Recovery efforts in the Bahia Magdalena Region

I am forwarding the following message from ProPenisula. This group has done much great conservation work in the Bahía Magdalena region and is worthy of your support.

Your Help is Needed to Rebuild Baja Sea Turtle Communities Destroyed by Hurricane Jimena

Last Monday Hurricane Jimena slammed into the Bahía Magdalena region of the Baja California peninsula. There were no fatalities, but the majority of homes and infrastructure in the region were destroyed or severely damaged.

The Bahía Magdalena region is critical for sea turtle conservation as a hotspot for both loggerhead and black sea turtles. Conservation heroes from the communities of San Carlos, Puerto Magdalena, Puerto López Mateos, and San Lázaro have been our conservation partners for many years and have made great progress in protecting sea turtles. Many of these friends and their families lost their homes to Hurricane Jimena and they now need our help.

Victor de la Toba, lighthouse keeper of Cabo San Lazaro, and veritable loggerhead conservation hero, hunkered down with his wife Maricel and their children in their home in Lopez Mateos during Hurricane Jimena. Soon after the hurricane’s eye passed their roof was torn off – while they were inside. They took refuge in the Proyecto Caguama research station for the rest of the storm and came away unscathed. Their house, though still standing, is unlivable.

Julio Solís, a local fisherman who founded and now directs Magdalena Baykeeper in San Carlos, and his family have also been uprooted. Two thirds of Julio’s home was torn apart when Jimena made landfall.

A new roof for Victor costs $500. Rebuilding Julio’s house will cost $2,000. Our target is to swiftly raise funds to help these and other families rebuild their lives.

You can help by making a tax-deductible donation to the Pro Peninsula Fund at The Ocean Foundation today. Click here

and please note ‘Hurricane Fund’ in the comments section of the donation form. If you would like the funds to go to any family in particular please contact us directly.

Many thanks,
Mark Spalding, President, The Ocean Foundation
Kama Dean, Program Officer, Pro Peninsula Fund at The Ocean Foundation
Aarón Esliman,Executive Director, Grupo Tortuguero
Hoyt Peckham, Director, Proyecto Caguama
Wallace J. Nichols, Co-Director, Ocean Revolution

More information on Hurricane Jimena and the destruction:
http://www.mexidata.info/id2402.html
http://www.oem.com.mx/elmexicano/notas/n1310350.htm

Please note: all funds raised will go to Jimena relief for families in affected areas.

Jimena Relief Efforts

There are a lot of photos and other information on Jimena's damage out there on the web but I did want to share a few things.

EcoMujeres in Mulege supports a bunch of good projects but my favorite is EcoAmigos kids group. They have posted a good summary of the hurricane's imapcts on Mulege and a how you can help page.

J Nichols has a first hand report from Puerto Lopez Mateos from Chris Pesenti and Chuy Lucero on his blog.

This video shot along the Malecon in Loreto shows the force of the hurricane. Note that these waves are only from the outer bands of the hurricane and Loreto is relatively protected by the islands.

Jimena's Aftermath

This satellite image taken as Hurricane Jimena passed over Mulege says it all. On the Pacific side Puerto San Carlos and Puerto Lopez Mateos were badly damaged with many homes destroyed. Some reports say as many as 90% of the buildings in Puerto Lopez Mateos were destroyed. For the thrid time in four years Mulege is badly damaged by flooding from a hurricane with a "J" name (John in 2006, Julietta in 2008, and now Jimena in 2009). Santa Rosalia is also badly damaged.

Comondu and San Carlos Hit Hard

Unfortunately, San Carlos and the Municipo of Comondu have been severely affected by Hurricane Jimena. According to El Sud Californiano, Ciudad Constitution was hit by strong winds that lasted for seven hours.

