Land’s End is where the Baja California Peninsula ends and the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez, and the rock formations at the tip are the image that defines Los Cabos: the Arch of Cabo San Lucas, a natural granite arch rising thirty metres from the water with the Pacific on the west side and the Cortez on the east. The beach directly inside the Arch, called Playa del Amor or Lovers Beach, is accessible only by boat. There is no land route. The only way to hold a ceremony there is to charter a water taxi from the marina, motor around the point, and arrive on a beach that has the Arch as its immediate backdrop and the open ocean on one side and the sheltered cove on the other. For couples who want the specific Los Cabos image in their gallery, this is the location that produces it, and the boat access is the mechanism that keeps it from being overwhelmed by the visitor volume that every other accessible point in Cabo San Lucas receives.

The Boat Access and What It Means

Water taxis operate from the marina in Cabo San Lucas town on a continuous basis during daylight hours. The ride to Lovers Beach takes approximately fifteen minutes. The beach is not entirely private: other visitors arrive by the same water taxis throughout the day. The early morning arrival, before 8am, gives the most limited visitor presence on the beach. The ceremony at the base of the Arch in the morning light, with the Pacific on the west face of the rock catching the first sun and the Cortez side still in shadow, gives a specific light on the geological formation that midday eliminates. The Arch is positioned such that the morning light catches the interior from the Cortez side, which is where I position the couple for the ceremony: facing the open Pacific with the lit interior of the Arch visible above and behind them.

Rock arch formation in the ocean at sunset in Los Cabos Baja California Mexico showing the famous El Arco natural granite arch at Land s End — The Arch at Los Cabos at sunset: the granite formation where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. The beach on the left side of the Arch is Lovers Beach, accessible only by water taxi, and the only location where the Arch is directly behind the couple during a ceremony.

What the Arch Gives the Photographs

The Arch is thirty metres tall and the beach at its base is small enough that the formation fills the upper portion of any wide-angle portrait frame. The result is that the couple is positioned in front of one of the most recognisable natural features in Mexico with the formation at a scale that communicates the geological reality rather than appearing as a distant background element. At the same time, the beach is intimate: the couple is close to the rock and the ceremony happens at the edge of the water where the Pacific waves come through the arch opening. The photographs from Lovers Beach have the Arch at its correct scale and the ocean visible in multiple directions, which no viewpoint from the mainland side of the point produces.

El Arco the iconic arch rock formation at Los Cabos Baja California Mexico showing the natural stone arch where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez — El Arco from close range: the full scale of the natural granite arch at Land’s End. The beach on the right is Lovers Beach. The ceremony happens in the shadow of this formation at the edge of where the two oceans meet.

Planning the Water Taxi Session

The water taxi charter for a ceremony should include a return reservation for a specific time, which the taxi operators accommodate readily. I plan the session for a two-hour window on the beach: thirty minutes for the ceremony and the formal portraits at the arch base, thirty minutes for beach walking portraits and the wider landscape frames with the Pacific visible, and the remaining hour for the couple to have the beach to themselves before the return. The charter cost is modest and the operator can usually provide a soft-sided cooler for the couple if they want to spend time on the beach after the session. The marina side of Cabo San Lucas town has restaurants open by 8am, which makes a post-session breakfast on the return from Lovers Beach the natural end to the morning.