The Vancouver Sun (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/) has published an article on Loreto with a lot of good information:
Phase 1 of the Villages of Loreto Bay, a new community fronting the Sea of Cortes, is underway. The developer, the Loreto Bay Co., claims it's the largest North American resort under construction that's committed to sustainable development. They promise economic, social and ecological benefits for local residents and the environment.
The resort is the vision of B.C. resident David Butterfield, chairman of the Loreto Bay Co. and president of the Canadian non-profit Trust for Sustainable Development, the company's parent.
The development is being built in partnership with Fonatur. Worth $3.4 billion, the 6,000-home, pedestrian-friendly town will be built over 1,200 hectares in nine phases. Another 2,000 hectares will be set aside as a nature preserve.
I copy the full article below.
British Columbian helps to develop resort on Mexico's Sea of Cortes
Theresa Storm, CanWest News Service, Tuesday, December 12, 2006, Link
LORETO, Mexico -- I felt like I was entering a scene from a John Wayne movie. As the jet descended for landing, I saw giant cordon cacti lining the runway, like don't-mess-with-me sentinels of the desert.
Landing in Loreto, midway along the east coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, I half-expected Wayne and his cowboy cohorts to come galloping by.
But modernity has arrived in historic Loreto, the 309-year-old first capital of the Californias originally inhabited by a tribe of Cochimi Indians.
The desert stretches 1,771 km south from the United States border to the tip of the Baja peninsula. Leaving the one-luggage-belt airport, heading south away from the colonial town of 10,000, I took a deep breath of arid, unpolluted air. This nearly undiscovered natural playground would surely bring rejuvenation.
If things had gone as planned, Loreto wouldn't be such a gem far off most travelers' radar. More than 30 years ago, Fonatur, Mexico's tourism development agency, identified Loreto as one of five sites with prime tourism potential. Unlike the others -- Cancun, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Huatulco and nearby Los Cabos -- Loreto escaped the development craze that transformed those fishing villages into mega-resorts.
Although work began in Nopolo, about 11 km south of Loreto, construction stalled after a few dozen homes, two hotels, an 18-hole golf course and a tennis centre were built. While other Mexican resorts forged ahead, Loreto now has the luxury of hindsight to do things right.
Pulling off the dusty, two-lane highway 10 minutes later, we were welcomed by the palm-lined boulevard into Nopolo.
The drone of power tools from a cluster of adobe courtyard casitas meant construction is no longer halted. Phase 1 of the Villages of Loreto Bay, a new community fronting the Sea of Cortes, is underway. The developer, the Loreto Bay Co., claims it's the largest North American resort under construction that's committed to sustainable development. They promise economic, social and ecological benefits for local residents and the environment.
The resort is the vision of B.C. resident David Butterfield, chairman of the Loreto Bay Co. and president of the Canadian non-profit Trust for Sustainable Development, the company's parent.
The development is being built in partnership with Fonatur. Worth $3.4 billion, the 6,000-home, pedestrian-friendly town will be built over 1,200 hectares in nine phases. Another 2,000 hectares will be set aside as a nature preserve.
It will be 12 to 15 years before the development is complete. With only 100 homes turned over to owners so far, it's still peaceful in this near-untouched slice of Baja.
After checking in at the Inn at Loreto Bay, a 155-room beachside resort at the development's south end, I headed past the courtyard pool straight for the water's edge.
Mirror-calm, it was hard to believe the Sea of Cortes is a sea at all. Yet the clear, deep blue waters -- proclaimed "the world's aquarium" by Jacques Cousteau -- stretch 120 km to mainland Mexico. A single landmass 60 million years ago, the Baja Peninsula was split away by the San Andreas Fault.
An 18-hole golf course and the inn are tucked between the mountains and the sea.
Looking eastward, the stark basalt cliffs of Isla Carmen, the largest of five islands in Loreto Bay National Marine Park, rise out of the sea. To the south, barely visible, is Isla Danzante.
The next morning, we boarded El Don, a 21-metre yacht, for a snorkeling expedition to Isla Coronados.
The Sea of Cortes supports the world's largest and most varied population of whales, including humpback, sperm, minke and other species, but the thousands of grey whales that migrate each winter from Alaska's Bering Sea to Baja's Pacific coast are the main event. To see this, we go 97 km west to the port of Adolfo Lopez Mateos in Magdalena Bay.
Over the next two hours, we delightedly observed scores of grEy whales.
IF YOU GO. . .
- Getting there: Alaska Airlines offers four weekly non-stop flights to Loreto from L.A. Delta will launch daily non-stop service beginning Dec. 16 from L.A. AeroMexico flies from San Diego.
- Where to stay: The Inn at Loreto Bay was recently acquired by Loreto Bay. Rates start at $142 per night, including buffet breakfast. Several new land-only packages are available, including a Humboldt squid-diving adventure. Call 1-877-865-6738 or visit http://innatloretobay.com.
- Tours and activities: January through early April is the peak time for grey whale watching.
C & C Ground Services & Tours: Cecilia Haugen offers sightseeing and active tours. The full-day grey-whale watching tour to Magdalena Bay is $172, including lunch. E-mail candclto@prodigy.com.mx or call 1-310-227-6522 or 011-52-613-135-0525.
Cormorant Dive Centre: Contact Juve Orozco for diving, kayaking, whale watching and other tours. Call 011-52-613-135-2140 or visit http://www.loretours.com
- For more on the Villages of Loreto Bay, visit http://www.loretobay.com.
- For the Mexico Tourism Board, visit http://www.visitmexico.com.
Posted by emmanuel at January 7, 2007 9:01 PM