Photos

From El Sud Californiano:
El huracán Jimena devasta Comondú

As of 2:00pm PDT today the eye is over the mountains east of Conception Bay and appears headed for Mulege. Expect major flooding in all the arroyos. I hope the people that live in the mountains made it to shelter. I have heard nothing from Loreto and Mulege - with the damage at San Carlos where the electricity is produced I'm sure the power is out.

Good News / Bad News - Jimena

Well the good news is that Huricane Jimena went up the Pacific side and spared the towns along the Gulf of California and has lost a lot of strength. The sustained winds have dropped to 90 miles/hour with stronger gusts. The bad news is that it made land fall as a category 2 storm near Puerto San Carlos. Hopefully, the fish camps on the barrier islands around Magdalena Bay were evacuated. The current prediction is for the storm to make landfall again near San Juanico. I have not seen any reports for the Pacific Coast yet. The many small communities along the coast are likely badly impacted. I will report more as I get information.

¡Jimena Se Acerca!

Here's the front page of today's El Sud Californiano. This storm looks serious. The current projection has the center of the hurricane coming very close to Bahia Magdelena early tomorrow morning and making landfall near Laguna San Ignacio on Thursday morning.

A small shift to the east could send the storm into Todos Santos or a shift to the west could make things a lot easier. Either way this storm will bring much needed rain - likely too much rain that will cause widespread flooding. Roads will not be passable for sometime after the storm passes.

Stay out of the arroyos!!!

Hang on Cuidad Constitution - Jimena Viene

Hang on folks!

The satellite image of Hurricane Jimena was taken at 2:30 pm local time (1:30 PDT).

The track looks very similar to Tropical Storm Julio that blasted through the area almost exactly one year ago. Unfortunately, while Julio was a tropical storm, Jimena is a Class IV hurricane and is nearly a Class V. With 155 mile per hour winds damage will be widespread. The storm will bring much needed rain to break the drought in Baja California Sur but expect widespread destructive flooding throughout the peninsula.


To see what a relatively weak tropical storm will due check out my blog posts from Julio.

Stay safe everyone!!!

HURRICANE JIMENA ADVISORY NUMBER 13
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL EP132009
200 PM PDT MON AUG 31 2009

...JIMENA ALMOST A CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE...

A HURRICANE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA FROM BAHIA MAGDALENA SOUTHWARD ON THE WEST COAST...AND FROM SAN EVARISTO SOUTHWARD ON THE EAST COAST... INCLUDING CABO SAN LUCAS. A HURRICANE WARNING MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 24 HOURS. PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD BE RUSHED TO COMPLETION.

A HURRICANE WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA NORTH OF BAHIA MAGDALENA ON THE WEST COAST TO PUNTA ABREOJOS...AND NORTH OF SAN EVARISTO TO MULEGE ON THE EAST COAST. A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

INTERESTS ELSEWHERE IN THE CENTRAL BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA AND IN WESTERN MAINLAND MEXICO SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF JIMENA.

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR NATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE.

AT 200 PM PDT...2100 UTC...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE JIMENA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 18.5 NORTH...LONGITUDE 109.2 WEST OR ABOUT 305 MILES...495 KM...SOUTH OF CABO SAN LUCAS MEXICO.

JIMENA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH...17 KM/HR...AND A TURN TOWARD THE NORTH-NORTHWEST WITH A GRADUAL INCREASE IN FORWARD SPEED IS EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT DAY OR SO. ON THE FORECAST TRACK... JIMENA WILL BE APPROACHING THE SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA ON TUESDAY.

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT THE MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 155 MPH...250 KM/HR... WITH HIGHER GUSTS. JIMENA IS A CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE...AND VERY NEAR THE THRESHOLD OF CATEGORY FIVE STATUS. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN STRENGTH ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT DAY OR SO...BUT JIMENA IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN A MAJOR HURRICANE UNTIL LANDFALL.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 45 MILES...75 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 140 MILES...220 KM.

THE MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY THE AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER PLANE IS 931 MB...27.49 INCHES.

