My apologies for the poor layout of this entry. I have just spent 15 minutes putting in the carriage returns etc, where they are required only to watch it revert back to this! Hope you can make sense of it because I'm not doing it again!
Following a lovely Christmas and New Year with Daryl and his girlfriend Maria, who treated us to the luxury of a Marriott hotel for New Year’s Eve, things in Panama took a definite down-turn. In fact, I am/was so fed up with it all that I am just going to attach one document here that explains most of what happened – I don’t want to think about it anymore - it’s now a problem for Visa – but, in a nutshell, this is what happened, outlined in a letter to Visa and various attachments:
BACKGROUND TO CHARGE ON VISA ACCOUNT
CHARGE FOR £832-11 ON 8TH FEBRUARY 2008, BALBOA, PANAMA
Dear Sirs
Further to a telephone conversation today with Disputes, I asked, due to our poor Skype connection if I could e-mail my details regarding what I consider to be an overcharge on my account, and confirm, in writing, that I am disputing it. The charge has been levied by the ACP – the Panama Canal Authority. I have tried to take up this matter with them but we have reached an impasse and I would ask that you dispute it further on my behalf.
I will try and keep this information as concise as possible.
When you arrange your Panama Canal transit by Visa, you authorise a payment for your transit – in our case $600-00 and they note a buffer of $850-00. They are not allowed to take money from this buffer without contacting me first with their intention and explaining why they feel a fine is necessary.
In my case, they neither contacted me to seek my consent, or kept within the buffer limit. Not only did I not consent to this over-charge, I dispute that it is payable at all.
In brief, when you transit the Panama Canal, a boat our size (a small one!) is assigned a Transit Advisor, these are people who work for the Canal in another capacity but for overtime act as a ‘pilot’ on our boat, instructing us on speed, direction etc. They are trained for this duty. They basically board your boat and take control of it for the day, making all decisions to which we the owner’s and our line-handlers respond.
A bit of background. All sailing vessels have to sign paperwork acknowledging that they can reach a speed of 8 knots. Everyone signs this otherwise you would not be allowed to use the canal. The canal authority knows that most sailing boats can’t engine at 8 knots and are happy if you maintain 6. This means that on a South to North transit (Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean) (as ours was), you generally collect your Transit Advisor at around 0800 hours and make your way to the first three locks, the Miraflores and the Pedro Miguel. Once you are through these locks you then cross the Gatun Lake and, on arriving at the other side, you go through what they call ‘down-locking’ and eventually end up in the Atlantic. Most sailing boats are scheduled to either spend a night in the Lake at the Gatun Locks, or to down-lock sometime between 1600 and 1800 hours.
On the day of our Transit our Advisor informed us that we would be down-locking through the Gatun locks at 1600 hours and so we were happy that we would have plenty of time. This is a very relevant fact.
Having gone through the first set of locks we headed into the Culebra cut and our alternator belt snapped. At the time this happened an explosives barge working for the canal appeared behind us and our Transit Advisor decided that we should tie alongside while my husband fixed our belt. This took 15 minutes and we were back under our own power and ready to cast off. Our Advisor decided that we should stay with the barge until we reached a place called Gamboa as this is where the barge was heading so we should go along with us. OUR TOTAL TIME TO FIX OUR BELT WAS 15 MINUTES. You will see the relevance of this a little later on.
So, we dropped off the explosives barge and continued on our way, making between 6 and 6.5 knots as instructed by our Transit Advisor.
At around 1330 hours, following a call on his radio, I don’t know who from, our Transit Advisor consulted his paperwork and informed us that he had made a mistake and that we had a problem. He had mis-read our lock EXIT time for our lock ENTRY time, and only now did he realise that our lock entry time was 1400 hours – it was obvious to us all that the speed he had asked us to proceed at was not going to get us there in time, he didn’t however ask us to increase our speed. He explained to us that the reason he had made this mistake as that it was highly unusual for a sailing boat to be given a locking down time anywhere before 1600 hours and so he had narrowed in on the 1600 hours time on his transit schedule and not realised that this was our exit time, as this was a perfectly normal ENTRY time. In an e-mail I have had from him in the process of my disputing these charges, he almost admits to this, but obviously is by that time very concerned for his job and his future with the ACP and is now no longer so forthcoming. You have to understand that working for the Panama Canal is a highly prized job – on average they make around $150,000-00 a year where most other Panamanians are making around $400-00 a month. He’s not going to jeopardise that.
