Punta Colorada Beaches

Punta Colorada is the rocky point south of La Ribera on the East Cape, the site of an old fishing village, where the rocky beaches around the point give way to smooth sand as you go south toward Punta Arena. Behind the point a hard-packed 3,200-foot airfield still marks the place where Bobby and Cha Cha Van Wormer opened Hotel Punta Colorada in 1966; it was soon billed as the Roosterfish Capital of the World and hosted the invitational International Roosterfish Tournament from 1967 until the hotel closed in 2011, when the tournament moved to Los Barriles.

The fishing is still the point. A three-mile stretch of beach runs from Punta Colorada south to the Punta Arena lighthouse, lined with surf anglers most days: roosterfish and jack crevalle from the sand, with the 100-fathom curve often within a quarter mile of shore along Punta Arena, and bait working the beach from spring until the north winds arrive in November. Roosterfish run May into November, billfish late May to October, dorado June to November. Do not drive out to the lighthouse: it is a military base and its beach is off limits.

Swimming and camping are good here, best just south of the old hotel, though no flags fly and the north wind blows hard from December through March. The coastal road is paved near La Ribera and unpaved for nearly 60 miles south to San José del Cabo. Nothing has been written about services at the beach since the hotel closed, so bring everything; La Ribera, a few miles north, is the nearest village.

Sources: Los Cabos Guide (local directory) · Baja Bound (Greg Niemann) · BD Outdoors, Punta Arena · BD Outdoors, Roosterfish Tournament · Saltwater Sportsman · Visit Los Cabos, East Cape · Visit Los Cabos, Los Barriles · AFAR