11/28/2010 - Isla Isabel - part 2

The water filled crater at the top of Isla Isabel

Today we hiked up to the caldera on Isla Isabel.  It was a very nice hike.  We had a little trouble finding the entrance but we asked one of the local fisherman and they were able to direct us the right way (for those of you coming here, it's to the right of the little lake behind the fishing camp.  You'll know you found it when you see some cement stairs).  It was a little long for Jake but he’s getting to where he really enjoys these hikes.  There was a good bit of climbing and tons of wildlife so he was distracted from the distance enough not to complain.

Taking a rest

On this island there are frigate birds, blue-footed boobies, brown boobies, red-footed boobies, brown pelicans, white tailed tropic birds, Heerman’s gulls, sooty terns, and brown noddies.  There are also some reptiles to include green iguanas and the Mexican milk snake.  We saw tons and tons of frigate birds, blue footed booies, white tailed tropic birds, and green iguanas.  We also got a brief glimpse at the Mexican milk snake.  We don’t have a bird identification book so I can’t really say as to whether we saw some of the others that I’m not so familiar with but I can tell you that this place is covered with birds (and bird poop).  I’ll let Andy’s pictures speak for themselves…

Male frigate bird trying to impress

Blue footed boobie guarding her egg

Jake petting a lizard

Brown boobie bird with her chick

Local fishermen sorting out their sailboat catchers, I mean nets.

Savannah and other boats anchored on the southern side of the island

Jake had a time keeping his hands off these things

After getting back to the boat, Jake and I did a little further research on the frigate bird.  We found out that the male frigate bird puffs up his air sack to look like a giant red balloon.  He does this to attract the females.  They feed on fish but get their fish from robbing gulls, gannets, and terns.  When they steal from the gannet birds they first ask/demand politely for their fish…if they fail to respond, they grab their tails and shake vigorously.  When the gannets drop the fish, the frigate bird swoops down and catches it before it hits the water.  Jake got to see this first hand on the beach with his dad.  Sounds like dinner on our boat when we have sushi.

Just before sundown we hiked the west side of the island to see what we could see.  Not a ton to look at (comparatively speaking) but it was a great place to have a light saber battle.

Jake posing with boobie bird

Trying his best to open this rotten coconut with a stick

Andy was able to make a few dives and produce some pretty decent photos there, too…. Enjoy.

Some sort of blenny

Lots of eels on the east side of the island.

Finally, for those thinking about anchoring here, it's a little rolly but worth the stop.  We thought we were tight with 3 boats in here but by the time we left, there were six all together.  It's a rocky bottom with a few patches of sand.  Andy didn't sleep very good while we were here but we would both stop here again if given the chance.  And if you're wondering, nope, by some sort of miracle, we never got pooped on.

11/27/2010 - Isla Isabel

We pulled anchor about 1:30 yesterday from Stone Island to head for Isla Isabel.  It was an 89 mile passage so we knew we would have an overnighter.  All was going great until about 7:00 when we almost got ran over by a shrimp boat.  I was on watch and saw that it was heading for us.  It’s hard to tell sometimes out here because they have so many lights on them that it confuses the navigational rules.  If a boat’s port side (left) is showing to you then you will see a red light.  If her starboard side (right) is showing you will see a green light.  If both lights are showing then she’s probably heading straight for you.  From my chair, I could see both lights but they were on the wrong side.  It looked more like she was heading away from us.  But if that were the case, then I would just see her stern light.  Later we were to find out the shrimp boat had a triangle of red lights, some orange lights, green lights, white lights, a little bit of everything.  Christmas is getting close…. So I woke Andy up (he was trying to rest up for his late night watch).  Well, it turns out to be a good thing.  Andy altered our course slightly but the ship kept coming toward us.  After a few hair raising moments we finally saw her pass in front of our bow about 300 yards out, never slowing down or altering course at all.  Another important reason to keep good watches…

BIG FISH... not so flattering of me, but remember, it's 7:00 am

The rest of the night was uneventful until I hauled in a 25 pound Dorado this morning!!!  I saw the line zip all the way across the stern of the boat and when I went to pull it in it tried to take off.  I hollered at Andy to come help…while I pulled it in, he gaffed it and then it promptly dropped into the cockpit and went crazy.  According to my husband and son, I did the same thing.  I took the baseball bat and made every attempt at a humane one shot kill but it turned into more of a close my eyes and swat at the fish kind of game.  I made a serious mess and when it looked like the fish might actually land in the cabin, Andy stepped in and gave the final blow.  Holy cow this thing was big!!! 

The "kill zone"

Everything was calm after that and we arrived at Isla Isabel about 11:00 this morning.  The anchorage here is over a very rocky bottom and can make you a bit nervous.  But Andy dove on it and it appears that were in there tight (but not so tight we can’t get out).  We’re here with two other boats and it feels pretty close.  We saw a fourth sailboat try to come in but ended up moving out to the east anchorage.  We’re thinking of staying here another day or so depending on the weather and then heading out to San Blas. 

Isla Isabel

Here’s what the guidebook says about the island…  “Isla Isabel is an isolated volcanic island lying approximately 18 miles off the mainland coast, and 40 miles northwest of San Blas.  This very unique island has been nicknamed the ’Galapagos of Mexico,’ due to its enormous number of nesting birds and resident iguanas.  Like the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador, the Isla Isabel is isolated in the Pacific Ocean and relatively free of natural predators.”

Tomorrow we’re going to wake up and go for a hike to the top of the hill.  The caldera of this extinct volcano is filled with water so you can imagine my little volcano loving son can’t wait to see it.  Andy will do a dive in the afternoon (waves permitting) and we’ll probably head out Monday.