We arrived at the lock at 1545 hours (which was right on time for what we thought was going to be a 1600 hours down-lock) and were informed that we would be staying in the lake overnight. This was not unusual. We had already transitted the canal three times previously acting as line handlers on friends’ boats and were pretty au-fait with how the system worked. On two of our previous transits, the boats we were on actually made a slower passage than us and remained in the Lake overnight and then proceeded to down-lock the next day. Neither boat was charged delay – both boats had signed the 8 knot speed clause, neither boat was able to attain that speed.
The following day we down-locked and arrived in the Atlantic.
A few days later we came into Shelter Bay marina for a week in order to prepare for our crossing to Florida. On arrival at the marina I signed into my Visa account to check the balance and make a payment. I was horrified when I saw that the Panama Canal Authority had deducted $1575-00 from my account without my permission. I phoned them immediately and they said they were very sorry they had tried to contact me but as they had no contact details they had gone ahead and made the charge. THIS IS NOT TRUE, when you complete the paperwork you fill out a section of contact details, and for me (as it is with most sailors) I gave my e-mail address – there was no e-mail from the ACP. They then explained to me that as we had been late for our down-locking they had charged delay fees.
This is my situation now:
I DIDN’T AUTHORIZE THE CHARGE TO MY CARD and they failed to contact me in the manner I had indicated on our paperwork.
Even if I had authorized the amount, they were never allowed to take more than $1450-00, as it is they took $1575-00. ($600-00 Transit Fee and $850-00 buffer)
I have been disputing this charge for a week with the Canal Billings office and they have finally told me that they have no intention of refunding my funds.
Had our Transit Advisor not made a mistake in the mis-reading of his paperwork, we would not have this problem now. Naturally he isn’t admitting to this any longer for reasons of job preservation. But, this is the crux of the issue.
You will note in the e-mails that have gone back and forth from myself to payments that initially they were trying to blame ‘engine problems,’ until I pointed out that we DID NOT have engine problems just a broken belt which was fixed in 15 minutes and did not impede our ability.
I think that perhaps the easiest thing to do here is for me to attach the string of e-mails for your information.
I really do apologise if this appears to be a long convoluted explanation and I hope that it makes sense to you.
Firstly, my initial e-mail to the ACP Billing’s Office
SIN 6004022
Dear Sirs
I am writing to clarify the situation regarding charges for my transit on 04 February 2008. I have spoken to Collections who have given me a breakdown of our transit charges, and am astonished to find that we have been penalised for Transit Delay. The transit on our own boat was our fourth. On each previous occasion we arrived at Gatun Lake, or the locks between 1600 and 1730 hours. On the day of our transit, we arrived at the locks at 1530 hours and were informed that we would be staying overnight in the lake.
We logged our transit – in our ship’s Log and on a chart, and there are a number of discrepancies with the information given to me my the Collectors Office.
We picked up our Transit Advisor – Elvir Macmillan - at 0805 hours and went into the first lock at 0905 hours.
We exited Pedro Miguel lock at 1105 hours and proceeded through the Culebra Cut. In the Culebra Cut our alternator belt snapped and we had to stop engine for 15 minutes. At the time we had an explosives barge behind us and our Advisor requested that the barge take us alongside. We did not request their assistance, and had they not been there, would have anchored briefly, changed the belt and continued. However, we were taken alongside at 1205, our belt was replaced in 10 minutes and we were ready to proceed under our own power but our Transit Advisor decided that we ‘might as well stay with the barge’ until we got to Gamboa and cast off there. We cast off at 1245 hours – a total time alongside of 40 minutes.
I would like to make the point here that this is not a complaint about our Advisor, we were very pleased with the professionalism and enjoyed our day with him very much.
We made a good passage through the Lake and were told by our Transit Advisor that we were scheduled for down-locking at the Gatun Locks at 1600 hours. He was very pleased with our progress. However, at approximately 1330 hours our Advisor noted that he had made a mistake regarding our down-locking time and that we were in fact scheduled to down-lock at 1400, EXITING the locks at 1600 hours. He informed us that there must have been a mistake in our scheduled down-lock time as he considered that even at a speed of 8 knots, it would have been impossible to have reached the first of the Gatun Locks by 1400 hours taking into consideration our exit time from the Pedro San Miguel lock, the distance to travel to the first Gatun Lock and a speed of 8 knots
We were all very pleased with our progress and were surprised that when we arrived at the Gatun Locks at 1530 hours, that we were not going to down lock at 1600 hours. The Lock Master confirmed that 1600 hours was the time of or EXIT, once again, something our Advisor felt was a mistake. When this mistake became evident we discussed with our Advisor whether there would be penalties levied against us. He stated that in his opinion we had had a very good transit, making good speed, that he felt our down-lock time had been a scheduling error and that as such there would be no excess charges.
