Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Barra beach and the Raya plant

Mostly just a bunch of pictures of the Barra de Navidad beach project but we also stumbled across the multipurpose plant they are using to hold down the beach sand. The guys working the nursery called the plant Raya and it's the same used as medicine for sting ray stings.   Boil to make a broth for soaking and a poultice to apply.

The other most obvious use is to stop beach erosion. "Ipomoea pes-caprae, also known as Beach Morning Glory or Goat's Foot, is a common pantropical creeping vine belonging to the family Convolvulaceae. It grows on the upper parts of beaches and endures salted air."

From near hotel Alondra

In front of Hotel Alondra

Sign says Ipomoea pescaprae - Raya
Stabilizer of sand

Waves over the reef

Raya plant nursery

Lagoon side beach

Lagoon side beach


Under water tour of the reef

3 comments:

barbara said...

Oh, I so miss the water! The beach looks fabulous as does the water! I so hope I can come over next January. In Galveston, Texas, they use discarded Christmas trees to rebuild their dunes. It works very well and has done so for over 30 years! Thanks for the photos and the info.

sparks said...

I'm glad there was any sea life at all .... even a little octopus


They really should try to produce a surfing wave .... but maybe another day. It was part of the economy

sparks said...

Great response to the problems of all of Barra. The beach and ocean has always been "more tropical", calmer and prettier than Melaque. There has basically been no Barra beach for the last 2 years

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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