Cover0416It’s nearing 80-wonderful-degrees here in Rocky Point today. Technically it is Spring, but it feels like wonderful summer. Ah, it must be May? Nope, it’s only April – even better! Spring Break and Semana Santa are behind us and we now look forward to summer and Memorial Day. Lots of activities start to happen all around town and it’s just the perfect time of year to visit Puerto Peñasco. There is definitely no better way to get your daily dose of Vitamin D!

Weekly rumors about the Home Port have been going on since its inception, with most of them being false. For months and months work has continued, contrary to rumors that say it had stopped. Well, now it has stopped. We have to remember that there is always some chaos when one regime leaves office and the next one takes over. Our Home Port is way too important to this town, the State of Sonora and even the country to just stop and leave us with a jetty. Give our newly elected Presidente Ernesto “Kiko” Munro and his team some time to get settled and work some issues out and no doubt we will begin to see work on the Home Port start back up. We all know the Home Port will happen, we just don’t know when.

While the Port is on hold, Presidente Munro is not sitting idle and is kicking butt on making Rocky Point a better place to visit by creating the Puerto Peñasco Tourism Auxiliary Unit. No doubt you’ve already heard of this team, seen them or even read about them. This new Unit is a few months old with their office being next door to the Convention Center. You will see them out patrolling the beach and other tourist areas in their khaki’s and white shirts. They are there to help you, keep you safe, and let you know if you are doing something illegal (or stupid) and to stop that behavior. Hopefully this will cut down on a lot of the bogus speeding fines and running of invisible stop signs. Warnings will be given, not fines. If this Unit works out it will be a major boon for the city. It’s always nice to have someone on your side in a foreign country.

No doubt a lot of you are making – or plan on making – reservations for your condo, hotel or resort. Now that the town is so big, with so many rental choices, you have to be very careful that you are not being scammed when you book online. It was brought to my attention that scammers are taking popular websites, stealing the photos and information and creating a bogus site from which they can steal your credit card and personal information. Most of you probably have places you trust to book through but since we get new readers/visitors every month I thought it was worth a mention. If you are sent an email (which is usually the way scammers solicit), enter the company name into Google before you open any links. Check the spelling down to the letter and pay attention to the language. If you are ever unsure then shoot us an email or call us and we’ll help you out. Facebook is always a way to get a pretty immediate answer to your question.

Well, on a more positive note…the town is really shaping up. Take a leisurely drive around the different barrios (neighborhoods/areas) and notice how much better everything is looking. In a couple years Rocky Point will be unrecognizable.

We kick April off with the annual Pirate and Mermaid Extravaganza in the Shrimp Plaza (at the corner of Fremont and Benito Juarez) on April 2nd. Fill your bellies with authentic southern food and your ears with Zydeco music. Lots of drinks and arts and crafts and you can even dress up and enter the costume contest. It’s free and open to everyone. And we round off the end of the month with Fleet 66 Cinco de Mayo Regatta at Playa Bonita on Sandy Beach. It’s a great sight to see all of those brightly colored Hobie Cats out in the water. Watch our Facebook page for more events and check out the Events Section in this issue.

The whales have gone, but the dolphins, sea lions and killer sunsets are still here so hurry up and get down here to Rocky Point. If you haven’t taken a trip to Bird Island you MUST put it on your Summer Bucket List. It is truly an awesome experience. See you soon!

I just saw on Forbes.com that, “KemperSports, a golf course management company, is rewarding every ace made at its approximately 120 participating properties with a free 8 day, 7 night stay for 2 at one of the Mayan Resorts in Puerto Peñasco or Nuevo Vallarta.” And of course you want to come to Puerto Peñasco!