Feliz Navidad y Feliz Ano Nuevo de La Cruz, Mexico!!

Chacala

The last anchorage we visited prior to the holidays was the beautiful anchorage of Chacala.


Chacala is a quiet little fishing village with cheap fresh fish, restaurants on the beach, and grand cliffside homes.


The clean, white sand beach of Chacala.


The modest swell here turned out to be a favorite for surfers, boogie boarders, and puppies alike.


The home and offices of the port captain of Chacala. The best dingy landing spot in Chacala was at the panga ramp to the right of the port captain's home.


A few of the large homes in Chacala.


The colors of the homes and businesses in Chacala were vibrant and matched the surrounding flowers in bloom.


Now for some requisite photos of S/V Estrella at Chacala. First, the dingy: our primary means of transport to shore.


Our new "Estrella" nameplate for the stern, which we commissioned in La Paz before we left in October.


S/V Estrella at anchor in Chacala.


More of S/V Estrella at anchor in Chacala.


The beach at Chacala is seen here behind S/V Estrella.


Hanging out the laundry following a swim around S/V Estrella at anchor.


We found the best corn tortillas (ever!) in Chacala and suspect they were laced with bacon fat.

San Blas

Following our visit to Isla Isabel, we continued 40 miles south to the lovely town of San Blas. We stayed at Marina Singlar San Blas and truly enjoyed our time at San Blas. Most of the streets were cobblestone, (seen in the above photo), and the town itself operates at a very leisurely pace.


Just vertical of downtown San Blas on a bluff overlooking the town and the Pacific Ocean stands the remains of an old Spanish church (above) and a semi-restored fort.


We spent the good part of an afternoon meandering through the ruins and had the entire place to ourselves.




The semi-restored fort with the town of San Blas and the Pacific Ocean in the background.


The town again. In the middle distance, one of the many estuaries nearby is visible. (More on the estuaries below...)


There was a very large (nameless) statue of a man's torso at the semi-restored fort.


The actual size of the nameless statue is clearly visible here.


The cannon in the above photo was reinstalled following the near destruction of the fort by Hurricane Kenna in 2003. The fort reconstruction appeared to still be in progress during our visit.


We also took a jungle tour of the nearby La Tovara estuary with friends from the sailing vessel Savannah (Monica, Andy, and Jake). We hired a local guide with a fairly durable panga to take us for a three hour tour (a three hour tour...) of the estuary.


A standard issue great blue heron met us in the main river channel before we turned into the jungle for the majority of the tour.


An unidentified orchid that was at least three feet in diameter.


The remains of the set from the movie "La Cabeza de Vaca", filmed here in 1990.


More marine iguanas. They seem to be everywhere....


Just outside the entrance to the crocodile reserve and nursery, (at the back of the estuary), we saw clusters of turtles everywhere. I don't know the species name and didn't get a good look because they proved to be very skiddish when approached by the panga.


Once inside the gates of the crocodile reserve and nursery, we were treated to quite a lovely facility. The most prominent feature were the fenced-in pools set up as mating areas for the crocodiles. Per pool, one mating pair was allowed.


The mating ritual apparently involves some very slow chasing in the pool and some very enthusiastic tail slapping. And lots of sitting around with their jaws open, which is how they regulate their internal body temperature in the heat.


The products of the mating are placed in a separate cage from their parents and kept in captivity for two years before release into the estuary. In the bottom right corner of the above photo, a baby crocodile is seen. The tail accounts for almost half the total length of the baby crocodile.


Not only did this facility house crocodiles of various ages, wild boars were also kept here for rehabilitation and breeding.


As were jaguars - although this one seemed in fine health....

Isla Isabel

Our first stop heading south on S/V Estrella from Mazatlan was an 80 mile journey to Isla Isabel. This beautiful island is considered the "Galapagos of Mexico" because of the extensive number of birds living on the island.

Sharing Isla Isabel with the birds is a commercial fishing camp. Seen behind Josh in the above photo, the fisherman's homes/storage sheds provide shelter for the island's permanent non-bird population.


Isla Isabel is an extinct volcano and the above "Lago Crater" (or "crater lake") is all than remains of the volcano. After the last eruption of the volcano, the crater collapsed and eventually freshwater seeped into the caldera to form the lake.


Hiking up and out of the caldera towards the far side of the island provided quite the vantage point. The anchorage for Isla Isabel is beyond the distance ridge in this photo.



There were hermit crabs living in and around the caldera.

Perhaps the most comical of the bird species on Isla Isabel, blue-footed boobies were found in every habitat on the island. And like all birds here, they were fearless when it came to human interactions (for better or for worse).

When I came upon this mating pair on the trail, they were practicing part of their mating ritual. This involves a synchronized dance in which each individual shows the other the bottoms of his/her feet.

Here the blue-footed boobies are perched on a cliff waiting to take their turn at fishing. Every few minutes, five to six individuals would take off fishing.

Nesting close to the blue-footed boobies, brown boobies were also found in abundance. This particular individual appeared to be guarding a series of females with chicks and followed me around until I left the area.

A nesting area for brown boobies. The white fluffy chick was nearly full grown in size but had not changed into adult colors.

Another brown booby who was on security detail as I walked by on the trail.

This magnificent frigate bird is a male with his red throat pouch inflated. They achieve this color in October and November to attract female magnificent frigate birds.

The noise emitted by these male magnificent frigate birds when the red throat balloon is inflated sounds much like a drumming rattle.

One observation I made quickly after entering the unpopulated portion of Isla Isabel (95% of the island) was the overwhelming noises made by the birds and other creatures on the island. Every step I took while hiking upset a marine iguana or three. The constant noise of the birds was pervasive on the ground and above in the trees.

A partially utilized research station was the home of a cluster of marine iguanas, some of the largest in length and girth I've ever seen.

S/V Estrella (center of photo) an anchor at Isla Isabel. The anchorage had the clearest water I've seen yet on the mainland side of Mexico. There is very little pollution of any kind here and the permanent commercial fishing operation here easily supports itself with the abundant fish around Isla Isabel.