- February 1 - 15, 2006: Our last days in Barillas Marina, El Salvador
- February 16, 2006: We're off!!!
- February 19 - 24, 2006: Playa del Coco, Costa Rica
- February 23, 2006: Scuba in Costa Rica
- February 24 - March 3, 2006: On the go again
February 1 - 15, 2006: Our last days in Barillas Marina, El Salvador
The last days of January had us finishing projects. Of course, we ended up working/finishing for longer than we'd expected. The reinsulation of the refrigeration took longer than we planned. We used extruded polystyrene (the pink, rigid stuff you find at Home Depot) that we'd lugged back from the States in August. Abe lined the inside of the old refrigeration with the 2" sheets. This had a twofold benefit. One was that we decreased the size of the refrigerator space by 2" on each side and bottom. Since we rarely used the entire space anyway, this was not missed space. The second benefit was that we now had really good insulation throughout the entire fridge box. The boat was built in 1981 and it is likely that the insulation surrounding the box underneath the countertop is nothing better than space filler at this point. We used to need over 80 amp hours a day for the refrigerator alone. Hearing other boaters, this doesn't sound like a lot compared to what they need, but those other boaters are having to run the generator twice daily for 2 or 3 or 4 hours at a time. We're not on the boat that long, nor do we really want to run the generator that much. It's a little noisy, it uses diesel. We'd rather keep up with the demand with solar panels as much as we can.
We froze some gallon water bottles on shore so that when we fired up the fridge (after 10 months of being without!) the ice bottles would help cool it down so that we didn't drain the batteries getting it down to temperature. We fired it up and were ecstatic to see that we were using only about 40 amp hours per night (when not charging with solar) and gaining almost all that back during the day with solar charging. We can have cold Cokes on board again to say nothing of butter and meat. Yippee!
Since it was so close to the Superbowl (even though I didn't care about it any more now that Indy was out of it. Sigh.) we decided to run some wires to make our next passage a little nicer. We wanted to completely integrate the GPS/Radar/Autopilot/wind instruments. There was some communication between the instruments, but there were different "language" cables that needed to be run for them all to share information. By running the wires, the radar would have GPS latitude and longitude and heading information, the autopilot would then have the course, the radar would know what course was set in the autopilot and could hold a target (another boat) steady rather than losing it and picking it up again when we rolled with waves. Suffice it to say that all instruments now had all information from all other instruments. Practically speaking we can now steer via autopilot steering towards a waypoint (a specific latitude/longitude) rather than just steering a certain course (due south heading of 180 degrees for example). In addition to that, Abe also hooked up our third laptop (yes, I know, three laptops) so that we can have it on all during a passage. We have navigation software that will track the boat, we can see the maps electronically (we do carry paper charts in case electronics fail), we can plot a course, etc. We're fully integrated and it's awesome.
While Abe was working on the refrigeration and the wiring, I was working on installing a small bilge pump. We'd needed this pump since we left San Francisco if not before. We have some water tanks that are atop a welded shelf. This shelf has enough of a lip that when water gets forward of the lip, it can't get aft into the engine room bilge to be pumped out. This just means that we have some standing water sloshing around in the forward 2/3rds of the boat. It's not a lot, but enough to grow some gunk and look icky. So I installed (with Abe's help on the electrical side) a small pump to pump water from the front of the shelf to the back bilge, letting the back bilge pump pump the water overboard. Easy fix.
In amidst all these projects, we were swimming our mile a day in the pool, taking trips into Usulutan to have pizza at the new Pizza Hut (yummy!) on our shopping days (Tuesday and Friday) and reading/relaxing. At night we got sucked into watching the TV series 24. Such a good show, and we had seasons 1 through 4. Don't tell us what happens in season 5. We've heard it starts out great. I was busy making a pink flamingo for our boat since I had such fun making Farley for Pam and Scott. The felting process didn't go as well by hand. I used our WonderWash, solar-heated water, soap and lots of agitation by turning the drum. But Fernando (so named by Pam and Scott) is still not felted all the way. He's not fuzzy and you can still see some of the rows of stitches. So I stuffed him, but didn't sew him up. The next time we get to a washing machine, I'll toss him in and see if I can get him a bit smaller and give him some fuzz. Abe was even so kind to help with the agitation!
I have to tell you about the sign outside the Pizza Hut. We found it quite amusing. On each of the lightposts outside the Pizza Hut there were banners with a drawing of a cartoonish dog. He was quite cute with a hat, a goofy grin and all. Above his head, on this banner were the words "Pizza Puch." We know in the States that a dog is sometimes called a pooch. And to have "pooch" correctly pronounced in Spanish, one would spell it "puch." But I ask you, is the local, general population of Usulutan, El Salvador, or most Spanish-sepakers for that matter, going to know what a pooch/puch is? Some things just don't translate. Back to the top
February 16, 2006: We're off!!!
