Presa Sanalona

Presa Sanalona holds back the Tamazula River about 24 km east of Culiacán, among low hills, beside the village that gives it its name. It was the first dam ever built in Sinaloa. It started operating on January 1, 1948, and the irrigation water it sent down the Culiacán valley set off the farm boom that made the state capital what it is. It is now the sixth-largest dam in Sinaloa, stores roughly 673 million cubic meters and irrigates up to 60,000 hectares.

The structure is an earth and rockfill embankment: an impervious core of gravel and clay, sand and gravel shoulders, and a one-meter facing of hand-placed quarry stone on the upstream side. A curved, free-crest spillway almost 219 m long sits on the right bank and can release 6,300 cubic meters per second, while two intake tunnels run through the left bank. A 14-megawatt hydroelectric plant was added on May 8, 1963.

For families from central Sinaloa it is an easy weekend escape. Local boatmen take visitors around the reservoir, anglers go after largemouth bass, tilapia and catfish, and people paddle canoes or hike the surrounding hills; fishing tournaments and regattas have been held here, and Wikivoyage mentions camping too. The gazebo overlooking the water is the classic photo stop. Close to the dam, the Parque Ecoturístico de Sanalona has grills and palm-roofed shelters for picnics. Small restaurants serve breakfast and lunch built around fish and shellfish from the reservoir, and stalls along the shore sell grilled corn, esquites, fresh coconuts, raspados and pan de mujer, a sweet local bread.

Water levels swing widely with the rains: in June 2024, after a long drought, the reservoir stood at just 6 percent of capacity. It looks its best, and the boat trips are at their most scenic, after a good rainy season.