Regardless of this we spent a very pleasant night in the Gatun Lake (as on our previous transits) and proceeded with our down lock the following day.
Could you please investigate the extra charges that have been levied against us and explain to me why it is that we have been charged delay when our scheduled down-lock time was, firstly mis-understood by our Transit Advisor, and secondly, impossible to meet. Can you please explain to me why it is that although we made better time between the locks than two of the previous vessels we transitted on, we have been so heavily penalised, when they were not? I can understand and accept paying a towing fee for the time we spent alongside the barge. The amount of time we were alongside however was not an hour and a half, but 40 minutes.
I would ask that in the light of this information you might review these excess charges. I look forward to your reply.
Best regards
Elizabeth Hanson,S/V Aphrodite
Copy for information: Elvir Macmillan, Transit Advisor
ACP RESPONSE
Good day Ms. Hanson, in reference to your northbound transit on February 4, 2008, our records indicates the following:
1. Your arrived Miraflores locks at 0859 and cleared at 1002
2. Arrived Pedro Miguel locks at 1017 and cleared at 1050.
3. At 1200 we received the report of the engine problem, while passing by Cascada reach and that the tugboat Chame II was already assisting.
4. At 1240 we received the report you were at Gamboa, the engine was fixed and was proceeding with the transit at a maximum speed of 6 knots. We will like to point out the Panama Canal Authority require a minimum full ahead speed of 8 knots.
5. Passing Buoy 25 at 1500.
The times could be a bit different from your log. Our system records the Panama Canal Authority official time, which is the official local time.
On your previous transits you were probably scheduled to remain at Gatun Lake, but for this transit, you were schedule to lock down with N-01 who had as schedule wall time of 1430 and an entering time of about 1500. This schedule was perfectly accomplishable, if not for the engine breakdown experienced during the transit and the maximum full ahead speed of 6 knots. The levy for the transit delay is based of the previous facts.
On the tugboat, she was not schedule for this assistance and the charge is not for the time that you were alongside the tug only, also includes the time the tugboat need to reposition to the point before she got diverted.
Please, if you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
Gerente Interino, Sección de Tráfico Marítimo y Arqueo
My response
Estimado Senor Achon Thank you for your quick response to my enquiry regarding extra charges for our transit. I would like to clarify the reason we did not proceed through the Lake to the Gatun Locks at a speed of 8 knots. It was not because of an engine problem. There was no problem with our engine, the problem was that our alternator belt snapped and took 15 minutes to replace and we were very fortunate that the barge was able to assist. Within 15 minutes of the belt breaking, repair had been made we were underway using our own engine and able to proceed unassisted, however, our Transit Advisor decided that we should stay alongside the barge until we reached Gamboa. We took his advice as we didn't realise that there would be such a large charge for this service. Following the repair of our belt, we were still able to make good time but our Advisor told us to maintain a passage speed of between 6 and 6.5 knots as he had read on his schedule that we were to enter the first 'down-lock' at 4.00 p.m. and if we were to proceed faster, we would have to wait. We proceeded at the speed requested by our Advisor. At 1.30 p.m. our Advisor checked his paperwork and realised that he had made a mistake and had read our EXIT time as our ENTRY time. By the time he realised his mistake it was too late for us to make the 1400 schedule. I have contacted our Advisor and he has confirmed this error in an e-mail to me. Please advise if you would like me to make a copy available to you. Of the previous transits I have undertaken, the first one was a sailboat that proceeded at 5.5 knots and arrived late for his 1600 hours down lock. He was re-scheduled to a later time of 1800 hours, when we down-locked and passed through without penalty. What I would like you to understand is that the snapping of our alternator belt, which was fixed in 15 minutes, wasn't the cause for our late arrival. The mistake in our down-locking time was the reason. As I stated in my previous e-mail, I think it is entirely fair that we should pay for the assistance given to us by the barge, but I feel it is deeply unfair that we should be penalised so greatly for a mistake made by our Transit Advisor. I would appreciate your opinion on this. Regards, Liz Hanson
ACP RESPONSE
Dear Ms. Hanson, if you do have an e-mail from the transit advisor, please let me have a copy. Making a mistake reading the lockage time is something, but the transit controller is constantly update the time, on every reporting point, meaning that the advisor did not pay attention to the information provided on the radio neither.
