Tag Archives: fishermen

High Tides/High Sands

 

The last 2-3 weeks have seen tides higher than we’ve seen in a long time here. Often this time of year the waves splash up over the seawall near Valentino’s, sometimes even onto Avenida del Mar. But this year, the waves have even been splashing onto the Avenida in Olas Altas.

Last Thursday we were taking our morning walk and we had to turn back because we were getting sand blasted. We’ve noticed the last week or so that there are 2-3 inches of sand all along the malecón in various places, as well as onto the street.

The surfers are of course happy with these waves, as are the body boarders. Though the waves are too high for some. The fishermen have not generally been pleased. The waves have overturned quite a few of the pangas, and the port as well as the beaches have been closed a few times due to the high seas. The fishermen have had to put their pangas up on the malecón several times for safe keeping. Shrimp season this year is predicted to be fantastic, thanks to all the high seas plus the rain.

Today we bicycled down to the Pedro Infante statue. We were, gratefully, splashed by waves a few times as we rode. What was most remarkable, however, is that the beach is AT LEAST ONE METER HIGHER than it normally is! There are places where you can now almost walk from the malecón onto the beach. There are numerous palapas into which the waves are now entering freely. The few palapas that have laid concrete flooring, that are normally a foot or two above sea level, they now have sand for flooring. La Corriente and other palapas near the Hotel De Cima have had to bring in bulldozers to dig their spaces and furniture out from under the sand.

In the photo at left, note that the round table is normally about one meter ABOVE the sand. The lower part of this palapa, normally, is well above head height. Not this week!

In this next photo, please note that the sign normally has a pole that keeps it a couple of feet/half meter or so ABOVE the sand.

And all this, with no hurricane, and with no real horrific storm. It’s eerie.

In addition to all the high seas, of course, we have had heavy rains. It is rainy season. Saturday a week ago we received in one day one-third of the rain we normally get in one year! Nine inches poured down in seven hours. Thousands if not tens of thousands of homes have been flooded repeatedly, and most of those families have lost all their furniture. It rained high in the Sierras as well, and as the rivers brought all that rain down to the sea, the rivers carried in them tree trunks, dead cows and pigs, silt, sediment, and trash of every sort. The tides were just right that the rivers washed it all out to sea, and then the waves came in and washed it all up to the beach. Everyone has spent the last two weeks cleaning up wood and other items from the beaches. It’s been a remarkable, community-wide effort.

 

Fishing for Jellyfish

 

We walk the malecón nearly every morning, and at least 2-3 times a week we stop to buy fresh-caught fish. Most local panga fishermen, as fishermen worldwide, seem to have a very difficult life. They work through the night and make very little profit on their catches. Shrimpers have also had a difficult time in recent years, with fewer shrimp to be found, smaller sizes, and lower prices.

This morning in the paper I read that one new fishing market is to catch jellyfish. There have been three new permits issued in Sinaloa state, each permitting the catching of two tons of jellyfish per day. Now, having lived for so many years in Japan, I love jellyfish, and have eaten a lot of it. But I have never heard of a Mexican eating a jellyfish, so the article caught my eye. Sure enough, local fishermen are harvesting jellyfish in order to sell them to the Asian market.

They are fishing for cannonball jellyfish, the same species that US fishermen harvest off the southern Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

Jellyfish have been eaten in Asia for over a thousand years. They are a huge market; Japan alone annually imports over $25 million worth of jellyfish, and that’s in addition to what they harvest locally! Jellyfish have a high nutritional value. They contain lots of collagen and protein and no cholesterol; it’s believed jellyfish rejuvenate cells and restore one’s youthful appearance.

There is a very short (two months or so) fishing season for jellyfish. It seems local shrimpers caught cannonball jellies in their nets, and found out that they could market them to Japan rather than throw them back. While many species of fish and shrimp suffer from overfishing, this same overfishing has caused an overpopulation of jellyfish. For years Japanese have created new ways to use and eat jellyfish, since they were in such over-supply.

What has no heart, bones, eyes or brain, is made up of 95% water, and yet is still a remarkably efficient ocean predator? You guessed it! Eat up now!

