibility was around 5-10 feet. At least the water was warm. Then that evening we went on a sunset cruise. The boat left the docks in the port and then off towards Cholla Bay. (If you're in the Sea, looking towards Puerto Peñasco, Cholla Bay would be way off to your left.) Then the boat turned around and went past the port for a bit. By this time it was past sunset and we then headed back to the dock. The cruise also offered free (and fairly strong) margaritas, so we enjoyed one (or several!) of them.

View of the Princessa from the boat


Looking across the Sea of Cortez to the Baja Peninsula

Should you wish to travel in any area where there are Mayan Palace timeshare resorts be extra careful to avoid anyone offering anything from a free brunch to gifts to cash if you will go to a 90-minute presentation "Just to show you a nice place to consider for your next trip." These guys are sharks...don't let them get their teeth into you. 90 minutes will become all day, unless you're prepared to sign on the dotted line for a couple of weeks at $70,000 US plus sizable annual fees. The sharks themselves will be hard to shake, but the actual sales people at Mayan Palace properties are worse than a whole platoon of used car salesmen with law degrees. Their only interest is to get you to sign up, at any price. If you manage to shake one, another will take their place, then another, then another. You get the picture. We thought the sharks were bad at Cancun. These guys are even worse. Enough said.

On our first morning, while having breakfast on the condo's balcony, we saw a pod of dolphins feeding along headed from left to right. Later we saw probably the same pod swimming back. Really cool!

As I previously said, some kind of Mexico is better than no Mexico at all. We were happy to be offered this opportunity to see Puerto Peñnasco, especially as it was in the company of my brother Jac and his wife Betty. We had an overall fine time, but we all agreed that Akumal and the Mayan Riviera has much more appeal for us.

Some of the desert and sand dunes just inland from the Princessa


Another view of the Puerto Peñasco dunes