Trip out to Roca Corbetena

 I just went on a trip out to Roca Corbetana, which is a lonely rock that sticks up out of 500 ft deep water and is very small.  Many people go here for spearfishing, which is my reason, but for me the visibility was not so great.  Still, it was a good learning experience and I think I'd like to do this again.  My friends from Uncruise, Mike and Wilson, came with me and we woke up early (4 am) and left for the trip, with Altair's little diesel chugging along.  We rolled out the jib and used the night winds to propel us along, and actually went quite quick, almost 6 knots at times.  My average was 5, so we got there in 4 hours.  (it is a trip of 20 miles).  Then we had to figure out what to do with the boat, in order to get in the water.  It was super rolly and we found a spot 75 ft deep to drop a single bruce anchor with no chain.  It was a rocky bottom, but the anchor hooked up and held against the 1 knot current and wind.  Then we go in the water and I brought a kayak along with me and towed it behind with my float line and we swam around the rock.  Its about 400 ft long and 100 ft wide, with reefs on either end, and at first there were no fish at all, just murky green water, about 20 ft visibility.  Then we got the the far end and found lots of fish sitting in a warmer clearer current and found a big school of Bigeye Jacks (with a Yellowtail in the mix) and some Milkfish and Rainbow runners and Rainbow Chubs.  I didn't see any real pellagic fish and ended up shooting a rainbow runner because I'd never had one before.   Its a mackerel, and tasty.  Then we finished going around the island without catching any more fish and got out and saw a Black Noddy!  First time I've ever seen one of these, it was hovering around the island, periodically being chased by a Peregrine Falcon that was also hanging on the island. 
In the first picture, zoom way in and you'll see the bill, like a tern, and the funny long tail.  This shot shows the wings a little better.

 Then we pulled up the anchor and sailed back towards the bay, and found 26 whales all over the place, swimming around, flopping and saying hi.  We came back to El Faro to look, and the waves were great so I hopped in and had a nice short session.
Unfortunately I was not the only one looking to surf at El Faro.  This morning as I woke up I found there was a boat on the beach out there.  We went to look and I got this picture.
I don't know the people on board, but some folks know the boat that has been in mexico for a long time, but might have been sold last year to a new family.  I hope they manage to get the boat afloat again, but it was really high up the beach.
There's big surf coming and my dad is going to come in a week, so 2018 is looking good.