I especially liked the Guaymas  pictures. I was in San Carlos last week
and water was clear and warm and just right for snorkeling. I found
lots of octopus middens this trip and found quite a few goodies that
way. I did have to wrestle the octopus for a few of them...

I can vouch for the huge dumps of pink murex by the beach. On the next
beach north from the Catch-22 beach is a fishing village. Very poor
people, no electricity or water and most of the homes are shacks about
the size of my chicken house.

Once we got past the village, we noticed a large shell dump off in the
brush. Thousands of pink murex. Most of the meat was gone, except the
livers and they were rank (it had been raining hard) and drippy and as
full of maggots and other wigglies as Oogey Boogey. It took a bit of
resolve to get in there and grab some. Ugh. I though of the scallop
dump stories and thought to myself, "Would Jim Cordy be put off by a
bit of a smell and a few bugs? I think not!" So I gritted my teeth,
held my nose, keep an eye out for the more dangerous sorts of creepy
crawlies, and in I went.

I now have a whole (lidded) bucket of the pink stinkers in the garage
that I need to clean. Ah, shelling with a pick-up truck, it's the only
way! Granted, with all the coolers in the back we always get pulled
aside for inspection by US Customs in Nogales. But the officers are
very nice and after they lift a lid or two, blink back the tears from
the fumes, and learn we are shellers, they let us go on our merry way.

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