Some jellyfish recipes
Jellyfish salad
Stir-fried chicken with jellyfish
Jellyfish silk
From Australia
Jellyfish BURGERS????!!!
Jellyfish ice cream
Jellyfish shooter (not really jellyfish, but looks cool!)

Couldn’t resist concluding this post with a jellyfish photo from this year’s Carnaval parade, lol!

 

Teacapan, Sinaloa

Teacapan, Sinaloa

We visited the peaceful fishing village of Teacapán this past weekend, a beautiful place for bird watching, kayaking, fishing or just relaxing that is located a couple of hours south of Mazatlán. The biodiversity of the mangrove forest and estuary were breathtaking.

The area between Escuinapa and Teacapán is scheduled by FONATUR for major development. In a few decades the Mexican government plans for this charming and pristine area, teeming with wildlife, to look a lot like Cancún.

This of course breaks our hearts, but it seemed to be excellently good news to most of the locals with whom we spoke. Development for them means jobs, income, food, and a better quality of life. To us, it means destruction of the incredible mangrove ecosystem, estuary and bird habitat, very similar, no doubt, to how Mazatlán’s Golden Zone looked in the 1950s, before the estuary here was filled in, the mangroves destroyed, and the hotels built. The estuary or lago as those in Teacapán called it, is filled with fish, oysters, crab, and shrimp.

Getting There
The drive from Mazatlán to Teacapán is very easy. You take Highway 15  (toll or free road) south through Villa Unión to Escuinapa (88 km from Mazatlán), then turn onto Highway 1 along the coast to Teacapán (another 40 km). The latter highway has its share of potholes. The vista on the journey is excellent. We made a very quick trip, arriving on Sunday afternoon and returning on Monday evening due to the holiday.

The Town
We were told Teacapán has 6000 inhabitants. It lies right on the border between the states of Sinaloa and Nayarit, though it is part of Sinaloa. It is built around a central plaza which has the traditional band stand and a quaint church.

It is right on the coast, but faces a long peninsula that the locals call “el otro lado.” Yes, that’s usually the term used to refer to the United States, “the other side,” but in Teacapán it refers to the “island” (it’s a peninsula but is called isla by the locals) offshore, covered in mangrove trees, the other side of which is supposedly an incredibly gorgeous beach. Trouble is, you need a lllloooooonnnngg drive to get to that beach! There is also a place on the island called “Texas.”

Looking from town, you can see what looks like an inlet/outlet to the ocean, but mostly you look at the calm lago (which is really a 30 mile long estuary) and beyond that the island. Thus, you don’t hear crashing waves as you would on a more usual bay.

The valley is rimmed with mountains, so it’s a very gorgeous view. One of the main mountaintops is said to look like a man’s face. The locals say it looks like George Washington.

Lodging and Food
Our hotel (María Fernanda) was clean, bright, affordable, had two pools and a restaurant, and the shower had hot water. It was located right on the water with beautiful views. There was wireless internet in the lobby but not in the room.

Teacapan, Sinaloa
The town seemed to have very few formal restaurants. We ate in the hotel; there was another restaurant run by a Canadian right next door (Wayne’s), and a family-owned palapa restaurant was just down the malecón. We saw was a cocina económica on the plaza, and various more informal eateries and botaneros on the main road into town.

We ate a wonderful pescado zarandeado for dinner the day we arrived, and there were crab, prawns, and scallops galore. We bought some fresh prawns and crab meat to bring home with us for dinner; yum!

Mangroves and Wildlife
The mangroves of Teacapán are a famous bird watching area, home to 250 species of birds. The Marismas Nacionales are the largest coastal mangrove area on Mexico’s Pacific coast. We saw great herons, and little blue herons, white herons, cranes, lots of osprey, roseated spoonbills, cormorants, a fairly unusual bird called a boot-billed heron (I believe), flycatchers, and a host of other birds big and small, including the usual gulls, pelicans and frigate birds.

(You bird lovers may like to read my “Crane Convention” blog post, which took place in Mazatlán last year.) 

