November 30 - Where is Agustin? Uncanny coincidences!

I know - you ask who is Agustin?  Agustin is "the guy" who is taking us out deep sea fishing Thursday.  I asked to see the seats in the boat to make sure they had backs and the lady in the office here at the RV park said Agustin would be at the Pelicanos restaurant on the beach in Rincon in 20 minutes.  So we went there.  No Agustin.  I went to several other spots he "might be".  Anyway I ended up at the boat rental at the Decameron where a young man asked what I wanted Agustin for.  I explained.  He (Curro) said "we own all the boats, we are the commercial fishermen, Agustin is a guide who gets the boat from us.  You should come to us first, but this time go with Agustin."
If only I could find him I said.  Curro said he would phone a friend of Agustin.  So he phones, says Nancy from La Penita is looking for Agustin and then he says "this guy says he knows you" and hands me the phone.   I can't hear the guy clearly and I say I don't remember.  Curro takes the phone back and just then I remember - it is Hector from the fish market in La Penita!

But he had already hung up.  Curro tries to phone him back but it is busy (probably calling Agustin).  Curro says Hector said he would tell Agustin I am waiting at the Pelicanos.  Curro and I talked about commercial fishing and he made sure I put his phone number in my cell to call when I need a boat again.  Small world, too weird.  At the restaurant a lady came up to me and said Agustin would be there in 15 to 20 minutes.  We waited 25 and left.

This least tern waited with me

 Later the girl from our park who booked him said he would come to the park in a taxi and get me to go see the boat but I said that was unnecessary.  She then said he would send her a photo on her phone and I said that would be great.  Hope he is timely on Thursday, if not I now have backup.
P.S. I won $100 pesos in grey cup pool.

November 29 - Veterinaria

Well Kirk had squinty eyes last night and this morning they were nearly closed shut.  So I boiled some water to make a saline solution and rinsed them.  Then went fishing while we waited for a reasonable hour to see if a vet would be open on a Sunday morning.  The fishing was great as the ocean was nearly calm and the water was clear.  We watched the fish chase our hooks.  There were large yellowtail jacks, needlefish, puffers, sargents, rockfish, and some other large dark fast ones, etc.
I caught a needlefish and released it.  He was having a hard time getting going initially so I quickly named him because you know how it is in the movies when you don't have a name.  The Mexican airforce (brown pelicans) were already circling but he made it.  My fishing partner caught a perch like fish and lost 3 hooks to something larger.

Needlefish (Henry)

Then Cam and I went off to the Veterinaria with Kirk.   It looked closed but the door was slightly ajar so I went in.  There was the vet, a painter painting the office and 2 americanos with their golden retriever.  The americans were just leaving and the vet looked at me and said we are not open, is it an emergency.  I said that my dog couldn't open his eyes, probably an infection so he said come in.  He gave us antibiotic eyedrops and wrote a note for the pharmacy so I could get some other eyedrops from there as well.  Kirk has to have both for 5 days.  He also wants to see Kirk again on Wednesday.  So the total bill for the vet on emergency Sunday, and both medications was $120 pesos slightly less than $10 Canadian.  Viva Mexico!  Kirk is slowly improving, no more crabbing at the beach for him with sand in his eyes.

November 27th & 28th - Down on the beach

It continued to rain on Friday so we spent the day reading and went out for dinner with friends.  We had fish and shrimp tacos at 12 pesos each.  Chiles rellenos at 85 pesos and garlic shrimp at 115 pesos plus the usual margaritas and cervezas.   The only photo I took was of the completed banyo.

You can see it in the background above under construction

Finished.  Who could ask for more?

Today, Saturday, I spent most of the morning on the beach surf fishing.  There was a huge amount of small fish being chased by larger fish all jumping just off the beach.  The seabirds were also feeding in huge flocks - pelicans, gulls, cormorants, egrets, shorebirds, terns, etc.   

Snowy Egret

Our neighbours also saw 2 whales about 50 yards offshore further down the beach.  They were probably humpbacks also pursuing the small fish.  Mexicans were fishing on the breakwaters and also from shore so I thought I would try from shore as well.  I hooked a large silver fish but he disappeared on the edge of the surf.  Silver fish were jumping steadily about 20 ft out.  Next came what I believe is a yellowtail jack or some member of the jack family.  I was considering keeping him for bait but he was grunting and we took a selfie together and I just couldn't do it.

Jack

I'm of course holding him way back.  (Karen you might recognize the shirt)

Another small puffer

I stopped fishing around 10:00 and gave my bait to a guy from our rv park who was trying with bacon.  I met up with other park folk on the beach who had met a Mexican (Marcelino) who was on his way to our end of the beach to fish for oysters, octopus and langosta (lobster).  Marcelino said he would show us how to fish for these.  His nephew Gustavo also came along.

