Then: Heron Lake marina in mid-April 2005, New Mexico Sailing Club

By mid-April of 2005, Heron Lake was still about three feet below the level of the marina. In a week it would touch the marina, starting a new chapter in the fight to revive it and the New Mexico Sailing Club.

Marina shelter (bottom left) is used during happier times for cookouts and social gatherings.

View is to west, toward main body of Heron Lake. Willow Creek enters from top right. Boat ramp is about 900 feet to the left (south).

B-C connecting walkway bent because of grounding over a small ridge.

Uneveness of the bottom caused flexing and some damage to delicate substructures, including sheared connectors, bolts pulled through steel webbing, and reinforcing structures swallowed down into the silt.









End of C south looking toward Willow Creek channel.

Repeated drying and partial re-filling of Willow Creek cove buried some of the trusses, especially the west end of A south, deep under the silt. Other trusses were partially bent or deformed, making them very difficult to re-attach to the floating part of the marina. Some replacement parts such as truss braces had to be fabricated to replace damaged or missing parts. The work would not have gotten very far without the help of some dedicated volunteers, including our diver, Ray.

The once-desolate scene has since become lively as the New Mexico Sailing Club has re-opened its marina, which in July and August of 2005 was floating in 27 to 28 feet of water.