We will have to conduct a further research before we can decide on this issue.
Best regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
Estimado Senor Achon
My apologies for my delay in replying, I lost the wi-fi signal at the marina last night.
As you will see from Mr Macmillan’s e-mail (our Transit Advisor). When he boarded our boat on the morning of the 4th of February, he was expecting that we would be scheduled for down-locking at the Gatun Locks at 1600 hours or later. We introduced ourselves, he checked his paperwork, saw Gatun Locks 1600 hours and set the speed of our passage accordingly. What he didn’t realise until later was that he had mistaken our EXIT time for our ENTRY time.
At around 1330 hours, and I can’t remember if it was following a call on his radio, he checked his paperwork again and realised the mistake and told us. He had read our exit time as our entry time. By 1330 hours it was too late to make the 1400 hour lock. The plan he had for our passage though did indeed get us there in time for a 1600 hour down lock.
I can see that it was an easy mistake to make and we really don’t wish to cause a problem for Mr Macmillan, he was professional, knowledgeable and a pleasure to spend the day with, but neither can we afford to pay the extra charges for an error that was not our fault.
The following is Mr Macmillan’s e-mail:
Paul and Liz, I am sorry to hear you are been penalized. I will enquire on this matter. Usually it is common to reach Gatun anchorage at around 1530hrs. given the the transit time in the morning and an avg. speed of 8kn. with a locking time assigned at 1600hrs. or later. It was surprising for me to hear from transit lockage at 1400hrs. Now then, I dont believe you are been charge for assitance while replacing your belt...it was for safety reasons and to remain secure to the pusher boat was to clear safely that area while awaiting for your engine to cool down. There was no mistake made in terms of lockage time it is just that it was assigned two hours ahead of regular schedules for handlines cruising at avg. 8kn. and commencing transit at 0800hrs. As I said will check with our office on this matter. I dont have the final word on this and my expertise is out in the field to assure the customer a safe transit. This we accomplished.Keep me posted. All the best, E.MacMillan.
I would respectfully request that in the light of the above, you are able to review the situation.
Best regardsLiz HansonS/V Aphrodite
ACP RESPONSE
Good day Ms. Hanson, we understand you were at Gamboa at 1240. You stated that the advisor realized his mistake at 1330. Where was the boat at that time (50 minutes after passing Gamboa)? The distance between Gamboa and Gatun is 21 Nautical Miles, running at 8 Knots that should take about 2.6 hours.
Your lock down time was not 1400, the wall time for the vessel you were locking down with was 1430 and entering the chamber at about 1500. If at 1330 he realized his mistake, why he did not speedup to get to Gatun at 1500?
We will contact Mr. Macmillan for more details.
Regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
Gerente Interino, Sección de Tráfico Marítimo y Arqueo
MY RESPONSE
Estimado Senor Achon Thank you for your response. I really don't know the answer to your questions, we just followed Mr Macmillan's advice. I am sure that when you contact him he will be able to resolve the matter for us. I will await your reply. Best regards, Liz Hanson
ACP RESPONSE
Estimada Sra. Hanson, we already spoke with Mr. Macmillan. With the information provided by him, we believe, that the charges are valid.
Regards,
Ronaldo E. Achon
I really don’t believe that these charges are valid. As per all transit’s through the canal, we followed the advice of our Transit Advisor, he got it wrong and now we are being penalised.
I’m not sure how you/we proceed in such a matter. As I have stated all along, I am obviously willing to pay for our transit, and was willing to pay for the tow, but am now re-considering that.
Would please let me know what possible re-course we may have and if we can stop this charge.
My apologies for the length of this e-mail, I wasn’t quite sure of any other way of explaining it!
There is one other thing, early in January we had a different problem with the ACP and I am wondering if one has reflected on the other. My husband say’s I am being neurotic!!! But I wonder?