We found a terrific guide, Victor Méndez Denis (tel 695-954-5386). He told us he is licensed by the federal Department of Tourism as an ecotour guide, the only one in town. He has a very nice, clean, covered boat with a very quiet motor that holds about 15 people. When he told us he could talk to the birds we thought he was joking; we laughed and called him Dr. Doolittle. But, indeed, Victor called quite a few birds, and seems quite adept at calling. I’m confident most birders would be thrilled.

He took us on a cruise out to “the other side,” Bird Island and a few other places, and we found him to be very knowledgeable. He explained to us that four out of the seven kinds of mangroves in the world can be found in Teacapan: black, white, red and button. The red mangroves are especially plentiful, extending their roots down into the water to form a “reef” in a very similar manner to the way in which coral grows. This reef teems with wildlife: birds in the tree branches, crabs and all sorts of aquatic animals among the tree roots. We were told there are cayman in the water, but we did see quite a few people snorkeling, either oystering or spearfishing.

In quite a few areas along the “other side,” the island, there are oyster shell mounds, said to be the remains of oysters harvested by native people over 4000 years ago. Some say they are burial grounds. The mounds are extensive.

Teacapan, Sinaloa

Fishing
There are loads of oysters to be found in the fresh water here. They are easy to harvest, too; not like the rock oysters in the ocean off Mazatlán, which require the divers to hammer and chisel. The Teacapán oyster divers that we saw only used their hands. Our guide, Victor, bought 10 kilos of fresh oysters for 150 pesos. Quite a great deal, we thought. He tells us they are much sweeter and better than the rock oysters.

The fishing tours advertise fishing for snook, red snapper, grouper, sea bass, trigger fish, jack crevalle.


Next Time
Next time we go, we’d like to tour the estuary at low tide. Victor told us many of the islands in the estuary actually become connected at low tide, and the birds come out from the mangroves to eat on the sand bars. Would definitely like to see that!

Teacapan, Sinaloa
Would also like to rent a kayak and glide through the mangroves; it would be gorgeous. I’d like to get out to the beach. Seems to me you should be able to take a boat out around the peninsula and access the beach that way, rather than making the long drive. But, as we didn’t do that, I am not sure.

Isla Isabel is a couple of hours boat ride from Teacapán. We could also go from Mazatlán. I have long wanted to go to this national park to see the blue-footed boobies. People call it a miniature Galapagos, nearby here in the Islas Marias. It is one of the main seabird nesting areas in the Pacific, with 92 bird species recorded. There is also good snorkeling. Due to CONANP protection, a visit means you must be accompanied by a licensed guide, and I believe you have to camp if you want to stay overnight.

Favorite Things in Mazatlán

Fresh seafood, of course! Life here means waking up, getting Danny off to school, and walking or biking the malecón (oceanside promenade) with a cooler. We may decide to visit the pescaderos (fishermen) at their pangas (boats) in Playa Norte, or one of the two little pescaderías right across the street, to buy pargo (seabream), lenguado (sole), huachinango (snapper), or maybe sierra (saw fish) for a good ceviche. We can buy enough fish for two meals for US$3.50, or pay a bit more for swordfish or dorado, and significantly less for octopus (sometimes US$1 per kilo!) or squid. We might buy a kilo of fresh prawns for 40 pesos (US$4), or oysters from the ostioneros as they come to shore with their inner tubes and netting (US$4/dozen). We have some great conversation, beautiful views, shop for lunch, and exercise, all at an easy pace and before beginning our work day.

Zarandeado (bbq), al mojo de ajo (garlic sauce), a la parilla (roasted), in ceviche (marinated in lime juice), or raw, Mazatlán’s seafood and seafood sellers have me singing “el gran orgullo de ser de Mazatlán!” (the great pride of being from Mazatlán)
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The Green Man. Yes, he is one of my favorite things here in Mazatlán, along with dozens of other really cool and unique vehicles of all descriptions. The first time we saw him, he was also dressed up all in green and wearing a green helmet with horns, like a Jolly Green Giant version of a Viking. These days he’s added the cart to the back of his bike, and he always has his dog with him.