Manzanillo, Mexico, to be precise. (Click here for satellite view.)
After the conference in Panama, and before the visit to Hong Kong, Fredrik (our global sales manager - from Sweden) and I visited an "old friend" (and potential customer) in Manzanillo. (This was just a few days before the family gathered in Hawai’i for Thanksgiving.)
The customer reserved rooms for us at the Camino Real Hotel. A bit more of a vacation resort than a business hotel, but I wasn’t complaining (the "rooms" were like apartments, each with a full kitchen, two bedrooms, two baths, and a living/dining room…)
Looking out toward the ocean from the lobby…
Looking inland. (A "panorama" picture - two pix stitched together. Click on the picture to see it in its true glory…)
Looking out the sliding door to my balcony, through the acid-etched hotel logo. (Pretending to be "arty". I know… don’t quit my day job…)
Between the meetings with the customer in the morning/early afternoon and dinner with the customer in the evening, I took about an hour to walk up and down the beach.
This gentleman was using a net to fish in the fresh-water river flowing into the ocean.
Unknown type of flower. Perhaps Mimosa pudica (AKA sensitive plant) or closely related plant (apparently there are a LOT of varieties of mimosa…) If I had any suspicion of the ID at the time, I could’ve tried to see if the leaves closed at the touch, but…
Near where the river flowed into the sea were some rough rocks. Good place to look for critters… (I like this picture - click on it to see the detail…) (Or don’t…)
This anemone was exposed to the air every time the waves receded. Seems risky for a sea critter…
I wish I could get more identification, but I can’t. Fail. (I DO like the picture, though, even if the focus is less than perfect. You wouldn’t believe how many times I tried to take this picture. I made the camera focus on my foot at approximately the same distance as the anemone in a weak attempt to force the auto-focus to get the right focal depth. Process: foot on the nearby rock - click halfway to get focus - turn slightly to frame the anemone - wait for waves to cooperate - get splashed and pull camera away to avoid getting soaked - start over…)
Being paper thin helps when you’re trying to squeeze into a crack in the rock to hide from some big dude with a camera trying get a close-up…
Seems to be a Grapsus grapsus (AKA Sally lightfoot crab), maybe a juvenile (the adults are more brightly colored?) I can’t find any good identification websites. Can’t even determine if this type of crab is even found on the Pacific coast of Mexico…
Some of the pictures of the Grapsus tenuicrustatus (AKA Natal lightfoot crab) seem to match, but it doesn’t seem to live in the Americas at all…
I’m sure it is in the grapsus genus…
Another one - equally unsure of my intentions…
Apparently the guy fishing in the river didn’t have much luck and he decided to cast his net in the salty bit…
Extreme closeup! Depth of field with NO part of the moth truly in focus! Dang this auto-focus crap…
I tried to finagle a trip back to Manzanillo next week (I’ll be in Houston and it is a direct flight). I would like to get more information on the existing cranes (I didn’t have enough time crawling around during the above visit), but the customer thought it was a bit premature.
Too bad - I’d love to see if there is a good snorkeling spot or two nearby…
I think that the mimosa is a mimosa, as well. And did the paper crabs taste like paper? Just wondering.
-CyberDave
Comment by CyberDave — 9 March 08 @ 10:26 am
I’ll check to see if I can take some great photos on my next business trip to Danville, Lynchburg or Richmond. I wonder if there will be any good snorkling there. No wait… Crap.
Comment by Kel — 9 March 08 @ 9:12 pm