When we left Bahia del Sol on Friday morning, we knew it was going to get windy. We crossed the infamous sandbar without even seeing a breaking wave. The sailboat Quantum Leap was right behind us, and had a non eventful crossing as well. After waving goodbye to Bill and Sven on the pilot boat, we headed out to sea. Soon the winds came up and we set sail. Looking good! The windvane is still taking some getting used to, but otherwise it looks like we should have a nice day for sailing.
A few hours later, the winds were increasing to the point that we decided to reef the mainsail. Well, without coming up into the wind, and swell, that was going to be very difficult, so being cautious, we decided to start the engine, and drop the sails. The last wind speed we checked was 25+, and it was picking up.
Quantum Leap had turned in to the anchorage at Barillas, and we bashed along hoping to make it to Puesta del Sol, another 60 miles. We realized that this was "a wind event", and conditions were deteriorating rapidly. The sea state had turned into 6 ft. breaking chop, with the wind directly off the bow. Spray was everywhere, and very quickly, I was soaked and getting cold. Karin and I both donned our foulies, and agreed that we should run for Bahia Fonseca to hide for the night. That was still 4 hours away! As we pounded through the swells, we started seeing flashing lights in the distance. Fishermen were out here watching their nets, and had to guide us around them. It was crazy.... one after another, we had to change course to avoid them. Most of the time, we had to go farther out to sea! Eventually at around midnight, we made it to Ampala, a point on the north side of the bay that offered protection from the swells. The wind was still blowing at 20 to 30 kts, and we had to anchor in the dark. This just gets better and better! We did set the hook at about 1 AM, and because it felt like we were dragging a bit we let out another 60 ft of chain about half an hour later. Finally, we got some rest, Karin slept, and I was awake most of the night, checking the anchor, and listening to halyards slapping in the gusts.
We have re-evaluated our plans, and determined that night Papagayo's are not fun! We'll make every effort to do day sails along this stretch of Central America. That said, we stayed in Fonseca a few days to rest and recover. The island of Meanguera is part of El Slavador, so we sailed for two hours to get to the other side of the island and check out the village.
On the way we were stopped by the Salvadoran Navy to check our papers. The Lt. was very nice, and spoke very good English. He was also Navy airborne and a surfer so we had a fun conversation.
On the island they have a small tienda and restaurant, so we stopped in for a beer, and to tried to get Wi-fi.
The next morning we went to a secluded bay called Guerrero. It was totally sheltered, and we were the only boat. That evening we heard chatter on the VHF that sounded like someone was trying to avoid fishing nets. Karin put out a call to Cetacean, and surprise! They were having almost as much fun and adventure as we did. We told them about Ampala, and they were relieved to hear that it was a good anchorage for the night. In the morning, they sailed over to join us in Guerrero. We all agreed that dodging fishing nets at night is way too stressful, and that we would do a day sail to Puesta del Sol the next morning.
Being a bit gun shy, we resigned ourselves to motor sailing the whole day. Our arrival in Puesta del Sol included a health inspection for fever or any other ailments. (Ebola scare) The resort here is beautiful, and secluded. Our friends Ron and Judy from Cetacean shared a taxi with us for a provisioning run to Chinandenga. It's a busy city, bustling traffic, and great street food.
I also managed to get a haircut, for $1.25!
Karin found some interesting art along the way.
It was a good trip to the city, we had what we needed so, we treated our driver to lunch, and returned to the marina. We plan on departing Tuesday for day sails to San Juan del Sur.
