Sea Cortez Pearl Blog

Returning to the subject of hurricanes and tropical storms … a subject that causes our skin to start prickling . For years we have suffered from the ravages of hurricanes, which mostly visit in the shape of tropical storms here in Guaymas. But for some unknown reason, at least for us, some of the most devastating hurricanes have been those that have hit other regions, far from Guaymas, such as 2005′s Hurricane “Wilma” in the Mexican Caribbean (which destroyed our sales store in Cozumel.)

Hurricane “Juliette” (2001)

This time we go back to 2001 when a hurricane called “Juliette” struck the coast of Baja California Sur, Sonora and Sinaloa, causing heavy rainfall and leaving behind a trail of death and destruction: perhaps Cabo San Lucas was one of the most affected sites in northwest Mexico (since the hurricane formed off the coast of Central America and also hit the coasts of Oaxaca and Michoacan). Precipitation on top of Cabo was of 449.6 mm, since the hurricane lost strength just above this small town and it remained “parked” on top for several days.

Barely a week after the celebration of traditional festivals of Independence, on September 25th to be precise, this typhoon was dangerously close to the coast of Baja California Sur. In Guaymas, Sonora, felt the effects of “Juliette” with the presence of heavy rains, but … how did our Pearl Farm become affected? In those days we had a Jewelry-Boutique that sold our “Sea of Cortez Pearls” (jewelry and unset pearls) smack in the middle of Cabo San Lucas. This was our first foray into the retail sale of pearls and jewelry in a “foreign” setting, and after having tasted success in our first location within Tec de Monterrey-Campus Guaymas.

Pearls of the Sea of Cortez – Cabo San Lucas

Our store was opened in January 2000, with the local manager of our friend, Mr. Rodolfo Brajcich, and with the presence of Dr. Alberto Bustani Adem, Rector of the Tec de Monterrey, Dr. Guillermo Soberon Chavez then Director of the Guaymas Campus, and Mr. Farell Sergio Campos, leader of our team.

Among the many visitors to our jewelry store, we had a good friend and his team of students: Dr. Carlos Rangel Davalos (co-authored the technical book of pearl oyster aquaculture). Among this group of students was Hugo Ruiz Rubio (another good friend of La Paz, BCS) … who visited with their first batch of experimental Mabe Pearls, produced for the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS).

There were great expectations for this store site, due to the presence of cruise ships in the area, but unfortunately this commercial experiment came to an end with Hurricane “Juliette” and the responsability to close this store fell to the new manager, Miss Monica Ocon … and here we closed yet another historical chapter.

And now many will be able to understand our reluctance to open a new branch/store outside of Guaymas, Sonora … we have already done this twice and the stores have had to close for the same reason: Hurricanes …

Until next time!

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And we keep going back in time, delving into our memory to bring you the emotional experiences of being “real pearl farmers”: and by this I mean that we are entirely detached from the “glam” associated with this beautiful pearl we produce. Once more then, we begin this chapter by reviewing another hurricane that carved itself unto our memory and souls: “Hurricane Marty” – the deadliest hurricane of 2003 (death toll: 12 people).

Path of Destruction of Hurricane Marty

On September 2003, a tropical storm named “Marty” was born in front of Mexico’s Pacific coast (near Jalisco) and as it feed off the warmer waters it began growing until we had a Scale 2 hurricane near the Cabo area in the Baja’s tip. This is certainly not a “terrible” scale for a hurricane, but in this case it was more a matter of technique over size…it was more than capable of causing serious destruction in 4 Mexican States (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora & Sinaloa), some 12 deaths and the destruction of 80% of our pearl farm’s rainbow-lipped oysters. This hurricane is a dividing moment for Mexican Pearl Farming.

On this occasion, the hurricane’s effects were supposed to arrive in a deteriorated state to our locality (Guaymas): the hurricane touched land on the Cabo region, then visited La Paz and became -once more- a mere “tropical storm” when it entered the Gulf of California and began snaking its way upwards into the Colorado River’s mouth. The hurricane’s short lived time frame (September 21-26) gave it time enough to cause havoc in many small cities and towns like Los Mochis, Navojoa, Guaymas, La Paz, Mulegé, Loreto and San Felipe. Somehow the storm’s path inside the Sea of Cortez created a “channel of destruction”: encased between the “Sierra de la Giganta” on the left and the coastline of Sonora to the right. Thus, the rainfall, winds and waves became amplified throughout the area.

