Gonzaga in November, part 2, the Island

[walrus]

Isla San Luis – Day 3
To understand this part of my report you need to know that a storm on the pacific coast of southern California is not the same as a storm in the Sea of Cortez. We’re all familiar with pacific storms. In the Sea of Cortez it can go from flat calm to a full gale force conditions in as little as 10 minutes and is called a “Norther”. It is a weather pattern that forms in the Northern Sea of Cortez and blows down the Sea, building up to gale force winds and very short steep seas. During the northers, local mariners (pangas, and seiners) head for an anchorage with some protection from the big swells and waves that build up from the wind. Northers blow down the Sea of Cortez in the fall and winter and depending on the year can happen very infrequently to almost weekly.


Clear skies and calm conditions this morning so Sven and I headed back to the area that was filled with pirates yesterday. The dogs were there, but not the fish. We drifted around watching and waiting but the dogs stayed too, so we began to work our way south into shallower waters. As we moved around I kept looking at the Isla San Luis off to the south east. It looked pretty close, but on water distances are hard to determine and can be an illusion.

The picture above was taken to try to calculate how close I really was, once I was back on shore.


I continued to troll a Rapala X-Rap magnum, so I kept my bow pointed toward the island. And soon after this picture I realized I could see birds standing on the exposed part of the tidal sand rift. It’s the long point on the south east corner of the island in the picture below.



I looked at the sky and sea and thought the weather was holding to a slight breeze and partly cloudy skies. I knew that if I turn away when I was so close, I would start to second guess the decision immediately. I also knew about the weather change possibility, I had seen it before. I would be nearly five miles off shore if I went, way too far to reach safety if a norther came down.

I did not make an easy or snap decision but once I made up my mind to make a run for it, I wasted no time getting there. As the picture shows I was approaching the island from the southwest. The tidal sand rift the water is only about a foot deep with three breakers on the part closest to shore. I looked around and saw Sven was following, but that made me no less nervous.



The weather remained calm as I arrived at the island’s west side. I quickly discovered why pangas and other boats were not seen close to island, it was a mine field of lava pinnacles and granite boulders. Not to mention the flies, but more on them later. The submerged lava rock and fish hooks are a lot like Velcro, once the two side touch each other they’re stuck together. If you decide to paddle/pedal this far
to fish take plenty of lures, you’re going to lose some. After Sven arrived we fished along the eastern shore. Overall the fishing was the same as we experienced on the shoreline reefs, and the fish species were the same (pictures below of a cabrilla and a schoolteacher (snapper)).

After Sven arrived we fished along the eastern shore. I hooked up with a cabrilla and became distracted long enough to slam into a submerged rock. I bent the front mask back far enough to overlap the rear fin. The fin itself now had a rip more than half way up the mast. I started thinking about a repair. It was a long way to try a paddle back. Using only my hands I was able to bend the mast far enough to use the pedals, but the front fin was ripped and nearly useless for propulsion. I would be able to get back, but not very fast. Both Sven and I were nervous because we couldn’t see to seaward or north. We started back and called shore to tell them where we were and we were heading back. According to the GPS track by the time we hit shore we had pedaled about 13.5 miles today.


We made it back to camp in time for dinner, which was cowboy bean soup with elk sausage and oh boy was it good!


The after dinner conversation that night was about the island and the risk of going there again. Jim said he would like to go out there the next day if we were willing to go. We agreed to get up early and see what day would bring, if it looked good we’d go for it.


Continued on part three "Return and the Norther"!


I will get it written asap.