Real information on San Carlos Sonora Mexico

The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose,  because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing – for the sheer fun and joy of it – to go right ahead and fight, knowing you’re going to lose. You mustn’t feel like a martyr. You’ve got to enjoy it.

–I.F. Stone

 

Hurricane Newton wreaks havoc in Guaymas and San Carlos

Hurricane Newton wreaks havoc in Guaymas and San Carlos

 

In the 26 years I have lived here I don’t believe I have ever seen real category 1 hurricane force winds, until hurricane Newton that is. Hurricane Newton certainly wasn’t a hurricane Jimena, but it was close. Wind meters at Marina Real were reported to register gusts of 70 knots. I thought I was pretty good to go for this storm. Our mono hull was brought in from the bay and securely tied town to C dock at Marina San Carlos. Our panga was secure on J dock and I installed an automatic bilge pump switch the morning before the storm hit to keep the boat from sinking at the dock. Our trimaran was on it’s trailer at the Marina Seca work yard getting some serious repairs to it’s port hull. The boat was facing East and there in lied the problem. It was also the first boat in the yard and located right next to the arroyo. Surely a 70 knot gust of wind tipped it over on its trailer windsplitter-on-sideand that was that. The boat was ultimately stable as it lied on it’s port hull. I lost about two months of work on her and for good measure have some extra damage to repair. I consider myself lucky actually. Many boats did not do nearly as well as Windsplitter. Two long time San Carlos charter boats were blown off their mooring’s. Bravo one of the first steel live aboard dive charter boats in San Carlos, built and captained by Vicente Castro, broke loose and ended up crashing into a stone dock on the west side of the bay. It looks like it won’t be salvaged and will be a complete loss. Musicat, the custom catamaran bravo-1that Bob Kuntz built here in San Carlos in the late 90’s ended up just north of Bravo. It remains to be seen whether the boat is repairable. The owner has not been seen in San Carlos for well over a year now.

musicat-ontherocksThere were about 15 boats that were knocked off their stands in the Marina Seca San Carlos. Several of them may be irreparable. There were far to many tangled masts, cracked hulls and complete dismastings for anyone’s liking. Marina Real also has plenty of carnage in their dry storage lot. It would appear there were 5 boats sunk at the Fonatur Marina Singlar in Guaymas and the most tragic of all an Ensenada Shrimp boat bound for Mazatlan tried to seek refuge from the storm in Cabo San Lucas but were apparently denied access to the API dock. The boat left port, capsized and all crew were reported dead. Two bodies washed up on the beach and three crew are still missing. One of the crew members was from Guaymas.newton-marina-seca-san-carlos

Electricity was restored to much San Carlos within 36 hours of the storm hitting but some in the Sector Bahia have endured much longer with out. Water has been another matter with some residents going up to 5 days or longer without water.

The toll on marine life is hard to judge. Many marine birds have died and at the moment we are trying to find someone to help us rehabilitate an injured pelican. At 2 a.m. in the morning I finally deemed it safe enough to drive down to the Marina San Carlos and double check all of our boats at the dock. It was stranded-pelicanthen I saw the pelican huddled down in the middle of the road right in front of Hambone. By the morning the pelican had moved to the large puddle in front of Castaway Kids and as I type this out our feathery friend is in the back yard of a vacant house down the street from us. We are looking for someone preferably with a house on Manglares who might be interested in hosting the bird. Drop me an email if anyone out there has some spare time on their hands!! vince@sancarlos.tv

I wish I could have been out and about sooner and gotten a decent report out for everyone far quicker. Newton will not be forgotten easily.

 

 

5 Responses to Hurricane Newton wreaks havoc in Guaymas and San Carlos

  1. I’ve been reading your story and pictures of the hurricane. How devastating! I’m curious how the pelican is doing.

  2. Hi, I was wondering if any word about Vincente Castro had surfaced since the hurricane. I dove with Vincente and Bobbi Nicosia on the Bravo many times and love Sea of Cortez. Life turned another direction and I have not been back since 01. I am deeply saddened to read of all the troubles besides the hurricane. I ran across this article while on hold looking for the Bravo. I know lots of time has passed even since this article,but would love to hear news from San Carlos and hopefully learn that Vincente is ok. Thanks

  3. I believe Vicente has passed away. He had many problems with diabetes. I lent his wife thousand’s of pesos to help them out and in the end was never paid back. His son and wife never had the class that Vicente had. I don’t know what happened to Mas Bravo but knowing his son as I do I doubt the boat is still functional as a business.

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