BajaNomad - alarming rumors about a big quake in Asuncion on the 28th or 29th

alarming rumors about a big quake in Asuncion on the 28th or 29th

shari - 12-26-2006 at 11:03 PM

At a family gathering this evening there was an interesting discussion about a rumor we have been hearing that I thought was a joke but some are taking VERY seriously...the story goes that some fellow who predicted the twin towers disaster has also predicted that a major quake will occur in baja around the 28th or 29th of December and that the baja will separate and become an island!!!

Whoa...and the topic of the underground tunnel under northern baja came up again as the place where it will split...hmmm. I have been hearing this theory about an underground tunnel for many years as supposedly a gray whale had been photographed and identified around san diego and in just a short time it appeared up in the gulf thus "proving" that the tunnel exists :?:

Anyway, tonight we had a surprise quake with a real loud BOOM which made us all scream...I hate it when that happens. So we are all feeling a little more nervous these days and I guess I'll have to put my emergency pack back by the door again. Has anyone else heard about this prediction about baja splitting??? I'm gonna invest in some ferries!
Gorgeous weather though, low 80's and lovely temp water for swimming and surfing.

[Edited on 12-27-2006 by shari]

jerry - 12-27-2006 at 12:30 AM

dang and the road was just getting real good :yes:

Isla Baja

Stickers - 12-27-2006 at 01:20 AM

Baja will be an island in about one million years but not on the 28th or 29th of December. I have made other predictions with perfect accuracy but this one is easy.

Anything else?

capt. mike - 12-27-2006 at 05:10 AM

better call Art Bell on this one.
BTW - would he have any lottery numbers for this week's power ball?

Summanus - 12-27-2006 at 05:16 AM

Si...an island in the making, for sure. Baja Sur has been moving away from the mainland at about the rate of 1 inch per year for mucho mellenia now...but it will be some time before it's an island. But, shari...it wouldn't hurt to pack that packsack anyway. :rolleyes:

Baja has it's own sense of humor.

David K - 12-27-2006 at 08:55 AM

Not just Baja, but some of Alta (California) as well... all of it that is west of the San Andreas fault...

surfer jim - 12-27-2006 at 09:34 AM

Do I sense another SHELL ISLAND controversy coming up?...... :lol:

Summanus - 12-27-2006 at 09:45 AM

Is that Shell Island in Wales or Florida?

Taco de Baja - 12-27-2006 at 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by surfer jim
Do I sense another SHELL ISLAND controversy coming up?...... :lol:

If Baja does separate [ :rolleyes:

] and become like shell island, maybe it will keep some of the riff-raff out

The only way in and out will be at low tide, and you need a 4x4 to get there :lol:

Islandia California

MrBillM - 12-27-2006 at 10:08 AM

Since we're into making gratuitous predictions, I Predict that, "in one Million years Baja AND Alta California will BOTH break away from the mainland as one unit, but remain connected to the contiguous U.S. via Oregon. Although the "New" entity will then declare itself an Independent Islamic nation, the United States will quickly deploy troops and reclaim the territory with minimum loss of life. The President and Congress will then declare that Baja is beyond Mexican Territorial control and will annex the territory and it will become the 60th state in the Union.

Should any of my prescient claims for one million years in the future turn out to be in error, I will welcome and acknowledge the corrections at that time, although I am confident that my forecast is as provable as anyone else's.

Give it a BREAK. Thus far, there have been NO documented forecasts of catastrophic Seismic activity. I don't expect any in the near future. Rumors are fun, though !

Hang on to the pangas

DianaT - 12-27-2006 at 10:13 AM

Shari,
Just think, instead of having pariadise on a bay, you could have an island paradise----

Diane

Osprey - 12-27-2006 at 10:39 AM

What should we name the new island? Baja de Baja won't do. We could join the small island group to the south, the Revillagigedos but that's a tongue twister (only 2 guys in our town can pronounce it and then only when they are wasted on mezcal). (besides, there's another one in Alaska) My vote would be NOMAN. It makes a statement, is easy to say, is probably true.

Shari, I predict no big tremors soon!

David K - 12-27-2006 at 11:29 AM

Well, the island had a name even before it was discovered... and later it was discovered to be a peninsula... The name? CALIFORNIA

The lands north of the peninsula was eventually called ALTA (Upper) California... The peninsula was still just CALIFORNIA... Until the padres moved north and the Franciscans ran ALTA CALIFORNIA missions and the Dominicans ran BAJA (Lower) CALIFORNIA missions.

