Punta Belcher
Looking north to Punta Belcher, a 19th century whaling station or the remains thereof is located on the low sandy spit in the distant fore ground. Anchorage will be in somewhat shallow water, about 10' or so in sand making good holding ground. In the afternoon the wind can increase to around 20 kts but shelter is generally good. This anchorage is located in Magdalena Bay about 24 miles or so north of Tosco. If possible, it is advisable to avoid the passage to the village of San Carlos as well as Man-o-War Cove since there is a Port Captain at each entailing check in and check out along with the onerous fees. According to other cruisers, the Port Captain at Man-o-War cove is most helpful and will arrange for fuel & water to be delivered to Man-o-War cove in a panga, I do not know of anyone who has arranged for fuel to be delivered to Punta Belcher, possibly this could be done.
Some Background of the Bay:
Named Bahia Santa Maria Magdalena by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602,
Bahia Magdalena has been a center of intensive resource extraction since the nineteenth century (Beltran del Rio 1989; Mathes 1979; Nelson 1921; North 1910; and Young and Dedina 1993). Between 1845 and 1874, approximately 2,200 gray whales were killed in Bahia Magdalena by U.S. whalers, more than any other single location along the Pacific Coast of the peninsula (Henderson 1984: 169). Whaling in the bay continued in the 1920s by Norwegians (Garcia M.1931; Reeves 1984:191). At the turn of the century, the Flores Hale Company of the U.S. owned the entire bay and an approximately 21 km wide section of the Pacific Coast from the tropic of Cancer to Punta Cono (29 degrees) (Sangines 1908). From 1904 to 1910 Bahia Magdalena was used as a practice gunnery and bombing range by the U.S. Navy, mainly during the winter months when gray whales were present. In March 1908, the U.S. Navy's White Fleet arrived at Bahia Magdalena at the end of a Latin American tour with 28 ships
and more than 13,000 sailors. The White Fleet bombed the bay day
and night for two weeks (Carter 1971:66-70; Jefe de las Armas
1908). In 1912, rumors that the Japanese government was planning to purchase the bay for use as a naval base resulted in controversy in the U.S., and the passage by the U.S. Senate of the Lodge Resolution, which stated that the establishment of foreign naval bases in Latin America were a threat to U.S. interests. The base was never constructed (Chamberlain 1939; Manno and Bednarcick1988). Many of the earliest residents of the region migrated from inland ranches, particularly those in and around the Sierra de la Giganta east of Bahia Magdalena. The founding family of Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos, the Luceros, moved from a ranch in the Sierra de la Giganta in the early 1920s to Matancitas, an arroyo ranching community approximately ten km from where Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos stands today. A few years later the family moved to the bay shoreline and made a living by fishing for sea turtles and sharks. Today atMatancitas, houses made from the remains of shipwrecks found on the barrier islands are still in use, illustrating the close ties ranching communities retain to the bay. Bahia Magdalena entered the modern era with the construction of a fish cannery at Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos in the late 1950s, and the subsequent inauguration of port and cannery facilities at San
Carlos in the 1960s (Chavez 1994). Today, residents of the bay workin the fishing industry, with some working as independent fishers, others employed by the numerous fishing cooperatives in the bay, and others working as wage-laborers for seafood companies. Many bay residents still engage in subsistence fishing and can be seen in the remote and narrow channels away from towns, pushing narrow boats with poles or fishing with handlines from skiffs propelled by oars (Section 4.5.2 contains additional discussion of economic activities in Bahia Magdalena). Many of the residents of San Carlos and Puerto Adolfo Lopez Mateos are migrants from the interior of Mexico who arrived in the Santo Domingo Valley in the 1950s and 60s searching for work in agriculture, and moved to Bahia Magdalena when the canneries opened. Whale tourism has only recently become an important part of the local economy (Municipio de Comondu 1994a). In the last few years agriculture and fishing have been unproductive, resulting in a depressed regional economy and large-scale unemployment. Since 1988, more than 11,000 residents have abandoned the Santo Domingo Valley as a result of the economic recession in the region (Expreso de Baja California Sur 1994).
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