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Bisbee’s Back for Another Year of Turning Fishermen into Millionaires

August 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, Bisbee’s held its 18th annual East Cape Offshore. It was one of their most successful tournaments ever, with 136 billfish boated in the 3-day event, and a record spread of teams (11 of 64) claiming a share of over half a million dollars in prize money.

But as fans of fishing’s most celebrated series of tournaments know, the East Cape classic is only a prelude to Bisbee’s marquee annual events:  the Los Cabos Offshore and Black & Blue marlin fishing tournaments, held each October in Cabo San Lucas.

The Black & Blue gets star billing, of course. Not only is it the oldest of Bisbee’s three annual tournament in the Los Cabos municipality – it premiered in 1981 – it is also the most lucrative, living up to its hype as “the world’s richest fishing tournament” and “the Super Bowl of sportfishing.” The 2006 payout of $4,165,960 remains the largest in sportfishing history, and nobody turned their nose up at last year’s kitty of 3.5 million.

Cabo San Lucas in October is the place and time where skilled anglers can become millionaires overnight. In 2016, Julio Fernandez’s team aboard Quiteña pocketed a cool $2,183,000 for bagging a bruising 534 lb. black marlin.

This year’s Black & Blue is slated to take place October 24 – 28, with registration on the first day, an awards ceremony on the last, and three days of fishing in between. Those visiting the Land’s End city during the event can watch daily drama as fish are weighed on the marina boardwalk in front of Puerto Paraiso. The drama is a little more tense, however, if you happen to be the one who caught the fish! Registration remains $5,000 per team, or $71,000 across the board for all jackpots and challenges.

The Los Cabos Offshore serves as a warm-up – it is affectionately known as “Little Bisbee’s,” to differentiate it from the Black & Blue, or “Big Bisbee’s” – and kicks off the biggest nine days of the year on the Cabo San Lucas sporting calendar. Scheduled for October 19 – 22, the LCO is thought of as a friendlier, more charity focused tournament than the high-dollar main event that follows. That said, last year’s winners aboard Wild Hooker shared over a quarter of a million dollars. Not bad for a few days on the water.

There’s an old saying that “the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work.”

Where Bisbee’s is concerned, that could be rephrased “the best day fishing is more profitable than the best year at work.”

For more information about Bisbee’s yearly marlin and game fishing tournaments in Baja California Sur, visit www.bisbees.com.

For accommodations click here http://www.loscabosvillas.com/cabo-san-lucas-rental-villas/

Photo courtesy of Bisbee’s.

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Jim Flick Invitational Returns to Cabo del Sol Golf Courses in November

August 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Los Cabos currently has three courses ranked among the 100 Best in the World, but only one of them regularly hosts tournaments. That’s the Cabo del Sol Ocean Course, which along with its neighboring Desert Course, is the site of the annual Los Cabos Pro-Am and the Jim Flick Invitational.

The latter also showcases a pro-am format, with professionals competing for $100,000 over 72-holes of stroke play, and foursomes (featuring one professional and three amateurs) battling in handicap-adjusted best ball formats to win a 5-day trip to the birthplace of golf, St. Andrews in Scotland. The 2017 Jim Flick Invitational is scheduled for November 7 – 12.

Formerly the TaylorMade Invitational, the tournament was recently renamed in honor of the late Jim Flick, a PGA Professional and golf instructor for more than 50 years. Flick taught golf in 23 countries and worked with pros like Tom Lehman and Jack Nicklaus, with whom he founded the Nicklaus-Flick Golf Schools.

Nicklaus’s breathtaking Ocean Course is of course the star attraction. Ranked in the top 100 in the world for 15 years running by GOLF Magazine, the Ocean Course hugs the coastline, offering stunning mountain, desert and Sea of Cortez views before concluding with what Nicklaus himself has called “the three finest holes in golf.”

Although lacking the same accolades as its Ocean neighbor, Tom Weiskopf’s Desert loop also offers an unforgettable golfing experience, and is certainly worthy of sharing the Cabo del Sol imprimatur.  The scenically sculpted layout is currently rated as the 6th best course in Mexico, and was included among Golf Week’s 50 top courses in Mexico and the Caribbean for 2017.

The inaugural Jim Flick Invitational in 2016 was won by Michael Block, head professional at the Arroyo Trabuco Country Club in Mission Viejo, California; and in the team category by the foursome of Jason Marciniec, Alan Marthinsen, Chris Raftis and Bill Sarris. As a bonus, nearly $40,000 was raised for the PGA of America’s Junior League Golf during the post-tournament Trophy Night.