Marcelino above with the equipment he needed - a skewer with rubber tubing and a slingshot like pouch which he used to shoot into the lobster's head, a long skewer with a hook on the end for octopus and a mallet with a chisel for oysters (all displayed above).  (click on the photo to enlarge)

Marcelino and our friend diving for lobsters, oysters and octopi

The langosta varied in size and had no big claws

The catch

Marcelino spent about an hour and a half in the water.  He was under more than above water.  

There were small clear jellyfish in the water too so he did get stung.  Our friend lasted about 20 minutes.  I borrowed Cam's flippers to Marcelino which made him very happy as he could really move with them on.

The final catch

Oysters 

Marcelino offered us some oysters but we declined.  He said he would eat them with some lime and hot sauce.  We then shared some ham and cheese sandwiches, cerveza, pepsi for Gustavo and me, as well as some candy I brought for Gustavo.

Later Cam and I went into town and bought some bait fish for tomorrow morning. We truly enjoyed experiencing the bounty of the Mexican coast with the wildlife and people today.

November 26th - Rain, Rain

Well, our first really rainy day here.  It is nice to hear the rain on the roof but it really limits the photo opportunities.  I went to the market with some of the others and bought all the necessities - pizza, apple strudel, cheese buns, rum, limes, cabbage, croissants, ham, bacon, eggs, oranges (for the orioles), etc.  Watched one of our group haggle in Spanish/English over a hand carved wooden soup spoon for about 15 minutes.  There were some young guys there but she said she wanted to talk to El Jefe (the boss)  and they all pointed at a hefty older fellow.  He got up and came around to our side of the table and faced off with the 98 lb Canadian lady.  It was quite the exchange and high entertainment for the seller and us.  She did buy it in the end after much arm waving, spoon wielding, and discussion of where and how it was made, whether it needed further oil treatment over time, kind of wood, whether the bowl of the spoon was really big enough for the kind of soup she was going to make, what kind of soup, whether she should buy 3 spoons and thus get a better deal (his suggestion), whether she was going to use it to keep her esposo in line if so then was the spoon big enough maybe this one for another 10 pesos would be better (his response), how we were Canadians and our poor dollar was so low right now so we need a better price (her),  on and on, back and forth.  They settled on a third off the original price (40 pesos) and smiling.   I'd call it a draw.  It was a slow day at the market and I am sure the seller enjoyed the haggle.  Never once was there criticism of the product, the buyer or the seller which was truly great.  It was all about suitability and circumstances.  Meanwhile,  our driver sat at a street bar, had a beer, and watched a local trying to sell 2 Chihuahua puppies to some Americans for $150 U.S. each.  The puppies were attracting all the ladies going by on the street.  He then spent time teaching the bartenders english and trying to explain how the puppies would be a "chick magnet" in Canada.

I also bought some handmade Christmas bells out of some kind of plant material.  It is weird seeing artificial Christmas trees and decorations for sale on the street in Mexico.  Our renta is due soon so also went to the banco.

The ocean was pretty much flat today which is also a first.  Aiyee, I forgot to get those tiny shrimps for bait.

November 25th - Chacala

Another day, another surf fishing lesson.  I arrived on the second breakwater on our beach where a local fisherman had just got a very prickly porcupine fish and was trying to pull his hook out with his hands.  I said uno momento and pulled out my needle nose pliers for him, he was very happy.  I set them out between us so we could share.  He had about 3 small perch like fish and one foot long red snapper in his bucket.   He was using a line with a small hook which he whirled in a circle then sent flying out.  When I pulled out my shrimp for bait he said "no cameron" "no like".  He showed me the small little shrimp he was using which he called by another name.  We couldn't really talk so we fished with the usual fishing comments like when a fish bit my megahook in half he said "Aiyee" and laughed.  The fish also pinched 2 of the barbs on my Mepps treble hook shut.  I caught puffer fish and porcupine fish.  He caught some of those as well as one more good fish.  Then we called it a day.  It seems you have about an hour at dawn to catch the right tide then the fishing drops off.   When he left he said "Mañana".   I just nodded although tomorrow is market day and I need to get some of those little shrimp before I go fishing again.

My fellow fisherman

My little puffer

My bigger puffer/porcupine

We accompanied the neighbours north to a little town called Chacala.  While it can be busy on weekends, today there was our group and four other folks on the entire beach.

The parking lot was formerly an RV Park, but when they had problems with the sewage system, the RV'ers were just dumping their black/grey tanks in holes in the ground.  No more RV park.  You can dry camp for a maximum of three days, but there is a guard on the gate to ensure the rules are followed.

Turtle nest protection

We obtained refreshments from the nearby beach restaurant, sat in the shade, and generally admired the absolute beauty of the place.  I lazed in the shade while the active types went for a swim and snorkel.

Then it was time for lunch at Las Brises, along with a cerveza or two

 Nancy's coconut shrimp

My camarones diablo, along with a Pacifico.

