There is an actual Arts and Entertainment Calendar that lists all of the events to be found in Mazatlan year round.  Click here for the line up over the next few months.  There is something for everyone.

Sadly we are going to be paying much much more for shrimp this season due to a virus from framed shrimp.  However the cost of our fresh from the ocean shrimp will be affected.

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Price of Shrimp Expected to Rise 100 Percent

Armando Castro Real, president of the federation of fishermen cooperatives in Sinaloa, said the price of shrimp will rise 100 percent this season due to several factors.

The main reason for the cost increase is the loss of 50,000 tons of farmed shrimp in northwestern Mexico where a devastating virus hit the industry killing most of this year´s production. In fact, said Castro Real, there is a scarcity of shrimp internationally.

Another reason for the increase is approximately 50 percent of Sinaloa shrimp are exported to the United States where historically high prices are being recorded.

Depending on the size, Castro Real said, shrimp will cost up to 300 pesos per kilo for headless shrimp and 80, 100, 150 and 200 pesos for varying heads-on sizes. (from Noroeste)

 

*******A further update on this shrimp article can be found here.

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The first cruise ship in a few years arrives in Mazatlan on November 12 and the city is sprucing up.  Meanwhile Carnivale is contemplating a return to the Mazatlan port.

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Return of Carnival to Mazatlán Depends on Client Survey

Posted by Maureen Dietrich on 8 Oct 13 in Featured. Sinaloa Secretary of Tourism, Francisco Córdova Celaya, announced yesterday that Carnival cruise line will survey its clients asking if they would be interested in making Mazatlán a port of call.

He told media the survey will take place during November and by the end of the year we will be notified of the results, good or bad. If 51 percent answer yes, the cruise line will return to Mazatlán.

Córdova Celaya advised representatives of Carnival told him if there is no demand for the port, they cannot sell tickets.

With respect to security, the Secretary said Sectur representatives were with Carnival security executives for a week in Mazatlán and the executives were content with security measures, so that is not a problem. (from Noroeste)

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Great news for Stone Island/Isla de la Piedra, the Government ( not sure which one ) has decided to give the Isla some monies with which to create roadways, parks and a community centre for recreation activities and community gatherings.  Meetings are underway.

The red lines show where the new roads will go. They want to start the road out to Chivos first. The community centre would be near the main embarcadero more towards the main waterway. By the way, there was no mention of working on the gravel road onto the Isla for this project.

There has been quite a bit of conflict in the media as to when the Durango Mazatlan highway will open.  This is the latest with an official opening of Oct. 17th.  They did have the actual official opening yesterday.  They say that the price for a vehicle is 400 pesos which I think is very fair.  Of course an RV will be quite a bit more but overall very worth the price when you think of the time you are saving and of course the safety factor.  This will really open up Mazatlan to many more RVers.

If you are looking for some walking maps of Mazatlan click here and scroll down to find a few choices to print out.  You will find lots of other useful information in this online magazine.

Tags: cruise ships, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Mexico, music, shrimp, Stone Island, travel

The first Tuesday after the October long weekend means irrigation blow out. Good to have that chore done. Only $35.00 but well worth it. Mind you if there are broken pipes in the spring they do charge for repairs 😯 But we have a new system so all should be good.

Same day we got our fireplace serviced. We were quoted $90.00 but we charged $168.00!!

Colin has since called them and only got their voicemail.  One addition to the bill was an added $25.00 service call.  Don’t you think that they should have told us that that was part of the quote?  Then they charged us 1.5 hours to do the service.  The owner quoted us the $90.00 ( one hour ) and he knows our fireplace, as he installed it last year.  Two days later they have not returned our phone call!

I have been going crazy, really I have.  I had my eyes checked about Sept. 10th and my eye Rx has changed a tiny bit in the one eye.  So I found a nice new frame and when it came I could not see very well.  My eyes were sore and tearing.  Meanwhile I had ordered another set of new lenses in my old frames.  So my eyes were rechecked and my left eye is different plus the whatever is suppose to be centre at my pupil was off a few degrees.  At no cost to me they sent the new frames for a new set of lenses.  Meanwhile I have been trying to wear my old frames with the first set of new lenses.  I am having eye cramping, tearing and blurred vision.  I seem to go into the clinic at least twice per day for an adjustment.  My new frames with the second of lenses won’t be in until Monday.  There is no way that I will be able to get the lenses in the frame ( my old one ) redone before we leave for Mexico.  So far I have invested $1000.00 and I can’t see.  Great way to start the winter.  This is all making me very cranky, mostly because I can’t see and it is irritating.

I have finished our Costco shopping and the final canned goods shopping at WalMart.  Just one more major shopping to do tomorrow and I am done.  I managed to finish off our last two invoices of the year today.  Colin still has one more large photo shoot to do  but we will edit that job on the Isla and send them an invoice in early April.  I have to close the books for the next several months.

We are getting lots of fog in the early mornings, something I have not seen before.

I love to watch the mist rise off the lake just as the sun comes over the hills.

Tags: 319, Duck Lake, Isla de la Piedra, repairs

Colin is almost caught up with his photoshop but does 3 more photo shoots this week.  It was a glorious long weekend with sun and a bit of heat.  We decided to move the RV out of the storage compound onto our friend’s site just down the street from us.

We got permission to use his site for 2 weeks as this will speed up our packing.

I was in the lead in the golf cart and the girls rode with with Colin.  I think they really thought we were going on a big trip and were disappointed when we stopped in front of our house.  We are lucky that our street ( many in the park are not ) is so wide.