When the gringos moved in, the Alta part was dropped to shorten the name to one word... So things switched! BAJA WAS 'CALIFORNIA' FIRST!

BajaGeoff - 12-27-2006 at 11:58 AM

Has there been any other discussion about the tunnel between the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific? I think the notion of that, while unlikely, is pretty fascinating. That would be one hell of a scuba dive!!

Osprey - 12-27-2006 at 12:16 PM

Geoff, not a tunnel, a canal.

Canal Transpeninsular

The keystone of the project known as Escalera Nautica, the Nautical Ladder, was the marina at Santa Rosallilita and the new road from the marina to Mexican Highway One. The plan, for this crucial first phase of the project, was to make the third rung of the ladder going south, a safe, modern harbor from which U.S. and other boaters could transport their boats across land to an improved marina facility in the Sea of Cortez.

FONATUR, the Mexican project developers, believed the plan, when completed, would entice many U.S. west coast boat owners to venture south to resort destinations like Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Mazatlan. It was their hope that some larger boats would be drawn to ports in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez, such as San Carlos and Guymas and those on the mainland such as Acapulco and Puerta Vallarta. The developers were convinced they could put in place the necessary supply, storage, docking and repair facilities to lure boaters who formerly found the voyage south from the Pacific west coast impossible or extremely difficult because of the dangers of severe weather, lack of fueling facilities, safe harbors for anchoring in rough seas or vessel breakdowns.

Counting from the ladder’s top step, at the border, the first two rungs, the ones the U.S. boaters would first encounter on the long run south, Colonet and Punta Canoas, were planned to be no more than emergency fuel supply depots. While FONATUR was pouring millions of pesos into the marina to the south, these two dots on the map showed little change. The developers had never experienced the boat trip south, did not know that about 80% of the time, no vessel could safely fuel at these intermediate unprotected facilities because of sea current, tide or waves. The first leg of the trip to Bahia Tortuga, the one and only safe harbor with fuel, was still devoid of services, aids to navigation, dedicated anchorage, was 400 miles from San Diego -- boaters, sailors, yacht owners remained unconvinced the top part of the ladder was safe.

A few curious stateside mariners made the trip. They took advantage of the many empty slips in the Santa Rosallilita marina, savored the local lobster served at the new dockside restaurants, even bought T shirts and souvenirs at the cute little shops on the bay. In FONATURE’S luxurious office headquarters, five bigscreen TVs sang their siren song, tapes or discs displayed the boater’s paradise awaiting the weary travelers in Bahia de Los Angeles only a 139 kilometer magic carpet ride to the east — the ever calm and azure waters of the Sea of Cortez lay just over the next hill.

Recreation World was watching as the first few boats made the trip across land. On the third transport, disaster struck. A rollover totaled a Mediterranean 38 ($300,000 hull damage) and a bad launch tore up the stern and keel of a pricey antique Norwegian sailboat. When news of “No Hull Coverage” hit the ‘net, it signaled the end of the crossings.

The awful terrorist attacks in 2001 and 2005 made worldwide changes FONATURE could not have anticipated. Lloyd’s of London, the largest of 7 reinsurors for marine hull coverage, had been gutted by the disasters in New York, Washington and San Francisco. Since conventional hull coverage had always been both difficult to come by and very expensive for coverage in Mexican waters, it was now, without Lloyd’s, and others to take on a percentage of the risk involved in the haul, transport and launch of these pricey toys, totally out of the question. So, no insurance, no Transpeninsula transport. The new and improved harbor facility with all the trimmings at Bahia de Los Angeles lay waiting for the boats that never came.

Meetings. That is the usual way to solve problems, hold meeting. Meetings there were; in Mexico City, London, Los Angeles. A Mexican engineer by the name of Octavio Ojeda came up with the idea of the canal. He had done some planning for this particular meeting and his portfolio was brimming with charts and maps and tables. He presented a CD program of scratchy old black and white film recording the planning of the Panama Canal. Original plans had been for a sea-level canal -- the plan for the lock type canal won out by a slim margin of votes -- Lake Gatun, one of the world’s largest artificial bodies of fresh water, had a great deal to do with the decision. Ojeda explained that a canal, from the Pacific to the Sea of Cortez, using the existing harbors, but a more direct route than the existing highway, would be 57 miles long, 23 miles shorter than the Panama Canal.

