We planned to just take a quick look at this gem of Pacific Mexico. We left Chacala at dawn and arrived in Isla Isabela in late afternoon. That was Monday. We ended up staying until Saturday as you will see. It is now officially our favorite spot. Isolated, fabulous snorkeling, perfect nights. We snorkeled every day and swam as well. We never did make it to the main island! Next time.
We swam, we snorkeled, we cooked good meals, we lounged around. We took pictures of all the birds. Fabulous. Finally on Thursday afternoon we prepared to start the 36 hour crossing to Los Frailes on the Baja. However an hour out of Isla Isabela we started having steering problems. No autopilot and very rough creaky steering. This had happened to us just over a year ago so we knew that we were suffering from low hydraulic fluid. Back to the island.
On Friday morning we started the long process of adding hydraulic fluid, turning the wheel in each direction from all the way left to all the way right and back again. Adding more, repeating. Finally a couple of hours later we had the fluid in, all the air bubbles out, and the wheel was steering smoothly again. We stayed one more day (I was having back problems again) and we left Saturday evening, hoping for a Monday morning arrival in Los Frailes on the Baja.
Some fish and birds we saw on Isla Isabela
Parrotfish, Angelfish, Moorish Idol, Grouper, Spotted Eagle Ray, Sergeant Majors, Filefish, those tiny bright blue fish that are so lovely, a lovely spotted Boxfish, puffers, Green Moray, a funny kind of pipefish, and probably some others but I don’t have my list here.
Birds: Boobies and Frigate birds, Herreman’s gulls and regular gulls, tropic birds.
Next stop?
Crossing the Sea to Los Frailes and Los Muertos.
