Isla Monserat - BCS, Mexico

Monserat makes for a great stopover on a north south passage, and a nice trip from Ensenada Blanca. 'Yellowstone' beach is a beautiful sandy beach surrounded with (as the name might suggest) yellow stone cliffs.

There are some hiking trails up into the island, although they tend to be rather cactussy, and most of the time you'll be making your own trail.

The nearby rocks and islands make for a great snorkeling expedition in calm weather, as do the bays in the south of the island.

A kayak trip around the island is a nice way to spend a calm afternoon, but do be careful to check the weather forecast, and the sea state, as the sea can really heap up around the islands here which can make for quite an exciting trip back.

We anchor in 20ft off the beach in the north, avoiding the rocky patches, and submerged rocks which are charted only in the blue lattitude books and charts. There have been a number of reported collisions on the uncharted rock here, so check your waypoints carefully.

In strong southerlies, we've found anchoring in the east end of the beach snugged up to the cliffs provides the best protection.

In any kind of northerly weather Yellowstone is untenable, and you can anchor in the south west, although we haven't anchored the big boat there. Again there are a number of hazards, so check your pilotage carefully.