First hold meetings, then conduct studies. Ojeda was instructed to hire a consulting firm to look into the feasibility of such a project. Satellites and computers made it possible to get quick and accurate answers to questions like “How deep and how wide should the canal be?”, “How long would it take?” and the big one “How much will this cost?” The big hurdle, The Fault Line, was tied to all three questions. The sand could be moved by machines, the granite base would have to be moved by the detonation of explosives. Almost 30 miles of the projected route was granite. The engineers had risks managers who knew that powerful U.S. groups would press the Mexican government to recognize that a long series of massive explosions could effect the stability of the Pacific tectonic plate at the mid-peninsula fault line — a small jolt in the south might cause ripples that could trigger quakes in Southern California.

The hurdle was not simply a single leap over one wooden bar. The cost of excavation was directly tied to the cost of machine excavation versus the use of explosives. Now the canal project brought together hundreds of thousands of people, in California and elsewhere, to form a cohesive group with a single mission: Stop the Canal Project. One would be hard pressed to find a project anywhere in the world, since the beginning of time, that so galvanized people, that made a more solid bloc of powerful organizations with disparate, long-standing, well defined goals.

The Greenpeace group now embraced the Anti Pollution folks while the Earthquake Watch doomsday fanatics and the marine “We Are Killing the World’s Oceans” bunch were all huggin’ and kissin’. Global Warming Watch was sure the cut would unbalance Pacific water temperatures and add to the disastrous effects of El Niño while major sportfishing and commercial fishing groups warned of the potential for lose of whole species of important sport/food fish caused by the cut.

Since the most powerful opposition came from the Fault/Quake group, it was finally agreed that an international group would install, calibrate and monitor seismic measurement devices at appropriate intervals along the North American Plate fault line which runs near the center of the Baja California peninsula to a point just above the project’s path. The group set the parameters for maximum limits of seismic magnitude for excavation detonations.

Mexico and FONATUR got the go-ahead on October 30, engineers and contractors were instructed to make final preparations to begin the big dig. The canal would be 56.4 miles long, 91 meters side to side, 30 meters in depth. The project was begun on November 20, Mexico’s Dia Nacional, the day the nation celebrates the revolution of 1910 -- a civil war between the president and a rival. There were setbacks early on — they tried to dig right under the existing highway while they erected bridge supports under the existing roadway of Highway One, the lone artery south, from the U.S. border to La Paz, near the tip of the peninsula. The roadway collapsed in the early morning of February 12th. Seven people were killed, all of them Mexicans, who drove right off the edge — in three separate vehicles, minutes apart. The bridge warning lights had been installed too close to the structure, went over the edge in the collapse.

Crews worked day and night for the next 102 days to Skycrane into the gap a sturdy bridge structure upon which they hurriedly paved a new section of concrete roadway to replace the awful, washboard detour that so plagued the weary travelers. The digging and dredging continued, grinding slowly to the east toward Bahia de Los Angeles. The project crews drilling, blasting, excavating, dredging from the east were outperforming their counterparts to the west. No delays here. Twenty three hard miles of canal were completed from the Bay of L.A. westward on the same day only 18.6 miles were complete in the west.

The Canal Transpeninsular was going to be a reality. Because it was drawing worldwide news coverage, Mexico and FONATUR gave the project their full support -- only $19M (of the original cost projection for the whole Escalera Nautica plan, $350M) had gone into installing and/or improving other Ladder Steps. When the rest of the money, the $331M, had been expended on the canal project alone, President Echeverria had no trouble at all with the congress; an additional $210M was made available to finish The Canal.

There were several grand openings. In the first, the real one, on June 2l, 2012, most of the guests and news crews had to come in by chopper. The water began to fill the canal from both ends at a place in the desert far from the highway. The access roads were still clogged with huge trucks, earth-movers, dredge support equipment. A grand celebration made bigger, better news when crowds gathered for fireworks, marching bands and confetti parades at Bahia de Los Angeles Harbor and Santa Rosallilita Marinas a few days later. Several camera crews shot the historic voyage of the first boat to travel the canal; one crew followed the craft, shot the crossing from the access road. The second crew filmed the crossing from the boat, capturing forever the excitement and the sound of success; champagne bottles pop, popping.

Now the record keepers, and the Mexican Congress were holding their collective breaths for The Parade of Boats. By the first day of 2013, 121 boats paid for the crossing from the Pacific side. On the last day of the same year, a total of 983 boats had paid to cross. During the same period, a total of 221 boats had paid to go the other way, from the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific.

