Yesterday was the vernal equinox, so I got a couple of images of the super worm equinox full moon. Earlier in the week I went to see El Faro, the Mazatlán lighthouse, again. Later, while wandering around a bit on my bike, I happened upon a huge mosaic mural that I learned was the world's largest back in 2009 when it was completed. I also went back into the estuary to get more wildlife photos, although a couple of the best shots came from right around the marina. Back on the dock, I was treated to a couple of free dinners. One was a Thai curry made by a neighbor and new friend, the other a large marlin steak given to me by Raul, the local fisherman and boat worker who polished my boat last week. Nice that they took pity on a poor old bachelor who usually eats like a barbarian.
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The lighthouse is at the top of the Cerro del
Creston, which was an island until the
breakwater was built in 1930. |
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At an elevation over 500 feet, it is the highest lighthouse
in the Americas. The climb is about a mile and a half and
quite steep. But the view is worth the work!
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They were making some improvements when I was there,
and workers had to carry bricks up the steep steps by hand.
Very humbling to those of us who found simply hauling
ourselves up was challenging enough.
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Looking down at the entrance to Mazatlán's
commercial harbor, which is about 6 miles
south of the yacht harbor where I am.
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Looking at the lighthouse from the end of the glass walkway,
with Mazatlán in the background.
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The glass walkway. It cost five pesos (about 25 cents) to
walk out on it and you had to remove your shoes. It
vibrated a bit when others walked on it, which was a
little unsettling.
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This is Terry, my neighbor for while, on his boat. He was
nice enough to invite me to dinner one night.
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| Terry's boat, across the dock from me. |
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Two marlin steaks grilling. Given to me by Raul,
a fisherman on my dock, who caught a marlin over
150 pounds that morning.
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I was quite surprised to run across this huge mural while
biking in a newer part of Mazatlán that is still under
development and still has lots of empty fields.
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This is an enlargement of the lower left corner of the above
photo. Notice the car on the left. It's a BIG mural!
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The building is the Mazatlán convention center, and with
the mural by Ernesto Rios Rocha, was completed in 2009.
It held the Guiness Record for the world's largest
mural at that time.
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Although mostly mosaic tile, other media are incorporated
in the mural. To learn more about the artist (in Spanish),
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This falls under the "Only in Mexico" category. For the
several months I have been here, this excavator and dump
truck have sat rusting in the middle of an empty lot awaiting
further development. More recently, development was
apparently renewed and a new crew of excavators and
equipment began prepping the lot. The new crew apparently
had nothing to do with the old equipment, so it was left in place
while earth was removed from around it. The old stuff
now sits on island in the middle of the field. I wonder
if they will build around it?
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Beauty and the beast at the marina. Marina
workers know this guy and call him Panchito.
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A frequent guest for early coffee in the cockpit.
Does that make this a morning dove?
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Notice the fake scowling face on this little seedeater.
The yellow eyes and black mouth are just the color
of the feathers. The beak is the nose. The real eyes
are black like the surrounding feathers.
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| Majestic and more typical |
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A yellow-crowned heron fledgling peeks out
from its hiding place.
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| Here's the rest. |
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| Yellow-crowned heron |
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| Blue heron |
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| Blue heron |
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| South end of a north-bound American oyster-catcher |
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| American oyster-catcher |
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| Sandpiper |
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| Sandpiper |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant in flight |
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| Egret looking for dinner. |
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| Egret separating the water from the catch. |
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| Egret |
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| Iguanas (four amigos) |
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| Iguana |
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| Sally lightfoot crabs |
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| Big sky dawn from my slip |
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| Clouds meant no spectacular sunsets. |
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| A few clouds passing in front of the rising supermoon. |
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| The super worm equinox full moon |
