Prairie SeaShell Sea Stories: Isla Isabella


Leaving Mazatlan

We departed Marina Mazatlan around 9:30 am when the dredge shuts down for a while to let the tour boats depart. By ll:30 we had the sails up and by early afternoon we had seen 8.2 kn of speed….better than hull speed. Yahoo !! we are really sailing now ! Our first wildlife sighting was a turtle, then rays, then a school of spotted dolphins played under our bow while Dawn & I were sitting out forward.

We continued to sail at break neck speeds, so just before dark, we reefed the main to slow us down some so that we wouldn’t arrive at Isabella in the dark. By 3:00AM, we even dropped the jib. Because we had so much wind all day, it had been an exhausting trip, but at least we did have a full moon. We arrived at Isla Isabella around 6:30 am and were greeted by our first whale sighting. A mom and calf, really close !!

(Note: Since I am writing this blog many weeks after our visit, I have added a link to whale rescue off Isla Isabella, that we believe could well be the same mom and calf that we saw on our arrival) http://inoneday.ca/?p=1965#more-1965
and another whale rescue also at Isla Isabella
http://www.logofdelviento.blogspot.com/2012/01/heartbreaking-decision-part-i-by.html

There were four boats at anchor at Las Monas, so we went around the corner and there was no one there, so we were able to anchor very close to where the fisherman had lead us in 4 years ago. We made some breakfast, then rowed the dingy to shore . Two young ladies greeted us as we arrived and asked us to register. Assuming they were part of the university student camp, we asked them if they were studying the frigates or the boobys on the island. They replied “Neither, we are studying the tourists” I’m hoping that they are just thinking of charging a fee to visit the island, not that they will ban visitors. This really is a spectacular place to visit, one of natures many wonders.

We hiked up to the light house, a very steep climb, but well worth it for the view of the island, and to get up close and personal with the booby’s. Unfortunately, there are others hazards , not just the the steep climb…with hundreds of booby’s soaring overhead, there is a really good chance of getting “pooped”, and I was the lucky one this time !

Following day, we rowed back to shore to hike the other side of the island. We stopped and chatted with some men on shore who appeared to be building something that looked like giant bee hives. Turned out they were artificial reefs, made from sand and cement then covered in a layer of sea shells. I hope they don’t drop them right in the middle of the anchorage.

First part of the trail on this side has a few stairs built from cement, but the other part is a little steep. Both Frank & Dawn took a little tumble. Glad it wasn’t on the hike yesterday, as it was much steeper. Had a picnic lunch with a booby family. The mum and dad were both feeding a new little one. One of the students told us that it was about a month old. The next researcher we met spoke perfect English and told us lots more about the boobys. The University Autonimo de Mexico, DF has been studying the booby on Isla Isabella since the mid 90’s, and they have one booby that they believe to be about 27 years old, but the average age is 15 or 16 years.

He told us that the boobys mate for life and both Mom and Dad sit the nest are care for the young. When they mate, they generally nest within 20 meters of where they were born. The couple lay from 1-3 eggs, each about 4 or 5 days apart. Often the younger ones are tormented by the older ones, and there is only about a 50% chance of them all surviving.

Their mating rituals are a site to behold. The boobys are very proud of their pretty blue feet, and pick them up and show them off to a prospective mate.

It’s hard to tell the male blue footed booby’s from the female, in any case, they also pick up twigs and give them back and forth to each other. Guess they are deciding who should begin the nest building… which generally happens to be smack in the middle of the trail. Getting around them is a little tricky, cause they are not going to move for you. The males will hiss as you go by, but it’s the females that really squak !!!

We returned to PSS, and Don and I went for a swim and checked on our anchor. No big rocks to get tangled up on, but lots of rock all over the bottom, and lots of anchors too! Isla Isabella is reported to be an anchor biting location although we have never had a problem on this side of the anchorage. However, since we want to leave in the middle of the night, thought it best we move over to the “sandy” anchorage at Las Monas where it will be easier to get out in the dark.

It was still quite deep (40ft) where the first boats was anchored, so we continued in a little further. It shallowed quickly and we dropped anchor in about 16 feet. Seemed to set OK, we had a light supper so we could have an early night. Unfortunately, about 7:30,the wind died completely and we swung a little and the chain rattled big time over the rocks. Not possible to sleep with all the racket, so we tried to pick up anchor and move back a little. No Way ! Anchor is stick solid…quess we won’t be leaving at 2AM. After listening to the rattling for an hour or so, Don had an idea to let out all the chain down to the rode (rope) and that got rid of the noise. We stayed out in the cock pit for a while to make sure we weren’t too close to our neighbour. Beautiful warm night under the stars, but still no sleep as we stewed about how to retrieve the anchor.

In the morning, a bowl of hot oatmeal before Don makes a cold dip in the water. The good news was that when we checked the water temp, it was a “balmy” 26degrees. Both the air temp and the water temp were considerably warmer here than in Mazatlan, even though we were only 100 miles away.

Don used the stern anchor over the side to hold us in place, then he dove on the anchor and had it freed in about 3 or 4 breaths. Free diving to 20 feet…amazing !!!

Finally on our way, warm, sunny, and no wind…yet! We put up the reefed main for some stability, but had to motor into the swells, and they just kept getting bigger and bigger as the day wore on and the wind picked up as well…from the wrong direction. By night fall, we were barely able to maintain 2-3 knots. It was a long trip home, but by daybreak at least we did have a few more whale sightings.

The seas only settled down when we were in the shadow of Wolf Island…almost home ! We Radioed to anyone at El Cid to see if the dredge war working…it’s not, so we can got right on in. Saw a few more dolphins , then arrived at Marina Maz about ll:30am and the guards were on the dock to takes our lines.

Home at last…27 hours to go less than 100 miles!!

Photo Gallery of Isla Isabella