The details are best explained in the following, which is a copy of an e-mail and one or our witness statements
Dear Elvir
Many thanks for your continued offer of support. I have to say I feel so upset as this is the second problem we have had with the ACP. I've attached a document that explains what happened to us in January when an ACP tug boat pulled up our anchor on the 2nd of January, when we were ashore. We have a number of statement's all of which have been submitted to a Mr Hogan. What the statement doesn't explain is that the buoy they pulled up had lots of little anchor symbols on it and the name of our boat, but this didn't stop them. As a result we had a meeting with the ACP with Rene Horos and Rodolfo Hogan. They promised to investigate and accepted responsibility for damage. After six weeks and numerous e-mails, including photographs of the damage, photographs of the guy who pulled up our anchor (a Senor Quintero) photographs of our anchor buoy, and promises that an inquiry would take place and that our damage would be fixed, we have heard nothing. Just over a week ago, having submitted repair costs of approximately $1,500-00 I still heard nothing and so set a deadline for a response. What we have to do is haul-out our boat so that we can remove our windvane and take it to a workshop where a jointing pin can be removed by a hydraulic press so that the gears can be re-meshed. Without this work we have no windvane and it is rather vital to us so this is something else it would seem we are going to have to find money to fix. Anyway, the response didn't happen and so I said that I would write to the Chairman of ACP. Then we get fined for our Canal Transit!!?? I am so at a loss as to what to think. If there is anything you can do on our behalf, then obviously we would be very grateful, but I appreciate your position and know it can't be easy. I can make copies of all statements and photos to you, should you think it would be of any use, I expect not. I am sorry that this has turned into a saga and even more sorry that with both these incidents our memories of Panama will not be happy ones. Thanks again and best regards, Liz and PaulWITNESS STATEMENT
INCIDENT WITH ACP SECURITY AND SAILING VESSEL APHRODITE IN LA PLAYITA ANCHORAGE, 2ND JANUARY 2008 STATEMENT FROM CAPTAIN DAVID JANSSENS/V SUCRE I was in my cockpit on the afternoon of the 2nd of January 2008 when I heard a lot of shouting from a boat nearby. The boat was Liberty Call, and when I looked I noted that he was shouting at an SCP Security vessel that was attempting to hook the yellow anchor buoy that belonged to the sailing boat Aphrodite. The Captain of Liberty Call was waving his arms and shouting 'No, no.' The ACP guys looked across at Liberty Call and then proceeded to pull up the yellow anchor buoy. As soon as the anchor buoy had been pulled up Aphrodite started to drift back very rapidly as it was a very windy day. The man on the ACP boat realised what he had done and threw the anchor buoy overboard, back into the water. In the meantime I could see that Aphrodite was going to hit Liberty Call and I therefore jumped in my dinghy to go and help.
A number of other people from other boats had also seen what had happened and were also in their dinghy's rushing to help. Unfortunately Aphrodite struck Liberty Call and then the wind vane steering on Aphrodite became entangled around the bow pulpit and anchor chain on Liberty Call. I was trying to unwrap the chain from around the wind vane as the anchorage was very 'choppy' that due due to the high winds, and every time the boats rolled the strain of the anchor chain around the wind vane steering was pulling the mechanism apart. At this point I injured my arm. The damaged looked very bad and I didn't think it would be possible to fix the wind vane. The impact also smashed the stern light on Aphrodite. I also noticed that the stainless steel pulpit on Liberty Call was damaged. We managed to free Aphrodite from Liberty Call and then a number of epople boarded Aphrodite and started the engine in order to re-anchor the boat. Davaljanssen@hotmail.com
Back to my letter to Visa
I look forward to receiving your thoughts and advice on the matter of these charges. Can you withdraw the payment while it is in dispute? I’ve always found that he who has the money has the power!!
For information, it is almost impossible to get a phone call out of here and my only means of communication is e-mail. Could you therefore please respond to me by e-mail? Many thanks for your time. I look forward to receiving your advice.
Best regards
Elizabeth Hanson
So, that sums up the remainder of our time in Panama.