Colin was able to drain the water tank, flush it and fill it with soft water.

Once we moved it onto the RV pad he checked the tire pressures and filled them as needed.  One inside dually was really low.  The jacks are down, slides out, electricity plugged in and the fridge turned on.  Looks like we just might be getting ready to go.  Finally things are starting to come together.

Next we played a trick on a neighbor. He just hates spiders!

He was out for the evening and came home to find spiders everywhere, even in his golf cart.

He doesn’t know who did it yet!  It was all in good fun.  We had about a dozen plastic spiders going up his front steps but I think the big dangling one would had got him as he went in his door.

The girls are loving the sun streaming in through the windows.

Caeli is happy to spend her days snoozing.

But Carmeh moves from bed to sofa to floor and just follows us around the house. She seldom relaxes.

We are all counting down the days till we move into the RV for the next 6 months.

Tags: Funny, The girls, travel

Hi,

Ok this fish thing had me wondering, so I made a call, the Mexican law for beef has been there for years. It is enforced periodically and depends on where and who inspects you, but it is a law no beef products. Poultry and fish can be crossed as long as it is in a sealed package (zip lock, store packaging etc.) If the inspector is trying to confiscate lawful items ask for the list of prohibited items.
Somebody had a salmon dinner at your friends expense. Like I said first time in all my life I heard about Fish being confiscated.

So don’t worry about your salmon but not so sure about your beef.

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Another friend mentioned this link to some things happening in Mazatlan.  An interesting read on things happening there.  And then there is the shrimp season, well under way now.

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Shrimp season for Pacific Ocean opens

Posted by Murry Page on 14 Sep 13 in Latest News

Beginning at midnight Saturday, September 15^th, the 2013-2014 shrimp season for the coastal marine waters of the Pacific Ocean from México’s border with the United States to the border with the Republic of Guatemala, including the Gulf of California, begins.

According to the National Commission of Aquaculture and Fisheries, 902 shrimp trawlers will make up this year’s shrimp fleet. Ricardo Michel Luna, president of the Union Pacific Coastal Ship-owners, said that 530 of those shrimp boats call Mazatlán their home with a total crew of about 4,200 fishermen.

Early projections are estimating a lower catch than that of the 2012-2013 season.

(from El Sol de Mazatlán)

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Taken a few weeks ago right in front of Tres Amigos RV Park on the Isla. They counted 21 shrimp boats. Thanks John and Deb for the photo.

Many of you are coming to Mazatlan for the first time.  Actually some of you who have been coming for years might not know about this self guided tour, it is something to be enjoyed by first timers or old timers. We have never done it as created by Sheila, just bits here and there and look forward to walking in her footsteps.  It was created by Sheila Madsen who is the publisher of Mazatlan Life, the online magazine of all you need to know about the que pasa in Mazatlan.

I finally found the perfect weather forecast for Isla de la Piedra.

Enjoy!  Everything is looking better day by day.

Almost forgot this one…..just discovered this site.  An English up to date of what’s happening in Mazatlan.  I have book marked this one.

Another addition, the new Baluarte Bridge between Durango and Mazatlan complete with a short English video and a longer Spanish video.

Looks like this post will keep you busy at your computer for a bit.

Tags: Mazatlan, Mexico, music, travel, US/Mexico border, weather

In the USA, Thanksgiving is a day and an event. It is the beginning of the Holiday Season complete with Christmas decorations.  Here in Canada it is a long weekend.  You will see many potted gold colored chrysanthemums and orange pumpkins decorating the fronts of homes.  There is the smell of burning leaves in the air.   Some travel to visit family and get together for a special meal.  Most stay home and get together with friends and family once over the weekend and not on any special day.  Many use the time to clean up their yards for the winter, go for a final camping trip of the year, run in a marathon ( like we had here this weekend ) or just stay home and relax in front of a fire.

We have been blessed with nice temperatures and clear skies and a wonderful display of hues by Mother Nature.

For us it is a busy working weekend.  We should be getting the RV ready for travel, hey we leave two weeks from today  :-D, but instead we are at our desks.  For me, just 8 hours or so but for Colin many more hours per day and well into the wee hours of the morning.  The Tommie Award entry deadline is Tuesday at noon, the day after this glorious weekend.  We are fielding phone calls from clients who have decided to enter a home, or a kitchen or a renovation project.  People do like to wait until the last minute.  It happens year after year.  So we don’t have a special dinner with friends or family, we manage with take out.  It was a treat to get out and do that walk yesterday.

Even our own Tommie entry is not quite ready.  When I was putting the photos together with the write up something just didn’t seem right.  So last night we had to retake one of the photos for master suite.  The writer had referred to our banks of windows in the bedroom but in all of the photos we had the blinds down.  We are perfectionists, not just for our entries but all of our clients as well.  Once the Tommie deadline passes we then have lots of other photography work to keep us busy until D Day.  Our clients know our departure day and expect us to do our thing before we go but then they do wait for us to return the end of April.  Very nice of them.

Colin surprised me with two dozen peach roses for Thanksgiving. Very sweet.

I think we will likely celebrate Thanksgiving US style on November 28th.  We will be all relaxed and settled on the Isla by then. Actually once we are settled, every day is a holiday there.

I noticed a few days ago, that the geese are gone. They left ahead of us. Just a few ducks left floating around now.

Tags: CJPS, Duck Lake, Isla de la Piedra, Tommie awards, travel