In my post on Chiricahua National Monument, Suzanne mentioned that Organ Pipe National Monument is also a great place, and she’s right. Organ Pipe figures peripherally in our current border crisis, so I thought I’d tell a little story about how Customs and Border Protection (CBP) fucked over a little town in Mexico.
The Organ Pipe NM visitor’s center is just a couple of miles from the town of Lukeville, Arizona, where there’s a popular border crossing for folks going to Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, a place that is called Rocky Point by Arizonans. Puerto Peñasco is a little beach town on the northern edge of the Bay of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), and it has a beautiful beach. Some people call it “Arizona’s Beach,” and the Mexican government has done everything in their power to make it an easy destination. The road from Sonoyta, the town on the other side of the border from Lukeville, is one of the best two lane highways in Mexico. The region is a “no hassle zone” where the Mexican government has gone to great lengths to crack down on police bribe-seeking. Unlike most of Mexico, you don’t need a tourist visa (FMM) or an import permit for your car (TIP). (You should have Mexican auto insurance, though, because US policies don’t cover your car in old Mexico.) Puerto Peñasco is a great “first trip” into Mexico because most of the locals who deal with tourists speak at least enough English to get by, everyone takes dollars (at a not-great exchange rate), the cerveza is cold and the seafood is freshly caught.
Anyway, with our current border crisis, CBP decided that they needed to “surge” resources to different border areas, and those resources would come from Lukeville. So, with three whole days of warning, they closed the Lukeville Port of Entry on December 4. This was a massive hit to the Puerto Peñasco economy — locals call it “Muerto (Dead) Peñasco” because the place is empty. The Lukeville border station is tiny: a total of 23 officers work there. Re-assigning those agents to process migrants instead of manning the border couldn’t have made a huge difference to CBP’s enforcement efforts, but it sure made a difference for anyone trying to get to Puerto Peñasco. Take a look at this:
I’ve highlighted Organ Pipe NM and Puerto Peñasco in yellow. The other border crossings that you could use to get to Puerto Peñasco are highlighted in red. Both of them add hours to the trip, and the Nogales road is considered fairly dangerous. I’ve recently driven the road from San Luis Rio Colorado (the red dot to the west) via El Golfo de Santa Clara, and it tends to get big sand drifts and has a lot of potholes.
Lukeville re-opened on January 4, just in time to miss all the Arizona Christmas vacationers who wanted a beach trip. As far as I’m concerned, this border closing was just fuckery, but it was low-level fuckery that mostly affected Arizona residents who were inclined to travel to Mexico. We call those people “Democrats”.
Anyway, Organ Pipe is a nice rugged park that protects the massive organ pipe cacti in the only place they grow in the US. This one is at least 10 feet tall:
(By the way, I’m not minimizing the issues at the border near Organ Pipe. The visitor’s center there is named after a Law Enforcement Ranger who was shot by cartel members in 2002, Kris Eggle. )
This and That in the News
coin operated
At least they were smart enough to wait until after the Rocky Point Rally. Thousands of motorcycles descend on the Puerto Peñasco area in early November. Been there a couple of times and had a good time.
WaterGirl
The least you could do is link to the song! :-)
edit: I can hear the song in my head but I can’t remember the name of it.
JDHill
Always nice to see a Hoyt Axton reference. And I don’t mind that you planted an earworm in my brain.
Suzanne
To be fair, those people are actually “everyone”. Puerto Peñasco (aka Rocky Point) attracts all kinds for a relatively inexpensive and convenient beach getaway.
There was still plenty of bribery on the highway the last time I drove it, tho!
$8 blue check mistermix
@WaterGirl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J99aZCz1SvA
eclare
@WaterGirl:
I think this is it
https://youtu.be/FF-foAjpOIg?si=od_kZYZyL6QvnDr0
WaterGirl
@JDHill: I didn’t know Hoyt Axton did a cover of that song.
Here’s the one I know.
$8 blue check mistermix
@Suzanne: True, I’m sure there are some Republicans who go there. Also, the truly affected people were the Mexicans who have jobs in PP and those who needed to cross at Lukeville.
BTW, I’ve driven that highway a couple of times since 2019 and haven’t seen anyone pulled over. Also, the Arizonans seem to it drive at 80+ MPH (in a 60 MPH zone).
eclare
Sounds like total fuckery by the CBP.
$8 blue check mistermix
@WaterGirl: Hoyt Axton wrote the song along with Kenneth Higginbotham, Arlo covered it and, more recently, Colter Wall.
WaterGirl
@$8 blue check mistermix: Ha! I always assume that the first version of the song I hear is the original artist. Particularly when it’s on an album by an artist I know.
