Beach Shopping

Arizona Desert to Puerto Penasco, Mexico in 4 Minutes

Experience the road trip from Arizona Organ Pipe National Monument to Puerto Penasco, Rocky Point, Mexico.

Background music entitled Wild at Heart is composed by Daniel Gautreau and used under license by shockwave-sound.com. Please see cue sheet below.

Cue Sheet
Track title: Wild At Heart
Composer: Daniel Alan Gautreau (PRS ‐ CAE#: 522812772)
Publisher: Lynne Publishing (PRS ‐ CAE#: 541626758)

Rocky Point Parasailing

Experience the thrill of parasailing in Puerto Penasco, Mexico with Rocky Point Parasailing

Igor Garcia - Oaxacan Artist

Igor Garica is a local Puerto Penasco Oaxacan Artist. He can be found on Sandy Beach, Puerto Penasco, Mexico

Shirmp Fest 2009

Shrimp Fest 2009, Rocky Point, Mexico

Coffee Haus Rocky Point Mexico

Our favorite restaurant for breakfast in rocky point, Mexicol

Will Return To RP

Well it never fails that after all of my glowing recommendation to visit RP a visitor has a not-so-good experience. Let's see what else can go wrong:

Food poisoning
Cable in Hotel does not work
Pool is not heated
Approached by drug dealer selling drugs
Federal Police out in force with Big Guns
Saw dead sea lion on beach

And yet after all that - with a 2 year old mind you - the family still had a great time in Puerto Penasco and intend to return - because of the fantastic view and hospitality of the people.

Kyle

Mexicare: $250 a year covers it all

Mexicare: $250 a year covers it all

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Water Safety update

The little boy 5 years old passed away.

Resorts and Water Safety

We had a very tragic experience last night at Las Palomas Resort in Rocky Point. A little boy almost drown in the phase two pool at dinner time. He was underwater for a considerable amount of time. My father was passing through the pool area and a group of people were standing around the boy. My father went over to see if he could help. People were working on trying to revive him. Then two doctors that were staying at the resort came over and started performing CPR. Paramedics were there in a short amount of time and finally took him to the hospital. My father was extremely traumatized by what he witnessed. He came back to the table and began to cry. I am 42 years old and have never once seen my father cry.

I tell this story because I can not emphasize enough that even when you as the parent are at a resort you can not let your guard down when it comes to your child's safety. We live in Phoenix with a high number of pools in the back yard of homes. Every year there are safety reminders in the media and medical profession regarding pool safety, children around water and the need for children to learn to swim. Just because you are at a resort with a lot of people enjoying the pool and ocean does not mean you let your guard down for even one moment. A child can slip into the water in a spilt second. I do pray that that little guy will be alright.

Kyle

Check Point into Mexico

Well, finally, the U.S. Government has decided to start checking vehicals on the way out to Mexico at the U.S. Border. It's about time. I've been saying all along that to help stop the exportation of gun to Mexico, customs should check people leaving the U.S. via road to Mexico. Just this month we have been stop twice by U.S. customs on our way to Mexico at the Lukevillie border in Arizona. They basicly ask if we are carrying guns or more than 10,000 dollars in cash. This is a good thing. It helps to reduce the gun trafficing and violence in Mexico.

Kyle Wood
www,puertopenascoliving.com

Sea Lice

Ok another story on ocean wild life. The whole family traveled to RP over memorial weekend. All of us swam in the ocean. My wife stephanie, come up to the room too change out of her bathing suit, and she finds that she has this bright red bumps on both of her breasts. She is freaking out obviously at this point and is visabily upset. Upon our return to the states she sees a demitoligest who identifies the red bumps as jelly fish larve.

Turns out that for a few weeks leading up to jelly fish season, jelly fish larve form. Their small microspocpic cells. The cells contain the same venoum as the adult jelly fish. When the cells get stuck between your suit and skin the you end up with the red bumps.

The dermitologs gave steph some lotion and medication to help reduce the inflimation.

Check this site out it gives you some more detail on "sea lice"

A Perspective on Mexico Travel

By Grant and Judy Mackenzie, Sr.
May 26th, 2009

Sometimes we all need to be reminded to put things in perspective. It happens all the time, something may seem earth shattering in the moment it is occurring and when we have the ability to  stop and look back we think well…maybe we over reacted. Perhaps that's what is happening right now when it comes to Mexico travel and tourism.  

Puerto Penasco Mexico is a beautiful destination 60 miles south of the Arizona border. A quiet little beach town with a population over 50,000(see Wikipedia info) it has had little violent crime and offers beachside relaxation and fishing on the beautiful Sea of Cortez.

