Blue Footed Boobies

Mom dad and baby boobie!

 

 

An overnighter from San Blas put us at Isla Isabel about 7am, there is a small anchorage and we went in, watching for the submerged rock we had been told about. We anchored, then just off the starboard bow we saw a suspicious wave pattern on the water. Looking up the exact coordinates of the rock hazard we realized we were unbelievably close, if we had determined to anchor directly over the rock, we could not have gotten closer. Pulled up the hook and moved a short distance away. YIKES

After a quick breakfast we headed ashore. Isable is a protected island where Blue Footed Boobies, Terns, and Frigate birds nest. The island is covered with bird nests, barely above your head, the nests are small and the chicks are big, so funny looking!
 

The Blue Footed Boobies are up on the ridge and it takes a bit of a hike to get to them, worth the hike, as you can get pretty close to the birds and their chicks. Their nests are on the ground, and I understand there are no natural predators for the birds on the island.

The nests were so small, and looked just like a stack of twigs plopped on a branch

Chick at the crest of the hill

After a couple of hours we headed back to the boat, for lunch and a nap. It was about 2 in the afternoon and we just were not comfortable with the small anchorage and figured we could make it to Mazatlan by the next morning if we left right away, so up anchor and out we went.

Just for fun, I called a couple of boats I knew were behind us and what do you know, Jupiter's Smile was about 10 miles from us! We buddy boated to Mazatlan, arriving around 10:30 am.

A male sounding off, that red "balloon" is his throat

Our boat at anchor on Isla Isabel