Article# 2 - New Waterfront in La Paz Up and Running: Mexico’s worst yachting disaster this decade was Hurricane Marty, which destroyed three marinas and about 100 yachts in La Paz and Puerto Escondido when it roared through September 23, 2003. La Paz has rebuilt its picturesque waterfront, and the region is enjoying a rebirth of yachting thanks to the reconstruction of Marina de La Paz downtown and the new construction of Marina CostaBaja north of town. Now the government is revisiting its plans to build the municipal Marina Fidepaz at the south end of the harbor. The islands close to La Paz recently gained protection as a huge nautical biosphere. It’s quite a renaissance. Marty Does La Paz Hurricane Marty’s 125 mph gusts struck at dawn and claimed the lives of two locals. Breaking waves within the harbor chewed away the festive waterfront street, called the malecon. And the hurricane quickly sank, damaged or destroyed 82 yachts in the marinas and anchorages -- then took the marinas with it before moving north. Cleanup began slowly, because for two days the town had no running water, and the only electricity came from portable generators. La Paz’s boat yards worked around the clock to prioritize the worst emergency cases, hauling those boats out of the water first. When La Paz’s airport reopened, the first planes to land were loaded with insurance adjusters, and they hit the ground running. The aftermath showed that two small and unsheltered marinas off the south end of the malecon were the first to succumb, casting their 20 occupants into the maelstrom. But the larger Marina de La Paz, the first marina ever built in Baja California, turned out to have the most yacht casualties. All four of its long docks containing 100 boats and a fuel pier basically were destroyed. Next door, the smaller Marina Don Jose (also called Abaroa’s docks) lost its two long docks, and as the hurricane’s eye passed, the docks bore down on what remained of Marina de La Paz. North of town and just off the main ship channel, Marina Palmira reported the least damage of all. For almost a year, La Paz suffered an even worse slip shortage than normal. So the 2004 crop of sportfishing boats and cruisers tended to avoid La Paz, opting to head toward Puerto Escondido, Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta instead. La Paz Reconstructed Today, you’d never guess such a devastating hurricane had ever ripped through here. The town is ready to welcome the 2005 crop of boating visitors. The main ship channel into La Paz harbor has been sounded and dredged to datum, and all the channel buoys are back in place. The malecon was widened and freshly paved. Dozens of ornate wrought-iron benches and streetlights now line the road along the harbor, while new sculpture gardens and shady gazebos overlook the mile-long downtown beach, which was shored up with groins and replenished with acres of new sand. Marina de La Paz had been insured fully, so the owners began reconstruction as soon as the last sunken hulls were removed from the bottom. By Fall 2004, they had rebuilt all their docks, slips and the fuel pier as well. The new docks are surfaced in a Brazilian hardwood called Ipe. The café and chandlery are open, and the marina is back to capacity at about 100 boats up to 70 feet in length. Significantly, Marina de La Paz installed two new breakwaters that bracket the marina’s seaward corners. Instead of rebuilding the previous floating wave baffles, this time the owners chose a beefed-up design consisting of anchored pylons and rigid curtains similar to some municipal seawalls used in Southern California. Next door, the few slips at Marina Don Jose are rebuilt and ready for guests as well. But that didn’t contribute much to relieving the long-standing slip shortage. No More Slip Shortage What really tipped the balance was the opening of Marina CostaBaja, protected behind its own new breakwater at the far north end of La Paz’s main ship channel. For its official opening in March, Mexico’s President Vicente Fox was scheduled to cut the ribbon, thus adding 250 new slips for recreational boats from 30 to 200 feet in length. The first slip basin, also containing the fuel dock, was being occupied by the megayacht Centinela since last December while the second basin was being finished. This location, due east of Punta Prieta and due north of the north end of La Paz Channel, is well protected from blustery Northers, while southerly fetch has no room to accumulate. Just as Marina Palmira (also called Palmira Yacht Club) long has enjoyed the favor of sportfishing boats due to its close proximity to deep-water fishing grounds, so too should Marina CostaBaja -- in fact, it’s about a mile closer. Amenities include 30 and 50 amp shore power, a pumpout system at each slip and dry storage ashore. A resort hotel, several restaurants and shops will occupy the landscaped island between the two basins, and vacation homes will line the outer breakwater and its beach, newly planted with palms and replenished with sand. The Berkovich Boatyard is immediately east of Marina CostaBaja, and on the point is the old Pemex plant. Marina CostaBaja is the property of the BellPort Group of Newport Beach, California. For more information, visit www.marinacostabaja.com or in the U.S. call (949) 723-7780. Déjà Vu When it rains, it pours. The idea of building Marina Fidepaz has resurfaced. About 20 years ago, a large basin for a municipal marina was built at the south end of La Paz Bay, and a skinny 4-mile-long pilot channel was dug through the very shoal on the south half of the bay. Then -- as happened at Puerto Escondido near Loreto -- the marina development was abandoned. The two biggest hurdles to completing a real marina at the Fidepaz site are the sewage-treatment plant next door and the access channel that would require constant maintenance. However, it’s probably a great location for a long-term dry storage yard for all size boats. Places to Go Just north of La Paz, the sheltered Balandra Cove, with its huge turquoise shoal in the back, is a perfect place for novice snorkelers and children. About 5 miles offshore from Balandra Cove, the uninhabited Isla Espiritu Santo and its adjacent Isla Partida and Los Islotes -- known collectively as the Espiritu Santos Islands -- now are protected from development as part of the Islas del Golfo National Biosphere. These park islands offer plenty of anchorages in a dozen deeply indented coves along their west sides. Yellowtail, grouper and tasty cabrilla are taken all along the rocky points leading north from Punta Prieta. Marlin, tuna and dorado grounds are found off the Espiritu Santos’ steep eastern bottom, as well as the eastern sides of five more islands and seamounts going north. Besides world-class sportfishing, the waters around La Paz are the southern gateway into what I think are the nicest cruising grounds of the Sea of Cortez. Going north from the Espiritu Santos, I can think of at least two dozen interesting anchorages that are each found within an easy day-sail of one another: Isla San Francisquito, San Evaristo village, Isla San Jose’s south and north ends, pink-hued Los Gatos, Agua Verde and its tongue-in-cheek yacht club, Isla Danzante, Puerto Escondido, Isla Carmen’s east and West sides, Loreto, Isla San Francisco, Punta Pulpito, San Juanico, Mulegé, the entire Bahia Concepción, Punta Chivato and Santa Rosalia. It’s quite normal for recreational boaters to spend months leisurely investigating these anchorages and ports, relaxing and enjoying the Sea of Cortez north of La Paz.