It is not close to Mexico City. The capital of Mexico has a population exceeding 22 million people, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the second largest in the world by population according to the United Nations and other organizations.

In fact Puerto Penasco is only 215 miles from Phoenix, Arizona the 5th largest city in the United States. Phoenix is 1,998 miles from Washington DC the capital of the United States and Puerto Penasco is less than 2000 miles from the capital Mexico City. This quiet little seaport town is no closer to the capital of their state capital than Phoenix is to Washington D.C.

Think about it if something happens in Washington DC with violence or murders or swine flu, do we close the borders of the United States? It is our capital, just like Mexico City is Mexico’s capital. When the sniper attacks occurred in the DC suburban area did we close the United States down and send warnings not to visit the US? Certainly no one would have thought to announce any warnings about Phoenix with issues happening in DC? Do other countries close their borders from the US and cancel their trips to all of the United States when something concerning happens in our capital?

Or let us use a smaller more comparable town to Puerto Penasco, Mexico. For this example, how about Show Low, Arizona, a beautiful mountain town with some of the largest Ponderosa Pines in the world and great skiing. Definitely smaller population then Puerto Penasco but a unique tourist destination similar to Rocky Point. So, if we hear about something happening in Show Low will we avoid the entire US or Arizona? For that matter will we cancel our trips to Show Low? Of course not, that sounds ridiculous. Well, then why are we cancelling our beach vacations to Mexico?

In March 2009, a shoot out occurred in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Show Low, Arizona ( see article on murders) . The murders happened right around spring break time and Show Low, Arizona with its rugged high elevation and beautiful mountains is a Spring Break skiing destination…why didn’t universities issue warning about going to Show Low?

Because sometimes bad things happen no matter where you are at in the world.  People get the flu, a horrific shoot out happens at a Wal Mart in a small town, and someone shoots a man on the freeway in Phoenix. Horrible bad things happen in small and large towns every day. Do we stop traveling and stay at home? Of course not. Let’s get some reality.

Perhaps, before you cancel your trips to Mexico, you should understand where you are going and what happens in your own neighborhood and put things in perspective. Think about the 36,000 cases of flu last year in the United States.

As of today, unlike Phoenix, Arizona, there has not been one report of H1N1 previously known as swine flu in the town of Puerto Penasco or the state of Sonora.

What does this mean to you?
 
Plan a weekend road trip to Rocky Point. Go to a laid back place where you can have lunch with the sound of the waves and sit on a blanket under clear skies with millions of stars. Go have some fun in the sun without any smog and clear air.

Go jet skiing, parasailing, swimming, beachcombing, have some margaritas and eat a few yummy tacos. Just returning from a long weekend in Puerto Penasco, the weather was fantastic and the water is at a perfect temperature. The business owners are waiting for you ready to ensure you have a great vacation and hoping tourism picks up, I guarantee you will get spectacular service!

The weather is beautiful, wish you were here!
See you soon! 
Judy and Grant
www.ourrockypointrealtor.com

Pelicans at Aqui es con Flavio

My wife and I had lunch at the Aqui es con Flavio in the old port. Nice restaurant on the inlet to the puerto penasco porte with a spectacular view of the Sea of Cortez and the resorts of Sandy Beach.

Our friend above was literally 2 feet from us. Very beautiful bird with a long beak and share short teeth running up and down the length. Not afraid of human in the least. The waiter tried a couple of time to shoe him off. He finally had to push the bird off the rail.

Very exciting for the customers. We had people two rows deep around our table, taking photo graphs and feeding the bird. This was in-spite of the big sign on the wall asking “Please, don’t fee the birds.” Oh well, it was very exciting.

Stung by Sting Ray

My wife and I had arrived in RP around 11:00 am Saturday May 30th 2008. Beautiful day!. We were both looking forward to a relaxing weekend on the beach in front of Las Palomas where we own a condo. Around 2:00, after a few drinks, we built up the courage to go parasailing. Upon our return, the tide was very low, the boat dropped us off as close to shore as possible. I jump into the water - knee high, took a few steps and boom - the pain was horrible. First I thought I had cut my foot on the submerged rocks, then I though maybe a jelly fish had stung me. I booked it back to my lounge chair on the beach, sat down to investigate the damage to my foot - blood was gushing out and the pain had intensified - worst pain I have ever felt - excruciating pain. By looking at the entry wound I guessed it was a Stingray.