Jack Nicklaus was honored with the first ever Jim Flick Trophy last year, an appropriate selection given the relationship between Nicklaus and Flick, Nicklaus’ unrivaled status as 18-time major champion, and his contributions to Los Cabos golf.

Nicklaus effectively put Los Cabos on the golfing map in the early 1990s with spectacular layouts at Palmilla, Eldorado and Cabo del Sol (Ocean); and has since built upon this legacy with the magnificent Quivira, challenging Campestre, and a unique collaboration with Greg Norman at Puerto Los Cabos. His son Jackie accepted the trophy on his behalf.

This second edition of the Jim Flick Invitational will boast an impressive list of sponsors, headlined by the PGA, Corona, Pepsi and Adidas. For registration and other information, visit jimflickinvitational.com.

For tips on resorts or rental accommodations, including luxury villas, Call Us TOLL FREE at 1-888-655-4548, visit www.LosCabosVillas.com, or email us at Info@LosCabosVillas.com.

Photo courtesy of the Jim Flick Invitational.

 

 

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Cabo Wabo Gets Set for Sammy Hagar’s 70th Birthday Celebration

July 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment

This October will be a momentous one at Cabo Wabo Cantina, as The Red Rocker himself, Sammy Hagar, celebrates his 70th birthday with a series of concerts.

The “birthday bashes” are nothing new. Hagar has been hosting them at Cabo Wabo Cantina since the year benchmark Cabo San Lucas nightspot opened, and over the past few decades there have been guest appearances from a virtual who’s who of rock n’ roll:  from 60s and 70s icons like Bob Weir and Iggy Pop to newer stars such as Toby Keith, John Mayer and Adam Levine.

Hagar originally opened Cabo Wabo in 1990 with his then Van Halen bandmates (he had formerly sung for the band Montrose), famously premiering the new Land’s End bar and restaurant with a massive promotional assist from MTV. The Van Halen partnership eventually dissolved – both musically and in Cabo Wabo – even as Hagar steered the venture toward incredible success.

In 1996, Cabo Wabo spun off its own house brand of tequila. Eleven years later, Hagar sold 80% of his stake in the tequila to the Campari Group, netting a cool 80 million. In 2010, he sold his remaining shares for another 11 million dollars.

The cantina also proved popular, so much so that more locations were spun off in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Hagar was now as much a business magnate as famous musician, adding rum and branded beach bars to an ever growing portfolio.

But Cabo Wabo Cantina started it all, and it’s where Hagar has celebrated his birthday for 26 of the past 27 years (Hurricane Odile in 2014 resulted in the shows being moved to Las Vegas).

This year is special, however. Sammy turns 70, and as with his 60th birthday a decade ago, rock royalty is expected to show up on stage to help him celebrate. No one knows who’ll make a cameo during the bashes – scheduled for October 9, 11, 13 and 14 – but Hagar’s current bandmates in The Circle are locked in:  Jason Bonham, Vic Johnson and Michael Anthony (who played with Hagar in Van Halen, and still plays with him in the supergroup Chickenfoot).

To say tickets are hard to get is in understatement; but then again, they’re always hard to get. The entry period for the traditional random drawing is over, and winners will be notified on July 21. Ticket price? $70, of course.

Mercury Insurance, sponsor of Hagar’s reality series Rock & Roll Road Trip, is also spearheading a ticket giveaway contest. To enter, visit info.mercuryinsurance.com/axs by August 31.

Those visiting Los Cabos during October, however, will also have an opportunity to see the birthday boy and friends, as some dinner show tickets are always held back and sold on a first-come, first-serve basis.

This year, expect the line around the block for dinner tickets to be longer than ever.
The cameo list certainly will be.

Photo courtesy of www.redrocker.com.

Contact Los Cabos Vacation Rentals for Accomodations ASAP.

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Los Cabos Open Tennis Tournament Returns This Summer

June 28, 2017 by Leave a Comment

There are only two professional tennis tournaments played each year in Mexico. 

The first is the Mexican Open, a staple of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour since 1993, and a rite of spring in Acapulco since 2001. The second is the Los Cabos Open, an ATP mens singles and doubles competition that premiered in 2016 at a newly constructed tennis complex just outside Cabo San Lucas.

