Salinas and Arroyo Blanco on Isla del Carmen

Isla del Carmen is a beautiful island that is shaped like a seahorse, if you have a chance to look down from your jet as you fly over. A large flat area on the eastern end was once a sea floor. This low area was later uplifted and then often covered by sea water that evaporated. In time, a large deposit of salt accumulated and became a valuable resource. In 1697 Jesuit missionaries aboard a boat called the San Jose pulled into the adjacent bay for repairs and discovered the 2-mile-long and ½-mile-wide salt pan. From then until 1986 people have been extracting salt from this area. The Russians sailed here once every 3 years during the time of the Alaskan sea otter trade and used the salt for curing pelts. In 1867 it was sold to the California, Oregon and Mexico Steamship Company that was associated with the Sante Fe Railroad. They put in 1/3 of a mile track that had cars pulled by mules and later a steam locomotive with 40 cars. Competition from other suppliers of salt finally stopped the extraction of this important evaporite. The present owners have introduced desert bighorn sheep and charge sportsman to hunt them.

We spent most of the morning exploring and photographing this unusual place. For many years there were eighty to one hundred families. The mine managers were well liked by the residents. Workers were expected to fill 300 sacks of salt per day per person. Each sac weighed 132 pounds. Even today one can see a church, school, living quarters, an office and many storage buildings. The people baked their own lime to make cement for building projects. We passed a fascinating accumulation of rusting steel items full of the skeletons that helped tell the story of this odd place.

We also had a chance to snorkel on a shipwreck. It was a tuna fishing boat about 100 feet long. We anchored a Zodiac near it and dropped into the water. It was such a contrast to peer through a hole in the smashed, contorted and decaying steel, and into the beautiful and graceful world of tropical fish.

Arroyo Blanco is a small canyon cut through the beige-colored sediments of a stranded sea floor. This is a great place to kayak, because there are numerous little bays and an interesting coastline. Sitting on the beach or tossing a football about were also popular activities. The wind continued to build, and the chop of waves on the shoreline slowly convinced many that relaxing time on the ship was another valid use of vacation time.

As dusk set in, the western sky lured us to the decks. The best part of the sunset was a beautiful orange band of light that silhouetted the ragged peaks of the Sierra de la Giganta and contrasted with the dark gray, clouds above.