A little surf, a little view and some rain

The Skim Board competition started yesterday so we had to go see some of it. We got there before the first heat so just watched some local guys playing off to one side. After an hour and no competition we decided to move on. I didn't get any good pictures and Yari took some decent video with my cel phone but she always turns it 90 degrees so no YouTube. Lesson coming up.

Yari heard that you can see smoke from the Colima volcano from the Mirador and I knew it might be possible but it was way too overcast. Even the Volcano Cam near the volcano only shows clouds. It had been awhile since a visit to the Mirador so we drove up. Nahima was sure she could see cocodrilos down below but she sees cocodrilos anywhere there's water.

So now it's Sunday and the weather we have been anticipating is finally here. The rain has started and reports say we'll get between 2-4 inches between now and tomorrow. A very large weather system has come ashore south of us so I just hope it stays south

One skim foto

View from the Mirador

What the  weather system looked like yesterday

Crocodiles (cocodrilos) in Melaque

For the last month, maybe two, we've been having a night visitor that leaves tracks like those below. We knew it was a crocodile because we see them in the lagoon all the time. What we didn't know was she had laid her eggs a few months earlier and was now checking on the progress every night. In the meantime we put up a fence across the back of the yard to keep her out.

So last night she must have heard them 'croaking' and pushed her way under the side fence to dig them up. I found the hole in the morning with lots of egg shells scattered around so maybe a number of them made it to the lagoon last night. While standing next to the hole I heard some 'croaking' (or chirping) and thought there might be more. We dug up seven and that's them in the bucket. I used gloves to not be nipped and didn't want to leave a human smell.

We decided to put them down on the edge of the lagoon and let mom come and find them - and she did. I checked an hour later and she was there but swam out 50 yards or so because I was there. Our Mexican neighbor says mom will stay with them for about 15 days and then they are on their own.

Crocodylus acutus -- is the type in La Manzanilla so we assume ours are the same

Baby Crock's Chirping Sound -- The sound I heard from the nest (a WAV file)

Tail and foot tracks across the yard

Mom's entry/exit tracks from weeks ago


The nest she dug up the night before

I think that's seven of them in the bucket

babies down by the edge of the lagoon

Mom just off shore waiting for us to go away

Four weeks later one of the babies - about a meter long