Bienvenidos a Junio! Mexico will have elected a new president, Puerto Peñasco a new mayor, Circus Mexicus will be celebrating their 25th Anniversary and have you heard??? La Cava Boutique de Vinos (and wine tasting room) is open!! How exciting is all of that, but especially La Cava? My partner in crime, Mary Snyder of Encantame Towers, and I went for a wine tasting and stayed for a whole bottle. We stayed so long that The Witt’s and the Las Palomas team crashed our party and we all kept Fabiola and John Hibbert and Fabiola’s sister Yurema at work much longer than they anticipated. Excellent experience and another fun thing to do in Peñasco. After wine tasting and charcuterie we walked across the street and had an excellent dinner at Garufa Steakhouse. Be sure to read ‘Grape News’ in this edition and look for more information next month when I’ll tell you about the delicious espresso infused balsamic (Mary preferred the fig) I purchased as well as the dark chocolate bar with Pop Rocks candy and a very nice Malbec from Xecue! Hopefully I will have a few more tastings under my belt by then as they feature a different winery every week.

We were still fairly slow, tourism wise last month though we did pick up toward the end of the month and then Memorial Day Weekend gave us a good bump. The border shut down last December and all that went with it still seems to have people a little freaked out. But Peñasco is still the same. It’s still safe to drive down, safe to travel around town in taxis or in your own vehicle and we still have lots of inexpensive places to eat, drink and tons of free activities and very inexpensive ones too. Sonoyta even widened the lanes heading up to the border and the border is open every Friday until 10PM!

Well, I said I would give an update about my Sea of Cortez cruise and, well, it is to be continued…

We did have more than a “3-hour tour” by about 23 hours and most of that was waiting for a shrimp boat to come to us back to port. I had a great time and even experienced a couple “firsts” … first time being on a boat that was towed back into port by a shrimp boat (and I do have lots of boat stories) … and first time keeping my YETI, a handle of Tito’s, a jar of garlic and jalapeño stuffed olives and a can of ZingZang corralled and butter side up on the bar top while the boat was rocking like an old school waterbed that all your friends just jumped on … yeah, pretty proud of that one. Stuff happened and we had an issue (at night) that couldn’t be fixed at sea, though they did try, so we didn’t make it very far offshore. The weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining and I don’t get sea sick, so I was golden – hence the Bloody Mary (it’ll make more sense when you hear the whole story…wine was the night before). We are getting a do-over so some of us who are available will be heading out again at the end of this month for Sea of Cortez Cruise II. Can’t wait to see what adventures await us!

Congratulations to Encantame Resorts who are killing it out there on Playa Encanto. Soleil is going up quickly, new features and the Encantame Estates are coming along, and they just opened their Blue Harbor Convenience Store over Memorial Day Weekend. It will be a great addition so that visitors and owners can grab a quick snack or things they may’ve forgotten if they don’t want to drive into town. If you haven’t been to eat at Santo Coyote, I highly recommend it – and they have the only Starbucks in town too!

Now for some not so pleasant news that only affects us dog owners, so if you don’t bring your dog to Puerto Peñasco with you, lick your finger, flip to the next page and continue reading The Rocky Point Times Newspaper and we hope to see you at the beach soon!

Now, for us dog owners that travel to/from Mexico with our mutts, the CDC released some new guidelines that we will have to follow as of August 2024. I read the press release and reread it and then read it again and thought “the internet” was misreading it and spreading stupidity as they so often do, so I called the CDC a couple of times as well as the FDA dept. at the Lukeville Port of Entry and my U.S. veterinarian. None unfortunately were any help; the CDC read directly from their website (thanks x2); the FDA dept. said they did not have any instructions as of my phone call; and my vet said they follow the USDA rabies guidelines not CDC guidelines. So, the new CDC guidelines are aimed at countries where rabies is high risk and Mexico is not one of those countries and you can also tell it’s clearly aimed at breeders so that’s where my confusion came into play – plus all the links and forms and, well, ugh. You can read the guidelines for yourself here: https://www.cdc.gov/importation/bringing-an-animal-into-the-united-states/dogs-entering-us-after-august-1.html.

Requirements for ALL DOGS

All dogs must:

  • Be at least 6 months of age at time of entry or return to the United States
  • Have an implanted International Organization for Standardization (ISO)-compatible microchip
    • This must have been implanted prior to any required rabies vaccination
    • The microchip number must be documented on all required forms and in all accompanying veterinary records
  • Appear healthy upon arrival
  • Have a CDC Dog Import Form receipt
  • Have additional documentation which varies depending on where the dog has been in the 6 months before entering or returning to the United States, or if the dog has a current rabies vaccine administered in the United States.

I’ve condensed it to these bullet points because when you click on any link (you’ll see when you read the site) that may pertain to our situation, the first bullet point is … “Must Meet all requirements in the “All Dogs” section”. So, if your dog does not have a microchip, as mine does not, and is not due for a rabies vaccination as mine is not, you must go get your dog revaccinated and the chip implanted prior to the vaccination. AND your dog MUST have a CDC Certificate of U.S. Issued Rabies Vaccination form that is generated by an USDA accredited veterinarian and endorsed by the USDA. Any rabies vaccinations that are certified via this form must be performed by a USDA accredited veterinarian or a veterinarian within that veterinarian’s practice; most rabies vaccines are not administered by a USDA veterinarian, nor is it noted on a rabies certificate. Such a giant pain and more b.s. bureaucracy that will bog down the USDA and I’m sure CBP has more important things to do than check that our mutts have ALL of their proper forms and certificates. UGH! If I am wrong, or you have other information, please do share. I didn’t even have time to reach out to my vets in Peñasco to see what they know, though Alicia did call, and some do have microchips, but I can’t even expound on that as I’m not sure what the CDC rules are for dogs that have been vaccinated and microchipped in Mexico. Like I said, I’m still calling and digging so that we are sure to give you accurate and lawful information.

Ending on a fun note … the weather has been beautiful so hopefully we’ll have a great June and perfect weather for Circus Mexicus. Stop by Pane e Vino to enjoy some excellent food and beautiful views and wish them a Happy 13th Anniversary on the 29th.

Happy Father’s Day to all…see you at the beach!