Hurricane Tourist Advice From a Cabo Expat.

The have been news reports of a of violent torrent of storm water exploding through river beds; ripping trees from their old, solid routes and unfortunate souls from their wretched, make-shift homes. The Pacific has sent another storm to Cabo and Cabo, once more, has said ‘no’, not today’.  Lidia was the latest storm, not quite making hurricane status because the winds were 2mph short of category 1. The rain that fell was more than category 5 Odile in 2014 and tested the resilience of Cabo residents just the same.  Lidia, Odile, Norman, Paul and Newton are some of the hardest hitting weather systems the peninsula has seen in just the last 5 years.  The navy base at the Socorro Islands, 260 miles south, get more direct hits from hurricanes than anywhere else on Earth.

Many more storms will come and many more storms will go. Hurricane season peaks mid-August and until mid-October. As each devastation leaves Cabo rebuilds what has been torn down and it’s business as usual within days: the tourist industry demands it and Cabo never fails to deliver.

You shouldn’t miss traveling to Los Cabos in the summer ‘just in case’. The landscape is green and the water is clear and warm. The best sea conditions for temperature and clarity are September to December and, as a scuba diver, I wait patiently all cold water season for these months of the year to arrive. They always impress, so do come!

A hurricane will not sneak up on you but can be cleverly predicted with days to spare. Of course sometimes we assume they won’t organize themselves as well as they do and there is always something we may have taken care of differently in hindsight. So, if you’re coming to Cabo on the spur of the moment you can of course check the weather (eebmike.com) and make a decision about when to fly.

Obviously if you book your vacation a year in advance this means you have to keep some other considerations in mind. Be prudent when you book a hotel. You should check your hotel has an emergency action plan in place. For example, how easy is it to exit the hotel in high winds and lots of water? Are staff trained to deal with emergency weather situations? You’ll find most hotels 4* and above a fully equipped to deal with storms of large magnitude.

You can also research how the hotel has faired in previous bad weather. If the structure of the hotel isn’t affected by the impact of the storm consider the first few days following it. Are there electricity generators for electricity and will there be a back up supply of water?

As each tropical storm or hurricane arrives the media covers the story with gusto, acting as both an information source and warning mechanism to whom, for once, we are quite grateful. Social media has played a pivotal role in establishing support networks via its status as a virtual online community notice board. Join a Cabo Facebook group and get opinions from local expats before you travel: there are many of us that want to share our amazing home with you and we are never put off by a storm. Cabo Strong.