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Water Taxi


mexart

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Sounds like it would be a neat idea but with the changes in lake level I don't think it would be feasible. Right now the lake is dropping in depth and being that the lake is rather shallow it doesn't take much for the shore line to recede from day to day. You would need a movable dock, especially in Ajijic where the pier isn't suitable for launches.

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For a while we had a water taxi crossing to the south shore from the Ajijic pier.  It was a very cool ride but they had serious problems with the dropping water level on this side where the lake bottom is more flat and the water is shallow.  It sure was fun while it lasted.

 

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Hovercrafts seem to work well. Several years ago a Japanese (rumored)  company brought a couple here and used them to ferry their people across the lake from the Montecarlo hotel and back for a month or so. They were looking at investing across the lake and it saved a couple of hours a day.

The shallowness of the lake is a problem with getting boats in to the shore especially on Chapala side. Remember several years ago they used buses to drive passangers from the Chapala Pier out to where the boats were. The land out from the pier looked like a desert out about a mile. Then later a Business man tried to dredge a deeper docking area and canal out into deep water and the conservation or agua comission stopped him and eventually all his equipment was hauled off. The said that he didn't have the right permits and those permits couldn't be had. At lease not at the "price" he could afford to pay. \

Look at the old photos for sale at the Chapala Malacon on weekends at the old 40=50' schooners and sloops that carried commercial goods to villages around the lake for a hudred years or so.

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50 minutes ago, Aquaponicsman said:

a bus from Ajijic to Chapala is only like 17 pesos, I think.

 

 

No, not so much as that!  8 pesos for the smaller buses and 9 for the large buses.

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Years ago there was no road between Chapala and Ajijic.  One of the old times told me it was very convenient because everyone from Hollywood brought their lover here.  The deal was that someone would call and warn the people that their spouse was on the way and no one got caught.

I don't know when the road actually went in

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Ah, those were the old days--if there ARE any Hollywood lovers here now, they have escaped my notice, but please advise!!! (--Signed, Ever Hopeful!) ALAS--Remember when Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton shacked up in PV? What can compare to that? SIGH!--it is just not as much fun here as it used to be, she said enigmatically!

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There was a road between Chapala and Ajijic but it was not passable during the rainy season hence the water taxis..

Yes water taxis would be nice if they did not use overcraft that are very noisy.. Actually a quiet waterfront  beat busy traffic on the lake as well as busy traffic on the carretera... the day of people sailing or rowing quietly are over..

The old road was Ocampo /  Camino Real...

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2 hours ago, mexart said:

But aren't they terribly noisy?

Depending on the size and power source of the hovercraft they can be noisy, but generally they are still much quieter than a rear prop swamp buggy. The really big ones are surprisingly quiet, as are the one-man small ones. It's much the same with portable generators - there can be a vast difference in the noise produced between the cheap ones to the more expensive ones.

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They were really fun to ride if you had sound deadening headphones. But boy did we get a lot of ugly looks and hand signals from those living on shore who hated this terribly loud noise. Although I had a great time, I sure felt sorry for those on the shore who had to listen to these terribly loud airboats.

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The fisherman sank the last swamp boat as it was to noisy a ten years ago. in the middle of the night

whoever does the hovercraft better make you hire local fishermen to work for you

the port captain has the history about that.

I have a friend who gave me a ride a two person hovercraft on the lake.

it has several patches form hitting obstacles in the lake

not a good idea lake to shallow, still many fences under water with barbed wire

 

 

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