For many of you who have been regular readers of this Blog
over the past years, you know that one of my favorite things to do here in
Loreto Bay has always been walking on the Beach at sunrise, and since I have
not written a "Beach Blog" so far this Season I thought I would do so
again this week.
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| (Satellite image from Wunderground.com) |
Friday morning I did not have to go into the Office, so a
little before 7:00 am. I pulled on a pair of sweat pants, a T-shirt and a sweat
shirt and grabbed my camera. But, as I
walked through my Courtyard between the bedroom and living room, I realized
that it was noticeably milder than it had been just a couple of weeks ago (see
"Winter Weather comes to Loreto . . . maybe") and so I got rid of the
sweat shirt and headed for the beach. As
I walked the 150 yards from my home to the beach I saw that the pre-dawn sky
was uncharacteristically overcast (Loreto being blessed with well over 300
sunny days a year) and so I was interested to see what color would be in the
sky as the sun rose behind the clouds.
Before I continue, it may be worth noting that my attitude
towards an occasional cloudy day here is perhaps different than that of someone
who is only visiting, as opposed to those of us who live here half the year or
more. While I too relish the typical
azure blue skies and almost perpetual sunshine that this part of the world is
blessed with on an almost daily basis, the occasional cloudy day is somewhat of
a novelty that I appreciate in its own right.
Arriving on the Beach, I looked toward Punta Nopolo (Nopolo
Point) that marks the south end of the crescent shoreline where Loreto Bay is
situated, behind which the sun rises at this time of year and the cloud covered
sky there was filled with color reflecting the rosy light from the sun that was
still below the horizon. (At this point,
I feel the need to apologize that whatever my modest photographic skills, they
cannot do fair justice to a scene like this, but I do not know of a lens or a
setting that would properly convey the full effect of what I saw with my eyes.)
On my many morning beach walks over the years I have come to
the conclusion that every sunrise is a 
A Rainbow - but for lack of a better term, a "dry"
Rainbow, or at least half of one, descending into the heart of the town of
Loreto! Not being a meteorologist, I can
only speculate on the cause of this phenomenon on a otherwise rainless morning,
but because the humidity level was noticeably high (perhaps again due to the
cloud cover) my theory is that there was apparently enough moisture in the air,
with the temperature close to the dew point, that there was a prismatic effect
for a few brief minutes as the low angle of the sun was caught as a
Rainbow. (Again, my photography fails to
do justice to the scene I describe, but try clicking on this picture to enlarge
it and better share this unique moment!)
As I continued south down the Beach the color in the sky
began to fade and it actually got a bit darker as the sun rose behind the
clouds. Reaching the Hotel and the end
of the shoreline, I walked across a tee-box on the Golf Course and towards the
entrance to the estuary that separates the back nine holes from the south end
of Loreto Bay. There I saw three Mexican
fishermen in a panga casting a large circular net into the calm waters
surrounded by mangrove which provides both food and shelter for a thriving
stock of small fish - probably destined as bait for the larger catch in deep
water off-shore.
Here I turned around and began to make my way back as I had
come, but before returning to the Beach again, I caught sight of a Grey Heron standing
statue like in the calm shallow water, no doubt looking for breakfast. While seeing this magnificent creature
standing all of 3 feet tall was special enough moment in itself, it was even
more significant for me. Many years ago,
back in Canada, I participated in an Aboriginal Shamanic session, from which
one of the outcomes was being told what my spirit creature was.
Without getting too deep into another topic all together, suffice
to say that mine was in fact . . . a Grey Heron, and as well as learning about
this beautiful bird's traits (and how they related to me in some surprising
ways) I was also told that I would find myself most "at home" living
somewhere that there were these Herons.
While it is not an everyday experience to encounter a Heron here, I have
seen them from time to time before, but
rarely enough that I consider these sightings to be a special occasion. So, what started as a not frequent enough departure from my regular morning routine - a soul-refreshing walk on the Beach at sunrise, which never fails to put me into a reflective frame of mind, and that often help me to put the day to day issues that I deal with into a clearer perspective. On this morning, an unusually cloudy one that helped me appreciate the many sunny ones that are the norm, accented by the surprising glimpse of a Rainbow on a rainless morning, and then culminating with a visit from one of the most beautiful creatures that shares these shores (and a soul connection for those that believe) is it any wonder why I know that I have found my place here, "Living Loreto".
