Frédéric Vidal, left, and Steve Burnham on Tokase
While Los Cabos’ luxury hotels remain closed following the devastating Hurricane Odile last September, their bosses are plotting and planning. When these places re-open, service, and food, will be better than ever, and so too will be experiences. When he ran Maia in the Seychelles, Frédéric Vidal had an arrangement with the owner of a six-cabin teak boat, 1960 splendour cossetted with tender loving care. Maia guests loved going out on overnight cruises. Now he wants something similar, but with Los Cabos edge, for Las Ventanas, which he joined, somewhat ironically, two months before the hurricane. He takes the gal along to meet Steve Burnham.
The Tokase
Steve Burnham is an architect who challenged himself to design a boat that is ideal for the US market. Tokase is one of a kind, a 56-foot beauty covered in sleek silver paint. Inside are two spacious cabins, one with two twin beds that pivot together or set as a V-shape – both cabins have enormous bathrooms with showers for two. The living area has a stunning galley, 12-bottle wine refrigerator and a full laundry unit. At the aft of the boat, usually folded away, is a fish-cleaning counter, with sink and refrigerator. The entire back of the living area, and the overall roof, can slide back, and televisions pop up as required, all at press of easy buttons.
Looking back, from the fore suntop
Oh those lucky people who will be able to rent a boat, with crew, for half- or full-day trips around the Mar de Cortes, and return to their real homes-away-from-home, the hotel itself, for overnight. While they are at sea they can swim and snorkel or, December through to March, go whale-watching. I joined Frédéric Vidal and a couple of his colleagues in going up to the mattress-covered fore-roof of the Tokase (named for the designer’s three sons) and thanks to the eye-sight of Captain Juan we found a fabulous school of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae. They were frolicking as toddlers, playing together and sometimes revealing their fluked, T-shaped tails high above the water line.
A humpback whale (photo courtesy Frédéric Vidal)
Humpback adults range from 39 to 52 feet (almost as long as Tokase, and they probably weigh around the same, namely 79,000 lbs). Interestingly, they only feed in summer, when they are in polar waters – now, in winter, they live off their fat reserves while breeding, and giving birth to calves about 20 feet long. Their lifespan, by the way, is from 45 years to a century, as long as they do not come into contact with illegal whalers or other catastrophes. Back to luxury hotels, GirlAhead…
