Sunday, December 30, 2007

Fishing Trip ! !



The next day, was our Fishing Trip. We took a five hour adventure on the Sea of Cortez ! The pictures and videos, tell the story !! It was my first time fishing, so you will note the HUGE Calico I caught, and also caught 3 Salmon. In total, we caught over 30, Calico Bass and White Salmon. My first catch is this FIRST picture !






Ralph .... umm hhpp oppppsss .. I mean Ken was not too fond of his breakfast we cooked him, so thought that he would feed the birds all morning !


On our way to check out another fishing spot !

Taking a drive over to Kino Bay



Well, we had spent a nice quiet Christmas, going back out to La Manga Fishing Village for our Christmas Dinner. Of course, we started out sharing a very large Seafood Coctail that was just delicious. I had butterfly shrimp and Alex had stuffed fresh fish. You get to bring your own refreshments, a cooler with beer !




We got company Boxing Day and toured around with Ken & Zeta (from South Dakota). We drove over to Kino Bay to check it out, nice beaches and sand. Our lunch there was great.


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Sunny Beach !


I just have to show you the pictures of where we are now parked. This one is taken from the roof of our Motorhome !
A few clowds but actually brighter than it looks out. The sandy beach goes for miles both ways here.



We have two neighbors, the one on the left is one, the motorhome is ours. After talking with Noel, I find out that he was born 8 miles from me, and we have the same last name, distant cousins ! Small world.



These are the roads out here, all sand of course, the more traffic, the smoother they become. But of course, we are only about 1/2 km from the main highway coming in (4 lanes plus side lanes going both ways, that makes 6 lanes)


To the left is San Carlos, about 1 km and to the right are some Condos, then winds around to old Spanish settlement & fishing village called Miramar (just before you enter Guaymas), maybe 2 km from the condos that are past us 1/2 km.


The water is so clear and always calm. It's just full of fish and the birds dive nonstop to snatch them up. I think it is another day to sit at the beach in the sunshine !





Hey Karla, Teddy says hello and found himself a buddy, Donkey !

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Busy Busy !!



There is a little fishing village about 2 km north of San Carlos, so we decided to try out their restarante ... it was a fantastic meal of fresh catch of the day and Shrimp. It was the last night here for our friends, Donna & Dave and Deb. They are off to the bottom of Mexico, past Acapulco.












Wow, don't knew where the days go, but they are just too short ! We are keeping busy, walks on the beach, trips to the market, etc etc. We went over to Guaymas on Wed. for the weekly market and bought some fantastic vegetables to make La Salada. Even bought a bag of chopped cactus, and is it ever good. On the way down into Mexico, we passed a lot of Nurserys all full of greenery. They do grow a lot of produce down here for export.


Our Shrimp guy came again today, we bought another Kilo of Jumbo Shrimp. They come from Kino Bay, another village just north of here. Right now there are no Shrimp on the shores of San Carlos. They vary in areas, depending on the time of the year.
I'm not sure if I can eat Shrimp everyday ... but we are trying ! Of course, Alex is the cook. The only thing I cook is in the Kiln !!














A few pictures .... eat your heart out !

In the morning, we are going to move out of the rv park (Totonaka) and park right out on La Playa (Beach) I will be sure to take pictures ! The almost white sand is just beautiful there.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Happy Hour all day ??



We went for a walk down main street San Carlos, enjoying the nice sunshine. There are lots of little gift shops along the road, about 2 km longs.


We ended up driving north out to La Manga and meeting some great people, Donna & Dave (Van.)and Deb (Ontario) had a couple of beers at "The Hang Out"
75% of the people here are from B.C. or Alberta.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Tour of San Carlos (Click on pictures to enlarge )


We took a drive around San Carlos to see some sights, the views were pretty awesome. The Sea of Cortez lines the coast of this small village.







There are lots of fishing boats way out in the Sea, we were told the Shrimp is really good too. We will have to buy some tomorrow and cook some.

There are not a lot of resorts yet, but lots of new ones just getting started with escavating and roads being put in.




The rock formations are quite the site all around the coast.





We are standing on some old homes that were destroyed of demolished some time ago, only the roads and foundations left.
There are so many pennisulas and protected areas.




















