Thursday, January 04, 2007

Crocodiles at La Manzanilla are even bigger

LA MANZANILLA, Mexico - We took a sojourn to the crocodile swamp at the edge of town (about a quarter mile from our beachside palapa) and found that the crocodiles look even bigger this year than last.

Several sat right at the edge where there's a little landing and ate the fish - and damn near anything else - tossed to them by the tourists.

Admiral Fox shudders every time someone feeds them. She says that in Florida years ago, people did the same thing with alligators which convinced many gators to equate people with food. In other words, if you don't toss them some overripe chicken, well, how about your leg?

We were able to get within a few feet of these guys, behind a pretty flimsy wire fence. The signs say there are nearly 200 in the small area, though we only counted about 25.

That was enough.

And given the number of holes in the fence that the crocs obviously could walk through anytime they want, 25 seemed a fair number to have wandering the dirt streets of this pueblo after dark.

(NOTE TO CAPTAIN: Carry a flashlight tonight when out walking and watch where you step.)

Crocodile teeth
Check out the choppers

Most the day was spent on the beach, with a little time swimming in the water. And yes, I spotted another ray, but couldn't tell for sure if it was a sting ray or not. I didn't step on it to check, and my surfboard was too buoyant to put underneath the critter to flip it out of the water to check him.

Probably just as good.

Beach vendors
Beach vendors looking for customers

Our neighbors in the palapa (living in the downstairs part of the house) hail from Victoria, British Columbia and have invited the Admiral to play her violin with them this evening when they get out their assorted guitars, mandolins and other stringed instruments.

I'll see if I can record a sound file for tomorrow's missive.

Today's Bikini
Today's gratuitious bikini shot
from La Manzanilla

1 comment:

  1. I'd say you and the Admiral are working entirely too hard. You're going to need a vacation just to recover from your vacation!

    Looking forward to J-132,

    Mike

    By the way, today in Sac it's windy, cold and still damp from yesterday's storm. Miss us?

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