Isla Isabela

Our first stop after leaving Mazatlan was a small island (about a mile long) called Isla Isabela, a mexican national preserve and bird research station for local university. This island is straight from the discovery channel with thousands of blue and yellow footed boobies and tons of iguanas and other smaller reptiles. There is a giant crater in the middle of the island, forming a 60 feet deep alkaline lake. We anchored off of the southeast side of the island next to two large pinnacles named Las Monas (the Maniquins) which looked like a giant turtle as we approached from the north. The rock pinnacles sheltered us from the north swell and offered excellent snorkeling oppurtunities. The visibilty was probably around 30 feet and we spent at least 4 hours snorkeling, observing numerous tropical fish and coral formations. We also went ashore in the afternoon and hiked to the crater lake under the constant watch of the islands bird inhabitants. It was kinda bizzare walking around on an island which has a human population of about 20 and a bird population in the thousands. This island is truly amazing and was a great experience at anchor.
Shown above is Las Monas, with a reef shoal to the left towards the island.

Here is another picture of Las Monas and the eastern tip of Isla Isabela.

On the sail down from Mazatlan we caught our first fish! It was a 15 lb yellowfin tuna and provided us with 3 square meals. Yellowfin is sushi grade tuna and we ate like kings, preparing sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce (glad we planned ahead with the wasabi we brought from San Diego!), sauteed tuna with rice, and grilled tuna with a creole spice rub.
Just look how happy Matt and Joaquin are grubbing down my sashimi creation.
Mmmmmm.... Yellowfin Sashimi!