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.

Andale II | Touring San Carlos Waterfront | Mexico

This past week, I was fortunate to go on a tour by boat to see some of the San Carlos scenery from a different perspective.  The tour was on Andale II, at the marina.

Most of my photos of this area so far have been from land.  I loved getting a different viewpoint.

 

The anchorage looked much larger and I had never seen the actual harbor entrance.

 

I was able to see some of the neighborhoods I have driven through, certainly different from being on land.

There are many rock islands out there, some with caves or small passages through them.

 

 

The white coloring on this rock island looks like it could be a dusting of snow - but it's guano, also known as bird droppings.  Yes, it does smell a bit if you're downwind of these rocks.

This is part of a low-lying island called Honeymoon Island, and was inhabited by seabirds.

One of the seabirds I really like is the frigate, and I got to see one on the trip.

The highlight of the tour was definitely the dolphins.  Our captain went to an area where it seems that the dolphins hang out.  If the boat is going at a certain speed, they swim in the bow waves very close to the boat.  I have always been amazed that they can coordinate their speed with a boat - you never hear of a dolphin being hit by a boat. 

 

This photo was taken just as this dolphin surfaced and blew out excess water, creating a small rainbow.

 

 

 

This one was swimming on his back - sometimes they will be swimming along and turn their body so that they can look at the people on the boat.

All too soon, we had to go back to the harbor.  Thanks to Andale II as well as the Captain and Crew for a fun trip!