We had a lumpy bumpy trip down from Mazatlan to Isla Isabella on Saturday night. The winds we hoped for were not to be found and the seas had not yet laid down. The only thrill was not getting a GPS fix as we left Mazatlan and oh perish the thought we would have to actually navigate ourselves south! But we quickly brought out GPS#2 and by then a fix on #1 appeared. It helps to have a couple of everything on Magic!
Well that wasn't the only trill. We were picking up the anchor at 10 p m, so we'd have the almost full moon up to light the way. Caroline was bringing in the anchor while two tugs held station just behind us. She finished her chore and yelled to move on. I didn't do it. She then turned around to say it again, only to see this massive tanker coning in the channel less than 1/4 mile from us. The channel is only about 200' wide, so there was no room to even think about heading out. Soon they were in and we went out into the lumpy bumpy seaway.
Isla Isabella is a Mexican National Ecological Reserve. It is a small, rugged volcanic island with scrubby brush trees and a dicey anchorage. And BIRDS galore! The boobies nest on the ground; the frigate birds in the trees. There are thousands of them and yes, they make an incredible racket and a rather "ripe" smell. We spent hours traversing the island. We talked to several students from a University in Mexico City that are part of an 30 year, ongoing study of the ecology of the island. This year, many chicks are dying apparently from a decline in the anchovy and sardine population. We saw many dead chicks along the trail. We will post pictures eventually.
The only other inhabitants of the Island are a few fisherman. They wanted to trade fish for T shirts tomorrow (today's catch has already been sent on to San Blas) but we will be pulling up the anchor after breakfast, to head East to San Blas.
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