Routine?

Could life in Paradise be devolving into a routine?  It felt a bit like it this week.  I did some more bird photography, which is now pretty much dialed in.  The only glitch was the dinghy outboard wouldn't start, so I couldn't go way back up the estuary as I had planned.  The problem turned out to be just a fouled sparkplug, so I decided to put together a little kit to clean or replace a bad plug that would be carried in the dinghy.  Don't want to get stranded a couple of miles from nowhere.  There was also the usual beach walks, the sunsets, thunderstorms and, of course, the boat work and associated errands.  Paradise ain't fer sissies, so next week I'll fly up to Vancouver to meet Carol for a bit of a break.  I'm told I'll need these things they call "jackets" and "long pants."  I think I remember what they are, but not sure how to wear them any more....Any suggestions?

Beach sunset

Charter fishing boats at dawn, getting ready to go out

for a major tournament.

Nearly full moon peeking through the clouds just

before sunrise.

Local fisherman casting the net right behind my boat.

 Slow motion casting of the net

Snowy egret

Yellow crowned night heron chick in the nest.

First time I've seen a butterfly on my dock lines.

I did a lot of bus riding this week.  On this trip, I noticed

I happened to be sitting just where I was reflected in a

mirror.  So of course I did a selfie.

This little boy appeared to be on his own, but was

fine with it other than the boredom.

A mother and child were seated behind me on

the way back.  The child got fidgety and

flopped a hand between the seats that eventually

migrated onto my shoulder.  Rather than shy

away from touching a stranger, the child seemed

to like it, and the hand remained until they 

arrived at their stop.

This is the ATM bus terminal in old town Puerto Vallarta,

and the last stop on the bus from Nuevo Vallarta.

It's about half a mile from here to the beginning of the

malecon, and another mile to the romantic zone.  

If you don't want to walk it, you catch a local 

"chicken bus" a couple of blocks away.

Close-up of the bead work on a large parrot sculpture in

the Huichol art gallery on the malecon.

Wall mural at a local basketball court

The Rio Cuale is pretty muddy now with

the almost daily rain in the mountains.

How many black birds do you see where

the water meets the rocks?

The muddy river water fanning out into the blue waters

of Banderas Bay.

The cap rail on the transom got sanded and two new

coats of Cetol Gloss.

Working on the port side cap rail.  Sanded, masked and

one coat of Cetol Gloss so far.

The kit for cleaning or replacing the sparkplug

for the dinghy outboard.

Up the Creek

With both temperature and humidity hovering about 90, activity has been limited.  Any outdoor work or exercise (other than swimming) pretty much has to be done between 7 and 10 in the morning.  Even then, staying hydrated takes some effort.  I did manage a paddle up the creek about 1.3 miles in my slow and inefficient "glass bottom" kayak.  But since I stopped and stalked wildlife along the way, speed wasn't important.  While most of what I saw and photographed I had seen before, I did get my first image of a Mexican grackle chick.  Ugly.  I've taken a few more portraits of my local acquaintances, and the photo set-up I put together works as I'd hoped.  On the boat work front, I'm making slow but steady progress on refreshing the brightwork Cetol, and I made the improvement on the stern anchor roller that was needed.

My route up the creek was 1.3 miles

each way.

The creek is still pretty wild, despite all the development.

Lots of bird life, hundreds of iguanas and the occasional

crocodile.  The jungle quickly reclaims any land that

isn't maintained.

To get decent photos I had to slowly move right into

the mangroves near the target, minimize movement

and make no noise.

Social flycatcher

Yellow-crowned night heron

Yellow-crowned heron chick in the nest

Mexican or great-tailed grackle.  The ones that poach

food around the hotel and pool are used to being near

people.  The wild ones in the creek, especially when

protecting a nest, not so much.

Grackle chick in the nest.  Ugly, and the

mohawk coif doesn't help.

Hundreds of iguanas can be seen in the trees warming

up in the morning sun.

Over time, the iguanas adapt to the encroaching civilization.

I found at least 30 of them hanging out on the lawn of

a condo development on the creek.

The birds adapt too.  Social flycatcher on a sailboat's

lifeline.

Looking up at the underside of a gecko through the

forward hatch.

Light rain falling at sunrise as a thunderstorm

clears.

A rainbow appeared as the storm cleared.

Finished renewing the Cetol on the starboard side woodwork.

Carlos, one the marina security guards.

A real caballero (gentleman).

Francisco, a panga captain.  Always

has a smile and a joke.

Israel, he does bottom cleaning and other

boat work at the marina.  A good man, he 

just became an abuelo (grandfather).

Places, People and Projects

I got my bike back into riding condition this week and rode the six miles into Bucerias for the first time since last year.  Turned out both the bike and I were a bit rusty and had a few kinks.  Only fell once, though.  Still had a good time and found another good restaurant on the beach.  The next day I worked the top half of my body and paddled quite a way back into the estuary.  I tried mounting my little Olympus Tough camera on the bike helmet and taking videos, but it didn't work.  I had no idea where the camera was actually pointed other than it wasn't  where I was looking.  At least I didn't have to pay for film!  I was more successful in pursuing my intention of taking portraits of some of the local people.  I had a particular image style in mind and was able to achieve pretty much what I was after in my initial attempt.  If it continues to work, it will develop into a series and perhaps more.

Places

Biking into Bucerias.  You will see the route starts as a

beautiful bike path and gradually degrades into a 

treacherous sandy dirt road.  It was there I took

my spill.  But no harm done.

I stopped along the way to take a picture of this large

mushroom growing in the grass on the median of

the bike path.

  

The Flamboyant Trees are now in bloom.

This one marks the outskirts of Bucerias.

I assume they got the name "Flamboyant" because 

they are covered with bright red blossoms in the summer 

and/or because the seed pods are gigantic: 

about 2 feet long!

Some ex-pats I met on the bike path

turned me on to Karen's Place. 

It had real lox and bagel and was

right on the beach.  You can see

the handlebars of my bike leaning

against the table.

Karen's had a good sense of humor, too.

This was taken from the kayak.  It's the dock for the

Fajita Republic restaurant.  I know a couple of

cruisers who have gotten hurt on this dock trying to

 get back into their dinghy after one too many margaritas.

Sometimes it's pretty hard to see the birds.  I spotted

this one skulking slowly by while I was staking out 

a flycatcher nest.  Don't see it?  Look below.

Camouflage really works well.

People

This is Francisco.  I got to know him

because he yelled "Hey, Capitano!"

every time I walked by.  We are now 

becoming friends.  He was my

portraiture test case.  I'm reasonably

happy with it.  Shows his personality,

and the tonality after some post work 

is about right.

The detail is good, but will be better if I can shoot

where there is more light.

I had the idea of using an all-white version

of one of these display signs as a portable

backdrop for the portraits.  I went to a local

sign shop and ordered one (in Spanish).

It should be ready tomorrow.  I also bought

a slightly better small tripod and a camp

stool for the subject to sit on.

Projects

Next on the boat work list: refurbishing the Cetol on the

starboard rub rail.  Fenders rubbing it under pressure

really damage the finish.  First step was removing

the stainless steel rub strake.

Next, spot sanding.

Finally, after touching up spots with Cetol Marine, 

overall fine sanding, two coats of Cetol Gloss

and replacing the rub strake.