Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur, Mexico
06/03/2003 - 06/10/2003
A mellow motor boat ride north to Santa Rosalia.
Across the Channel
The trip across the channel from Isla San Marcos to Santa Rosalia was a quick one. Although we started out sailing on a great close reach, the wind died and the motor pushed Whisper the last 8 miles.
We searched intently for a repeat show of whales breaching or spouting, but we missed the "whale show". We did get our daily marine mammal fix when a boisterous pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins swam by heading south.
Upon arriving in Santa Rosalia harbor, we were greeted by friends on Citation and Crusader. After a quick Santa Rosalia orientation, Kevin (on Citation) led us into town to point out shopping and restaurants.
Santa Rosalia harbor consists of an old breakwater surrounding a commercial harbor, fishing co-op (with hundreds of fishing pangas), and a 10-slip Santa Rosalia Marina. The marina did not have any slips available, but both Crusader and Citation planned on leaving the next day. We anchored for the evening in 20 feet of water, just behind the marina. The next morning, we entered one of the vacant slips.
Crossing the channel from Isla San Marcos to Santa Rosalia. Another pod of dolphins passes by on their way to breakfast.
Santa Rosalia
Santa Rosalia is an old copper mining town. Although the smelting has been stopped and the mines look dormant, the mines were active until very recently. The mines still surround the town and a museum commemorates the area's rich mining history.
In the late 1800's the French Boleo Mining Company obtained a 99-year lease to exploit the mineral resources of the Santa Rosalia area. The Boleo company imported tons of lumber from America's Pacific northwest and literally built an old west mining town in the desert, on the shores of the Gulf of California. Although the buildings are now painted pretty colors and the old clapboard architecture is preserved in all new construction, Santa Rosalia is different than any other Mexican town we've explored.
The tiny Santa Rosalia Marina. All the basic amenities and services are available! Whisper (center), sits serenely in her slip.
The marina provides electric and (very low pressure) fresh water, a laundry service, fuel service, and a tiny beverage mart. The beverages (beer, soda, purified water) are in large coolers in the marina office and the honor system is used to keep track of what you take during your stay. The total is added to the marina bill at the end of your stay.
Ricardo, the very personable and world-traveled gentleman who runs the marina goes above and beyond to get his guests everything they need. Whisper needed fuel. Within an hour, Ricardo was ready to begin pumping the clean diesel into her tanks. He borrowed a friend's pick-up truck, headed up to the Pemex (gas station) with a 55-gallon barrel, and returned with our 225 liters of fuel.
An old manual pump at the head of the dock got the fuel flowing, and once going, the siphon kept it going until the barrel was empty and Whisper's tank was nearly full. We risked the transfer without using our filter, because the fuel and barrel seemed clean enough to risk it.
Santa Rosalia Marina's "fuel dock". An old pump provides a downhill transfer of fuel to your boat while it sits in its slip.
We dropped off 12 loads of laundry with Ricardo in the morning and he returned it to Whisper that afternoon (for less than $24 US). This tiny marina gets high marks for helping out the visitors with a variety of services.
Because Santa Rosalia does not have an agent for check-in and check-out, this is the first time Duncan had to perform the entire process himself. To the uninitiated, the check-in process goes something like this...
Whisper's skipper proceeds to Immigration with crew list documents to get reviewed and stamped; then off to the Port Authority to pay a $50 peso ($5 US) entrance fee, then to the Port Capitan to check-in (with stamped immigration docs and port receipt), then proceeds to the bank to pay the $150 peso ($15 US) Port Capitan's fee, then returns to the Port Capitan to get the completed check-in documents.
The check-out process is similar, but a new crew list must be presented to immigration in quadruplicate (even if it is the same crew). This consumes a half-day on the check-in and a half-day on the check-out. In Santa Rosalia, the bank is 1/2 mile from the Port Capitan. This convoluted process has always been worth the fee ($20-40 US) we usually pay to an agent to perform the check-in-and-out process.
Pangas in the fishing co-op, protected by the breakwater in the back-ground.
Santa Rosalia's Waterfront
The huge bay created by the ancient breakwater provides a protective cove for both the fishing boats, a ferry terminal, and the marina. An attempt was made to build out a waterfront promenade and it looks like historic buildings along the promenade may be someday restored, but for now they sit abandoned in a state of near collapse.
The smelters sit rusting, and the mines are quiet. Old pictures of the harbor show that in the late 1800's and early 1900's this was a thriving company town. In the old pictures, dozens of wood and steel tall-ships wait in and outside the harbor to drop off labor or pick-up ingots of copper ore. Cruisers, pangas, and an occasional ferry are the only residents of the harbor today.
Sunset in the harbor with the abandoned smelters and ore transfer apparatus in the background.
Geronimo!
The marina was constantly full. Boats waiting for a slip were to politely anchor in the harbor behind the marina and await a vacancy. All previous inbound boats seemed fine with this this process until Geronimo crashed the party. While enjoying a snack and beverage in a cafe across the street from the marina, we watched as Geronimo, a large sportfisher arrived and dropped their hook in the anchorage behind our boat. So far, so good.
