Puerto Penasco 2017

Years ago when we only had two children we bought into a timeshare in Puerto Penasco.  It has been the best thing for us, 4 hrs away  at a beachside resort that has a familiarity of a second home.   Even Bubby knows his way around and the staff recognize us and are so helpful with him.  We had a bit more excitement than we are use too this time around but it was still a blast and very memorable.  

Observing sea snails.

Throwing shells to splash into the ocean was Bubby's favorite hobby.  Pumpkin happily aided him by picking the biggest shells for him.

The sand turtle is now a tradition!

Love this shot of my girls!

Bubby would strip down everything for the chance to get into the water.  Even on the 'colder' days when we only intended to go for a walk, hence the diaper!

We found many more than our usual sea life thus go around.  Among our shell collecting we found a live cone snail.  We had recently watched a video regarding this mollusk that it has a venomous 'harpoon' that it uses to kill its prey. It's a pretty intense neurotoxin and so while it was a small shell when we discovered it was alive Bud was quick to put it into a glass cup and keep it far away. 

Other shells had no inhabitants inside but we felt badly for the barnacles and sent them back out to sea

There are warnings that jellyfish and stingrays visit the Sea of Cortez depending on the time of year. We'd never seen the stingrays but Bud had an intimate exp to when he stepped on one.  It was rather painful and he ran back up the beach to the resort.  A local took a look at his foot and told Kent about soaking it in hot water to draw the venom out. Ibuprofen helped and the next day the medics cleaned the wound further and he was back out on the beach with a slight limp. 

Two days later Kent saw an octopus about the size of a quarter hiding in a shell.  Bug was thrilled and without a single thought to safety picked the little guy up.  It tried to get away and as a last resort it's beak bit her on her pinky finger and it burned with an unusual pain.  We kept the little bugger that Bud carried back in a sea shell in case we need to identify the toxin while Kent rushed her back.  In the meanwhile I carried Bubby and Pumpkin stoically trudged back.  Sadly the little octopus died and Bug felt badly and gave it a nice burial deep in the sand away from scavenging birds. 

We drove into town to do some tide pooling and found our usual living mollusks along with a two sea stars and a very special sea slug.  Kent has a good eye for these things.  If you watch the two videos you'll see that the octopus experience has made her a little more hesitant to hold unfamiliar animals - but only a little!

A tiny brittle starfish

This was a brilliant find by Kent, a beautiful sea slug with bright turquoise streaks.  The quality of the video is poor but it was pretty unforgettable, as was the kids responses.  Watching the videos on this is a must if just to hear the kids arguing in the background or to hear Bug's love of all things living.

Live periwinkle with it's clear operculum

A sunray starfish wedged under a rock

Bud touching tiny sea anenomes

Kent found this for me, a rare find for all it's spines intact.

A fort is always made in the front room with all the cushions and pillows.  I had to snap the shot of Bubby as he plopped down to watch his Signing Time show and was confused as he slowly sank down in. 

We had heard of places you could go to dig your own clams so we went and discovered that this is where many of the locals go to launch their boats and bring in the catch to the day.  The kids found many intact clam shell which really weren't  since sand and water had suctioned the two parts together.  There was one exception, a turkey wing shell that we ended up cooking and Bug ate happily.  We found many live oysters which were tiny but Bud broke a few off and so we cooked those up as well. For being such tiny oysters they were quite sweet. 

A few gorgeous shots of this little girl against the white sands having fun with her footprints.

On he day before last Kent was nearly pinched by this large crab when he accidentally stepped in it.  It must have been pretty upset to go attacking the grocery bag. Bug also found a live sand dollar. 

Our timing was poor this year.  Usually we go during March or October and the tide heads out in the early morning hours of 5-6.  This time around it was usually at 3 am, not a time I feel safe walking on my own. The afternoon tides took both of us to wrangle the kids so I was thrilled to find that on our last morning there the early tide would be 6 am so I could take my customary mile walk out in the quiet dark before the dawn.  On my way back I saved a clam from becoming breakfast to a larger mollusk and found two sea stars the kids enjoyed observing while we packed.



I'm so glad we bought in years and years ago.  I hope that in the years to come it'll be the place my children return to with their children and we make memories through the ages.