Saturday, August 1, 2009

No Shortage of Sand on Rocky Point, Mexico's Beaches

-by La Huerita

As I've described previously in The Fabulous Beaches of Puerto Penasco, there is no shortage of sand in Rocky Point. The beaches in the area span at least 30 miles, from above Cholla Bay to San Jorge. It just depends on how far you want to go. Just look at this picture. Looks like a pretty good stretch of beach to me, and it's the same everywhere you look. And just look at how uncrowded it is!

Unlike poor Cancun, which has been having a sand shortage problem ever since Hurricane Wilma blew through in 2005. Now an article by the Associated Press is reporting on legal actions taken against a hotel for stealing sand from other hotels. I kid you not! Authorities actually roped off the resort's beach area with crime scene tape, which didn't make the tourists staying at the resort very happy.

"Today we made the decision to close this stretch of ill-gotten, illegally accumulated sand," said Patricio Patron, Mexico's attorney general for environmental protection. "This hotel was telling its tourists: 'Come here, I have sand ... the other hotels don't, because I stole it.'"

Patron said five people were detained in a raid for allegedly using pumps to move sand from the sea floor onto the beach in front of the Gran Caribe Real Hotel. The hotel is also suspected of illegally building a breakwater that impeded the natural flow of sand onto other hotels' beaches, he said.

I don't mean to gloat over the misfortune of Cancun or the tourists who have been discomfited by that scenario, I'm just pointing out that every destination has its good and bad points and that one of Rocky Point's really good points is its beaches.

What are some of our other good points? A range of accommodations from the sublime to the funky; food from 4-star restaurants to fish tacos and everything in between; live music all over the place; people who are warm and friendly and eager to please; great fishing, diving and other water sports; world class golf; ease of getting here; and a laid back atmosphere that has not yet been lost to overdevelopment and phoniness. Add your own favorite things about Rocky Point-- the list could be very long.

So come on down to Rocky Point. We've got the welcome mat out for you!

And we've got BEACHES!
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -Mark Twain