Got Plane? Take it to Rocky Point

Flying to the Sea of Cortez

Got an hour or so and access to a private plane in Phoenix or Scottsdale ? If so fly down to Puerto Penasco and you can be at the beautiful Sea of Cortez in less time than you may have to wait at the border.

Most Private plane owners in Arizona how easy it is to fly their private plane to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. Crossing the border by air and going through customs brings up many questions. This article should help answer those questions and provide smooth flying into Puerto Peñasco.

There are two airports in Rocky Point. One is currently open for flights and the other is soon to open. The current airport is located on Highway 8 just north of town on the road from Sonoyta. It is in full operation and every time I drive into town I count how many planes or private jets are parked on the ramp. The number of planes keeps growing and it is amazing at the collection of jets that appear each weekend. In the past few years over a million dollars has been allocated to the airport and it shows. The airport looks new, freshly painted, updated and secure.

The airport known as Puerto Peñasco Airport (PPE). Currently at the airport, there are two runways, asphalt and gravel and overnight parking for your plane. There is a bilingual staff highly trained in international airport procedures, 24 hour security patrol, fencing surrounding the airfield and pilots area with services, public restrooms, rental car services, parking spaces and a straightforward process for designated airline officials and customs check.

The newest airport not yet open is scheduled to offer services sometime soon. It is located off of Highway 003 toward the Mayan Palace. When the new airport is going to open for international flights is not clear, I hear different time frames but the latest “rocky talk” states it will open first quarter of 2009. The runway is paved and striped. On the internet, there are photos from the Governor's Conference of a few jets who landed and other jets that used the airport to park their jets on the runway.

The good news, no the GREAT news is when the new airport does open, tourism will increase, the market will become stronger and another wave will hit Rocky Point Mexico. What a good wave it will be, increasing services, offering international flights and making Rocky Point more accessible than ever. Offering new international flights (a regular route from Phoenix to Puerto Peñasco every day) would be fantastic and will someday become a reality.

After my quick and great experience in a private plane, I would jump on a commercial plane or a private plane and head on down to Rocky Point in a heart beat. No border to worry about, no traffic on the way down and no crazy drivers passing on the NO REBASE area on the road into Puerto Peñasco (if you are one of those drivers you know who you are, please be more cautious, it means NO PASSING). Yes, the new airport will be worth waiting for when it opens and offers regular flights.

In the meantime, crossing the border to Rocky Point with a small private plane is not as difficult as one may think.

To show how easy it is to all those Gringos who love to fly or have friends with a pilot's license thinking about taking the flight, we recently chronicled the journey of a 4 passenger single engine Piper Comanche as it took flight from Phoenix to Rocky Point.

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Feliz Navidad : Celebrate Christmas in the Mexican Way

Celebrating Christmas in Rocky Point, Mexico can be a unique and unforgettable experience. In place of a white Christmas, you may find a very colorful set of festivities and traditions. The celebrations start 0 days before Christmas, on Dec. 16, with the traditional Posadas . Nine consecutive days of candlelight processions in which families get together to reenact the Holy Family's quest for lodging in Bethlehem . The organizers often choose a little girl to be the Virgin Mary (Virgin Maria) sometimes perched on a live donkey (burro) followed by a little boy representing Saint Joseph (San Jose) and they are usually followed by other children dressed as angels and a host of (Pastores and Pastoras) shepards and shepardesses. The little procession will go to a determined house in the neighborhood and everyone outside the door sings the traditional “ Inn ” music (Posada) holding candles. Many times, little papers with the lyrics of the whole song are given together with the candles so that everyone knows what comes next and can join in singing. The people inside the house will respond. It goes something like this: “In the name of heaven I ask you for Inn , for just one night, since my beloved wife cannot walk anymore”.
Then the ones inside respond:“This is no Inn, I can't open the door, it could be a thief".

This singing dialog will go on with the ones outside explaining that they are Mary and Joseph and that she will be the Holy Mother until the Inn keeper (people inside) will say: “Come in Saint Pilgrims, receive my humble home, it is not much but I give it to you with my heart”.

Then the door of the house will open and everyone will go inside singing together and the party starts. There will be traditional food including atole and tamales and the holiday classic warm fruit punch made with seasonal fruits, raisins, cinnamon and sugar (to which adults might add rum or other alcoholic beverage). Music Christmas carols and colorful holiday motifs are a must, but most important is getting together for good holiday cheer. Some families like to give sparklers to the kids, or gather around a fire. Then, at the end of the party, children will break a Piñata which also has a traditional meaning: the 7 coned star piñata represents the 7 capital sins and in breaking all sins the children receive the reward of candy and fruit.

Many of these traditions have been incorporated from the Pre-Hispanic culture that the Spaniards found and then change using them as a way to teach Christianity to the natives. Some think the Posadas started with the ancient Aztec winter celebration for “Huitzilopochtli”, God of the Sun. The dates for this holiday coincide with the nine days when the Aztecs celebrated the birth of Huitzilopochtli. It is believed that Augustine Monks trying to teach Christianity maintained the celebrations, changing the characteristics (and characters), and giving it a Christian meaning, thus incorporating it into the Christmas holiday. Posadas are celebrated not only in Mexico, but in most of Latin America . It is one beautiful and lasting tradition that helps families and neighbors stay together and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas.

You can join these lively posadas or organize your own, any day between Dec. 16 th and 24 th is an appropriate time for gathering friends and family, and most importantly to sing, celebrate and rejoice. FELIZ NAVIDAD!

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HOW IT CAME TO BE KNOWN AS ROCKY POINT

In 1826 the area received the name of Rocky Point from Lieutenant William Hale Hardy, retired officer of the Royal British Navy, while in search of pearls and precious metals during his travels along the coasts of Sonora and Baja California. It was known on navigational charts by this name until 1936. Very near Rocky Point, Mexico a gold mine was discovered, called the Sierra Pinta, which had two different owners between 1850 and 1910. Before ceasing operations, the mine belonged to an English company that had a smelting operation where the gold was converted into bars and sent to San Francisco . This company had constructed a track for carts that went from the mine to the gold processing plant in the estuary of La Pinta.

After being baptized by William Hale Hardy, Rocky Point also called (Puerto Penasco)continued to be a bleak desert spot visited only occasionally by nomadic fishermen on their trips through the sea to the Gulf of Santa Clara or to San Felipe, Baja California, or by brave Arizona sport fishermen who dared to cross the Great Desert without road or trail in order to reach the sea.

THE UNSUCCESSFUL ARIZONA-SONORA RAILROAD PROJECT

Historian Charles J. Gaetjens, from Ajo Arizona, mentions that in 1915, John Campbell Greenway, manager of the mine at Ajo, Arizona, sent engineer Don Rait to carry out studies to establish a railroad from Ajo to Rocky Point along the best rout possible. The goal was to be able to transport the mineral to the coast of the Sea of Cortez , and then to California such as the Sierra Pinta mine had done. Similarly, he sent engineers Ira Joralemon and Ed Malean to Mexico to explore the region and search for minerals to exploit, in order to bring them to Ajo, Arizona not empty handed. The work stopped in 1918 due to the high cost of inflation caused by the First World War.

One year later, in May of 1919, and with his own money, Greenway picked up the project again, sending out four engineers from the Ajo mine. The railroad company was established with the initial capital of 100,000 Mexican pesos.

The partners were John C. Greenway and Dr. Louis D. Ricketts, with a concession from the Mexican Government dated in June 1920. In 1921 the railroad project study from Arizona to Mexico was completed. Several wells were drilled in the desert, one of them 21 kilometers from the coast. By 1925 the company abandoned the project for lack of investors.

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