JIMENA IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAIN ACCUMULATIONS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES OVER THE SOUTHERN HALF OF THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA AND PORTIONS OF WESTERN MEXICO DURING THE NEXT 2 DAYS...WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 15 INCHES.

A DANGEROUS STORM SURGE ALONG WITH BATTERING WAVES WILL PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT COASTAL FLOODING ALONG THE BAJA CALIFORNIA PENINSULA.

...SUMMARY OF 200 PM PDT INFORMATION...
LOCATION...18.5N 109.2W
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...155 MPH
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NORTHWEST OR 315 DEGREES AT 10 MPH
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...931 MB

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 500 PM PDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 800 PM PDT.

Theft at the Oasis in Loreto

Hey Folks,
Remember to be careful while you are out having fun. I normally would not post this but I have heard of similar incidents at the Oasis Hotel in the past. Times are hard right now for people in tourist dependent communities like Loreto so take a little extra care with your valuables. The following message is from Russ S. and was originally posted on Dan Blanton's forums:

I've been hesitant to post this because I don't want to be a downer and frankly I consider it an absolute anomaly, but I wouldn't feel right if I said nothing and it happened to someone else.

When we got back to our room Thursday from fishing I couldn't find my everyday sunglasses. I leave them in my Arizona Cards hat next to the TV. I went to lunch, asked around and nobody had found them. Got back to the room, took a 2 hour siesta and then woke up to do more looking.

When I opened the top drawer below where my hat was I discovered my envelope hidden under my clothes had been cleaned out, $250 in cash. I discovered later they also took my cellphone.

Everyone agrees this is the first such incident they can remember and I am feeling more embarrassed than anything, my passport was there too so I'm lucky they didn't take that. the room was locked when we left but when they clean the rooms they often open several at a time so we assume someone ran in and grabbed my stuff because it was so close together. Eric and GES didn't have anything taken.

I filed a police report in town the next day but don't expect much from that. They banned the kids from the beach the next day for caution. I have no idea who did it but if it was one of the kids I'm hoping the others will speak up since if they don't, they're all out of a job.

The nice lady at the front desk told us it takes her 20 days of work to earn that much money so you can see why in a bad economy someone might do that. I split my money up so I only lost half and I feel pretty stupid for leaving it like that but I've never had such an issue at the Oasis and I'm pretty sure it was an anomaly.

But I just wanted to let others know for future trips.

So remember to take a few extra precautions and enjoy your trip. Its easy to let your guard down when vacationing in a relaxed place like Loreto.

I wish I was here!

I realize I haven't been posting much and I'm getting light on the fishing and heavy on the conservation side so here is a fun shot from the beach on Coronado Island in Loreto Bay National Marine Park. Roosterfish hunt these flats - although as with the other inshore species not in the numbers they used to. This is one area that the new park management plan should protect from the gill nets.

Project Pangas

Pangas is not only the name of my favorite style of fishing boat it is also an acronym for Pesca Artesanal del Norte del Golfo de California – Ambiente y Sociedad.

This project looks great - it is a great model for action that could easily be replicated in the southern part of the Gulf of California.

Oro de Cortez Part 3

Oro de Cortez Part 2

Oro de Cortez Part 1

This video is fantastic - it clearly sums up the ongoing battle over fisheries management in the Sea of Cortez. Minerva Smith from Cabo San Lucas and Baja California Sur's Senator Coppala are great advocates for protecting this fantastic resource.

Earthquakes near Bahia de Los Angeles

Four strong earthquakes shook the Bahia de Los Angles area between 10 and 11 am local time this morning. Early reports indicate that little damage occurred and there are no reports of injuries.

This map from the USGS shows the location of the epicenters south and northwest of Angel de la Guardia Island just offshore from Bahia de Los Angles. Link to map

The magnitudes and time of each event were:

5.8 at 10:55 am
6.9 at 10:59 am
5.0 at 11:33 am
5.9 at 11:40 am

Great White Shark on the Fly

Not quite Baja but cool anyways...