We took a Carnival cruise aboard the Panorama with our family (6 kids in tow) to the Mexican Riviera and had a port day in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The beaches there have the most beautiful blue water and incredible waves. It was an amazing experience. We are going to show you what you can expect when you are vacationing there as a family, and all the things you should do when you go!

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Cruising to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico - How to Have a Fabulous Day at Port

First off, when you are coming into Cabo by boat, there isn’t a good place for the ship to port, so you will be shuttled in to the port by tender boats. We were surprised by that because at our other ports, in Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta, we pulled right up to the dock. Compared to some other ports we have been to, this was a pretty small one.

We went down to where the tender boats were pulled up next to our cruise ship, and hopped on right there. Then the tender boat will take you to the port. You will find lots of people lining up for excursions at the port. As you walk down the dock, you will also find lots of people willing to sell you excursions, as well as water taxis. We didn’t purchase an excursion through our cruise line. We found it to be quite a bit cheaper to maneuver it on our own.

We hired a water taxi - make sure you barter!! This particular water taxi happened to have a glass bottom so we could see the fish as we motored along, but we actually saw more fish and sea lions swimming around in the water outside our boat than we did in the glass at the bottom inside our boat.

If you don’t like to get wet, this may not be the excursion for you. Getting in and out of the water taxi was a bit wild. The water taxis couldn’t pull all the way onto the beach and there was no dock. We had to jump in and out of the boat (with some help from our captain). It was definitely an adventure with 6 kids!

Lovers Beach and Divorce Beach are at the end of a peninsula. They are divided by a small sandy walkway between some beautiful high rocks. You can easily walk back and forth between them.

Divorce Beach is extremely treacherous, but it’s gorgeous. The high crashing waves made for beautiful pictures. We loved watching the powerful waves crash along the rocks. Locals warned us not to get into the water there.

Lovers Beach was calmer than Divorce Beach, but still had crazy waves and some close calls that nearly pulled a few of us out to sea. We saw one man nearly drown. Thankfully some locals jumped in and got him back to shore safely.

It was a lovely place to sunbathe and play, but I didn’t feel like I could take my eyes off my kids for a second- even the older ones.

There are no restrooms on Lovers or Divorce Beach. There were some venders that walked around selling jewelry and fruit. We loved the mango guy! He carved mangos into flowers that were beautiful and easy for sharing with our family.

If you like to snorkel, you may want your water taxi to take you to Pelican Beach first. Our in laws did that and had a great time. We opted to go straight to Lovers Beach to make the outing a bit simpler. We did some snorkeling there instead. There wasn’t much to see at Lovers Beach.

We arranged for our water taxi to pick us up at Lovers Beach and bring us back to the port at a certain time, so we could catch our tender boat back to our cruise ship. I would recommend getting the phone number for your water taxi. We had to give our guy a call to remind him to come get us.

Not far from the dock, where the tender boats are lined up, there are a bunch of shops in a large market area where you can find tons of souvenirs purchase. It looks a little small from the front, but once you walk inside you can see dozens of stalls, filled with lots of fun merchandise. We did our shopping after our swimming, which I was grateful for. It would’ve been hard getting in and out of our water taxi with extra bags.

Overall, Cabo was a stunning place to get photos, enjoy the powerful waves and gorgeous blue colors of the ocean. I’m so glad we went for the unique experience. But just know before you go, it was not a relaxing day at the beach with kids like other beaches we have been to on the Caribbean side of Mexico. I would 100% recommend life jackets for kids.