Aboard Che Bella

After I had been in Mazatlan a week, Dan Baker contaced me about crewing for him on a trip down to Barra de Navidad. The 250 mile trip would take about 2 weeks, allowing us to anchor every night but one along the way. I had noticed his boat (Che Bella, a Tayana 37) on the way back from the Deer Island adventure, and thought it looked nice. Sherry, Larry, Don and Judy all met him before I did, and said that this seemed like a great opportunity: good boat, good guy. I learned on meeting him that he is a 65-year old retired phsyicist from San Diego, who had originally planned to sail alone to Barra, but wanted some help for the first day, which would be an overnight sail to Isla Isabella.

So I checked out of the hotel and we left Mazatlan on Tuesday, December 6. Actually, leaving took a little longer than expected, as the starter on the engine was a bit finicky. Nothing a few taps with a small sledgehammer couldnt fix. Then on to destination: Isla Isabella, a small island 85 miles from Mazatlan. We had a nice breeze sailing out of Maz, and I had the afternoon to get familiar with the boat in the daylight before we started the night watch schedule. We took three hour shifts throughout the night. I had 9 pm to midnight and 3am to 6am.

The watches were fairly uneventful. A nearby sailboat was heading the same way we were, so I kept an eye on them and watched out for fishing boats. Around 5 am, I caught a shadowy glimpse of what looked like a pterodactyl flying overhead. What the?! Turns out it was a frigate bird. They´ve got a 5-foot wingspan and kind of an evil siloutte, and they use I. Isabella as a nesting ground. The sky was crowded with them by the time we dropped anchor at the southern cove of the island later that morning.

We took the dingy ashore to have a look around. The island is home to a lot of birds, a couple of grad students, a few fisherman, and not much else. The frigates and boobies (the other predominant bird) seemed to have each claimed part of the island as nesting grounds. The boobies were highly amusing, nesting right on the ground, on the western ridge. It was hard to pick a path without coming within a few feet of a boobie nest. They didn´t seem too fazed by me, but would squak a little if I got too close. In addition to all the adults, I saw a few juveniles, a few eggs, and a newborn. Very cute. To his credit, Dan managed to avoid making any boobie jokes.


The view from the ridge was beautiful. We were one of only three sailboats anchored there.

Went for a swim after the hike. The water was warm, by NorCal standards, 72 F. Good visibility around the anchorage, could see the anchor down about 20 feet. Saw some neat fish, but by the time I was swimming back for the camera, I felt the sting of what I assumed was a jellyfish, and was discouraged from jumping back in again.

Had a steak with avocado, tomato and cucumber salad for dinner while watching a gorgeous sunset.

This is the reason I came down here…