A ship arrives in La Paz with luxury yachts on board
La Paz, Baja California Sur.- The arrival of a ship of great draft to the Bay of La Paz, named Chipolbrok and with the flag of Hong Kong, carrying several pleasure boats on board, confirms the strength of this tourist destination, and although this is not the first time this type of mega-ship has arrived, this would be one of the largest, said Malcolm Neil Shroyer , vice president of the Association of Tourist Marinas of Mexico.
He explained that these are cargo ships of various materials that additionally offer the service of transporting yachts on their deck, and that covers the route from Miami, USA, to Vancouver, Canada, leaving and moving tourist boats along the way at a cost of the freight that can vary between 20 thousand and 30 thousand dollars each, depending on the destination and the dimensions.
In some cases they are new yachts that are delivered to their owners, although most are owned by private individuals who prefer to send them by this means and they travel by air, saving wear and reducing risks for their boats; most of them come from Miami, a much more important market than California, because it brings together a greater number of yachters, who in recent years are preferring the Sea of Cortez instead of the Caribbean, said the shipping entrepreneur.
He informed that these freighters with yachts on the deck have arrived in La Paz for a decade, with between 2 and 3 arrivals per year and on a route that starts in Miami, passes through Golfitos, Costa Rica, crosses the Panama Canal, arrives to Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, La Paz, Ensenada, San Diego and ends in Vancouver, Canada.
The increasingly frequent arrival of yachts and megayachts to La Paz, either by sea or by boat, reflects that the Sea of Cortez is consolidated as the favorite destination of this type of tourists of high purchasing value, derived from the Gulf of California offers a wide range of recreational options, from sport fishing to trips to the islands, kayaking and ecotourism, not for nothing, this port is the destination of the largest regattas in the world, such as the Baja Ha Ha, with more than 150 units, on a journey that begins in San Diego and ends in La Paz, after 200 hours of navigation, with more than 600 people on board and a 25-year tradition.
Neil Shroyer said that in nautical tourism La Paz has greater potential than Los Cabos and several national ports, and noted that in this capital there are 700 marine combs, while in Cabo San Lucas there are only 400, and 300 in San José del Cabo.
He stressed that the marinas have been decisive in the development of the ports, and cited as an example the case of Cabo San Lucas, which houses a fleet of 300 sport fishing boats that gave and continues to give strength to that destination, like what happens with that of San José del Cabo, although this one is of recent creation; If it were not for these marinas, there would not be so many yachts or sport fishing boats, and the few would be as in Eastern Cape, anchored, almost drifting and good of God, he said.
With everything and that businessmen and government know about the relevance of the marinas, in recent years – except for San José del Cabo – no project has been achieved due to pressure from environmental groups, in La Paz three projects have been truncated by this type of organizations, which argue damages to the marine ecosystem because of these works.
The first was that of a navy that was to be called Esperanto, which the environmental authority denied permits due to pressure from NGOs; another one was frustrated in Pichilingue by these groups, and one more in El Mogote also had to be aborted for this same cause; the environmental issue and NGOs have made the arrival of new marinas increasingly complicated, he noted,
Neil Shroyer said that it is still premature to know if the new government is going to change the policy that the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto applied in this matter, although he said that in relation to customs and merchant marine that is now under the control of the Secretariat of Marina, there are great advances.
Building a marina requires large investments, and finding auspicious sites that in La Paz are already few, among them El Conchalito and some points of the seawall, close to the Fisherman’s Market, but it is somewhat complicated, environmentalists are going over you, he concluded.
Source: elsudcaliforniano
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