Hannah recently gave her scout talk on the meaning of reverence. She wrote a snippet on honoring one’s religion. I told her that, for me, reverence is a breath of fresh air; a deep respect for my surroundings. For me, Isla Isabel was a place of reverence.
Paul woke me 45 minutes after my night shift to anchor. Grumbling, I climbed the stairs and went out to loose the anchor and immediately saw a gorgeous sunrise with mountains in the sunlight and thousands of birds flying above beautiful rock formations behind me.
And then I spotted a whale behind the boat, and another whale, and another whale and another whale. A pair came close to the boat and swam in unison with another, their magical breaths being the only sound in the quiet morning hour. This was the start of a two day stay in a remarkable place permeated by majestic humpback whales feeding all around us, stunning their prey by slapping their fins and breaching out of the water (can you imagine the energy it takes for them to heave themselves out of the water?)
We had a great time snorkeling around the rock formations and viewed beautiful, colorful fish before heading to the island for a hike.
We had to anchor off shore as the bottom was filled with rocks and boulders and carried those who didn’t bring watershoes to shore on our shoulders, avoiding twisting our ankles and plunging into the water.
Following another blog we found on the internet, we went between fishing huts (and exchanged greetings in my broken Spanish) with the one fisherman on the uninhabited island) to find the start of the trail.
The trail wound us through the incredible bird sanctuary, filled with blue footed boobies, frigatebirds and pelicans. The calls and sounds of the thousands of birds filled the air and was definitely a unique experience.
We are on a couple of sites that tell us if there are other boats in the area with kids and we located a boat with a 12yo girl and 9yo girl. They came by the next morning. Despite the language barrier (they were from France), the kids got along and had a blast on our island, using the sea bobs, jumping off the fly bridge and swinging off the crane. Toys can bring anyone together!
Some whales passed within 20 feet of the boat and I could not resist diving in with a mask to see if I could see them underwater. After several attempts with different whales swimming by and a lot of swimming, I did it: I SWAM WITH A HUMPBACK WHALE!! Okay, a slight exaggeration but I did see him underwater; it was incredible!
After lunch, we decided to test out our scuba gear. I was nervous; I have never scuba’d on my own with my own equipment, but Paul managed to set up the equipment, swapping out some busted o-rings and we successfully did a stride jump entry into the water.
Unfortunately, Paul did not have enough weight and thought he had a air leak (he now thinks he just had a leak from an over-inflated BC), so he turned back. Being me (and maybe not the smartest), I couldn’t bear to turn back, so I continued to swim on and explore the island. I was surrounded by colorful fish and an angry looking eel, but the best, most amazing part, was listening to the whales sing underwater, sometimes so loud I was scared I would turn and be face to face with a whale. I wasn’t completely unsuccessful but need to continue to improve my underwater navigational skills, but I returned to the boat satiated with healthy, happy exhaustion.
Sadly, we will say goodbye to Babcia tomorrow. It was great to have her with us on our way from San Diego to La Cruz, Mexico!