The Los Cabos Open returns for its sophomore edition July 31 – August 5, bringing back some of the world’s best players to compete for nearly $800,000 in prize money, and offering plenty of off-the-court festivities, from high-end food and drink concessions to invitation-only special events (last year’s media cruise showcased top players volleying on a luxury yacht based tennis court in front of Land’s End).

The primary forces behind the first Los Cabos Open were banking and financial services giant Mifel, and Cinemex, the largest movie theater chain in Mexico. Both return as primary sponsors in 2017, and will help to grow the impressive facilities that have sprung up around the event.

The tournament host is again Delmar International School, a private bilingual educational institution, where last year six separate courts – including a 3,500 seat stadium and a 1,000 seat grandstand – were specially built, as was an enormous exhibit area and food concession center featuring spectacular Land’s End views. Attendees will not only enjoy brilliant tennis, but be able to sample movie quality Cinemex popcorn, savor fresh local seafood, and sip world-class wines from Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe. Players and special guests, meanwhile, will be lodged at the nearby Sheraton Grand Los Cabos Hacienda del Mar Resort.

Last year, mammoth-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic beat major champion Feliciano Lopez in the singles final. Lopez, a dashing Spaniard with major championship credentials (he won the French Open doubles in 2016 with countryman Marc Lopez), was the media darling of the first event, fawned over by the Spanish speaking Los Cabos press corps. He returns in 2017, as do six other players ranked in the top 100 internationally. Thomas Berdych, a former Wimbledon finalist currently ranked 14th worldwide, joins Lopez as the marquee attraction.

Tickets for this year’s event are available by the day or week at www.abiertoloscabos.com, or at select box office locations like Koral Concierge in San Jose del Cabo. For stylish accommodations during tournament week, peruse the private villa options at www.loscabosvillas.com.

Photo courtesy of Abierto Los Cabos.

 

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Wine Culture Flourishes in Los Cabos

June 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment

When Ralph Amey published his benchmark guide Wines of Baja California in 2003, there were fewer than two dozen wineries in Valle de Guadalupe and the smaller grape growing valleys located between Ensenada and Tecate. Thirty-five years before that, the grand total was four.

Today, there are well over 120 wineries, and publications as august as Vogue and The New York Times have compared the region to Northern California’s Napa Valley.

What does this Baja California wine boom – in both quantity and quality – mean for visitors to Los Cabos, some 700 miles further south in Baja California Sur?

Cape cities Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo may set the peninsular standard when it comes to hotels and resorts, but when it comes to hospitality bedfellows like food and wine, they often follow the trends set in northern Baja communities like Tijuana, Rosarito and Ensenada.

The Baja Med movement which developed in the early 2000s – pioneered by Tijuana chefs like Miguel Ángel Guerrero and Javier Plascencia – exercised (and continues to exercise) a profound influence on the Los Cabos dining scene, most notably in the emphasis on local and organic produce, farm-to-table restaurants, and creative international fusions. The success of the peninsula’s wine industry, which is responsible for upwards of 90% of all Mexican table wines, has also affected hospitality trends in Los Cabos.

Although a few hardy souls are attempting to harvest grapes and bottle wine between Los Cabos and La Paz, hotter temperatures and a lack of the peculiarly saline water that gives the Valle de Guadalupe its distinctive terroir ensure the wines of El Sur will never rival those being made near La Frontera.

No, the real inroads made by Valle de Guadalupe producers in Los Cabos are their prominent billing in five-star cartas de vino, spots previously reserved for high-profile wines from France, Italy, Argentina, Chile and the U.S.  These Baja based wines are also being heavily promoted to visitors who once thought little of pairing their dinners with a lime-wedged bottle of Corona, or a salt-rimmed margarita.

Tadd Chapman’s Don Sanchez in San José del Cabo is not just one of the city’s finest restaurants, it’s a legitimate wine destination, with an onsite sommelier and a carry-out shop featuring over 300 labels. Solomon’s Landing offers monthly wine pairing dinners on the Cabo San Lucas marina boardwalk during high tourist season, and the Los Cabos Winery offers tasting flights near the town square.

Resorts too are jumping on the bandwagon. The Resort at Pedregal’s annual The Art of Taste Festival brings chefs as well as sommeliers from around México and beyond, and Grand Fiesta Americana boasts a wine themed spa, SOMMA WineSPA, with treatments and therapies built around wine varietals such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Vinotherapy, anyone?

