Penasco Sea Port is "Imminent," Casinos, Duty Free Stores a Must

[joester]

the first sentence: Carnival Cruise Lines plans to invest more than $150 million to expand port infrastructure at destinations on Mexico’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts, the Tourism Secretariat said.
PP is not along the Pacific or Caribbean coasts, I would think if such development were to be planned for the Sea of Cortez, it may be mentioned as such. Anything north of Loreto to me is doubtful..... but that's just me.

 

[PintoPoint]

Joester,
I think this is referring to a differend project. Holland American was the cruiseline mentioned in the artical I read. The new cruise port would effect the shallow reefs off sandy beach not the estuary.

Rick
Cholla bay

the first sentence: Carnival Cruise Lines plans to invest more than $150 million to expand port infrastructure at destinations on Mexico’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts, the Tourism Secretariat said.
PP is not along the Pacific or Caribbean coasts, I would think if such development were to be planned for the Sea of Cortez, it may be mentioned as such. Anything north of Loreto to me is doubtful..... but that's just me.

 

[brokenwave]

When you start seeing and hearing explosions at Black Mtn. Then you know it is happening. That is where the rock needed for the jetty and pier is supposed to come from.
I am hoping it never happens.

 

[Wood Spinner]

The talk about the depth needed for the ship is valid except that most of them have boats on board to shuttle people to and from the ship anchored in deeper water. I do not know the draft on these but I would expect it to less than 4 to 6 ft when loaded. With this in mind why not rework the existing harbor for this system? It keeps people where they are in town and walking distance to the tourist area. I would also think an under water pipe line could be set up for ship refueling.

 

[joester]

good idea Bill, saw that some of cruise ships have a draft depth of 26-28', so they should get close to the harbor. the fishermen here know the depths near the harbor, they could tell us how close the cruise ships coud get.

 

[Stuart]

The harbor itself is barely 20 ft. deep along the main channel (depending on tide). Very shallow at the entrance; I've had to watch closely to avoid the sand flats where the Dinner Cruise ship was stranded on occasion - only a couple feet deep at low tide. Just outside the harbor, the water deepens slowly to 40-50 ft. as you head out. Generally 25-30 ft. where you see the shrimp boats anchored just outside the harbor.

 

[Sonora]

When I was on Carnival cruise line out of Long Beach, we stoped in Cabo and they anchored off shore and jettied us in to a small pier on the shore.

 

[mis2810]

I've only been on one cruise and I'll never go again. The ship was so ig it couldn't dock anywhere we went-St. Thomas, St. Martin, St. John, etc. We had to use tenders at every port. It was a total pain in the ass with assigned times to line up for the tenders. Boarding the tender, unboarding, boarding again, waiting, waiting and more waiting. No, thank you!

 

[mis2810]

Actually I just realized its embarking and disembarking, right. Lol!!!!

 

[garyd]

google "costa maya"

 

[brokenwave]

Here is what Costa Maya pier looks like.

Still not seeing an easy way to do cruise ships.
I know that there aren't many areas at 40 ft in depth along Sandy Beach without going out a long ways.
There is many areas that are only 12-20 ft within 1/3 mile of the shore according to a depth sounder gauge we had.

 

[Disneynut]

On Disney's private island in the Bahamas (Castaway Cay) they had to dig a large trench under the water for the ships to dock without the need for tenders. I assume the same could be done here (without considering any environmental restrictions). Check it out on Google earth, you can see the dark blue deep water trench next to the very light blue shallow water.

 

[mis2810]

On Disney's private island in the Bahamas (Castaway Cay) they had to dig a large trench under the water for the ships to dock without the need for tenders. I assume the same could be done here (without considering any environmental restrictions). Check it out on Google earth, you can see the dark blue deep water trench next to the very light blue shallow water.

By environmental restrictions do you mean environment damages and or effects?

 

[Disneynut]

By environmental restrictions do you mean environment damages and or effects?

My statement was that it is possible to cut a channel if necessary to allow the ship to dock. I am not that familiar with this this project so I was pointing out that I am not aware of zoning issues or environmental restrictions by any government body that may restrict this.

 

[Stuart]

It is interesting that the cruise ships already seem to have gotten n environmental 'pass,' yet the marina that was planned on Sandy Beach (currently the racetrack), was never allowed to be developed due to environmental concerns. The marina would have had much less impact overall and actually served as an incubator for young sea life. However, enviros raised a big stink about the fragile nature of the reefs along Sandy Beach and the project was shut down by the Mexican courts.