Some smart-alec newspeople contacted FONATUR’S former CEO, John McCarthy, now retired to a villa in Antiqua, for an interview. When asked about the original prediction that 61,000 boats would make the trip south by the year 2014 he had a ready answer.

“You must remember that number was the prediction when the whole Escalera Nautica plan was begun. No reliable predictions could be made about new marine visitors after the plan changes brought about by the development of the Canal Transpeninsular. When I was there, the President told me to put all available resources into the canal project.”

One intrepid reporter from Rueters asked. “Have you ever used the canal, taken your boat through the canal you built?”

The retiree chuckled and said “No way. Esperanza is too big. She might bump on the bottom or the sides. Besides, she’s in Aruba for repairs right now.”

Summanus - 12-27-2006 at 12:18 PM

Yes, I think the discussion comes from reading '20,000 kilometers under the Cortez', a recently discovered and scholarly narrative by Jules Verne.

Stickers - 12-27-2006 at 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Osprey
Geoff, not a tunnel, a canal.
Canal Transpeninsular

The keystone of the project known as Escalera Nautica, the Nautical Ladder, was the marina at Santa Rosallilita and the new road from the marina to Mexican Highway One. The plan, for this crucial first phase of the project, was to make the third rung of the ladder going south, a safe, modern harbor from which U.S. and other boaters could transport their boats across land to an improved marina facility in the Sea of Cortez.

Maybe they will let the whales hitch a ride over to Santa Rosallilita so they don't have to swim so far. They never liked swimming through the long tunnel anyway.

:lol:

David K - 12-27-2006 at 06:46 PM

Geoff was refering to the beginning post by Shari where she said:

"Whoa...and the topic of the underground tunnel under northern baja came up again as the place where it will split...hmmm. I have been hearing this theory about an underground tunnel for many years as supposedly a gray whale had been photographed and identified around san diego and in just a short time it appeared up in the gulf thus "proving" that the tunnel exists..."

This is not about the land bridge for yachts... more of a tunnel for subs and whales that don't need to breath for a day or two or ?? Unless there are air pockets inside this underground tunnel..!!

I knew someone in the 80's that said San Diego County was floating and Scripps subs have gone under it!! He also said JFK was still alive in Dallas in a secret room visited once a year by Jackie!!!

Frank - 12-27-2006 at 08:18 PM

The tunnel is where the whales lay there eggs, everyone knows that.

Bajavestruz - 12-27-2006 at 08:31 PM

Dia de los innocentes...December 28th

Stickers - 12-28-2006 at 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Frank
The tunnel is where the whales lay there eggs, everyone knows that.

That keeps the eggs safe from serpents eating them.

.

jerry - 12-28-2006 at 01:15 AM

ok so its the 28 now whats shakin??

shari - 12-28-2006 at 12:44 PM

Since it's the day of innocents...or how gullable are you day...I shouldn't write anything but I just wanted to pass on a little tidbit...we had a decent shake this morning at 7;35 that got everyone's attention indeed and I decided I should put some clothes on just in case I needed to run outside. There is a huge storm blowing since yesterday...30-40 knots of wind, clouds and squalls...very nasty indeed.
There are lots of locals here who believe this underground canal exists and has caves with air pockets so the whales can breath once in awhile. I find it interesting whenever I hear the topic raised. So tell me, is it a joke that it is snowing in LA and San diego today???

shari....this morning on I-5 north of San Deigo

Summanus - 12-28-2006 at 12:57 PM

Wildlife - Buffalo 05.jpg - 43kB

FARASHA - 12-28-2006 at 01:02 PM

:biggrin:

- just heard on CNN - Pinguins turned up at the CORONADO.

burro bob - 12-28-2006 at 01:28 PM

Shari
Not sure about San Diego but I-8 was closed, in both direction, for a couple of hours last night to clear a 10 car wreck caused by ice and snow. Huge wind storm here in San Felipe as well. Couldn't hardly see across the corral.
Also there were lots of UFO's flying around up north. Either that or a great display of the northern lights.
Also I think it's time for you to start an ECO tour business. People pay money to go to Spain to run with the bulls. Probably just as exciting as spending the night in your house.
burro bob

Cypress - 12-28-2006 at 01:42 PM

There's a bunch of Whiskey Jacks and Stellar Jays hanging around the house.