We're finally pushing off the mooring ball! It's been so long in coming that I actually didn't have my usual pre-passage anxiety. We were just so looking forward to be on the move again. We'll skip Nicaragua by boat, even though we'd heard wonderful things about the country. We're on a bit of a schedule now and are having to decide on what to cut out in order to be where we need to be at the right time. So we're off on a 2 night passage heading for Costa Rica. The passage was not a good one. We had winds over 20 knots for more than 90 percent of the passage. We finally have wind, and the 20 knots actually wasn't that bad. We just had some choppy seas, winds over 30 for 40 percent of the time, and some winds over 40 knots (thankfully not for long). The highest that we saw was 45 knots. Wind makes me nervous (how funny is that for a sailor?!) but by the end of the 57 hour passage 25 knots was nothing! This was the section of Central America where the Papagayo winds blow pretty consistently during this time of year. We were safe, just a bit uncomfortable. We were riding within 5 miles of shore to get lesser winds and lesser adverse current. There are wonderful people at Barillas who we'll miss, but it's nice to changing the scenery from Barillas. Back to the top.
February 19 - 24, 2006: Playa del Coco, Costa Rica
We arrived to the bay at Playa del Coco in northern Costa Rica at 2:30 in the afternoon on the 19th. The bay didn't look too inviting, having sustained winds of 30 knots and white caps in the bay. But we were glad to have the anchor down and looking forward to a good night's sleep. We rinsed the lifelines and stainless steel, launched the dingy so we could get to shore for DINNER!, and took a quick shower. Since the passage was like being in a washing machine much of the time, we hadn't eaten much. Just no appetite. I had 1 1/2 pieces of bread with peanut butter, a 1/2 gallon of water and a bite of chocolate pop tart since we'd left Barillas 57 hours earlier. Thinking of land, dreaming of food and water kept me moving! We saw a boat called Wanderer next to us in the anchorage and wondered if it were The Wanderer that we'd met in Ixtapa (we met the owners, but had never seen the boat). We hoped so since we really enjoyed Paul and Joann's company.
Dinner was ceviche, tuna sashimi (oh, it was so good) and some main plate that paled in comparison to the appetizers. Sometime during the main meal, my head started drooping; it was time for blessed sleep. We took the dinghy back to the boat, and by 7:30 were in bed, lights out. Hey, it was dark. Sleep was allowed! We slept for 13 or 14 hours, catching up on the lack thereof during our passage. I didn't even hear the wind blowing.
Clearing into Costa Rica was a breeze on Monday. The Port Captain sent us 1/2 mile down the road to Immigration, then back to their office. Customs was coming from the airport, but weren't expected for a bit. The Port Captain sent us across the street for lunch (we were hungry!), sending for us when Customs arrived. Such service. And it was all free. We met Wanderer in the Port Captain's office - and it was Paul and Joann! We enjoyed catching up with them over lunch and walking to and from Immigration. Back to the top.
February 23, 2006: Scuba in Costa Rica
The Scuba diving is supposed to be divine in Costa Rica. Although, I can rarely recall hearing that a scuba place was bad. But since we've heard such high praises, we decided it was time to get in the water again. Abe was an assistant dive instructor (what doesn't he teach, I know), and I think partly because of that we're very cautious about where we go diving. We haven't gone from our boat simply because we haven't enough information about local places, currents, safe versus unsafe places, etc. So we pay the money to go with local dive shops. If we ever stayed in a scuba place long enough, we may go out on our own after we'd gone with a dive shop, but so far, we haven't been a place long enough to do that. Skydiving is safer than scuba diving, you know. And we're very cautious about skydiving. No need taking risks with scuba.
We liked the looks of Rich Coast Diving, and stopped in to make reservations. The folks were great, very professional and fun. Our first dive was from Punta Gorda (Fat Point), where we went to about 75'. We saw loads of puffer fish, a couple of small rays, angel fish, some beautifully colored (but no Dorado) fish. We made a circle around the rocks and had fun swimming against the current. Abe and I felt way out of shape as we were having to swim harder (at least it seemed that way) than the guide and other diver to make headway into the current.
The second dive at Isla Tortuga (Turtle Island) had a couple of new sights for me. We swam within 15 feet of a white tip shark (only about 6' nose to tail), a stone fish (I didn't see him until the guide nudged him and the stone moved), a sea horse (they're so small!). The shark was just resting, and moved away when we got too close. We found it again, and swam close again. He left for good that time. We weren't worth the hassle. There was also an old ship here with loads of fish swimming around. Abe said it was one of the most active reefs he has ever seen. The water was wonderful, the pineapple in between dives so very sweet, all around a great experience. We also were visited by dolphins while moving from one site to the next. This isn't unusual for us, but what was neat was that we were on a trimaran and really close to the water. If only the dolphins would surface a little further back while playing in the bow wake, I could have touched them. Drat.
