We stopped at Isla Isabella en route from Mazatlan to San Blas. Isabella is a bird sanctuary chock full of blue-footed boobies, brown boobies, and frigate birds. And some other cackling gull whose name I can’t remember (sorry!). We lucked out in that all three birds happened to be breeding when we visited; only the brown boobies breed year round.

The island is very small and there are paths all over it where you can walk through brown/blue booby breeding areas (they just nest on the ground), then through the trees where the frigate birds nest. You end up walking very close to the birds (it’s unavoidable) and it’s pretty amazing. They are not afraid of mammals and just regard you with irritation when you wander around; they don’t fly away when you approach them. We took a lot of photos.

Blue-footed booby. The feet really are blue.

Blue-footed booby family unit. Awwwww cute babies!!! These guys are pretty tiny; they grow nearly full-sized before the fluff starts to be replaced by mature feathers. The female booby makes a bleating sound that sounds like a cross between a toy trumpet and a kazoo and the male makes a hoarse cry that sounds like he’s been ‘debarked.’ They bleat/gasp at you when you get within 5-10 feet of the nest. Which is sometimes in the middle of the trail. Sheesh!

I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. That’s the male sticking his arse in the air (he makes a hoarse exhale/cry when he does this). We spoke with one of the ornithologists on the island and he called it “sky-pointing;” it is a mating display, among other things. The female is regarding him with some indifference.

Awwww! Booby love. This happened right after the mating display above. We sat around for a bit thinking we might get to observe some booby action but this is about as far as things went.

Male brown booby. They have chartreuse-colored feet and are really cute. All the boobies have great expressions but my favorites were the brown boobies.

Female brown booby. Cute! Cute!

Close up of a male brown booby. Interestingly, the brown boobies lay two eggs and when they hatch, the dominant baby kills the weaker baby. So the brown boobies end up raising only one baby. The blue-footed booby babies also do this but only if resources are scarce. I think we saw most blue-footed nests with both babies. However, even with two babies, one remains the dominant baby and probably gets the majority of the snacks.

Marine iguanas. When you walk through the trees, they tend to stay very still until you get to within a certain distance, whereupon they can’t stand it anymore and explode off into the brush.

Many circling frigate birds. They make very primeval clicking and shrieking sounds. It was kind of creepy winding through the trees, which form a sort of short canopy and the path is more like a tunnel. There are zillions of frigate birds above you at all times.

Frigate baby! Frigate birds have only one egg at a time.

The male frigate has a red sack that he blows up. They just hang around with all their necks ballooned out like this too. Looks pretty goofy.

We arrived in Mazatlan on the second day of Carnival, which is supposed to be the biggest party outside of Rio. Lucky us. Approaching in the wee hours, we were actually able to hear Mazatlan before we were able to really see it. The streets were filled with scaffolding and temporary party structures and stages. Daylight hours were spent checking the massive sound systems with whatever nightmarish pop the sound dude had on hand, restocking the thousands of cases of Modelo Especial, and clearing the debris from the night before. As evening approached, the streets along the Malecon were blocked off, souvenir stands set up along the streets lining the free side of the party and sold random crap like kewpie dolls or cowpunk hats, and by around midnight, half that Modelo had been consumed and the town pretty much went apeshit. Food stands sold gorditas (weird fat little pancake/patty/biscuit things), salted nuts, and hot dogs. We were hard pressed to find tacos and this was a shock after La Paz.

We spent a couple of days wandering all over old town Mazatlan and got near the Carnival party when after it was blocked off but didn’t really feel like entering. The crowds on the outside were enough and I was not feeling all that optimistic about the selection of live music on the inside based on the crowds of drunk and tarted up teenagers. I guess I’m officially old now.

Here are some photos we took.

We visited Mazatlan once before in 1996. After a long bus ride from Tijuana, we arrived during a torrential downpour; we waded across the street to the nearest hotel (possibly this hotel was called “The Moldy Cockroach”) and promptly passed out for several hours. When we came to, it was still pouring but we felt like we should see something of the place so we got our rain gear on and started walking. The wrong way. We ended up in an area called ‘dorado beach’ or something like that; it’s the developed tourist section of town and a long way from the main center of Mazatlan. By the time we got there, we were hungry and there was nowhere to eat except freakish mega-resort restaurants and American fast food chains. We were thoroughly traumatized by the experience and left Mazatlan the next day. We’ve held the opinion that Mazatlan is a total dive ever since but then we had no idea that we were never really in Mazatlan.

