Last Updated
So far it has been a busy Hurricane Season in the Pacific and the most recent storm, Hurricane Kay, left some of the beaches in Los Cabos in disarray, but they are now clean and repaired and ready for tourists. Most of the garbage ended up on one of the area’s most popular beaches, El Médano beach. During and after the passing of Hurricane Kay black flags were posted on Medano Beach, and others, to warn tourists that access to the beaches was restricted.
Medano Beach is located directly across from the famous Los Cabos arch in Cabo San Lucas. It is the most popular beach because it’s located in the resort area and is the longest beach suitable for swimming in the area. This is where you will see the most tourists and it’s not uncommon to see a lot of boats out in the bay at any given time.
Once the heavy rains and winds from the storm began to die down the people of Los Cabos came together to collect the garbage from Medano Beach. This group included local citizens, members of civil associations, individuals from area businesses, and municipal authorities. Altogether they collected at least 110 bags of trash, mostly filled with garbage that blew onto the beach from a nearby construction site.
Despite the fact the beaches did need to be cleared of garbage before allowing tourists back to enjoy them, officials say that there was less garbage than expected. The coordinator of Environmental Education in Cabo San Lucas of the Federal Land Maritime Zone, Karina de la O, pointed out that the waste consisted mostly of aluminum, plastic, and cigarette butts. The construction waste allegedly came from a nearby Cabo San Lucas hotel that is currently under construction.
This fact seemed to upset Ms. O and others, due to the lack of concern and the irresponsibility of the construction company. She stated that “Although there were between 110 and 115 large garbage bags, the truth was that there was not a lot of garbage. A week or two ago, the water fell and there was more waste, this time, it was more micro waste, a lot of unicel of the construction that is behind Pueblo Bonito; it was about 10 bags. Which makes me a lack of respect and irresponsibility on the part of the construction company.”
Now with Hurricane Kay in the past, there is another disturbance brewing in the Pacific, though no predictions have been made regarding its future development. There have been a total of 11 storms in the Pacific so far this year, two tropical storms and nine hurricanes. At the beginning of the season, weather officials predicted that there would be five hurricanes in the Pacific in the 2022 season but the number of actual hurricanes to develop so far is nearly double that.
Hurricane Season starts on May 15th and runs until November 30th, with the most active month typically being August. This year, though, it was a little bit different, with July being the most active month so far. The only two major hurricanes to develop both took place in July, which were Hurricane Bonnie and Hurricane Darby.
Despite the unusually active hurricane season, this year tourists are still visiting Los Cabos. At the time that Hurricane Kay was off the coast of Cabo San Lucas, there were more than 30,000 tourists in the area. And now Los Cabos is gearing up for a busy winter, with more than a million more visitors expected by the end of the year, proving that “The Capes” are one of the most popular vacation destinations in Mexico.