Los Cabos Beaches Reopen After Temporary Restrictions 

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Last Updated 8 months ago

On September 12, the Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) announced that several beaches in Los Cabos are now open again to bathers after restrictions caused by the bad weather conditions of the last few days. 

Yellow flags have been placed on several beaches. 

Among these are: Acapulquito Beach, El Tule, El Chileno Beach Palmilla Beach, Santa María Beach, La Hacienda, El Corsario Beach, Las Viudas Beach, 8 Cascadas Beach, and El Médano Beach. 

Yellow flags indicate that these areas are now open to tourists and locals alike even though people should still be extremely cautious when entering the water. 

Green flags, meaning that bathers can enjoy the ocean without worries, were placed in El Surgidero Beach and La Ribera Beach. 

The Los Cabos Civil Protection delegation coordinator, Manuel Cortés Ávila, said: “[People] can now enter without any problem, and in terms of water quality it continues to improve every day. 

The concentration of pollutants has decreased as they are being diluted little by little.”

Red flags are still present on some beaches 

Even though the weather conditions are now optimal for bathers, some areas remain dangerous. 

The beaches in front of Riu Hotel as well as Las Viudas Beach are still inaccessible due to strong waves and currents.  

A few km northeast of Cabo San Lucas, the beaches of San José del Cabo are also currently considered dangerous for bathers, and swimming here is still prohibited. 

Weather conditions can have a massive effect on Los Cabos beaches quickly turning these paradisiac sites into extremely dangerous places. 

According to the president of the Surf Association in Baja California Sur, Sandoval Villaseñor, surfers in Los Cabos keep acting as lifeguards rescuing bathers who swim too far from the beach and suddenly find themselves without the necessary strength to go back. 

Manuel Cortés Ávila stresses the importance for everyone to learn what each flag color stands for: 

“It is important because they can base [the water safety] on that, if they are green they already know that there are optimal conditions for swimming safely, yellow means ‘enter the sea with caution’ and if they are red, they cannot enter because it is very dangerous due to the strong waves or swell, and in black it indicates that they can no longer approach the beach, and in the same way they cannot enter it.” 

It is also important to remember that white flags indicate the presence of jellyfish in the water. 

Keeping the beaches clean 

Manuel Cortés Ávila also highlights the need to keep Los Cabos beaches clean. 

In fact, even though just a few days ago, five beaches in Los Cabos were assigned the highest award in Mexico for cleanliness and sustainability, he believes more environmental awareness is still needed to keep these areas clean from garbage. 

According to Manuel Cortés Ávila, while 80% of the people going to Los Cabos beaches are now aware of the importance of keeping these spaces clean and garbage-free, the remaining 20% needs some more environmental education. 

The problem seems to come from locals rather than tourists, as the beaches with the highest amount of trash, such as Hacienda and El Corsario, tend to be the ones most visited by the Los Cabos population. 

In contrast, the beaches in front of hotels such as Pueblo Bonito Blanco, Rosé, and Me Cabo, are usually cleaner. 

In particular, the beach of Empacadora remains the dirtiest in the area. Here, according to Manuel Cortés Ávila, during the weekend crews of cleaners collect about three bags of plastic per day. 

“Mexicans […] think that we are here for that, to pick up their trash. But we are not there for that. We are there to keep them clean. Not to clean the garbage of people who are going to visit the beaches. There is sometimes a misinterpretation by users,” said Manuel Cortés Ávila.

Despite the situation, Manuel Cortés Ávila remains positive as day by day, the cleanliness of beaches in Los Cabos keeps improving.