Travel & Explore - Rocky Point Awash in Good Travel Deals - Sunday, Feb 1, 2009 By: Nancy Puffer.

Getting a good, cut-rate deal has long been a selling point in the beachside town of Puerto Peñasco, Mexico, also known as Rocky Point. From waterfront condos to pottery and shrimp, lower prices draw people from the states looking to get more bang from their budget. Right now, good deals abound for those who want a more value for their vacation dollars.

“Now with the lowering of gas prices to some of the lowest in years, the lower costs of rentals in Rocky Point, it is the best time in the past 4 years for travel deals in Rocky Point,” explains Kurt Geisler, Managing Partner for Castaways Property Management and Vacation Rentals, which provides home management services and vacation rental accommodations for visitors to Puerto Peñasco.

“The most important factor affecting the market is the current state of the U.S. economy. Arizona residents are the number one tourists for Rocky Point and not only were they affected by the slowing economy but when the gas peaked at $4.50 per gallon the cost of travel to Rocky Point was greatly increased. Another factor affecting the resorts in Rocky Point is a surplus of available rental properties. In the past 3 years the amount of available rental condos has doubled. This is affecting rental rates as the competition for the rental customer has become more aggressive.” By tossing in an extra night or two for the same price, or lowering the overall daily rate, vacation rental companies are hoping to entice more tourists back to the beach. Despite the sagging U.S. economy, some Rocky Point area reservation companies believe that the area is currently in the perfect position to make a comeback.

“ The travel industry as a whole has seen a sharp decline in overall travel spending ; but a particularly interesting statistic is that travel to destinations within 200-300 miles from home has been on the increase and will continue to do well into 2009,” predicts Jason Evjen, owner of Sonorangetaways.com, an online travel agency for the Rocky Point area. “This means that a growing number of Arizona travelers will continue to head down to Rocky Point given the fact of excessive airfare pricing and the continued lowering of gas prices. Families that would normally spend several days at other popular Mexican beach destinations and spend way more just to get there are now realizing the affordability that Rocky Point has to offer.” Other factors that could bring more visitors include the recent opening of the new intercoastal highway that provides a shorter, more direct route for travelers from places like California and Mexicali, as well as the future opening of a new international airport terminal and cruise ship port, Geisler said. When seeking rental deals, Evjen explains that many vacation condos and homes available for rent are privately owned, but rented through a handful of management companies in the Rocky Point area, which set their own rates and policies. Geisler said almost every resort is offering some sort of deal right now.

“Prices have been lowered at most resorts and special deals are being given including, stay for three nights and pay for two, stay for seven and pay for five. We offer a last minute booking discount that will give an additional 15% off the already low booking rates. Just about everywhere you call will negotiate a better rate for your stay,” Geisler said. Evjen adds that many Rocky Point resorts offer some type of discount year round, and even without the added value it would still be cheaper than, say, a week in San Diego.

“Rates for many of the resorts in 2009 will not be going up; in fact they will be discounting based on the amount of inventory that is available in the upcoming months,” said Evjen. “For example, a beachfront 2-bedroom condo rental in San Diego would run a standard family of four about $2,500.00 for a 7 night stay, and most likely it would be an older home without any resort amenities, (such as) room service, pools, bars, etcetera. A 7-night stay in a 2-bedroom luxury condo resort for a family of four in Rocky Point can cost you as low as $1,000.00.

“ To find deals such as these, travelers can peruse the websites of Rocky Point vacation rental companies and see what they have to offer. Renters can also call or email the companies and tell them what their budget is and ask what is available for that price. Many condo complexes and rental companies post huge signs advertising that walk-ins are welcome, although advanced reservations are highly recommended, especially during the upcoming peak travel periods. Geisler said deals can be found even for the fast approaching spring break. “March is always extremely busy with all of the schools letting out for Spring Break. There will still be great prices available during this period. We do not expect the prices to begin to climb until next season so this whole year should be a bargainer’s paradise,” he said.

PASSPORTS NEEDED NOW !!!

AS of JUNE 2009 it is required to have a passport for land crossings into Mexico. Spread the word!

