There is a store in Rocky Point on Blvd. Kino, where you can find anything you need for boating and fishing, even outboard motors! This store, though, is not limited to boating and fishing items. This store is more like the old fashioned hardware stores from years ago in small towns. The stores that carried everything from soup to nuts or, in this case, from 4 wheel 250 cc ATV’s to cake decorating kits. There is so much packed into Peñasco Marine that, I bet, the owners Patricia and Ruben are the only ones that know exactly what they have there. I think that if they took everything, every single item, out of that store, then tried to put it all back…that there’s no way it would all fit again. This place is something you have to see to believe.
Just to give you an example, my husband Tom O’Hare (R.I.P.), our beloved publisher, lost his pocket knife a few years ago. So, being the good little wife that I am, I decided to buy him one for Father’s Day. I figured I’d go up to the border to the duty free store in Lukeville (Gringo Pass) and pick one up for him. Then, one day, I was driving west on Calle 13 (Miguel Hidalgo) coming from taking Alicia to her house. I was coming up to Blvd Kino where the stop sign is, just south of La Curva Restaurant, and I remembered what Tom had told me about Peñasco Marine having “everything”. From the outside it really doesn’t look like the kind of store that a girl would want to shop in, if you know what I mean. But, they have been an advertiser with us since the early 90’s, and Tom has shopped there many times, but not me. So…I pulled over by the side of the building and parked. I went in and I didn’t even have to ask if they sold pocket knives, or where they were, because right in front of me was a case with hundreds of knives. There where big knives, little knives, yellow, red, blue, camouflage, wood handle, black, white, silver and even a little tiny pink Swiss Army knife! NO, I didn’t buy Tom the pink one, but I did get him a wee little wood one and a medium sized, really nice one, with a bone handle.
Another example of what they have, that you would never expect in a million years that they would have, is what we call a disco. A disco is a cooker on a metal, usually four legged stand. The disco has a gas burner and huge metal plate on top to cook in, kind of like a big portable gas wok. We always used to use ours, until it was “borrowed” by the last person and we no longer have it, anyway, we used it for our weekly fish fry. Heat it up, put in the oil, heat it more and throw in the fish fillets. Yum! Right by the front door of Peñasco Marine, next to the ATV, there sits a disco. How many times over the years have we talked about our disco, and wondered out loud where in the world we would ever find another one. In a boat shop? A Yamaha outboard motor dealer? Nah, I don’t think so. Yeah, guess again. What about the time we went to use the jet ski and the battery was dead. Well it wasn’t a jet ski, it was a Sea Doo wave runner, but the battery was dead anyway. Nobody around here has a Sea Doo battery, of course not. Or spark plus for my quad. Our regular mechanic told us to pick some up in the States and when we brought them down here to Rocky Point, then he could fix my bike. Until then, I would have to leave it in the garage. Then there was the portable flood light that Tom needed out at the Ranchito. The one I picked up for him at the Love’s in Gila Bend, only to get it down here to Mexico and discover it would not keep a charge. Well, guess what? All of these things are stocked at Peñasco Marine.
I’m sure the inventory changes weekly, if not daily but some of the things I saw in that store besides the 250 cc ATV, the disco cooker, the motorcycle and jet ski batteries and the flood light, were, BB guns including rifles and hand guns, BB ammo, lead pellets, harpoons, fishing rods and reels, fish hooks, rope, life vests, coolers, water containers, YAMAHA motors, buoy markers, bait buckets, spring scales, very real looking squiggly worms and things, rope floats, octopus hooks, Bass kits, Halibut leaders, floating fish-n-lite, knife and scissors sharpener, fishing line, fas-snaps, sea rigs, uspike rod holders, flashlights, fins, masks, snorkels, goggles, a smiley face sun ring and a Dora the Explorer floating combo. In the glass case, with a hundred different knives, were BBQ forks, pie servers, spatulas, melon ball scoopers, apple corers, heavy duty knife sharpeners and bottle openers. I’m not done yet. There’s more. Peñasco Marine also carries pepper spray, platform scales, Daisy air rifles, hiking boots and mummy sleeping bags, gas cans, Desert Patrol Carriers and Bianchi Accu Mold gun holsters, CO2 pistols, spear guns, fishing weights (a whole slew of them), regulators, compasses and even some really cool sunglasses.
It all didn’t start out like this. Patricia Margarita Heredia Lugo and her husband Ruben Gerardo Encinas opened their doors in 1987 as an engine distributor for “Mariner”. I think they were known, back then, as Proveedora Peñasco. They sold fishing rods and reels, just about everything for sport fishing and commercial fishing. Then after they had been in business about 10 years, they got the opportunity to sell YAMAHA motors, which they still do to this day, as you can see, the logo is always freshly painted on the front of their building, the YAMAHA logo. Another name brand product they are heavy into is Victorinox pocket knives. You may, or may not know that this is the real name of what we call the Swiss Army knife. They carry a whole slew of knives. If you are looking for a knife, any knife, if Peñasco Marine doesn’t have it, then you don’t need it. As a matter of fact if you are looking for ANYTHING AT ALL, here in Rocky Point, just go ahead and go to see Patricia and Ruben first. Ask them if they have what you are looking for before you traipse all over town. I bet you will be surprised. If the owners Patricia and Ruben are away buying more stock, their number one employee, Beatriz Castro will be happy to help you. They are open 7 days. Monday thru Saturday 9 AM to 7 PM and Sunday 10 AM to 2 PM. If you want to ask about something over the phone, dial 383-3700, here in Rocky Point, or (011-52-638) 383-3700 from the US.