Jennifer and I spent the last month of 2017 in Puerto Peñasco, on Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Our trailer was virtually on the beach, where we watched the shrimp boats offshore and caught each sunset. And ate fresh shrimp! This is an interesting area with all kinds of contradictions. American wealth and Mexican poverty are on full display. Though on the coast, it is one of the driest places on earth - 2 inches of rain per year that falls mostly in late summer. And we are told that no one has ever seen snow here.

One day trip was to a remarkable estuary just east of Puerto Peñasco, where we ate lunch La Barco, at an open-air restaurant run by a women’s oyster farm cooperative. We were guided by Alejandra Flores Lepe of the Center for the Study (Estudios) of Deserts and Oceans (CEDO) and volunteer David Baker. The river that created the estuary disappeared eons ago, so the salinity is higher (due to a higher evaporation rate) than the sea it is connected to. Most estuaries in the world are less salty than adjoining seas, so this and some neighbouring estuaries are truly unique. And they are teaming with life! And like coastlines just about everywhere, threatened by development and neglect. I am not a wildlife photographer, but I did capture the included shot of a Great Blue Heron.

Some images here are of a volcanic reef that appears on Sandy Beach in Puerto Peñasco at low tide.

And the sunsets! One evening the water was the smoothest we've seen here and the saturated cloudless sky was photoshopped by nature! New Years Eve offered up another beautiful final sunset for 2017.