Day Trip to San Nicolas Beach

 Ron thought we should find a new fishing spot, because the "Christmas Tree" spot only produces small bass and Triggerfish. I suggested San Nicolas Beach, because it's the mother lode for seashells. And the side trip from there to Whale's Point across from Old Kino has a shipwreck, ankle-deep shells, and caves. We had a cooler with Tecate beer, and potato chips, Jif Extra Crunchy peanut butter and Mexican Ritz crackers. A veritable feast.

All these spots are marked on the map by blue balloons. Click on the balloon for identification.

Google Map

We've had some rain, and the road's changed accordingly. Pretty thick mud, plus they've been dredging for the Aquicola (some sort of seafood-farming installation) and now they have gates they actually lock, apparently prior to 4:30 PM. Required a bit of off-roading. Here's our truck AFTER:

 The road we usually take had a fence across it, so we backtracked to the canal and drove over the chain that was on the ground. Well, the chain went back up sometime in the afternoon. Bummer. I didn't get a shot of Ron driving over a berm and across a scary deep washout and back up the berm because I was concentrating on not soiling myself, if you get my drift. And the canal is dry there by the gate, but the bottom of the canal is littered with huge dead crabs. Perhaps they lock the gates now to prevent crab poaching?

We ended up not staying at San Nicolas Beach, instead meandered on over to Whale's Point. It's where the new PROJECT is supposed to go: huge hotels, marinas, retail, galleries, bridge over to Kino, casinos, theme park, lighthouse etc. Very sad. Here's a quote from their proposal: 

"At this time, the Kino Bay area is virtually pristine and untouched. Over time we intend to transform the area into a Mexican Riviera rivaling the likes of Cancun, to become the preferred North American resort destination."

You can read about the Project here. It's a big file, takes a minute to load, and disturbing to read. They actually don't see the travesty in transforming a pristine and untouched area into Disneyland.
Kino Bay Project

Of course, this is Mexico, and it probably won't happen in my lifetime, but it's sad nevertheless.

Anyway, on to Whale's Point. Just before the end of the road, there's a cool rusted shipwreck on the beach, and yesterday there was an Osprey perched on the stern, with it's huge stick nest in the wheelhouse.

Here's where the ankle-deep shells are:

 

If you climb down the rocks on the other side of that beach, there's a cave:

I didn't have a flashlight, so I didn't go in. But I did get my feet all cut up because I was wearing flip-flops and trying not to spill my beer while negotiating the rocks, so when I spotted a cool tidepool, I sat on a rock and soaked my feet for a while:

 

 And while sitting there, I spied Ron (red shirt, tiny) perched up high across the little bay, fishing. You can click on these to make them larger.

I filled 2 plastic bags with shells and cool rocks, had a snack, and then Ron pantomimed I should bring him a beer. I REALLY didn't think I could make it over there in flip-flops, especially carrying TWO beers, although Ron did it carrying a beer, two rods and a tackle box, plus he's old, but I did. Left the camera in the truck, though. 

The drive home took a bit longer because of the gate thing, but once home Ron grilled two fat hamburgers as the sun set in front and the moon rose behind Eileen's house:

Then I slept through two hours of TV and went to bed. Perfect day.

Here's my "loot":

 

Sort of clockwise from top left: Black & White Murex shells, a big broken fossil shell, chunks of granite quartz for Ella's grave,  sea urchins, pelican skull, those orange shells (sorry, I don't know very many names, but those are ankle-deep there), turbo shells, olive shells, fragments of some bright coral-colored shells, shell fragments for pendants, and my beloved operculum shells (the trap door of a snail) of which I have many hundred.

I just found out these are called Sea Urchins, I always just called them Bubble Shells, and did not know they were covered with spines when alive. I've only found them white before, and only found them here on Whale's Point. Apparently their roe is a delicacy . Wikipedia, Sea Urchin