July 31 we sailed 38nm up the coast from Santo Domingo to Santa Rosalia. On the way we had a problem with our mainsail. When furling, I think I had the boom up too high in back which made the sail roll up creep aft. We also had too much tension on the luff of the sail (still trying to understand why). The combination pulled the luff tape out of its track at the bottom. We had to keep furling because you can’t leave the sail part way up (it was about 1/4 up). That damaged the luff track so that we will need to replace it. Luckily it is not expensive and can be shipped to us at our next location.
At the harbor at Santa Rosalia we are on an end-tie so the docking was easy but we have less protection. There has been some surge and chaffing on some lines. The marina is in good repair, has water and electric hookups, a fuel dock, a swimming pool and even pretty good wifi. All for a really good price of $100 per week! (plus (quite reasonable) water and electric usage fees)
Santa Rosalia is a unique town of about 15,000 people. It was once a company town, built by a French mining company, Compagnie du Boleo, to mine copper. The town was founded in the 1880’s and the company imported everything needed to build the town. Lumber from Canada and Oregon, and just about everything else from France. They built roads, schools, the water system, electrical system, and homes for the workers. Some workers came from France but much of the labor was Mexicans, some from a prison in Guymas. The mines operated until 1954 when it was shut down because of declining productivity due to old equipment and low grade ore.
But the town still looks French. Homes were built to look like they would in a French village. The church was a pre-fab steel church designed by Eiffel (yep, same guy who did the tower) and imported from Belgium.
On Monday we walked a lot of the city. Much of the downtown area was shut down, cars blocking roads and people gathering for a protest. It seems that the local government stopped paying its employees in December with only sporadic pay since then. Even the police have been affected.
The streets remained peaceful and everyone seemed to be in agreement that this could not go on. By Tuesday, all seemed back to normal, with shops open and people going about their business.
Hwy 1 runs along the water with a modest malecon. Hwy is the only road going from the top of Baja at the US border, all the way to Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip. This means Santa Rosalia has regular bus service and access to trucking. With a well protected harbor, it is a busy place.
We really like Santa Rosalia, even if it was hot (mid 90s with 57% humidity) every day and we had to run the air conditioner most of the time.