Photo of a Valle de Guadalupe vineyard courtesy of Cbojorquez75 and Wikimedia Commons.

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Extreme Sailing Series Premieres in Los Cabos This Fall

June 14, 2017 by Leave a Comment

For the first time ever, the Extreme Sailing Series is coming to Los Cabos. The upscale yachting event is

The Extreme Sailing Series 2016. Act 7. Lisbon. Portugal. 6th October 2016. Credit – Lloyd Images

scheduled to take place from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2017, and looks to be a perfect fit for a region that is increasingly positioning itself as both a global travel destination and a luxury lifestyle leader.

The Extreme Sailing Series was originally founded in 2007, and has been staging high-profile events around the world ever since. One of its primary allure for sailing fans has been its ability to bring together different categories of sailors – from America’s Cup competitors and their billionaire backers to Olympic heroes and around-the-world soloists – and let them compete on an even playing surface. This has been accomplished by requiring all participants to sail the same boat, a GC32 class catamaran. These 40 foot seagoing missiles are constructed of high-tech carbon fiber (think incredibly light and incredibly strong), and capable of speeds up to 46 miles per hour across open water.

Los Cabos is the final stop on the 2017 tour, the final test of champions. Even more exciting, perhaps, is that the series is also the leading proponent of what is called stadium racing. No, there is no actual stadium involved; the concept, rather, is that all the racing action takes place within view of land (or Land’s End). Stadium racing was immediately applauded when it appeared on the scene, since traditionally fans, friends and family had only had good views of the action at the very beginning and very end of a yacht race. Stadium racing made racing much more spectator friendly, and allowed for innovations and upgrades like leader boards, VIP seating, food and beverage access, and in-race commentary.

What stadium racing means for visitors to Cabo San Lucas this fall is the equivalent of a free front row seat to one of the world’s truly big-ticket sporting events. Pack your picnic basket with organic Miraflores grown fruit, Oaxacan cheese and some fine wine from Baja’s Valle de Guadalupe, spread out a blanket along the shore, and watch as some of the world’s most expensive ships indulge in a sort of high-speed, wind-aided ballet.

To find out more about the Extreme Sailing Series, which will be sponsored by German software giant SAP, go to www.extremesailingseries.com. To find out more about ways to upgrade your picnic viewing experience, visit www.loscabosvillas.com.

Photo courtesy of the Extreme Sailing Series.

 

 

 

 

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Cheese and Wine Festival Benefits Local Children

March 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Los Cabos has burnished its wining and dining reputation in recent years with an ever increasing series of spectacular culinary themed events, from the enormous annual Sabor a Cabo festival – which features upwards of 50 top local chefs – to chic tasting affairs like ultra-luxury property The Resort at Pedregal’s summertime Art of Taste.

For connoisseurs of cultured milk products and fermented grape juice, however, the standard setter remains the yearly Cheese & Wine Festival, the 5th edition of which takes place this Saturday, March 25, from 6 to 10 p.m.

Proceeds from the high-end foodie fete, as always, go to benefit the Los Cabos Children’s Foundation, which for the past 13 years has been working to provide access to pediatric oncology, cardiology and intensive care programs to local children with serious medical issues.

The backdrop for this gustatory celebration will also be familiar to attendees of earlier incarnations:  the elegant and expansive Salon Hacienda ballroom at Sheraton’s 270-room showpiece resort in the Cabo del Sol development at Punta Ballena, a whale-shaped point overlooking the Sea of Cortez between cape cities Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.

Sheraton’s Hacienda del Mar property has long been famed as a special events destination (Hacienda del Mar hosted each of the previous four Cheese & Wine Festivals, and also welcomes participants and guests for both the Los Cabos International Film Festival and the Los Cabos Pro-Am Golf Tournament); as well as for its numerous excellent onsite restaurants, which include Pitahayas (whose chef, Volker Romeike, pioneered pan-Asian fusion cuisine in Los Cabos), De Cortez Grill (home to superb steaks and seafood) and Girasoles (lauded for its traditional Mexican specialty dishes).

For tickets or additional information about the 5th annual Cheese and Wine Festival, visit www.sheratonhaciendadelmar.com, email hacienda.delmar@ sheraton.com, or call (624) 145-8000.

 

Photo courtesy of Sheraton Grand Los Cabos Hacienda del Mar.

 

 

 

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