Isabella - The Real Deal!

Serai
Jason and Emily Willis
Thu 26 Apr 2007 14:56
00:57.91S 90:57.70W
 
We sailed overnight from Isla Cristobal to Isla Isabella. Its only about 80 odd miles, so we left at lunchtime and planned on a slow sail through the night. Of course, the sailing bit lasted about 3 hours before the wind completely died, and we slow motored the rest of the way. It seems that the wind always dies at around the same time that I am due to go off watch and consequently to bed. I then have the deep rumble of a Perkins 4108 to lull me to sleep. Aaah lovely.
 
As dawn broke the cry went out "land-ho". Actually it didn't. The cry went out "Thank god we're finally here. Get kettle on luv!" We did a victory lap of the harbour saying hello to all the boats and faces we knew, whilst also looking for a good spot to anchor. Once the hook was dropped at the very back of the anchorage, having found no space further in and having backed away from some evil looks from some fellow captains, we headed into town.
 
There are no roads, just sand and dirt tracks. Its quite desolate (which I always seem to be attracted to) and the people are just as friendly. The yacht club (Club Nautico de Isabella - which sounds so much more impressive) is a wooden hut on the beach, with a couple of hammocks and some faded international flags hanging off the ceiling. We walked into 'town' which consisted of a couple of bars and a shop or two. We strolled passed one bar and saw Darrel and Jo, a couple of Ozzies we have seen around. We sat with them and chatted for a while over a beer or 4, and then some friends from a cat called Barefeet (who had flown in from Wreck Bay) joined us, and then some Norwegian friends dropped by. Before you could say 'its 5 o'clock somewehere' we had a right old party in full swing. It was a lovely afternoon with a lot of laughs; a great cruising moment.Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the last taxi is at 6 pm, so we had to nip things in the bud and go home to our respective boats.
 
The following day was an early start. We were off to see the local volcano. Now when this particular volcano just happens to be the second largest volcano in the world, this is a pretty big deal.We were booked in to ride to the volcano by horseback. We hopped in the back of a pick-up at 0800 and set off at hair-raising pace to the base of the volcano. Now as I already said the roads are all dirt and sand, so by the time we got to the base of the volcano we were covered in dirt with just a white outline where our sunglasses had been! It was with some surprise that the truck only stopped momentarily at the stables and then proceeded on...must be a different stables,we thought. Probably the stables where they keep the race-horses! We stopped about 10 minutes up the road and clambered out. The guide informed us that this was where we started our treck to the volcano...on foot. No, No there must be some mistake we cried. we cannot hear the gentle Neeeigh of a couple of steedes. Things got a little heated as you can imagine. There was much telephoning. None of the stables seemed to have any spare horses. We started to ask for our money back, and then the guide said that if we paid another $5 we could walk up to this volcano and then do a ride to another volcano in the afternoon, when some horses would be available. This seemd a good solution and so we all agreed. I should point out at this point that Isabella is a fiery old girl with a total of 6 active volcanos. The biggest one exploded just 2 years ago! 
 
So off we went on a 2 hour hike. It was awesome and just great to use our legs again. The views were amazing. It really is one big volcano. Sierra negra is about 9km across and 900m deep and full of larva rock. after this the horses were brought to us and off we went. They were a motley bunch of horses, but for once were independent spirited. The guy was happy for those that could ride to take off and get the horses cantering and on the gallop. I have not been on a horse in a while, and certainly not gone fast, so it was exhilerating to get my horse going. Having said that, my horse looked more like a large donkey than a horse. It was a bit embarassing as everyone else thought this too. It took a bit of persuading and a large whip to get it to do anything more energetic thatn a slow plod, but I won through in the end. I think it was happy to get rid of me at the end of the day!
 
Now Ems and horses don't really mix. She is always a bit nervous around them for some unknown reason. this time though she got on really well. She had confidence in her horse and it looked after her. She got trotting and looked great. She laughed and smiled the entire time I think.The second volcano was much smaller but slight more impressive as we were able to go down into it and see some of the individual blow holes. The landscape was so bleak, and yet a few cactus still manage to grow.
 
Today we went off to a little lagoon for some snorkelling. The water is 'officially' freezing! It was a great morning though as one friendly sealion insisted on playing with us. It was a small, young one. I would dive down and it would race up to me and then barrel roll away at the last minute. I would try to do the same, and it would look at me in amazement with its huge cute eyes! I got out at the dock later on and it kept coming and playing next to us. In the end it got up on the dock to sunbathe and let us get really close. I was able to stroke it for ages. At first it looked up at me when I did it and I thought it might get aggresive, but then it put its head back down and just seemed to enjoy being stroked. It was an amazing moment. I have wanted to do it for ages, and finally found a sealion that would trust me enough. Now we can leave here!
 
And tomorrow we do. We plan to set sail about midday for the next hop. Its just a short one of some few thousand miles. The more we talk to others the less wind there seems to be out there. We will be lucky to do it in 25 days it appears. Who knows. We are ready for it  though and actually looking forward to it. And now I can dream of my new friend Serena the Sealion and the world is a better place!
 
So here's a crazy fact that we try not to dwelll on too much! At one point we will be 1500 miles from the nearest land. This is the furthest a person can be from land, anywhere in the world! Cool...I think!
 
Tonight we are going to a BBQ at the yacht club. There's Marlin and meat and chicken and all for $6 a head. Its our last meal out for a while and there are a few of us going, so it should be fun.
 
We are leaving with another boat called Selene. She is about the same size as us and has a Norwegian couple on board of a similar age. Its nice to travel together. Yarn is a Submariner, but seems to prefer to stay above the waves which is good news. Eli is a radiologist that can fix broken bones, so hopefully we will not be neading her skills either. Still, both are perhaps more useful to us than are my skills as an ad-man to them, I'm sure!
 
Well thats it from us. The next one will be from our blue world. take care one and all and KEEP THE EMAILS COMING!
 
Till the next time.
 
Lots of love
 
J and Ems xx