Bacochibampo Bay has been -traditionally- safe haven from the negative effects of storms and hurricanes. The reason for it is the way its “mouth” opens to the greater Bay or “Ensenada de San Francisco”: slightly northward, with a curve to the left. This is great help because most storms approach the area from the south, and a good assortment of hills surround the bay as well, thus offering ample protection. But this was not enough for this tricky hurricane because it snaked upwards and was -eventually- north of our position and its effects radiated downwards and then we experienced its effects in full force: tremendous winds, downpour and waves of up to 10 meters…

Under this punishment, our farm became entangled, torn from all sides, our culture cages flung over and our oysters dispersed to the bottom. The dock -with our beautiful palapa built in 1996- was leveled: the damage we saw seemed more like an attack with missiles. The school’s boat could be seen lying on the bottom, our pearl lab was greatly damaged and our boats (taken to higher ground) suffered damages due to the big rocks (60 kilos or more) that were flung as if just tiny peanuts. It was a disaster…

...after "Marty"

Rescue Labor

Rescue labor was difficult because our land based facilities were destroyed, we had nowhere to place our oysters and nets, our boats had been damaged and water visibility was really bad. I have to mention here that my friends Enrique and Manuel, as well as our “Yaqui” workers gave a grand effort and endured more diving hours than those deemed “safe” in order to salvage as many oysters as possible. It was a race against time, but the snails won out in the end…80% of our oysters died.

But such is Life: out of a tragedy something good will arise (is this like a “blood sacrifice”???). This event made it possible for us to become independent from Tec de Monterrey (an event that materialized in May, 2004) and to finally become “owners” of our Pearl Farm. And just like a Phoenix arises from its ashes…the Sea of Cortez Pearl farm has recovered.

Sunset over the Pearl Farm

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Oh boy! There are indeed some tough memories associated with certain hurricanes. These memories are like scar tissue on your heart and cause a certain sadness…fortunately this grief does not arise from the loss of a loved one nor does it stem from a mere economic loss. This grief would be more easily associated with that of the loss of a “dream”: you place your hopes and efforts on an ambitious project and then… everything is just wiped from the face of the Earth!

So, on this occasion let us go back in Time to 2005, when we met the fearsome hurricane called “Wilma”. Now, if you are attentive you will notice this “Wilma” and the year 2005 can only mean a hurricane that struck the Atlantic region…but we are in the Pacific side…so, what’s wrong with this picture???

We have first to go back in time to 2004, when we had just purchased the pearl farm from the original owner: Tec de Monterrey. At this moment we believed we could have much better sales if we only had an excellent spot, with lots of customers searching for a special product, and the island of Cozumel is a Cruise ship hub, with thousands of visitors each week: just the spot we were looking for.

So, with our Cozumel business partners we proceeded to establish a small store right on the “malecón” area and made plans to establish a larger store that would be next to the ocean and begin the necessary research to establish a new pearl farm with the Caribbean’s native pearl oysters (Pinctada imbricata and Pteria colymbus). Finally, the store opened next to a couple of fine restaurants and the local dolphinarium. Our small experimental pearl farm was deployed and spat collecting experiments begun. It was May 2005. Our store’s personnel had been prepared and trained, the store was great: lots of natural light, the beautiful Caribbean Sea could be seen from our windows… the future seemed bright! But…it was really short-lived.

Our Cozumel Store - before being visited by "Wilma" (2005)

When hurricane “Wilma” decided to visit the island of Cozumel it did so at full force: a level 4 hurricane. So, on October 21st, the powerful winds, the rainfall and tremendous waves crashed upon the tiny island and left it in shambles. It would be very stupid of me to say WE were the only ones that suffered losses… everyone did. The town was destroyed, tourists were gone and even the beautiful coral reefs were battered. It was a very sad event. Needless to say, our brand-new store (just in operation for a mere 6 months) was TOTALLY DESTROYED…only one wall left standing. Everything in it was washed away by the fury of the ocean: furniture, pearl jewelry and pearls…

Cozumel Store - after the visit of "Wilma"

So, like I said in a previous post… we had more than one store, and we even had another store before the one that was wiped out…but this is the subject of yet another post.

We have been asked several times? Why don’t you open a store in Cancún/Cozumel/Playa del Carmen??? The answer is “We did, but we are not going to try again…at least in this Life”.

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On this unfortunate occasion we find that hurricanes are more of a threat than a blessing. I will begin with my account of the damages caused by previous hurricanes on our pearl farm and jewelry stores… jewelry stores??? But you guys only have the one store in Guaymas, don’t you??? Well, yes…but it was not always the same.