WaterGirl
mistermix, you should take Cole’s stepping on your rare post as a hearty welcome back to writing posts. :-)
I for one am very glad to see posts from you!
Suzanne
@$8 blue check mistermix: I haven’t been down to Rocky Point since, hmmmm, prolly 2017? My friends got bribed down there recently, tho! I honestly just consider it the Mexico tax.
Organ Pipe is fantastically beautiful. Too many people die down there when crossing, since it’s so damn hot.
Some of the harshest terrain on Earth right there.
Xavier
Puerto Penasco was at one time called Punta de Piedra (basically, Rocky Point). The tides there are pretty amazing, nearly 20 feet.
smedley the uncertain
@$8 blue check mistermix: Ya better be careful who you call a Democrat… That area is right adjacent to Cochise County which refused to certify the votes in the last big election. Just ‘tother side of the Huachucas. They don’t take kindly to them demon crats. But right about PP, nice beach (Playa Bonita), nice people and good food.
AlaskaReader
@Xavier: My understanding of tides is they are more extreme at the poles and less so nearer the equator.
Much greater changes in tidal variation in Alaska vs California or Florida.
Can you explain how there are 20 foot tide changes in a place located similarly along a longitudinal line that is known for relatively small tidal changes?
WaterGirl
@AlaskaReader: Tides come in, tides go out, no one knows how that works.
Did you forget that? :-)
catclub
Yes! Yes I can! When the resonance frequency of the basin is very close to the tidal frequency, you will get big tides. The underwater topography affects the resonance frequency, as does the shape and size of the basin. The strong tidal periods are usually either a half day or a day.
Ten Bears
Well, that brings on some memories. I have a funny story about Hoyt, and helicopter loggers, but given the gravity of the situation some other time. Organ Pipes, what I remember of it, was cool …
AlaskaReader
@catclub: I’m seeing contradictory evidence,
tidal frequency, as I understand it concerns the Gulf of Mexico having sometimes two high tides in a period where one may be normal otherwise. Frequency.
Deep dive here.
AlaskaReader
@WaterGirl: Have heard that expression, don’t know the backstory.
Always seemed odd, …because I knew of the moon before hearing the expression.
eclare
@AlaskaReader:
https://www.cc.com/video/n6wqjn/the-colbert-report-bill-o-reilly-proves-god-s-existence-neil-degrasse-tyson
The phrase originated with Bill O’Reilly.
Manyakitty
@catclub: how cool!
worn
Once on a lark I traveled to Puerto Peñasco with a friend who was living just outside of Flagstaff. This would have been the summer of 1993, the season I abandoned Georgia.
And I can say without reservation that it was the worst beach I have ever been to. The wind was whipping rather fiercely that day.
My friend & I put down our towels but the on the shore the wind was such that it felt like being in a mini sandblaster if you tried to stay put. For the walk to the water, much care was required to not step on a fair amount of broken bottle glass mixed among the shifting sands. Being in the water was no better; huge wind-driven waves that would just continually knock you down. And then upon our return, our towels were almost completely covered in sand.
Our ocean* adventure was a short and unpleasant one as a result, one which quickly segued into cereveza consumption in a beachside bodega. With the hindsight of years, I am now left wondering if the winds were just especially terrible that day. Perhaps in general Puerto Peñasco isn’t as bad as I remember, but I’ll let someone else do the investigation.
*Yes, yes, I know…
JAFD
Lukeville – named for WW I flying ace Frank Luke?
Bored and curious this evening..
Whole-wheat oatmeal raisin challah in bread machine, waiting for that to warm place up.
Manyakitty
@JAFD: that sounds great!
AlaskaReader
@eclare: thx,
…considering the origin, …it’s no wonder it’s witless on it’s face,
…and it’s not any wonder I’d erased it from memory.
AlaskaReader
@Manyakitty: How cool is it when it does nothing to support the notion that the tide change will result in a measurable 20 foot range?
The tide change there may look impressive at first glance but that is more due to the fact that the area is dominated by the characteristic of a shallow continental shelf, it ‘appears’ as though the tide goes out a long ways, but the rise and fall of the tide is very modest, nowhere near 20 feet.
AlaskaReader
I live in a place where the tide regularly rises and falls over 30 feet by a simple vertical measure.
Here, you can tie up to a dock step off the boat and come back 6 hours later where, if you tried to step back on the boat from the dock you would fall 30 feet to the deck below.
The tide does not do that in the Gulf of Mexico. Not even wave swell assisted tides. Not even wave swell assisted tides traveling up estuaries.
If one wishes to experience tides of 20 feet or more, Rocky Point is not the destination you want.