thebajarunner
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 9-8-2003
Location: Arizona....."Free at last from crumbling Cali
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Mood: muy amable
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Nautica Escalara- now just half stupid!
MEXIDATA . INFO
Column 070504 Thompson
Monday, July 5, 2004
Mexico cuts back planned ?Nautical Staircase?
By Barnard R. Thompson
An intriguing news report, on the downsizing of a key centerpiece in Mexico?s tourism future ? the ?Nautical Staircase,? appeared in the Mexico City
daily Reforma on June 28. According to the report, as of July 1 the planned Nautical Staircase will be officially renamed the Sea of Cortez Project,
and it is to be reduced in size, scope and investment by nearly one-half.
The Nautical Staircase (in Spanish Escalera N?utica) is a government-sponsored project of marinas and ancillary facilities that officials believe will
attract vast numbers of yachtsmen, pleasure boaters and other tourists, mainly from the western U.S.A. and Canada, to Mexico.
The original plan, as drafted and promoted by the tourism development agency FONATUR, called for investors to build marinas down the Pacific coast of
the peninsula of Baja California, up its eastern shore on the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California) and back down the coast of mainland Mexico to
Nayarit. Facilities were to include four existing marinas, 18 additional planned marinas or port developments, five floating platform service
facilities and a road, midway down Baja California, to allow boats to be transported by truck across the peninsula compared to sailing around Cabo San
Lucas.
The now two-stage Sea of Cortez Project trims a number of things according to the Reforma piece. The still running first stage is now scheduled for
completion in May of next year, with six nautical facilities plus some sort of a coastal project. Presumably the six nautical sites include the
existing four marinas at Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Pe?asco and Nuevo Vallarta.
The second stage is scheduled for completion in April of 2006, the final year of the administration of President Vicente Fox Quesada, and it calls for
an additional six nautical way stations, four coastal developments and the land bridge across the Baja California peninsula, from Santa Rosalillita on
the Pacific to the northern end of Bah?a de los ?ngeles on the Sea of Cortez.
The timing of the cut back of the Nautical Staircase, that has been called the Sea of Cortez Project for sometime by officials, is somewhat curious.
Last April, at Mexico?s annual tourism marketing expo in Acapulco, the XXIX Tianguis, Fonatur head John McCarthy extolled the virtues of the area.
And while McCarthy called it the Sea of Cortez Project, he still outlined the overall development plans and investment projects as originally
calculated and announced.
As well, a Fonatur bulletin of June 18 summarized the Master Plan for the Sea of Cortez Project. That notice lists plans and goals through 2012,
along with the 27 nautical developments and ?21 integrally improved coastal sites.?
Eduardo Rinc?n Gallardo, Fonatur?s assistant director of the Sea of Cortez Project, is quoted in a June 25 agency bulletin as follows: ?This region,
that includes the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit, exhibits imbalances in its economic development that
make it necessary to create a new development model, with projects that can be sustainable in time; take into account the new world economic panorama;
help to reconvert productive activities in order to benefit the people; and preserve the ecosystems.?
So, speculating that there are reasons behind the downgrading of Mexico?s grand and ambitious tourism plans for a Sea of Cortez nautical staircase ?
what might have happened?
The most immediate assumption would be there are money and funding problems, possibly exacerbated by less investor interest than Fonatur had forecast
and expected. Fonatur has also pointed a finger at the high price of marine diesel fuel, noting that the costs make Mexico noncompetitive with the
U.S., which in turn hurts incoming nautical tourism.
There has also been increasing criticism of the Nautical Staircase and its projects by nature groups, environmental activists and influential NGOs,
with international organizations joining in to make the issues yet more sensitive. Certainly this could be taking a toll.
On June 5, World Environment Day, representatives of the governments of the five states that share the Sea of Cortez signed accords with the federal
government, with the goal of ?rescuing? the area. According to Alberto C?rdenas Jim?nez, Mexico?s Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources, the
agreed to strategies seek to avoid the overexploitation of ecosystems; to control over-fishing in order not to harm species; and to protect marine
mammals, especially the vaquita porpoise.
Or might this be a political sign that so-called sustainable projects are not expected to last beyond the president?s six-year term? If so, things do
not bode well for Fox?s party in 2006.
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surfer jim
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This thing won't die...but maybe it is on life support....and the land bridge...I got to see how they will do that...prediction...No boat will ever
make that trip across the land bridge....
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DanO
Super Nomad
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Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: Not far from the Pacific
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You know, those road signs ("Escalera Nautica xxx km") just may turn out to be collector's items.
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Juan
Junior Nomad
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Location: Olympic Peninsula and Baja Sur
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Highway signs
"The highway signs for Escalera Nautica may become collectors items". True, and the highway slime will comtinue to steal them thus adding to the
reputation of all who travel the peninsula. If you don't live there leaving footprints and taking pictures is a good thing.
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jrbaja
Ultra Nomad
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Thanks for that Juan
hopefully one day they will catch on.
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Bob H
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The large sign at the turnoff to Santa Rosalillita has deteriorated to the point where there is no sign, just a blank billboard with graffiti on it.
Nice, wide, paved road (for two kilometers or so). How sad. The environment in that area is ruined.
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DanO
Super Nomad
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Registered: 8-26-2003
Location: Not far from the Pacific
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Juan, JR, I agree. Not my intention to incite highway sign robbery, just an observation that such things often become the treasured relics of failed
policy. BTW, the next time you're out in the Bahia Soledad area, let me know if you find my Canon Powershot digital camera. My wife lost it leaving
footprints.
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
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Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
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I have an old kilometer marker sign hanging in my garage from Baja Sur. But, it had been discarded on the ground - new one put up but they didn't
take the old one. It is KM #73 and it has a welding repair. It's a rusty green color with pale white numbers.
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tim40
Senior Nomad
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Registered: 3-29-2004
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It won't happen any where near the time currently suggested, but it will happen while the vast majority of us are still around to b-tch about
it....Wake up, take a look around....Baja is changing as fast as Vegas has been for the past 15 years. Real money will eventually make real changes.
Don't desire it, but it is what it is...
When searching for the end of your rainbow you only have until dusk....
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surfer jim
Super Nomad
Posts: 1891
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: high desert
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You are right...a least we got to see it in its prime.....enjoy while you can.....they have now built up most surf spots with some sort of structures
or worse....with no end in sight...
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JZ
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9349
Registered: 10-3-2003
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Get a boat
And you'll find out fast that your statement about the lack of surf spots is incorrect.
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