Am I their next meal? :spingrin:

BajaNomad - 12-28-2006 at 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
So tell me, is it a joke that it is snowing in LA and San diego today???

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20061227-1452-bn27w...

Only a half a day left

Baja Bernie - 12-29-2006 at 06:58 AM

I have been noticing that things always get a little crazy toward the end of a year.

Why just this morning I woke with the title for a new book on Baja................."Dancing Naked on the Shores of Baja........for 50 years"

Now I gotta change it to the isle of God knows what name.

Happy New Year! :bounce:

shari - 12-29-2006 at 09:28 AM

late breaking news....yesterday a psychic arrived and I chatted for hours with him...a truly interesting fellow and from San Ignacio. I was pretty impressed with some of his claims but am very bummed at what he SEES here. He sees large quanitities of water seeping under this part of the heel of Baja and sees a spiderweb of small faults and several larger ones that are meeting up. With the huge water influx underneath it is weakening everything. He has studied this whole area from Guerrero Negro, Turtle bay to San Ignacio and figures it wont be long till the "heel" separates or sinks. Gulp. He sees great danger in this entire area...rats...he also figured we would have another pretty big quake today around 10:00 in the morning so I thought I'd get this out in case I'm not able to report it later...what a trooper eh! See how much I care about you Nomads being the first to know! I sure hope he's wrong but I don't think we'll be building that extra room out here for a bit. Thanks for the snow reports, I adore that cute little bison! Well, that's it for now...wish us luck and hpe to talk to ya later...

Shari

Baja Bernie - 12-29-2006 at 09:32 AM

You are wonderful!

shari - 12-30-2006 at 09:35 AM

gracias Lencho and Bernie....but this report is flawed. It says there has been no damage to houses or public buildings....QUE? The fishing coop is totally cracking up ( our neighbour) and cracked their water sistern so we had no water for several days. Many homes have cracked cement roofs and lots of cracks throughout the houses. The church was damaged and stained windows broke. The stores lost thousands of dollars of merchandise when everything fell off the shelves. The school washrooms are very damaged and students aren't allowed in them...nor in the schools for that matter. Our home is cracked all along the foundation and along the roof beams and all four corners.Other houses have been sealed off so the families can't live in them. What I don't understand is if there is no danger, why can't people go in these public buildings. The other strange thing is that when the scientists showed up they said they were going to set up an exhibition of maps and information...never happened. I asked at the 2nd public meeting and they said Oh yes, we will have the maps set up...tomorrow...uh huh. Could it be as the psychic guy said that perhaps they don't want to show us the extent of the faults here so as not to alarm the locals??? With all the activity, do more faults open up? From the beginning I felt they were going a bit overboard on the "Don't worry...no problem, everything is just tickity doo" crap. Of course we all want to believe this and I sure hope they're right but many have this sneaky suspicion that there is more to this than they are telling us (which is very little) OK, so they identified the fault to be right under our house...I could have told them that long ago! But it seems there are several other areas s well. As the fellow said, the authorities never tell you till it's too late...as they don't want to cause panic. I sure would like to see some of those maps! Absolutely no quakes in the day yesterday and none yet today...stay tuned amigos!

Phil S - 12-31-2006 at 06:54 AM

Shari. Was your psychic from Seattle? If so, is his name Kewaunee Lapseritis? He's been pretty accurate in the past years. He has many hits on google. If not that's o.k. too. Hope everything settles down, and it gets forgotten in a few months. Also, hope your home can be repaired with minimal peso's. I still picture you "rockin & rollin' in your outhouse!!!!!

Isla de la California and Isla de la Baja Califonia...

Mexray - 12-31-2006 at 02:21 PM

...I kinda like the ring to it!

The value of my boat will hit an all time high!

avatar65901_1.gif - 5kB

shari - 12-31-2006 at 03:11 PM

the psychic was a fellow from San Ignacio...low key kinda guy...and last night we starting at 8:30 we had several hours of small quakes about every half hour all night. Had me kind of worried but today was a gorgeous hot day, the guys went diving on the wreck at San Roque and got lots of fish and the girls went snorkeling with the sea lions which they loved. I'm gonna do some investigating into the idea of sea water seeping under this area...today I heard from a farmer in Vizcaino that there is a serious problem there....that their water is turning brackish all of a sudden...not good for a huge agricultural area but fits with what the psychic saw here.hmmm anyway...a very happy new year to you all and I hope the hangovers aren't too harsh....see ya next year everybody!