Sunday at Stone Island

DID YOU NOTICE MY NEW WALL PAPER????????
My wonderful new blog sister Dawn at http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/ "repapered" my wall!!!! :c} Isn't she just the BEST ?!?! I know my life is much more enriched having her gentle, caring, supportive, and of course creative friendship in mine :c} :c}

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH DAWN!!!!!

Sundays are traditionally Family Day. Except for government, and bank employees the average work week is 6 days. Many of the trades will close at 2pm on Saturdays but it's still a 6 day work week. Sunday is the day for church, dinner at grandparents and the day at the beach.

Our house is about 8 blocks from the beach. There are actually 13 miles of beach which is all accessible by the public. For most of our trips to the beach for an afternoon we use those closest to home. Sometimes it's fun to pack the beach bag and take the little water taxi. over to "Stone Island" ( In Spanish it's Isle de la Piedra) Stone Island isn't really an island, more like a peninsula, but there are stones on it sooo the name is sorta correct. :c} There is a dirt road that goes from the Airport road just outside of town to the tip of S.I. But it is WAY out of the way. Usually takes 45-60 minutes to drive from the edge of town. The ferry (actually little water taxis) are caught at the port, it goes across the estuary in about 10 minutes and costs under $2.00 round trip. On the map if you cross the channel from Mazatlan over toward the docks then follow down the little finger that's Stone Island.

The little ferry's are just glorified put puts. with benches BUT always keeping safety in mind we all put on PFDs but you don't have to fasten them :c} OSHA would have a heart attack here:c}

They dock at a small village that was a fishing village. Then on the sheltered cove is some wonderful fine sand beaches with sea food restaurants. So we do what everyone else does and pick our favorite Palapa -( the thatched palm open sided restaurants) order lunch and cervesa (beer, Mazatlan is the home for Pacifico Beer), limeades, or your favorite libation and settle back for a perfect afternoon at the beach. Our favorite is Pili (Peelee- "I" sounds like long "E") Rudi and his extended family own it.

That Cutie in the red shirt is LW ;c}This is the Palapa next door. Saturday was the first day of the shrimp season so in celebration we ordered shrimp ceviche and peel and eat shrimp YUM :c} If you would like me to post a recipe for ceviche leave me a note in the comments.

By the time I got the camera turned on they had just about inhaled the ceviche but you get the idea :c} Ceviche is shrimp that has been "cooked" in the acid of the lime. A few tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and serano chiles umm umm umm life doesn't get much better :c}

Here's a few more pictures of the beach on a Sunday afternoon. Horses can be rented, beach combing (though not much to be found yesterday) But mostly good times with the family and friends. Along about 5 the dark clouds started to bank up over the mountains and the ferry stops running about 6ish. So everyone starts to pack up and head home.

Low tide. The boat is one of the local fishing boats

Couple of trivia facts: The palm trees in the back ground are what is left of miles and miles of palm plantations back in the days when palm oil was king, before all those oils that are now good for us ;c} Now they plant chilies under the shade of the palms. These are coconut palms so there are more recipes using coconuts then you can imagine. The palm fronds are used to make the palapa roofs, rope, and furniture. The Mazatlan coastal area is the largest exporter of shrimp in Mexico. As the coastal estuaries, and natural lagoons are being infringed on the populations of shrimp are disappearing rapidly :c{

OK Bloglandians have a good day or night which ever part of the world you are in!! :c}