After spending a month in the marina we were ready to get back to the cruising life. After saying goodbye to our friends we headed out the breakwater around 4:30. Deer Island was only a short 2 mile motor down the coast. Dropped anchor in 15 feet of water onto a sandy bottom. What we like. Deer Island is only about 1/2 mile from the city front of Mazatlan. Valintino's, one of the famous discos in town gets going about midnight and continues until the sun comes up. So does their music. We could hear it just fine from the boat. We can't imagine being able to hear a thing after spending the night dancing there. Ellen's throat was scratchy so we decided to spend another day at anchor near Mazatlan before heading down the coast.
12/17/98 Deer Island to Stone Island
23 degrees 10.9
106 degrees 24.5
Another big passage. A whole six miles to Stone Island. We have now moved to the south side of Mazatlan. But this time we are far enough away to not hear the music from Valentino's. Today we stow things to get Mandolin ready for the overnight passage to Isla Isabela. In doing so I make a fiddle for one of our shelves to keep the books from falling out when the waves are big. Using the wrong tool, I slice my thumb open. So out come the first aid kit and I am bandaged up. The invalids aboard Mandolin. Ellen with a wrist brace on and Todd whose thumb hurts too much to do anything with it. We manage to get things together for the passage and start at 16:30. Yes, we are able to sail away from yet another anchorage, no motor on either.
12/18/98 - 12/19/98 Stone Island
to Isla Isabela
21 degrees 50.5 North
105 degrees 52.9 West
(at least 2 miles off it's charted
position)
The passage started out somewhat lumpy with the seas on our beam, but it smoothes out as we get away from land. The wind is a steady 10 to 15 knots from the north, just what we like. A passage from our log book:
Ellen writes: 0200, had a vessel off our port bow. Turned on radar and put a bearing line on the fishing vessel. It marched down the bearing line toward Mandolin. Was 2.5 miles away when I turned on radar. Made the decision to jibe main and alter course at 0230 when vessel 1.5 miles away. Got Todd out of bed to help with jibe. Headed inland and passed FV close enough to hear its engines. Maintaining new course as it is favorable for our destination. Winds Light.
(end of passage)
Mazatlan has the largest shrimp fishing fleet in the world so we see quite a few of the boats near the harbor. As we get further along I see several dolphins riding our bow wave. It is dark on this moonless night, so the only thing I see is their glowing outline and trail from phosphloresance. Quite an experience. Motor for 2 hours on my 0500 shift as the wind is too light to sail. Our definition of light is when boat speed drops to 1.2 knots. While motoring I land a Dorado that is just less than three feet long. This fish decided the white feather on the end of our hand line looked tasty. Looks like lunch and dinner are taken care of. The wind picked up enough to put the spinnaker up which we held the rest of the way to Isla Isabela. During this wonderful sail the sea state settled down and we saw several schools of dolphins (photos coming later) Just before our arrival at Isabela two whales surfaces less than three boat lengths behind us. They were beautiful as their tails came out of the water reading them for their next dive.
Things happen quickly, not a minute after
sighting the whales there is a loud snap as the gooseneck connected the
boom to the mast breaks for the third time since San Diego. We now
know that our fix isn't strong enough for the downwind sailing. I
have plans ready as soon as we can find someone to weld stainless steel.
So we motor the last .25 mile to Isla Isabela.
This
place is amazing. So much so that it was featured by Jacque Cousteau in
one of his movies. A breeding ground for the large frigate bird and
other sea birds, it is an ecological reserve with one small fish camp.
We rowed ashore and walked around for a bit. In the fish camp we
met a Eda who works for the reserve and teaches the childeren of the fishermen
about biology and ecology. She checked with the head biologist of
the island and gave us permission to hike to the lake. After she showed
us the hidden trailhead we were off. All the while listening to the
calls of the frigate birds. The birds number in the hundreds of thousands
at this island. Almost all trees have a nest, and some birds fight
over where to perch. The trail led us through two banana tree groves
before dropping into the crater that makes up the almost perfectly round
lake. We sat on the shore for some time, trying to blend in with
the environment and just watch. Some birds were courting, while others
fought in 
the
air. One sat near us in a tree and eyed us the whole time.
As the day got late we headed back. On the way we noticed several
nests right next to the trail, all were occupied by watchful, but unafraid
frigates. Like one guide book says, the experience of Isabela is
something few get to partake in. We feel very grateful. I wonder
how long the island will last in it's pristine state. This evening
I sit aboard Mandolin content that we have seen something magical that
may not be around forever, which is one of the big reasons that we are
doing this voyage as soon as we can. Tomorrow morning early we plan
to weigh anchor and head to Bahia Navidad, where we will spend Christmas.
Todd and Ellen Mandeville
S/V "Mandolin" - Cal 34
svmandolin@hotmail.com
www.aljian.com/mandolin
Home - Logs - Stories - Photos - Statistics
