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Santa Rosaliita, Mexico. In 2001, the Mexican Tourism Development Agency (FONATUR) began construction of a yacht marina in the sleepy Baja California fishing village of Santa Rosaliita, once known for its long and playful right point waves. Soon after construction of the marina began and the first breakwaters were put in place, sand began to be deposited inside the harbor from winter surf and the howling winds that buffet the area more than 150 days a year.
Five years later the sand has built up enough in front of the breakwater to become the location of a new wave. During low tides and larger than average winter swells, a 2-4’ right wall peels off the marina entrance. Subsequently, the new break has now become one of the most popular spots for traveling surfers in Central Baja.
“I don’t like to expose new surf breaks in Baja, but the pressure by FONATUR to expand the marina and begin a new round of dredging operations are intense,” said Serge Dedina, Executive Director of WiLDCOAST, who has surfed Santa Rosaliita since 1979. Dedina spent the first week of January surfing the new break.
“The irony is that the new wave can’t begin to compare with what Punta Santa Rosaliita or Sandy Point used to be like when it was one of the longest waves in Baja. We are outing this spot to scare away future Baja marina investors and discredit FONATUR,” said Dedina, “We don’t want the corrupt agency to attempt to build anymore marinas on the Pacific coast of Baja—especially at spots like Scorpion Bay, Punta Abreojos or at nearby point breaks where a marina would ruin the surf. Considering that Harry’s in northern Baja was just destroyed by the construction of a Sempra-Shell LNG terminal that the Mexican Supreme Court had recently said violated Mexican law, we need to very vocal in our opposition to any project that could result in the loss of more Baja waves.”
The Santa Rosaliita marina was supposed to be the centerpiece for a $170 million dollar 27 marina mega-tourism project called the Escalera Nautica, or Nautical Ladder, planned for Baja California and the Sea of Cortez. FONATUR plans for yachts to dock at Santa Rosaliita and be hauled to Bahia de los Angeles 70 miles across the peninsula on the Sea of Cortez. The Santa Rosaliita project was the first of what was to be a chain of Pacific marinas and mega-resorts planned for Colonet, San Quintin, Punta San Carlos, Punta Canoas, Punta Abreojos, San Juanico (Scorpion Bay), and Magdalena Bay.
In January 2003, WiLDCOAST released a market study by EDAW of the FONATUR Escalera Nautica marina project that showed that the Mexican federal agency over estimated the demand for the marinas by 600%. Thanks to a media blitz of the market study organized by WiLDCOAST that included a feature story in the Wall Street Journal and extensive press, television and radio coverage in Mexico City, FONATUR scaled back its plans for Pacific marinas. The agency also agreed to work with environmentalists to focus on improving existing marinas in Ensenada, La Paz, Los Cabos, Loreto and Mazatlan instead of building new marinas in isolated parts of the Pacific and Sea of Cortez coast.
More recently, however, FONATUR changed the name of its marina projects from “Escalera Nautica” to “Mar de Cortez” and began once again investing public funds into marina expansion and road development in Santa Rosaliita. Yacht haul out parking areas have been installed along portion of the Transpeninsular Highway from the L.A. Bay turnoff to the Santa Rosaliita exit, even through yachts will never be hauled out at Santa Rosaliita. Workers attempting to dredge the project admitted to WiLDCOAST that the marina will never work.
“The entire Santa Rosaliita project is a sham, said Dedina. “The agency is just attempting to save face with President Fox who visited Santa Rosaliita in 2003. FONATUR is also attempting to show American investors that it has a viable marina project.”
Last year, WiLDCOAST supported the work of a team of environmental attorneys from the Northwest Environmental Law Center (DAN) in Ensenada and Mexico City to file a lawsuit against another marina planned for Bahia de los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez on behalf of local landowners. Fernando Ochoa of DAN is concerned that the government could drop rocks at other locations that FONATUR promised to halt marina projects at.
“We are continually monitoring all development in the region. So far FONATUR has not obtained any permits for new marina construction, but the unworkable marina at Santa Rosaliita demonstrates that the agency might do anything at any time without proper permits,” said Ochoa.
For Dedina the marina is proof that, “Any surfer who thinks that the old Baja of isolated wilderness waves will be around forever needs to get a reality check. Baja is up for sale, and the Rosaliita marina is proof that change is coming quickly. And sadly most of that change and coastal destruction is and will be financed by U.S. investors, corporations and developers.”
For now, traveling surfers have another spot to sample in Central Baja. And locals from town have a new form of entertainment—sitting on the breakwater and watching the show.
For video visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=O5rKfZ9ffBw
For photos visit: http://www.wildcoast.net/mznews/archives/000118.html
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