If you’ve ever cruised the western shores of North America, no doubt you’ve ventured down the Mexican coast. Trouble is, there aren’t any service yards that far south to take care of your charge should something go wrong.
Well, now there is. Gran Peninsula Yacht Center, located about 60 miles south of San Diego in Ensenada, Mexico, has been quietly servicing superyachts well into the 200-foot range for the past two years.
The 13-acre facility has work berths for four 260-footers and several more for yachts from about 120 feet on up. The Fernandez family, which runs the yard, says it’s earned a reputation for good fiberglass work, metal work, and painting, due to the fact that since 1987 they’ve also been running a yard for yachts to 80 feet in Ensenada called Baja Naval. While the Fernandezes either can’t or won’t reveal the names of all of the vessels that have been hauled out so far by Gran Peninsula’s 2,500-ton-capacity Syncrolift, the team says they include a 201-foot Sparkman & Stephens design, Feadships of 170 and 139 feet, and 130-foot Christensen. (That’s the 125-foot Bellissimo in the photo below.) But management can point to specific yachts it’s assisted with dockage, fueling, clearance documentation, and small in-the-water jobs: Ronin, Reverie, Helios, Sunrise, and Montigne.
Even with its own craftsmen on site, Gran Peninsula welcomes yacht owners and crew to bring their own experts. “Today’s luxury vessels are too complex for any one yard to claim it can do it all,” says Tomas Fernandez, Gran Peninsula’s director. “We will do everything we can to work with captains and owners to ensure that these specialists can do their work as efficiently as possible.” The yard can arrange for local ABS and Lloyds inspectors, too.
Fernandez says another big plus for the facility is its location. It’s a five-minute walk from great restaurants, shops, and pubs, for example; “This way the crew can come and go as individuals, they don’t have to organize themselves into a unit and hire a rental car every time someone wants to go for ice cream,” he explains. (If you’ve ever been to some of the biggest service facilities currently hauling megayachts, you’ll recall that they’re often in industrial areas and not exactly conducive to going out, particularly at night, to relax.) Besides the immediate local scene, Gran Peninsula is a tender ride away from Islas de Todos Santos, a famous surfing spot, and the waters off Ensenada teem with fish. And there are more than a dozen wineries in the Guadalupe Valley, a short car ride away. Gran Peninsula’s concierge service can arrange tours or transportation to any of these spots–even San Diego.
Just make sure that if you go, you or your crew don’t have too much fun–you’ll have to take your yacht back at some point, after all…
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