We started out for Isla Isabel, a tiny island about 14 miles offshore, at 6:00AM. The dawn was breaking and the wind was calm. It was a beautiful day for a cruise.
Leaving Mazatlan seemed easy as I prefer being at a small beautiful island then in a city marina. Isla Isabel did not disappoint. It is a gorgeous place. It is tiny with two semi-protected coves. We met our Mazatlan neighbors there in the southern most cove and anchored close by. We did not launch the dinghy, we just jumped in the warm water to cool down and swam over to say hello. David and his Son Oliver took 24 hours to arrive by sailboat and had anchored just the day prior. We did not swim-linger as it was getting dark and we wanted to get home.
In the morning we launched the dinghy and circumnavigated the entire island. It is less than a mile long, but with a high volcanic peak with a crater full of water in the middle. The island is renowned for it's birds and is a national park and bird sanctuary.
As we toured the island, we were impressed with the volcanic beauty and rock formations.
Clear green water and big breakers making caves and breaking in the rocks. Note all of the birds on the left hand side of the photo.
We even got a smile out of Gary!
In the afternoon, we picked up David and Oliver and we all ventured ashore for a hike.
We hiked up to a peak and the view was spectacular. Coda is on the right in the southern cove.
The real attraction were the birds.
There are frigatebirds, the upper one a magnificent frigatebird and the lower one a great frigate bird.
These birds are enormous and allow humans to approach at a reasonable distance. There are thousands of these birds on the island.
The star attraction for me were the blue footed boobies. They had just hatched their young and were a bit more cautious about me approaching. They squawked and screamed at me so I kept my distance and relied on telephoto lenses.
They all nested on the ground and kept in family units.
This guy just wanted me to go away.
It was literally difficult to walk on the top of this peak without stepping on these birds they were so numerous. It was an amazing sight.
There were many other things on the island to see as well, like this iguana.
It seems that there were many species of insects that loved to bite ankles. That helped wrap up the hike a bit early and spend the afternoon swimming in the 84 degree water.
I was intrigued that the blue footed booby tastes very similar to a bald eagle or a California condor when barbecued. No -- no boobies were harmed in the making of this blog!
We all enjoyed the trip to the island, but we had to continue on. the next stop, San Blas.
Technical Data:
Time: 12 h 56 m ( 06:08 to 19:05 ) Distance: 94.78 nm
Fuel: 34.92 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.70 GPH Fuel Economy: 2.71 NM/G
Avg Speed: 7.47 kn Max Speed: 8.38 kn
Engine Runtime Start: 3479.10 Hours Runtime End: 3492.00 Hours Fuel: 34.92 Gallons Fuel Rate: 2.70 GPH Fuel Rate Max: 4.31 GPH Avg RPM: 1236.17 Max RPM: 1348.75 Avg Oil Pressure: 54.32 Low Oil Pressure: 32.49 Avg Temperature: 191.05 Max Temperature: 192.20
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