I guess money talks. I haven't heard a peep out of the enviros so far on the cruise ship project, which has the potential for much greater damage than the marina ever did. Viva Mexico. :mexico:

 

[PintoPoint]

Stuart,
From what I have seen the commercial marina where the racetrack is might still be part of the overall plans. The major problem before was the residentual marinia which would have be built in the estuary. The big dip in the road going to cholla at the Reef was to be the channel to the residentual marina. I still have pictures of the concept drawings. It would have destroyed the estuary.

Rick
Cholla Bay

It is interesting that the cruise ships already seem to have gotten n environmental 'pass,' yet the marina that was planned on Sandy Beach (currently the racetrack), was never allowed to be developed due to environmental concerns. The marina would have had much less impact overall and actually served as an incubator for young sea life. However, enviros raised a big stink about the fragile nature of the reefs along Sandy Beach and the project was shut down by the Mexican courts.

I guess money talks. I haven't heard a peep out of the enviros so far on the cruise ship project, which has the potential for much greater damage than the marina ever did. Viva Mexico. :mexico:

 

[Stuart]

I hadn't seen the actual plans, but would like to if you could post them. I thought they were just going to open up a channel through Sandy Beach directly to the water, so it seemed. Apparently, they were going to fill the estuary with the dredged materials. This is the CEDO article on it from 2006.

http://www.cedointercultural.org/PR092506.pdf

Regardless, my original point remains - where's the environmental outcry about huge cruise ships in this same area? One of these bad boys screws up and it will make the Fiesta Dinner Cruise sinking look like a walk in the park. Eh, it's okay. These guys know what they're doing. :rofl:

 

[garyd]

Here is what Costa Maya pier looks like.

View attachment 5089Still not seeing an easy way to do cruise ships.
I know that there aren't many areas at 40 ft in depth along Sandy Beach without going out a long ways.
There is many areas that are only 12-20 ft within 1/3 mile of the shore according to a depth sounder gauge we had.

If you go out where Wrecked at the reef is it gets very deep very fast

 

[moore_rb]

If you go out where Wrecked at the reef is it gets very deep very fast

Not during the lowest tides, and most of the bottom out there is already rock, making it harder to dredge out material to achieve increased depth.

The surveying diver we met back in June at Capones (name was Dally, if I remember right) said that the primary issue the cruise ship dock faces is that they can not dredge deep enough to maintain the minimum 40 feet depth during the lowest tides.

He said that if they dredged the sand all the way down to solid bedrock, that it would still only yield about a 25 foot draft during low tide, leaving the removal of bedrock (blasting) as the next available option (I'm sure the enviros would LOVE that)

The other alternative is making the pier a mile long- meaning they would have to dredge even farther out.

and who wants to walk a mile to shore when their ship docks?

The Costa Maya pier works because the tide swings are far less insane on the Gulf of Mexico side

 

[Stuart]

Since we're discussing cruise ships... this was reported today:

Black Box Recordings Throw New Light on Concordia Tragedy

(10 a.m. EDT) -- The disgraced captain of Costa Concordia deliberately misinformed passengers and the coastguard to the extent of damage to the doomed ship, black box recordings that were allegedly leaked reveal.

Italy's La Stampa newspaper says it has obtained black box recordings, on which Captain Schettino can be heard asking the officer in command of the ship's engine room: "So are we really going down?" Cruise Critic has been unable to independently verify the information in La Stampa's report.

Then three minutes later, reports La Stampa, Schettino told passengers that the ship had simply suffered a power cut -- despite knowing it had hit a rock and was taking on water.

Costa Concordia sank in January off the island of Giglio, Tuscany, with the loss of 32 lives.

According to La Stampa, the black box recordings also reveal that seconds after the collision at 9.45 p.m. Schettino is heard saying: "Madonna what have I done?" And at 10.02 p.m. he calls the Italian coastguard saying: "We've had a blackout, we're just evaluating... at most we're going to need a tugboat." He continued to resist calls from his officers to give the abandon ship warning until 11.19pm.

As the evacuation was taking place, Schettino is heard making a call to his his wife to tell her that everything was "under control," reports La Stampa.

He told her: "We hit a reef, the ship is listing but I performed a great manoeuvre ... everything is under control," he said, but added: "My career as a captain is over."

Schettino then fled the ship before all the passengers had been evacuated, claiming he had "tripped" into a life boat.

Schettino faces a number of charges including manslaughter, abandoning ship and failing to communicate with maritime authorities. The next court hearing takes place on October 15.

Black Box Recordings Throw New Light on Concordia Tragedy - MSC Cruises