Isla Isabela (we're officially in the tropics!) Sat 12/9 4PM (Ginger)

We left La Paz and Marina Costa Baja a week ago. It was great to explore the city of La Paz but we were ready to get out of the marina. Before we left I baked "Pat's banana squares" which were, of course, fantastic! They disappeared as fast at the marina as they always did at the office when Pat made them so I must have done the recipe justice. We sailed North to Isla Partida and were fortunate the wind was light that day, about 15 kts out of the north. We arrived at Ensenada El Cardonel in the afternoon Saturday 12/2 where we hunkered down for another couple of days of north winds with some gusts higher than 40 knots. I left La Paz with a cold and was glad for some rest time, Peter spent some time fishing, and we did go for a short snorkel though the water was fairly cloudy. Dolphins swam through the anchorage Sunday morning and Susan from Wiz jumped in to swim with them though they were hunting and not interested in playing with her. As the wind continued we had a couple of evenings of dessert on Wiz. Tuesday though it was still windy and the swell was still 4-5 feet, Susan and Darrell hosted a trip north to swim with the sea lions. The crews from Baloo, Marcy and Rocinante piled aboard Wiz and we motored into steep waves up to Los Islotes. Darrell jogged back and forth as it was too rough to anchor and we swam to the rocks. The smaller sea lions got in the water and came to visit. As advertised they were curious and playful. It was a real treat to get to do that before we left! No photos as Baloo's camera wasn't working so you'll just have to imagine all those sea lion pups and us. The weather sounded good Wednesday so we left the anchorage Wednesday at 8A, rounded the north end of the island and headed south. We were sad to say goodbye to Wiz and Baloo as they are not planning to come this far south. It was a very fast trip south. We had 6-8 foot seas and 25 knots of wind. Our SOG (speed over ground) was consistently 8.5-9.5 kts (great for Marcy!) and we saw a high speed of 11.5 as we surfed a particularly steep wave. We had steady wind until 20 miles north of Las Tres Marias the penal colony islands. Our wind died and we were slowly drifting south. Our cruising guides clearly say that you are to stay 20 miles away and since we certainly didn't want to pick up and hitch hikers we fired up the engine and motored on. There were several hours of lightening storms which passed within 2 miles of our course to keep the early morning hours interesting. Though we made great time it was a tough trip. I was sea sick probably made worse by my cold and Peter had to fend for himself for food. Fortunately we have a lot of canned goods on board but we were both happy to anchor as Isla Isabella at 9A Friday morning. We stopped at the preferred anchorage on the east side, jumped in to check the anchor and any close rocks and then enjoyed a much needed nap. The wind and waves came up in the afternoon so we moved to the south anchorage and had it all to ourselves last night. The island is beautiful, there are caves with breaking surf next to the boat and warm blue water. We hiked to the top of the cliff this morning and saw the nesting boobies and frigates. When we returned to our boat we snorkeled and though the water is churned up from the surf there are plenty of tropical fish here to make snorkeling fun. After the cool weather in La Paz it's nice to be back in the tropics enjoying 85-90 degree weather. We plan to leave tonight or tomorrow morning to head to Chacala and then on to La Cruz where we'll anchor to pick up Lisa.