3/6/2015: Bahia del Sol

Where to begin.......our last post from Playa Cocos, was after getting through numerous Papagayo's. Unfortunately, there are no pictures from those exciting times,.....we have often clocked winds of 40 mph during our passages to Costa Rica. We did get through it, and made it to Bahia Ballena in the Gulf of Nicoya.

We had adjusted our schedule to meet up with our skydiving friends,... we only saw them  for a few minutes, but it was fun watching planes and canopies from the boat!

Not all of the landings were perfect.

Just after we arrived in Tambor, the boost pump for our watermaker went out. Fortunately, Rich at Cruise RO was able to get one out to Az. in time for a friend to bring it down.

 When I opened the packaging, it was different than the original, and required more connections, and installing a new control panel! I got it installed and working the same day. We had been getting bottled water for a week, now we were back on track, until the next day.

Returning from shore, we noticed our friend Erlin on Venurted had anchored nearby, and decided to go say hello. 20 yards from his boat, the outboard died, and would not start,... sad and frustrated, we rowed back to the boat.

A few days earlier, we were at the bar at Tambor Tropical, and met a nice couple who offered to give me a ride to get gas for our generator. Luckily, he gave me his number, so I called in desperation, asking if he knew a mechanic? He called back 5 minutes later, and told me that the mechanic would come to the boat the next morning. When they arrived, Aldo and Billie were bearing Bloody Mary's, and Fabio the mechanic tore right into the motor. About an hour later, after a good cleaning of the carb, and a few adjustments, it was running great! The next morning,  Fabio came by to check if the motor was alright, and offered some lobster for sale! What service! O.k., things are getting better!

                                       

I thought...... the next day our solar charge controller stopped working! Now the only way to charge batteries is to run the engine, or the gas generator. No  chartplotter, or anchor light, no movies at night, just trying to keep the refrigerator going. I'm really getting tired of fixing things! So, next step, get a charge controller shipped from the states. A week later, and more shipping and duty than the part is worth, but again with Aldo's help we had it shipped to the local Century 21 office. I can't begin to explain how difficult it was to get a shipping address. All of the directions are... 50 meters west of the school, or 50 meters east of pizza hut headquarters in San Jose, and there are no zip codes! Fedex finally came through, and our batteries are charged up again. Aldo and Billie were so helpful, and fun to hang out with... they drove us around, introduced us to their local friends, and shared many good stories about living in Tambor.

Our plan was to keep going south to Panama, to meet my friends for our annual surf trip. After the last couple weeks of  fixing things, we decided that is would be much easier for me to fly down from El Salvador. 

While discussing our plans with Aldo and Billie, a canadian that works at the resort, had a friend with him who was trying to get to Cocos, we said sure! He came with us for the overnight trip, and I think he enjoyed the experience, even though we were bashing into 40 mph winds and 4' seas!

Of course, Aldo and Billie came out to the boat to see us off, and apparently, the night before, Aldo had a dream,.. it was making these banners!

Following our check out in Cocos, Karin checked the weather, and it looked good for the next 72 hours. We decided to do the rhum line to Bahia del Sol... we made it in 44 hours, with calm seas, and light winds; what a treat!  Being back in a marina after 3 months is a nice change, especially, having A/C! We'll finish out March here, and then take off for Mexico. That trip will be another 48 hours or so to Chiapas. 

This season has been great, but, has also taught us some good lessons.

1/20/2015. Playa del Cocos

All I can say is that cruising Central America has tested us. Our anchor held, in up to 50 mph winds, we experienced gusts of 40 mph while we were underway, accompanied by large chop, and lots of spray. Now we feel a little more seasoned, but also alot more cautious. I don't have any pictures from the rough times, but here are some from San Juan del Sur, and the voyage down here....

Good internet today!  I don't want to push my luck.... we'll be here until Thursday or Friday, I'll post more soon....

1/19/2015 Playa del Cocos, Costa Rica

It's been a long time since I posted anything! Internet has been off and on, depending on the anchorage. The main focus has been trying to get out of Papagayo territory. We've checked in and are staying anchored here for the next few days.

Getting internet at anchor, with our Alfa Wi Fi extender, but when the boat swings, it drops out.

We've got some good stories and photo's, so, the next time I have a solid connection, I'll update.

Central America has been fantastic, but the winds have been very strong and unpredictable, so the focus is getting south!

12/19/2014: Puesta del sol to San Juan del Sur

Having decided on day sails, we left for Transito.. 50 miles away. We left Puesta del Sol at 6am. Put up the sails and had a good motor sail until the winds got wonky and started pushing the 25+ limit.  Down with the sails and an uneventful motor into Transito.

 A bit of a rolly anchorage, but our standards are still set at Bahia Gonzaga of last season....so nothing like the 35 degree side to side like we had there. We only had 12 or 15 miles to go until  the next anchorage, and with the unpredictability of the wind, we decided to just motor for two or three hours, and stay closer to shore. On the way we hooked a Spanish Mackerel, and let him go. We arrived early, about 2:30 or 3 in Bahia Astillero.

Aside from the strange building, everything was normal.

It's a small fishing village with two small restaurants, and not much else.Some locals in a panga came by the boat, and since a dinghy lauch, and landing would be a chore, I asked for a ride to shore for a tienda to grab some beer and soft drinks. A family and friends were just partying in the panga! They offered me rum, and shrimp ceviche,.....I obliged. The next morning, we planned to motor again to Pie de Gigante, 12 miles. We;re still in Papagayo territory, so we decided on comfort and no stress,

. Gigante was fun, we took the dinghy in, and had lunch at the restaurant, lots of surfers, and a casual atmosphere..
Just a few more miles to go... San Juan Del Sur!

Cruising into the bay,I felt a sense of calm upon our arrival, and, the thought of anchoring for a while.

We'll be here for a little while; it's a nice town, and we still have to watch the weather.

12/11/2014- Puesta del Sol

It's been a fun week here in Nicaragua; explored a little, but mainly we've been watching the weather everyday, trying to find a good window to make the run to San Juan del Sur. We also took care of some small projects; laundry/boat cleaning/ sorting out the problem with the watermaker, etc.

This area is very rural, and remote. Everyone is friendly, with smiles and hello's. We must seem strange, taking pictures of them.

Like the guy with the machete!

Grilled ribs in Chinandenga!

Paddling their dugout canoe.

A skeleton on the beach from some forgotten storm.

We found another pool and palapa on the beach across from the marina, this place is beautiful!

We have to go check out with immigration this afternoon, then just wait for morning to cover  the 50 miles for Transito. It's like it sounds; just a transit anchorage on the way, good for an overnight.

We have some other photo's and stories from here, but they'll have to wait until our next internet.... probably two or three days. 

12/6/2014; Bahia Fonseca to Puesta del Sol: Papagayo's

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.

11/28/2014

 Just aquick post, we're departing Bahia del Sol, for Nicaragua in a few minutes, after we cross the sandbar! Pictures to follow!