Bahia Salinas, Isla Carmen

2/28/20

At the north end of Isla del Carmen in the Sea of Cortez is Bahia Salinas with its huge salt deposits. The island is now a protected area for the conservation of wildlife. Jesuit missionaries discovered the salt after they arrived in the Loreto area around 1698. The salt flats were mined by the Santa Fe Railroad and then the Pacific Salt Co. Limited of London. Eventually it was taken over by Pacific Salinas. There were houses for the salt mine staff, a school, a medical clinic, the chapel, cemetery, sports fields, workshops, warehouses, fuel and oil tanks, and a bank. The salt plant closed permanently in 1984

When we arrived on the beach in our dinghy we were met by a friendly caretaker who is one of the only inhabitants of the bay. Our first stop was the Chapel of Our Lady of Carmen, a beautiful little chapel kept in pristine condition and looking as if the congregation may have just left. We then walked down an old railway embankment to the flats. Along the way were abandoned rail carts and rusting machinery

With the exception of a few buildings for some type of very rustic eco-resort, the buildings are slowly eroding. We walked through buidlings and rooms open to the sky with old children’s toys and dishes, a handcarved wooden canoe, the remains of an office with an old fashioned “rolodex” with employee information, paystubs, old typewriters, buildings gone with beautiful tile floors left open to the sky….We spent hours exploring, feeling like we were stepping into a Pompeii-like world still breathing.