Rocky Point goes upscale by Christopher Reynolds - Apr. 4, 2008 06:52 PM Los Angeles Times PUERTO PEÑASCO, Sonora - Once, it was enough to be Arizona's beach, a nice wide patch of south-of-the-border shoreline where college kids could camp out and drink too much. But now, Puerto Peñasco wants to be more. In less than a decade, more than three dozen condo towers have risen in the Sandy Beach area, surrounded by ever-widening waves of upscale vacation homes. "Sandy Beach is like Maui. This is the happening spot," said condo-sales specialist Mary Snyder as we stood in a model unit. "Out by the Mayan" - half an hour south - "is like Kauai." Because this is the desert and you can't surf here, Snyder's Hawaiian analogy is imperfect. But it tells you something about Peñasco's ambitions. Puerto Peñasco (also known as Rocky Point) has been growing like a four-star weed, and it wants to steal visitors from Baja California. An airport big enough to accommodate jets is supposed to make its debut by summer 2009. A highway to the north is due to open later this year. One day, I found myself squinting at the sea from a 10th-floor unit in the Las Palomas development, looking out a window filled with nothing but sky and sea. Far below, a lone couple strolled the chilly beach. This lavishly furnished unit, with three bedrooms, a kitchen and 1,600 square feet of patio space, rents for $685 to $990 nightly. Just a mile or two up the coast lies the Reef, a beachfront restaurant, bar, RV park and convenience store that stands perfectly as a symbol of the older, grittier Peñasco. It's $5 a night to camp, the floor of the bar is concrete and the restaurant's cuisine, according to its local advertising, is "gormet." For people who would rather skip 21st-century civilization and commune instead with the natural landscape, there are the craters and lava fields of El Pinacate Biosphere Reserve, 32 miles north. There's a kayak-rental operation by the Old Port, and San Jorge Island, 27 miles away by boat, that offers birding and snorkeling in the company of sea lions. The Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans, a local environmental group, organizes other day trips as well. The area's year-round population, growing fast, is about 60,000, most of whom live on the dirt streets set back from the beachfront resort zone. To the north is Cholla Bay, where the first neighborhood of American vacation rentals started taking shape more than a decade ago. To the south is Las Conchas, a newer enclave of vacation homes, many still under construction. The Peñasco area has two 18-hole golf courses, both completed in 2006. There are ATV and water-sports rentals, sunset cruises and plenty of bars, at least four of them promising topless showgirls. Out on the water on the evening of my arrival, a lonely shrimp boat puttered along. The mountains of Baja California were just visible on the horizon. The beach, vast and litter-free, was nearly empty, amid gusty winds and 65-degree temperatures, routine for January. And as I watched, the beach grew: The tide was going out on a full-moon evening, and the difference between high and low tide can be a quarter-mile. If you keep your eyes on the sea and sky, you can imagine Peñasco's days as a fishing camp in the 1920s and its emergence as a fishing destination and party place after the paved road to Arizona went through in the 1940s. These days, it's illegal to take the storied totuava, an endangered fish that was plentiful in the 1950s and '60s. But the catch still includes plenty of big fish: bass, corvina, grouper, pompano, sierra and yellowtail from boats, triggerfish from the shore. Every spring, visitors, including thousands of hard-drinking college spring-breakers, come flooding in. In fact, the spring-breakers basically own the month of March. Throughout the rest of spring, the hot summer and fall, it's the Arizonans who keep Peñasco busy. The tourism office counts more than 70 restaurants in Puerto Peñasco, along with 14 RV and camping facilities (1,435 spaces) and dozens of hotels, motels and condo developments, with perhaps 5,000 rooms. Although most of the condo buildings are along Sandy Beach, some of the fanciest lodgings are half an hour south at the 3-year-old Mayan Palace, which combines time-share units with short-term rentals, at $395 a night and up. I stayed, with mixed results, at the Peñasco del Sol Hotel. It dates to the early 1990s, when it was built near the Old Port area under the name Plaza las Glorias. And there's another reason the Peñasco del Sol stands out. Puerto Peñasco has only a handful of substantial hotels. Since the boom began, the focus has been on vacation condos, which give developers a quicker payoff and visitors a chance to own a piece of the place. Nearly all the condo projects cater to short-term guests, too, with units that rent on a short-term basis. Some even offer room service. These projects make an amazing spectacle. Las Palomas, Bella Sirena, Sonoran Spa, Sonoran Sea, Sonoran Sun and Puerta Privada condo resorts have risen in the past five years, outfitted with elaborate water features. Las Palomas has two upscale restaurants open, and an additional 800 condos are scheduled to open in the next year or two. By day, I walked Sandy Beach and toured condos. I roamed up the coast toward El Pinacate and down the coast to the Mayan Palace, which neighbors the Mayan Lakes golf course (designed by Jack Nicklaus). At the Mayan's casual poolside Balche snack bar I had an excellent lunch of flank steak and admired the savvy of Mayan's management. Recognizing the cool winds of winter, spring and fall, they shrewdly built an indoor pool. I strolled around the Old Port area, which features handsome steps and a promenade near a collection of restaurants and curio shops and a couple of old-fashioned hotels. The next night, I drove up Puerto Peñasco's biggest hill to catch the commanding sunset views from a pair of restaurants. At La Casa del Capitan, you get Mexican dishes, mariachi music and general festivity amid hues of orange and yellow. Trying to quantify Puerto Peñasco in 2008 is like carving letters in the sand at low tide. The sand and sea will be there, but when it comes to the man-made landscape, the surge keeps changing things.