SAN ESTEBAN in the middle of the sea of Cortes should provide a decent anchorage on the east side and we leave EN MEDIO COVE before day break, a nice downwind sail and we arrive early enough to land - not an easy landing in the middle of stones with a dozen of barking sea lions- and follow a few hours the large arroyo. No choice, Pierre is away and we cannot leave the boat for too long... We should be so happy to do a longer super day trek  in this interesting island, home of endemic iguanas, even if back to the cat, we have to remove many spines from our jogging shoes, some more than 10mm deeply inside the eva soles.

Leaving to SAN ESTEBAN before daybreak..

idea of SAN ESTEBAN West coast...

...Strong currents protect also the Southwest corner

..but Arroyo anchorage on east side is ok,  with a rough dinghy landing among barking sea lions...

.

..Hottest hour of the day..we should find the endemic iguanas...

...south side of the arroyo seems the best place...

...we surprise this one...

...he run towards his hole 50cm away from Helena feet...

No escape possibility for this one...can you see ? Helena did.

...Expert to move among this spines'hell...

...after a quick look to us...

...this contorsionist continue his lunch as nothing happen.

...Thanks to the remotness of the island, we could see a dozen of these creatures...

...this smaller one...

...obviously does'nt belong to the same specie...

...This is also time of Cardon cactus flowers...

...How this tree arrive here n ll survive ?

...In this spine's world, the easiest n sometimes unic way is to follow up the arroyo's bed ...

...among massive cardon cactus ...

...and some other nature wonders...

16h00 shadows, time to return down to lonely ALCYONE...

Too late to find iguanas apart these dry bodies...

...without vermin, desert keep things for long...

...The local colony mostly big males ll get his revanche... barking all the night !