All in all a great time. It was a pain to pull all the gear out of the closet (it's getting easier now that we're not buried so deep under stuff), but so very worth it. Hopefully we'll get in some more along the way south. Back to the top.
February 24 - March 3, 2006: On the go again
We were ready to be underway again, but sailing lore says you can't depart for a passage on a Friday. So we used Friday to get some gas (took a taxi t othe gas station outside of town carrying it in jury cans and then in the dinghy), check out and play at the internet for a bit. Check out was so very easy and fast (such a difference from our time in Mexico). Saturday we headed for Bahia Herradura and Marina Los Sueños. We needed to fill with fuel and water, and had hoped to tie to a dock to wash the boat. The wind was still going pretty good at 25 - 30 knots, but the wave action wasn't too bad. We made okay time, and dropped anchor just after 26 hours for 123 miles. A little slow for us, (we like to average 120 miles a day) but we got there. We had over 2 knot adverse current in come places, but were screaming along over the water at 8+ knots. So it evened out.
Los Sueños didn't have room (which was fine at $80+ a night, but for $40 we could have anchored out and used their dinghy dock and service. Their services included eating at their restaurant, using their laundry services and not much else that we could see. We passed. We just anchored out and used our dinghy wheels (one of the best purchases that we made) to roll up to the beach.
You can see the dinghy wheels in this photo (as with all thumbnails on
our site, click for larger view). They are stored sticking up on the transom
of the dinghy. As we get closer to shore, we remove a pin, swing them
down, and lock them into place. When we land on the beach, we can easily
pick up the bow of the dinghy and roll it to where we want to go.
The water was divine, and we jumped in a couple of times. We washed the bottom of the boat, even though it was still very clean from the scrubbing at Barillas. Since I don't like to do laundry, and we were anchored far away from other people we jumped in nekked. I tell you, I was kind of nervous that fishies would start nibbling where I didn't want them to! But the swimming was great.
Herradura was a very small town and only a stopping over point for us. We were there for two nights and underway again on Tuesday morning. We've been enjoying these one-night passages. Not much time to get too tired, and when the weather got any kind of icky, I could just imagine that we weren't far from anchoring again. I'm still getting a bit anxious before these passages, knots in the stomach, hungry for air (another way of saying difficulty breathing), but once we get under way, I'm much better. It's certainly not incapacitating, but just a bit uncomfortable. And a bit annoying. You'd think I'd get better about it. Sigh. One of those life things to work on, no?
March 1 brings us into Golfito in Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica. We expected to see a bigger town based on what one of our cruising guides told us, but it's not. Great Chinese restaurant, though. It's quite odd, and I don't know why it should be, to hear Chinese folks speaking Spanish. But there you have it. I did laundry today, all by myself with a machine! What a joy. I've done laundry certainly since leaving for this adventure, but in the States. I haven't had the pleasure of doing laundry in a machine by myself near the boat. Such a joy to be able to wash the comforter, the towels, the whites that looked so grungy (hand washing just doesn't get them as clean as a machine). I get to use my soap, my Oxy Clean, I get to make sure that the clean clothes aren't put somewhere dusty or dirty after they're washed, etc. I get to do it MY WAY!!! Such small pleasures.
We think we'll be here about a week, tied to a dock for the first time in over 9 months. What a concept to stand on the dock and wash the side of the boat! She got a got scrub down, and we started a couple of projects. Abe's installing two blower fans for the engine room and I had my head stuck in the toilet all day yesterday. Not because I was sick, but because I was replacing all the parts and gaskets, and such. The forward head became a water fountain (Abe here: I must give you a visual of it. Have you ever seen a water fountain with a naked boy peeing water? Or have you ever seen a bidet at one ofthose fancy hotels? Now you have a visual of our "fountain.") instead of a toilet when we flushed it. Luckily I missed the first fountain (Abe was not so lucky), and managed to steer clear of it's stream. There was a hole in the flapper gasket. No worries, we have a spares kit. It had been 3 years since a complete replacement of parts. It was time. We'll be having guests in the upcoming months, and will need that second head to cooperate. Although I could always have kept the guests in the dark about that fountain and set up a Candid Camera moment.
We may or may not try taking a road trip to Bahia Drake to Scuba off Isla Caño. It's supposed to be fabulous with cliffs and great sights. It depends on how far it is from here. We will be underway sometime next week, headed into Panama! Back to the top.