Let us begin…

Hurricane “Jimena” – 2009

This incredibly destructive hurricane had devastating effects on the coasts of Baja California and Sonora…but its destructive efforts were most effective on the cities of Guaymas and Empalme (with some 220,000 inhabitants in total). The usual effects of a hurricane were not really seen in the area (strong winds over 150 Kph, tidal waves of 10 meters in height, etc.) but instead we had a tremendous rainfall, lasting some 36 continuous hours and exceeding 711 mm of water (some 28 inches). This amount might not be a great deal in certain places, but in the Sonoran desert (with an average rainfall of 210 mm or 8.26 inches) this was a deluge! This was basically the first time we saw actual waterfalls and new arroyos (temporary rivers) on our hills and desert patches…but the water came to our towns like a locomotive and wiped out our hydraulic infrastructure, our roads and streets, dozens of houses just fell down and hundreds more were flooded. Thousands lost all their personal belongings, half a dozen people lost their lives…

Driving around the cities of Guaymas and Empalme, watching the destruction of bridges, people going on without any tap water for weeks, and the lines of people waiting for help from the government you would have to imagine that the pearl farm had been destroyed as well. But no, our Pearl Farm survived and we had minimal damage there. We had worse problems with our main office and pearl store: aside from some leaks in our roof, the main problem we had were the 7 days without electricity.

But we did notice some interesting damage on the environment: the water in Bacochibampo Bay turned extremely cloudy (visibility of less than 30 cm, just inches from your face) and the bottom of the ocean changed from a normal gravel-sandy (very marine) bottom to a truly red-mud bottom. The coastal outline changed and some beach spots were left without any sand, but then again some rocky areas became small sandy beaches. Obviously, we had some chemistry change in our bay’s seawater.

Some years ago, around 2002, the Chinese pearl farms in the region of Hainan suffered massive pearl oyster mortalities (Akoya Oysters=Pinctada imbricata) due to the floods that occurred when a typhoon affected the area with intense rainfall.  The water’s salinity and turbidity levels affected them because:

1. the Chinese pearl farms were located near the mouth of the river and
2. in a very shallow area (depth of less than 2 meters).

Because the area was so shallow, the salinity levels in the bay decreased below the Akoya oyster’s tolerance level: pearl oysters are typically marine organisms, unlike edible oysters that are more estuarine and can even thrive under less salty waters. Bacochibampo bay is far less shallow (average 8 meters), we do not have a river discharging into it and it has a very wide, open, mouth that protects this local environment from a fast and sudden change of salinity.

On this occasion…we were spared. But we have not been so fortunate in the past.

The Cortez Pearl farm in Bacochibampo

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This week I would like to share some of our experiences with hurricanes. I know that most people that live on the coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific rim have experienced the destructive force of a hurricane or typhoon. Who can forget 2005′s “Katrina” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina) or “Wilma” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Wilma)??? Their destructive force became legendary…

NOA's image of 2001's Hurricane "Juliette"

But in most instances the media usually focuses on Human losses, acts of heroism or savagery, economic distress, etc. On this occasion we will only talk about the effect of hurricanes on pearls, and by this I mean the pearl oysters, pearl farms and farmers and even “Pearl Shops” (or stores). Since our experience with pearl farming dates only as far as 1991, we have been able to experience several hurricanes over the years, each one uniquely different in its effects. We also have records of similar events taking place at other places and times. Let us begin with one such account:

Pearly Joy in Guaymas

According to the late Don  Manuel “el Tío” Ferreira of Guaymas, Sonora, hurricanes and tropical storms in the area caused some “pearly joy” in the 1960-1970′s because the severe tidal action would dislodge great numbers of pearl oysters from their attachment points (rocks, shells, corals, even from other oysters) and have them lay on the beach. Thus people would walk the beach of Miramar to easily obtain natural pearls. In his years of gathering natural pearls in this manner, Mr. Ferreira said he was able to fill up a large glass jar with natural pearls. Of these, only two -he said- were larger than a bean and very beautiful. Unfortunately I was never able to see more than a cup of pearls because he had given many away over the years.

I was able of experiencing this phenomena just a couple of years ago (2007) just after the arrival of hurricane “Henriette” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Pacific_hurricane_season#Hurricane_Henriette). I walked the shores of the place once known as “Shangri-La” (now there is a “Beach Club” there, owned by Hotel “Marinaterra”) and found hundreds of clams, mussels and pearl oysters -most still alive- just lying on this small beach.

One can only imagine that -for Centuries- the native inhabitants of the Sea of Cortez (and probably in other areas of the world)  could have enjoyed similar benefits after such storms. There is such a thing as a Free Pearl and Lunch (if you eat the pearl oyster)

A Natural Pearl on its Host Oyster

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