Domes and Margarita Decks | San Carlos | Mexico

 

Domes of all types are seen on many houses in San Carlos.

 

 

They come in many colors, shapes and sizes.  Many of them have windows that let light into the house below.  Some are solid, with no windows, as shown below. 

 

This house is under construction.

 

 

 

 

They even appear on commercial buildings.

 

 

Another thing I love are Margarita Decks, usually built on top of a house.  Most of them have some type of shade, palapa type as shown below or just an aluminum cover.  Being above the buildings means that you'll get more of a breeze than you'd get in a yard.  As a bonus, sometimes they're close enough to the water to get a view of the Sea of Cortez.

 

 

 

 

And another sunset in San Carlos!  They are quite good here.

 

 

Waterfronts in San Carlos | Mexico

I love the sand ripples from tides and other motions of the water.

Sandbars are great places for seagulls to rest.  A friend and I went to visit the shore one day at low tide, it's when you find all sorts of interesting things.  I don't know for sure, but I believe the object below is a type of nudibranch, a creature somewhat like a snail that is not enclosed in a shell.  They swim by undulating their body.  When I scuba diving years ago, I would see them swimming freely.  Some of these are very colorful, but not this one, unless he changes color once he gets back in the water.  On the left, you can see little stalks, which might contain his eyes, or feelers.

  

The next photo shows something I had not noticed before.  They look like plants that are embedded in the sand, but throughout their stems, they have bits of shells that are stuck to them.  This one shows clearly the shells that are attached.  If anyone knows what these are - please let me know!

Seaweed is one of the items that makes the low tide smell. 

This little track on the sand was made from some sea creature that was dragging a shell.

In another area on a different day, we walked near the bay where boats anchor.  Unfortunately, there are storms in the summer, and this was one of the victims.

There were 3 sailboats beached and abandoned and they have been stripped since.  I find it very sad, since I believe that they were homes for sailors.

This shows part of the anchorage, and the entrance to the marina in the middle.

Everyone loves lobster, we found lots of them with their tails gone.  Of course, that's the edible part.  From what I could tell, they were small and would have been illegal to take in Florida where I used to live.  Obviously, someone had a feast, or filled their freezer, since there were dozens of them.  I guess it's hard to tell them from the rocks unless you know what to look for.

This heron was looking for a meal.

There were some caves up on a steep hill and one of them had some type of brick enclosure.  There's no way to tell how old it was, or what they wanted to use it for, but it was interesting.

The Estuary | Estero el Soldado | San Carlos, Mexico

Last year when I came down to San Carlos, they had this sign up - they were a little later getting it up for this year, but I still like it.

 

This is the estuary in San Carlos, a mangrove-lined lagoon just outside of town. 

As you walk along and get closer to the Sea of Cortez, you'll see sandbars where the sea water comes in.

 

Across the water, you can see this building, which has not been used lately.

 

 

 

This is a sanctuary, so the birds are protected, pelicans are common.

 

 

I love the ripples in the sand made by the water action.

The Tetakawi is visible from here.

 

 

As I walk back to civilization, I find another path to the water and a small rock formation out on the Sea.

 

 

This was a great sunset - not necessarily the same day I walked the Estuary, but definitely a good one.

 

Busy in San Carlos | Sonora | Mexico

 

I have been busy since my last post, there is so much to do here.  Super moon as seen in San Carlos above, about a week ago.  I'm not sure it looked any larger to me.

 

 

Really rough living here......  This was taken last weekend at the beach.  A friend and I had snacks and were listening to live music.  Like I said, really rough living!  They have tables under the little palapas, redone since the hurricane damaged most of them a few months ago.  The photo below shows the inside, looking straight up, they look quite sturdy. 

 

My friend has a dog and I was babysitting the furry guy below, so we took them to the beach.  He doesn't get out to the beach much since he doesn't even like to get in the car with his owner.  He got his feet wet and had an interesting change of scenery.  And he was totally exhausted when he got home!

 

San Carlos is all about musical entertainment, so Mark Mulligan organized a concert with the Foresteros band from Hermosillo, a large city about 2 hours from here.  Everyone had a great time last year at their concerts, and we had a great time again this week - the Foresteros rock!  Mark plays here most weeks and is quite popular in this area, as well as in the States.  He's the only one without long pants on.

 

We had another clean-up-the-beach this week and dispatched a 2600 pound load to the dump.  This area looks much nicer, but still needs some detail work.  The Sea of Cortez (aka Gulf of California) looks very inviting, but the nights are turning cooler in this area and the water will soon be too cold to swim in.  For me anyway!