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Escalera Nautica
The plan calls for 22 full-service marinas, 10 of them new. Of the existing 12, 7 will be improved, and 5 are judged as already adequate. The 10 new marinas will be located on sites with natural shelter, or bays, a feature the peninsula has in abundance. Five of these are to be in Baja California, 3 in Baja California Sur, and 1 each in Sonora and Sinaloa."
Additionally, the plan calls for an 84-mile highway route for towing boats from one side of the peninsula to the other. This feature will allow boat travelers quick access to either body of water for those without time or interest in sailing around the southernmost tip of Baja California Sur. Further, the plan calls for improving the road between Mexicali and San Felipe to allow bigger boat towing rigs cross border access to the Sea of Cortez.
The plan also calls for improvements in
10 existing airports and 10 airstrips, to make it easier for tourists to
get to the chain of marinas. In this manner, Mexico hopes it will attract
year-round mooring and rental income."
-San Diego Metropolitan
OPPOSITION TO TOURIST MEGAPROJECT?
The Tourism Secretariat is actively promoting a major 1.7 billion-dollar regional development plan for northwest Mexico called Escalera Náutica, which literally translates as "Nautical Ladder". The plan will create a linked series of 22 marinas from Ensenada, near San Diego, to as far south as Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula and Mazatlan on the mainland.
Marinas will be located along the two sides of the Sea of Cortes (or Gulf of California) at intervals of under 200 kilometers. Alongside the marinas, a network of airports, luxury hotels, restaurants and other tourist facilities will be developed. The project will be supervised by the federal tourist development agency Fonatur. Fonatur's first project, begun thirty years ago, was a major success, transforming a small, little-known fishing village (called Cancún) into a world class tourist resort.
Subsequent Fonatur developments include the Pacific coast resorts of Ixtapa and Huatulco. According to Fonatur's director general, John McCarthy, the agency will invest 240 million dollars in developing the infrastructure required for Escalera Náutica and will also be seeking large-scale private investments. Once complete, Escalera Náutica will provide 23,000 boat berths and 10,550 additional hotel rooms along some 4,000 kilometers of coastline. The plan targets the 1.6 million boat owners north of the border in California and neighboring states. The long-term objective is to attract 5.2 million "boat people" a year, spending an average of 2,000 dollars each. However, not everyone thinks this plan is such a great idea.
Environmental groups have denounced the Escalera Náutica proposal as threatening one of the world's most important marine wildlife areas, home to dozens of important species including whales, sealions, dolphins and turtles. On the other hand, federal authorities say that the plan is vital to the future economic development of the area, since it is impossible to envisage alternative development strategies for this portion of the country.
Trying to reassure critics, Environment Secretary
Victor Lichtinger said that all aspects of the project will be
"low-impact", precisely because of the need to preserve
"the world's richest sea in terms of biodiversity", and that the
success of Escalera Náutica would guarantee sufficient funds to
ensure proper protection for the area.
-Lloyd Mexico Economic Report
Mazatlan real estate to benefit from new investment in the “Escalera Nautica”
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