Um, the point of all that was: Behold The Quaint!! Building in Old Town.

As it turns out, downtown Mazatlan is really very nice. The market is large and functional (actually has normal market fare and not just shot glasses and sombreros) and in a cool art nouveau-ish building. Buildings around town were varied and interesting with a lot of colonial, neo-classical, and art deco facades.

There was some cool graffiti in Mazatlan.

There were also a lot of abandonadas, many of them being consumed by their own gardens.

We arrived in Mazatlan at 5:00 this morning just in time for carnival.

Our fishing luck seems to have turned around. We hooked two sierras on our way into Playa Bonanza. We got one on deck but the other fucked off with our rapala. That thing cost $20 and only caught 2 fish. Oh well, I guess you have to expect it. Hopefully it will be a bonus for some mexican fisherman.

We left Punta Bonanza at about 7:00 toward Mazatlan and just as we were rounding the northern tip of Isla Cerralvo we caught 2 bonito. We threw one back and left the lures in the water. Later we caught our first dorado which made a great breakfast especially since we had butter. Mmmm. Butter. Mmmm. Dorado.

We left with a norther because we didn’t want to end up motoring the whole way. The wind was nice 15-25 kts nnw but the seas were pretty ugly. 6-8 ft and steep (about 5s).

Day 2 was better. Especially because we caught our first yellow-fin tuna. I had to wake up Cheyenne to steer while I reeled it in. However, cleaning the thing in those seas was a mess. I was completely covered in fish blood. Yummy though so it was worth it. We’ve been having seared tuna for every meal with no end in sight. The bonito will have to wait.

The best way to cut down on your Nutella intake is to first, finish off all the Nutella you have on your boat.

“Greek” Salad, or in order to avoid the wrath of authenticalistas, “Greek-like Salad”

(Ingredient amounts, by the way, are based upon approximately a two-person serving size; two persons without refrigeration—meaning, however much I make is always the right amount and there are never left-overs.)

– 1 healthy-sized cucumber, cut into cubes (I’m on a dice/cube jag lately; cut the cucumbers how you like)
– 1 roma tomato, chopped fine
– Some onion, minced (if you have red onion, you can cut them into more aesthetic sliceys)
– Bell pepper if you have it, or some poplano, or not… Um, cut this one into nice little half-circle things (to compliment the cubish look we have going with the cucumbers)

Dressing:
-Lime juice (one small lime’s worth)
-Red wine vinegar
-Olive oil
-Garlic clove, smished
-Bit of salt and ground black pepper
Toss this all around and put a handful or two of toasted pinenuts over the top.

Papaya Salad a la Jasmine

My ‘food porn’ photos need some work. Objects in the photos are tastier than they may appear.

We were over chatting with Jasmine and Shannon once and ended up staying for an impromptu early dinner/snack/late lunch that was so elaborate that it included two different salads!! This recipe is a variation on one of these; I’ve adjusted it a little to accommodate ingredients that I seem to have (or not have) around.

– 1/2 papaya cut into cubes (set aside a spoonful or so of papaya seeds)
– 1/2 jicama cut into smaller cubes than the papaya cubes
– 1-2 chives, sliced finely
– Generous handful of cilantro, chopped
– If you have red or yellow bell pepper, add some of this, sliced finely; I sometimes use poblano or just leave it out
– 1 avocado, cut into chunks and added last

Dressing:
– Smish the papaya seeds with a mortor and pestle. They’ll look fairly nasty.
– Smish one clove of garlic
– Balsamic vinegar
– Olive oil
– A bit of sugar or honey (depending upon how sweet your balsamic already is), a little salt, and black pepper to taste

Mix everything together, except the avocado. Add the avocado at the very end and mix gently once more. It’s good if you have some roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) to put over the top.