Just a short hop from our last (real) stopping point is Santa Rosalia. It has a marina, which we decided to spend a couple of days in.
Santa Rosalia has a very interesting history. A French mining company, Boleo, decided to start a mining operation in Santa Rosalia in the late 1860's. They operated 11 mines in 4 different areas using Yaqui Indians serving time in the Guaymas prison for labor.
We pulled into the marina and we were offered a slip. It was very nice to be secure in a slip with a short walk to stores and services. We went up to the office to begin the paperwork and I was a bit concerned about the cost, given the experience at Puerto Escondido, where we paid a dollar a foot for a mooring ball. In the office there was a rate sheet that indicated $8.00 per foot per day. The confusing thing here is that Mexicans use the $ sign to indicate pesos and I was not sure if this (tourist) marina was talking dollars or pesos. We proceed with the documents. Isabel spoke English perfectly and by now I was getting pretty good with knowing what paperwork they wanted. After all was completed, we received the bill for $628 and I asked if that was US or Mexican and she had a good laugh. I was happy to pay the 38 dollars for two nights!
We went into town since it was still early and I was a bit hungry. The church in town was design by the architect Gustave Eiffel (yes, of the tower fame). It is made in steel and was apparently brought to Mexico disassembled, then reassembled in place. There was an event going on so I did not get to many photographs.
There was a hint of French culture in town including a French bakery that had been in business continuously since the mining era. We did not have an opportunity to try it because the timing just did not work out.
We did have an opportunity to have a few meals out, sample local beverages and reprovision groceries for the upcoming segment.
The water on the dock was not potable so we decided to have water delivered to the boat. This may sound odd, but it is very common in Mexican marinas. We ordered 150 gallons of potable water and the next morning two guys showed up with a hand cart and moved 30 sparkletts water bottles and poured them into the fill spout on the boat. It took about an hour and cost under 50 bucks. I calculated running the generator long enough for the watermaker to generate that much water would have been about break even.
This was a fun stop and nice to walk the city looking at things. The evenings were filled with music and dancing in the town square and lots of people from infant to elderly out enjoying the cool night air.
Technical Data:
Time: 1 h 45 m ( 10:47 to 12:32 ) Distance: 10.81 nm
Fuel: 3.30 Gallons Fuel Rate: 1.88 GPH Fuel Economy: 3.28 NM/G
Avg Speed: 6.47 kn Max Speed: 9.00 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3385.60 Hours Runtime End: 3387.35 Hours Fuel: 3.30 Gallons Fuel Rate: 1.88 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 8.74 GPH Avg RPM: 1079.47 Max RPM: 1646.75 Avg Oil Pressure: 50.36 Low Oil Pressure: 31.33 Avg Temperature: 184.24 Max Temperature: 192.20