As we packed to leave, even though we were still in the sun, thunder was rolling over the mountains to the south.  As we drove south, we hit the rain.  La Peñita got enough rain to soak things down.  While it smelled great, the rain shot the humidity through the roof.  Today was 29, but the humidex at 5 pm was 36.  Both the heat and humidity are hanging on later than usual this fall, creating late season storms like Hurricane Sandra (which is predicted to make landfall well north of here)

November 24th - Tuesday

After nearly a month of practice, we have come close to achieving the ideal today; we did absolutely
nothing.  Nada.  We had breakfast by the pool this morning, Huevos Rancheros with freshly made salsa for me, and pancakes and eggs for Nancy.
A solo woman in a 24 foot class C overnighted next to us last night.  She is headed further south, to La Manzanilla, on the same bay as Bocca Beach.  She said the hurricane damage in the area was significant, including three foot drifts of beach sand everywhere.  Locals are still struggling to recover.  Her route south of here would normally be approx. 4 hours, except that three bridges are out, which will result in detours of over 6 hours.  She headed out at first light today.  There are a surprising number of older women travelling solo; many are experienced Mexican travellers that have been widowed, but have the know-how and confidence to continue.
The park continues to fill up as people filter south.  Manitobans and Ontarians are now showing up, having taken the overland route through Laredo or Matamoros.  The ambitious do the crossing in two long days, mostly due to a lack of suitable campgrounds, between here and the US border.  This results in overlong days of driving, so we are taking notes on the routes and stopping points of those that take three days or longer.

November 23rd - Monday

Another day another fishing expedition out to the breakwater.  This time I lost one and caught a puffer fish.  As did the other fellow.  Photos of my prize puffer to follow.  Unfortunately, unless you are a well trained sushi chef you will poison yourself eating pufferfish!  Next time we will try the other breakwater as it has a sand ridge along it and I have read that the edible surf fish like that.(pictures of me with mine to follow)

Good thing I remembered the net

Pufferfish

Meanwhile, the experienced fishermen with the boat brought this sailfish in today.  The fin is a deep royal blue.  They are going to smoke the meat as it is another dark fleshed fish.  Apparently there are 2 smokers here in the park.  

Sailfish

Kirk relaxing at dog sitters

November 22nd - Fishing some more

This morning I took Kirk for his constitutional, then grabbed coffee, my fishing gear and some Mahi Mahi as bait and went down the beach to a breakwater.  I knew the time was right as the local Mexican fishermen were also out.  (No those aren't oilies I'm wearing here)  Luckily our neighbour and his dog came along and took these photos so I didn't have to try for a selfie.  

I got a bite and pulled in my line and discovered that my concern over the weight of my line was unfounded as the fish simply bite the hook in half!  I threw the pickerel rig back out with the remaining hook and managed to get a rockfish or maybe it was a grouper  (about a foot long) in as far as the edge of the rocks before he bit the hook in half again. 

     

 

Hmm, better "man up" my fishing gear

I put some other heftier hooks on but only had a small amount of bait left which I ran out of just as the Sierras (mackerel family about 18 inches) showed up and started making the little silver fish leap from the water.  I changed to a fish-like lure but with no bait they just darted after the lure and then away.  The sun was getting hot so I went back to the campsite and Cam drove me to town for some Camaron (shrimp).  I put some bigger hooks on and am ready for tomorrow morning.

Fishermen in the river casting nets

Bet that takes practice 

We ended the day with the fish and chips Sunday special at the park restaurant.  

There have been 2 different owls hooting in the park.  One is probably a Colima pygmy owl which was spotted in the bushes earlier this week.

November 21 - Fish

Kirk and I had a walk on the beach where he can run free and he is learning not to kick sand in his own face.  Cam, myself and 2 friends headed out for an explore around the area leaving Kirk with friends who don't mind his company as dogsitters.  We checked out some possible boat rentals in Rincon, some on shore fishing spots, watched some guys trying to net fish, admired some horses who came up to watch the fish netters too, toured the high end casas many of which are se vente (sale) or se renta and drove into the agricultural areas close to La Penita where the walking club had discovered some Glossy Ibises.

Boats for rent in Rincon

Hmm, that looks like fun

Checking out the North end of Rincon

Above and below possible fishing spots

Looking north, across the creek, to the beach at La Peñita.

Hmm, horses look like fun too

When we got back to the RV park a couple of guys with a 16 ft Lund here had just returned from fishing 8 miles out.  They had some serious fishing gear and had caught 3 Mahi Mahi (largest was 22.5 lbs) and 2 Chula.  Chula are only 4 to 6 lbs and the gringos don't eat them so they gave them to one of the Mexican guys working in the park.   Apparently Chula are tuna like and have a very dark red meat.  I looked it up and some articles said they've had it as sushi.

Mahi Mahi

Chula

So, if we weren't so cheap we could rent the boats, nets, horses, and fishing gear!

I think we might have to go for the fishing trip, we'll see if shore fishing gets us anywhere or maybe someone from the park will take us out.