Our Drive from Nogales to San Carlos






Getting through the border was easy, no one stopped us. We got waved on.





This is our first (3 in total) Toll Booth on the 250 mile trip to San Carlos. Our greeter, the dog, one of MANY we see on the way. The toll was $133 Pesos (approx. 1=10 ratio) $13. us (2nd = $50 pesos, 3rd = $152 pesos)




It was actually brighter out than the pictures look. The sun did peek out once in while.












This is KM21, our first stop on the way. We are parked in the parking area of the Tourist Visas office. In the distance you can see a small brown roofed building where you must show all vehicle registrations, mexican insurance, passport and birth certificate (I told to make copies of all this !) We went in and the clerk gave us a FMT to fill out, he stamped in and didn't even look at anything and waved us on our way ... easy as pie !
We still had to drive through the check point, but were waved on down the road.





What a mix of land formations ! From sandy deserts to actual treed areas. This is Saugaro Cactus Forest, lined with tall cacti on both sides of the highway for about 1/4 mile.

Weird looking things, wouldn't want to see what lives or crawls around them too closely !!




There were two seperate Army check points, this car being stopped and questioned in fron of us. On the left of us, were more Army officials checking trucks, lots were totally unloaded. I didn't want to get my camera too much into their face, so missed getting more pictures !

Again, we were waved on through.


This is the Truck route throught Hermosillo ! sure glad we didn't take the city route !!




It was Sunday morning, so really no traffic compared to during the week. We were told it can be pretty frantic at times getting through.







I just had to post this picture, we got to the south end of Hermosillo and came to a very congested area. The Prison is on the left and Sunday is visiting day !


Tons of people were coming and going. It reminded me of Christmas shopping at the mall and trying to find a parking place !




This Toll Highway is a divided highway, but with no shoulders at all. This semi driver did something wrong. There is a minivan part way underneath his trailer in behind.
Hopefully no one was hurt. We did see two other semi's off the road, all with trailers backed onto them unloaded its cargo.
We took our time driving, but there were some that did go just to fast. There are places in the hwy with some large pot holes !













2n

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Almost there !

We are about 1/2 hour from San Carlos, at Junction turn-off to Kino Bay. Going through the border was very easy, we stopped at KM21 to purchase out Visas and vehicle papers. To our surprise, we weren't charged anything. Others we talked with were charged $150 U.S.
I will upload some pictures I took on the way down later.

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Leaving for Mexico

We are heading to Nogales today, pick up some last minute groceries and stuff. Guess there is no horseradish or Cocktail sauce .. so we stocked up on that and are bringing some extras !

Early Sunday morning we will start across the border, destination San Carlos. I have a good 'driving guide' to follow, even has the Topes (speed bumps) marked, which I've heard can shake things around pretty good in the RV. It is 250 miles to San Carlos, but lots of stops (customs) and Toll Booths, so will likely be a full day's drive.

I will post some eventfull tidbits for you when we arrive our destination !!!

Take care, stay warm !

Alex & Lorraine

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Dec. 1 - Tucson

We are staying at Whispering Palms RV Park in Tucson for the week. Our drive here was wet. It is the first time in three winters that we actually see rain !
It has been warm and sunny since we've been here though. The temp is +80 today (Weds.)

November 18 - Left Canada !


We left Greenwood about Noon, crossing into U.S. at Midway. An uneventful customs check was done, and away we went ! Our first night was spent in Kenniwick, WA just on the Wash/Oregon border. 284 km day.

We got a fairly early start, (for us thats 9 ish !) Good thing it wasn't any earlier, because as we climbed into Pendleton, we passed all the trucks chaining up, as the sign indicated that they had to. But into the mid-morning all was melted and it was good to go. We drove all the way to Ely, NV and parked behind the Casino. 675 km day.
Or next day brought us through Vegas, and on to Bullhead City, AZ across the river from Laughlin, NV. This is our destination for a week ! Ridgeview RV Park.
We got to visit with friends, and celebrate Thanksgiving twice this year. AND take in 5 am shopping madness, which was actually fun, after we woke up with some coffee.