Within a few minutes the Las Palomas security showed up and they called the paramedics. The paramedics were there in about 5 minutes. Very professional. Knew exactly what to do. They clean the wound, told me to let it bleed, applied iodine as a disinfectant and shot my foot with Novocain to reduce the pain.

My wife and I were aware of possibility of sting ray stings and jelly fish stings. We had prepared a first aid kit - as a just in case necessity. We had the instructions on how to care for the wound and what to expect.

Upon return to our condo, I soaked my foot in hot water - very hot - as hot as I could stand for 90 minutes. This worked beautifully - much better than the Novocain. During that time the wound bleed. I changed the water several times.

After the soak the bleeding subsided, I applied a topical antibiotic and a gauze bandage- which had to be change a few time during the night.

The wound seemed to be healing well for 5 days but on the sixth it started to reddened and became swollen. A trip to the urgent care on sunday confirmed it had become infected.

I had an xray taken - as recommended - no barb had been left in my foot.

I am thankful that I was the first to have been stung in our family. I would not of wanted my daughter and wife or parents to have the first experience with the sting. It was very, very painful. Now we now what to expect.

I highly recommend that you prepare a first ad kit to include treatment instructions, topical antibiotics, gauze, and fabric bandages. I found the fabric bandages work the best. I also recommend having a list of recommended doctors in Rocky Point - this is one list we did not have, and it would have come in useful. Third, I recommend that you visit your personal doctor immediately after returning to the states and request an xray to be sure no barb or venom sack was left in the wound. Lastly, watch out for signs of infection. Saltwater marine life do harbor harmful bacteria that can cause serious infections.

So that’s my story - by the way the Parasailing trip was wonderful.

Memorial Day Weekend

Hey all - Can't wait until the Memorial Day weekend. The entire family is going. 9 in all. We are renting an additional condo at Las Palomas. If you haven't done so already check out our web site. We are always adding additional reviews of resorts, dining spots and interviews. I'm going to be adding some old post to our new blog site. One of the post covers my encounter with a sting ray. Not pleasant! Stay tuned.

Thanks
Kyle and Steph
www.puertopenascoliving.com

Swine Flu

Seems like it's one thing after another. First it was the financial crisis, then it was the drug violence, then it was the swine flu. I feel like turing into a swine. Now its a shoot out in Puerto Penaso. If this were to happen in the state it would be a non issue. But that it happens in Mexico, watch out.... Do not travel,,,, according to the U.S. Media.

Yes, other part of Mexico may have there problems, but Rocky point has remained relatively immune. It's a wonderful community.

Kyle
www.puertopenascoliving.com

Swine Flu

I can't tell you how many of our friends have asked us about Mexico and the Swine Flu. "Are you staying away?", "You're not going to Mexico this weekend, are you?"..... Well, I appreciate the concern, but the concern is overblown. It's not like you cross the border and you contract the swine flu. More people have died from "the flu" than "the swine flu". I joked with a friend the other day that both my wife and I turned into a swine. The email I received back was of great concern for us, which I appreciated. I guess the joke for my attempt at humor that didn't go over well. My friend was truly concerned for us. Rocky Point is not near the epicenter of the outbreak, although I'm sure there is always a possibility that one could contract the swine flu, I'm not going to let that possibility get in our way of enjoying the resort and our lifestyle in Mexico.

www.puertopenascoliving.com

Kyle

Traveling to Rock Point and Back

Steph and I just return from Rocky Point this weekend. Had an experience I wanted to share. This weekend Rocky Point played host to the 3rd annual Las Palomas Rocky Point Triathlon. Everyone had a great time. With all of the negative press in the states of travel in Mexico, I wanted to let everyone know we had no problems what so ever traveling in Mexico. No problems in Sonoyta, no problems driving between Sonoyta and Rocky Point and no problem in Rocky Point. We did however have an issue coming back to the states at U.S. Customs in Lukeville.

We brought some friends with us and their children. The two adults did not have passports. Rarely do they travel abroad, and our trip to RP was on short notice. Well, the U.S. Customs agent was not too pleased when my friend handed over his birth certificate and AZ drivers licensed - both acceptable forms of identification until June 1st. Now from what I understand U.S. Passport are not required until June 1, 2009. So we expected no problems crossing the border. Well the border agent ask questions like, why don't you have a passport, you're a New Yorker you should know better, etc..... In my opinion there was no reason for this. All we should have recieved was a polite reminder that we would need our passports come June 1st.

Anyway, with that said, I am grateful for the work the agents do. Just a reminder that you will need your passport - no exceptions. Oh and our guy that didn't have his passport is now known as the mango man.

www.puertopenascoliving.com
Kyle