Alamo Sea

The Alamo Sea is a salt lake and largest body of water of Blaine County and southern San Andreas, which appears in Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. The lake is known as the "Jewel of San Andreas" and has an official website, visitthealamosea.com. The lake has two connections to the Pacific Ocean: the Zancudo River, which runs through Lago Zancudo, and Cassidy Creek, which runs through Raton Canyon. The settlements of Galilee, Grapeseed, Sandy Shores and Stab City can all be found around the lake while Mount Chiliad (to the north), the Grand Senora Desert (to the south), and Mount Josiah and Raton Canyon (to the west) are also surround the lake.

Description

The Alamo Sea is a highly polluted lake with chemicals, botulism poison, pesticides and various bits of debris contaminating the lake resulting in an sulphur aroma and the water being a chocolate brown colour. Despite this there remain animals living in and around the lake. The fish living in the lake suffer from high blood pressure and are known to jump out the lake, resulting in dead fish being visible on the surrounding beach and a white fishbone layer above the natural sand. The animals living around the lake have also evolved to suit the changing environment with known species including 'the Greater Spotted Three-faced Pelican, the Featherless WaterFowl and desert rats the size of pitbull terriers'. Despite this, the player (as Franklin Clinton, Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips or the protagonist of GTA Online) can swim in the water without harming the health of the character.

Usage

The Alamo Sea is used by some for fishing, however, due to the high levels of pollution this yields limited results, with water sports also likely to take place on the lake. Local residents, in particular from Sandy Shores and Grapeseed, use the area to relax by drinking alcohol and/or using methamphetamine. The methamphetamine is supplied by the various gangs based around the Alamo Sea, which includes Trevor Philips Industries, The Lost Brotherhood and the O'Neil Brothers as well as other smaller operations and the Los Varrios Aztecas who moved their main operations to the Alamo Sea area in 2013 having largely been pushed out of Los Santos by the Los Santos Vagos. The drug industry has resulted in a large number of violent incidents and a large number of local people dying resulting in some calls for Merryweather Security Consulting to start operating in the area.

Two airfields, Sandy Shores Airfield and McKenzie Airfield, are both located near the Alamo Sea, which is used to smuggle weapons to Oscar Guzman and the Guzman Cartel on their way to Mexico. Some locals, in particular Joe and Josef, also apprehend people they believe to be illegal immigrants before taking them to a local police station for immigration checks. Despite these problems, the lake is still marketed as a tourist attraction with a number of Vinewood professionals and hipsters primarily from Mirror Park visiting the area as a getaway from life in Los Santos although the locals tend to dislike their arrival. Some begin using methamphetamine supplied by the local gangs while others go thrill-seeking in the surrounding area such as animator Jeff Osterman who tells Anna Foster of the Los Santos Meteor: "You see all sorts of crazy stuff out here... These people are so primal, it's really fun to see them in their habitat."

The Alamo Sea, however, remains a dangerous place for tourists with the violence between rival drug dealers and weapons smugglers, the highly polluted lake and the threat of violence from locals. The visitthealamosea.com website confirms reports of some tourists being kidnapped by locals, held hostage for ten years before their corpses are left at the side of the road after their 'asshole has prolapsed beyond usability'.

Weather

The weather at the Alamo Sea is generally very hot and humid with an average three-digit temperature in Fahrenheit (listed as 125 degrees Fahrenheit on visitthealamosea.com website. The area is also known to suffer from earthquakes with the frequency described as 'moderate to severe'.

Trivia

• The Alamo Sea may be based on the Salton Sea. It may also be named after the Battle of the Alamo.
• There is a real-life town in California called Alamo.