Robin continued monitoring Geronimo while Duncan relaxed thinking their anchoring process was over. Robin watched Geronimo continuing to back up -- toward Whisper.
With a worried alert from Robin, Duncan ran across the street and realized that the skipper of Geronimo was dropping off his crew and tying up to the dock -- the narrow dock Whisper was tied to!
Geronimo cleans their catch -- dropping the blood and guts off their stern (and ours). The railing in the foreground is Whisper's stern rail!
Genset motor roaring, lights blazing, drunken crew yammering on Geronimo's aft deck until 1 AM-- all aimed directly into Whisper's aft cabin and cockpit.
Once Geronimo backed down to within 6 feet of the dock (and Whisper's stern) they proceeded to tie up. Anchor out in front, tied up at the stern, they had "Med (Mediterranean) Moored" right on top of us. We assumed this was only for a few minutes, but they proceeded to acquire several barrels of fuel and clean the day's catch of Dorado. It was clear they would not be leaving anytime soon.
At 8 PM, Duncan asked whether they would be turning off their genset. Geronimo's skipper said they would be shutting it down "soon". At 1 AM it was still roaring, and their stern lights brightly illuminated our curtained aft cabin (our bedroom). The skipper, crew, and charter customers sat out on their aft deck drinking and (loudly) sharing fish stories. We (okay, Robin) finally had enough. Robin popped out our hatch and politely asked them to quiet down.
Surprised, they apologized to Robin and said they would be leaving "soon". By 2 AM, they finally did leave -- thanks to Robin's civilized approach. Duncan acknowledged that his approach would have been less civilized, and would likely have led to a territorial confrontation. Duncan very much appreciated the "woman's touch" in this instance.
Geronimo provided us with another example of the rude "move over sailboat, I own this place" behavior on the part of a sport fisherman. We have witnessed this a few times in Mexico's charter/sport fishing fleet. We again theorized that the "weekend warriors" that charter these boats are the same folks that used to cut us off on the freeway and/or fling us the finger for going the speed limit. They bring their stressed out "me first" world to a cruising area where most boaters have slowed down enough to be polite and considerate.
Exploring Santa Rosalia
We walked the streets of Santa Rosalia visiting important services -- shopping, restaurants, and Internet Cafe's. We found an interesting small Museum that documented the mining history of Santa Rosalia.
Robin on the porch of the Santa Rosalia Mining Museum
The view of the harbor from the museum porch.
To the north, smokestacks mark the remains of abandoned smelters.
Maybe Coke & Pepsi in our schools isn't so bad. Here Tecate Brewery has provided a tent to the local elementary school.
A waterfront that never blossomed.
The Santa Rosalia waterfront looked like it once had a "plan" for shops, a promenade, and a few restored historic buildings. Like many projects in Mexico, it is another "started but never finished" project. The buildings were all still derelict and vacant. The promenade was nice but chock-full of dangerous utility holes. And, the palms planted in large planters stood barely alive.
Guide books indicated Santa Rosalia was one of the cleanest towns in Mexico as a result of good cleaning habits leftover from the days when the belching smelters made frequent clean-up necessary. Unfortunately, these once good habits are now extinct, and Santa Rosalia is just as dusty and litter filled as any other small village we've explored on the west coast of Mexico.
We mentioned our disappointment to some veteran cruisers -- indicating Santa Rosalia did not live up to our expectations. Both veteran cruisers and cruising guides had set our expectations of Santa Rosalia so high! Their advice to us was never to have ANY expectations when visiting Mexico, and just to experience each place for what it was -- the good, the bad and the ugly. I think they may have something there!
Santa Rosalia Photo Gallery
Empty warehouses line the waterfront.
An old train station decays on the Santa Rosalia promenade.
The Gustav Eiffel "kit" church that the Boleo company brought to Santa Rosalia in the late 1800's.
The (dark) interior of the Eiffel church.
The clapboard buildings are now painted in pretty colors to replace the "company town" drab grays and greens.
A colorful street-front shop selling fruit juices, frozen juice bars, and and juice smoothies.
The main street in Santa Rosalia. Posters and banners decorate everything in preparation for the July 7th local and national elections.
Another view looking north, this one from the Hotel Frances -- an old mining cart decorates the foreground.
Ready to cross the Sea!
After almost a week in Santa Rosalia, we prepared to leave. Crossing the Sea of Cortez eastward to San Carlos on the Mexican mainland was the plan. The sea narrows significantly as it moves north, so the crossing is around 80 nautical miles -- a one day crossing if we leave early enough in the morning.
Before leaving, we visited the local tackle store in the hope of obtaining some new lures that might help us land a Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) as we pass Isla Tortuga (about 25 miles east of Santa Rosalia).
Well, we're off. We will leave around 4am and have a full day of sailing ahead of us. See you in San Carlos!
Duncan plays fisherman and displays his mammoth Wahoo lure -- how could any fish resist?
Several new Rapala's and Crocodile spoons are added to the arsenal. Duncan prepares the new lures and leaders.