San Carlos, New Years with Family

The other half of our party arrived (Sarah, Waseem, Barbie, Violet, and Ocean)! I was looking forward to ringing in a new year in Mexico with the family. We moved from condo A to condo B (La Posada to Bahia Delfin). This was a really cool location to because it shared the same beach that we kayaked at the nature park days before! So pretty!

The days were warmer, in the 70's. The kids spent a lot more time in the water playing!
Great cousin time! We all enjoyed each other's company.

Play. Pause. Play ...... repeat!

One of the activities we had planned before we departed Nevada for this trip was the possibility of riding horses on the beach. New year, new experience. We discovered the horseback riding service "El Rancho Del Desierto." The owner was a really friendly lady from Switzerland. We were introduced to 5 horses named Ziggy, Tequila, Temblor, Frijol, and Zorro. From there we would make different tracks in the sand  :)

Our days on the Mexico beach were now numbered. We got to witness a probably once-in-a-lifetime (National Geographic) moment of a sea-turtle hatchling make its challenging, exhausting, incredible journey from sandy beach to ocean waves! Pinch me.

Sarah was behind the camera on these shots :)
Happy 2020! 

It felt good to have a San Carlos reunion after 16 years post honeymoon :)
These photos were made possible by Willow's finger on the camera button.

We departed in the early morning. But not before we watched dolphins swimming from the beach.  Our trip here was a great balance of doing activities and doing nothing. I am grateful. 

San Carlos, Hiking and Kayaking

There has been a prominent feature in most of my photos. A mountain called "Tetakawi." I read online that there is a trail that takes you to the top where you can be rewarded with 360 degree views of San Carlos. Intriguing! After looking at that mountain for days, we decided perhaps we should hike it. It was 2 miles one way, but we took our time because it was strenuous and quite frankly dangerously steep in parts. The trail, nearing the top, included a rope-assist section. We saw only half a dozen other people on the trail.

Blooms and color in December brings me joy!

We were gaining elevation and the views were getting more interesting :)
This is a view of Los Algodones beach where we played on the sand dune with the aggressive seagulls.

View from the top, looking down at San Carlos.....

We sat down and took a breather and enjoyed the reward of our effort....

Our peek from "Tetakawi" Peak! 360 degree views of San Carlos.
Where the desert meets the sea. Beautiful.

On one of our days of exploration we found a really cool area to flip rocks and check out the critters near a town called Las Tinajas. There was plenty to see where we were staying at our condo too.

One of the tourist attraction sites is a nature park/preserve called "El Soldado." We took a guided kayaking tour in shallow waters through mangroves. A great place to bird-watch of course!

Miles of seashells like a path before us.