Escalera Nautica March– April 2003
Story and Photographs by Bill Macdonald
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| Santa Rosaliita | Marina |
On March 26th, the ORV Alguita departed for Ensenada, Mexico to pick up oceanographic scientists and continue on to Santa Rosaliita, over 400 miles from the vessel’s Long Beach berth. Santa Rosaliita is the construction site of the first in a series of Baja marinas called Escalera Nautica, a “nautical ladder” of upscale yacht facilities planned for the Baja peninsula to lure American boats and throngs of tourists. The plan to build a string of marinas some 120 miles apart is being implemented by Fonatur, the Mexican governments’ tourist promotion agency.
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| Mexican grafiti reduced benefits to 100 (vs 100,000), Quien? |
Incomplete bridge along road to Santa Rosaliita |
Arriving at dawn in Santa Rosaliita, the ORV Alguita crew encountered fierce Santa Ana winds blowing 30 knots, making Captain Moore’s and the scientists’ task of aquatic sampling aboard ORV Alguita more complex. After filming intrepid scientists gathering samples in the windswept conditions, AMRF’s Bill Macdonald went ashore with Gustavo Riano of BioPesca, and Carlos Cruz an english interpreter. On land, sand particles blew through the air, hardly a place for tourists or cameras. Undaunted, they filmed the marina construction, beach profiles, connecting roads, and interviewed Santa Rosaliita residents who feared being displaced from their homes once the project was completed. One fisherman lamented at not being eligible to work at the future marina-hotel complex, “All I know is the work that has been handed down to me, I cannot even say good morning in English.”
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| ORV Alguita crew | Beach erosion | Local fisherman |
What the camera crew documented was an enigmatic scenario. Nobody knows if the marina will ever work. Coastal engineer, Seamus Innes, P.E., aboard ORV Alguita for the expedition, believes the marina is being constructed in the wrong location. “It’s in the middle of a littoral zone, poorly designed, with sand continually building up inside the marina”, Seamus said. “Where the plan calls for 4 meters of depth against the main seawall, a sand beach exists. The marina will need continual dredging. A prominent seawall is supposed to last 50 years, this one is crumbling due to poor construction after some six months.” Cameras documented workers using 5 gallon buckets of concrete to “patch up” this sea wall. Rusted steel in the form of cement reinforcement rods are being exposed by crumbling concrete on the wall.
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| Beach west of Santa Rosaliita | Cracking Sea Wall |
Sand is building up west of the marina and continually working its way inside the anchorage. East of the Marina, the pueblo of Santa Rosaliita is being threatened by shoreline erosion. They have lost their beach and soon buildings will be at the mercy of the surf. The road from highway #1 to Santa Rosaliita is incomplete, only 60% paved, with construction of two bridges halted. Twenty-six Miles north, at a major intersection on Rt.#1 where the turn-off leads to Bahia De Los Angeles, the Pemex complex is closed, padlocked and empty. No facilities at all. Gasoline is now sold from pick-up trucks, and a parked van hawks burritos and soft drinks. A tienda proprietor across the street complains about the slowing of tourist traffic the past couple of years. Those who do come are self-contained. “Most of them bring their own beer, sodas and chips,” she said. About every 15 minutes a van of Americans would speed past as if to underscore her point. Near-by a trailer park was completely deserted, the gates chained shut. Not encouraging.
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| Gas sold out of truck | Grafitti | Closed gas station |
We do not recall seeing other yachts at sea between Ensenada and Santa Rosaliita, though one sailboat was reported on the return voyage. Hmmmm. If cars passing every fifteen minutes can’t keep a Pemex gas station open, then how can the minimal flow of yacht traffic support these marina-hotel plans?
And for the pueblo of Santa Rosaliita, why should a curiously conceived and constructed “boondoggle” rob these residents of their habitat, livelihood, and their home for more than forty years? Perhaps a serious review of this project is in order, before more of Baja’s pristine coastline is disturbed to install another Escalera Nautical link.
Related Articles
Preliminary Coastal Analysis of Escalera Nautica at Bahia Santa Rosaliita
Notes on Nautical Ladder Project – June 2004 - Capt. Charles Moore
Posted: 4/11/03