Ellen

I dove or snorkeled all of the  Bays of Huatulco and found Conus princeps,
C. purpurascens, C. gladiator and Cypraea robertsi under/on rocks
everywhere.  Murex princeps, brassica and regius in deeper water among the
rocks and coral.  On the flats I found Strombus peruvianus, Gem
Homalocantha oxycantha, Bursa corrugata and a couple of Pleuroploca
princeps which I brought up to show my 9 year old boy.  The animal is a
beautiful red/purple with spots of blue, I put these back as they were too
beautiful to even think of collecting.  I also collected a Gem Muricanthus
ambiguus, these I have only collected in Baja but it definitely was M.
ambiguus and not M. radix or M. callidindus.
  I did not collect in Puerto Escondido or Puerto Angel as the surf was
huge and they were not even letting the surfers in the water.  These
beaches my be good for beach collecting as a lot of material must be washed
up on the beach.  Everywhere the shops have shells for sale also, mostly
deep water stuff from Veracruz like Turbinella angulata and Strombus
gigas.  Once in a while you might find some local shells but condition was
not good.
Huatulco was a wonderful place, super clean for the tourists.  Puerto Angel
and Puerto Escondido were typical Mexico but the ocean and beaches were great.
I hope this helps

Cheers

Rick




At 11:30 AM 1/4/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 1/4/02 11:49:05 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
><< Ellen
>
>Are they divers?  I just came back from Huatulco where the diving and
>snorkeling was great for shells.
>
>Rick >>
>
>They snorkel, but they don't dive. And they are traveling with their five
>year old son, Lucas, (Who spent several months when he was just one with them
>at a jungle dig in Belize. The kid gets around!) So I imagine that they will
>spend a little time snorkeling and more time beachcombing and poking around
>in tidepools and turning over rocks.
>
>Linda says the spots that have been recommended to  her for shells are the
>big surf beaches where Lucas can't swim safely, though they might well visit
>them anyway to watch the surfers.
>
>What did you find in Huatulco?