Sueñito

Our family visited Coralito Beach Club for the first time when we were looking for a dinner restaurant in San Carlos that accepts credit cards. Tonight was our second visit. Their menu is available online in English and in Spanish , and there's a lot to choose from.  All of our kids ordered the Enchiladas Suizas from the shrimp section of the menu. Those are delicious, for sure. I asked the waiter tonight for his recommendation, and he pointed me to the Chile Poblano with Shrimp. It was delicious, and prepared with many of the same ingredients as the enchiladas. Here's a fancy photo of my stuffed poblano. My husband ordered an assortment of tacos and tostadas. My favorite was the Roca tostada, which was a pile of delicious battered and fried shrimp on a crispy wonton -- it's the one with the toasted sesame seeds on top in the picture. I might order that next time I visit. I also tried the Alhambre tuna taco, but it wasn't for me. My husband's third taco was the Cah...

I have to tell you, the best chiles rellenos in San Carlos can be found at JJ's Tacos y Cosas . Look at this beauty! Behold, the chile relleno taco! My husband has been visiting JJ's for nearly two decades. You can see his picture (from long ago with his buddies, and later, with our kids) in the back room with the merchandise. Before we bought our house, we made sure to eat here at least once every visit. Now that we live here, I want to try every restaurant around. But when I want a good fried fish taco, or when I'm craving a chile relleno (as I was yesterday), JJ's is the best in San Carlos.  I would be remiss if I didn't also recommend some of the other items on JJ's extensive menu. We love the toritos with shrimp. They're bacon-wrapped yellow chile peppers stuffed with shrimp and cheese (or just cheese).  My husband and I usually order the tacos. My kids often order the burritos -- the big donkey is a good lunch for them. We usually end up with some past...

When our new neighbors joined us for dinner after a hot Tuesday out fishing, we picked El Mar , a restaurant with air conditioning. No regrets. We followed our friend's recommendation and ordered the tortilla soup, which my husband and I shared as an appetizer. It was served with a whole plateful of toppings -- cheese, avocado, bacon, onion, a chipotle chile, and a drizzle of sour cream, plus lovely tortilla strips. I definitely recommend it and will be trying that again! We're a shrimp-loving family, and each of us ordered something with shrimp. The coconut shrimp are huge here -- highly recommend! The shrimp mignon are served sort of like a bacon-wrapped filet mignon -- they made a circle of shrimp, wrapped it in bacon, and topped it with a white cream sauce. Boston shrimp are bacon-wrapped and topped with cheese. All tasty. Also tasty was my special-of-the-day: chiles rellenos stuffed with shrimp. Now, I am definitely one who prefers my chiles rellenos blistered, battered, f...

On a Friday morning in June, we put on our hats and sunscreen, loaded up on water, and headed out with plans to hike halfway up the Tetakawi trail . I was in no shape to hike to the top. But like so many of our family adventures, I decided to keep going while I felt good, and then we had gone so far that we might as well go all the way to the top! What sealed the deal was passing another group on their way down. They told us it was only another 20 or 30 minutes, so up we went! The walk back down was rough on this old mama, but I made it! The trail opens at 6:00 a.m., and for a summer hike, I recommend starting early. Bring more water than you think, and protect yourself from the sun. We had some cloud cover, and if we hadn't, it might have been too hot for me. The hike starts out as a walking path, but quickly you will find yourself stepping up a rocky trail. A quarter-mile in, there's a rocky peak with lovely views that makes a good turnaround point for a family with young kid...

A great wreck dive site in San Carlos is the Artificial Reef Ex Santos . Sunk on March 3, 2022 , by mid-June, the sea had already claimed it! Here's a cool video of the ship sinking. On a Wednesday morning, we put in for a shore dive off what is labeled Playa "El Tomate" on Google Maps. It was a long swim out and a longer swim back in, but do-able. Another family had come out and anchored their boat near the stern of the wreck, so if you have a boat, that seemed like a good option. I know the local dive shops do tours to the site as well. My scuba-certified family descended near the bow and explored inside and around different openings as they made their way to the stern. Since they had gone to a depth of around 45 feet, they couldn't just come up to the top without safety stops. I'm not scuba certified, so excuse any errors in my vocabulary. Anyway, they got some cool photos, and it was cool for me to explore the wreck as well. For this snorkeler, the views fro...