It was therefore with a mixture of relief tinged with much sadness that we sailed out of Shelter Bay marina in Colon on the 19th of February and headed east for the beautiful islands of San Blas. Relief, to be moving on from Panama, but deep sadness to be leaving our very good friend and sailing ‘buddy’ for the last 10 months, Daryl, behind. This is where our roads part – ours to cross the Caribbean and head back ultimately to Europe, his to voyage out across the Pacific Ocean to French Polynesia, Hawaii and eventually back to his home town of San Francisco. It’s been great matey, lifelong memories, we’ll miss you very much and look forward to seeing you again somewhere. Bon voyage xx
AND SO, CARIBBEAN CRUISING
Our first passage on leaving Colon was a windward bash, in 20 knots in company with David and his friends on ‘Bella’, to the historical town of Portobelo on the ‘Spanish Main.’ The bay of Portobelo was discovered by Christopher Columbus on 2nd November 1502, and in 1586 Portobelo was chosen as the Caribbean transhipment centre because of its magnificent harbour and convenient location. It soon became one of the most important sites for transferring South and Central American riches. From Portobelo tons of gold and silver flowed to the commercial capital of the Spanish empire – Seville. From 1574 to 1702, 45 fleets of galleons were sent forth, none of which carried less than thirty million pesos of riches. The town was highly fortified and much of the fortification still stands today, including the ‘guns of Portobelo’ which are still in their emplacements. The wealth that arrived in Portobelo was a strong draw for pirates, the like of Henry Morgan, who worked the Spanish Main and with an assault troop of 460 men, he sacked the town.
A fascinating place and a fabulous harbour, totally sheltered, we dropped our anchor ‘under the guns of Portobelo’ – literally – next to our friends on Bella who had arrived several hours before us (53 foot power boat!!). The following day we were alerted to problems on board Bella, she was making water and the source of the leak couldn’t be found. A few hours later the problem was contained although the source was still a mystery. Paul and I headed ashore to explore this historic town. At the dinghy landing we met an old American gentleman named Dick who is an ex-cruiser and now allows other cruisers to moor their dinghies at the dock on his waterside property. Dick’s a very interesting man, and along with his wife Pat, has researched and written about much of the history of the area. On realising that we were English and that Paul has a fascination concerning naval history, he dug deep into his sea chest and pulled out original silver pieces of eight and gold dubloons!
The next morning we hauled anchor and continued our windward bash towards the island of Isla Grande, our first Caribbean island. We pulled close in to shore and anchored in 9 feet of water!! A bizarre feeling. Having cruised the Pacific for the last year where we had to make allowances for rise and fall of tide, we had rarely anchored in anything under 30 feet. Now in the Caribbean, the most tide we will encounter is likely to be a foot or less – the advantage of this is that we are much closer to the shore and once we were happy that our anchor was set, we dived in and swam through the shallow, warm, clear turquoise water to the white palm-fringed beach – heaven. Unfortunately the anchorage turned a little rolly and so the next day we bashed on, once again, towards the San Blas archipelago. San Blas comprises 340 coral islands and is very unique. They are home to the indigenous Kuna Indians who have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. The area is also home to one of the most untouched stretches of virgin rainforest. Each of the inhabited islands has a strict hierarchy of tribal leaders, each village having three ‘Sahilas’ or village chiefs. The Kuna nation is then ruled by three Caciques or high chiefs. When arriving in an anchorage at an inhabited island, it is not unusual to be invited ashore to meet the village chiefs and part with some dollars! This has yet to happen to us! And so after beating up and around Punta San Blas, we arrived at our first San Blas island – Chichimi. The island is surrounded by reef and therefore, even on the windward side where we anchored, the water is calm. The sound of the waves crashing on the outer reef at night is a little disconcerting however, but the entry through the reef into the lagoon was pretty easy and once inside we dropped our anchor in crystal clear water and were immediately approached by a group of Kuna women in their dug-out canoe, selling Mola’s. These are beautiful appliqué squares, varying in size, some sewn into shirts or blouses, others that make gorgeous cushion covers and wall hangings. They are very intricate and are made by sewing and cutting different layers of colourful cloth. Every mola is different and they usually depict forms of bird, animal or marine life. Molas are Panama’s most famous handicraft, are very beautiful and very difficult not to buy – now I just have to learn to say ‘no gracias’ – a boat this size can only have so many cushions! Tomorrow we head out for the East Lemon Cays where we are hoping to join our friends Kurt and Agatha on Maverick, a couple we first sailed with in Mexico over a year ago. We will then cruise down through the archipelago and then have a 200 mile windward bash to Cartagena in Colombia before heading north west towards Cuba, some time towards the end of March. A cruising boat could easily spend a year in the San Blas alone, unfortunately our schedule only allows for 2 to 3 weeks – we will have to come back on a future cruise!?
Saturday, March 15, 2008
NEW YEAR, NEW OCEAN
Thursday, January 03, 2008
08 NOVEMBER 2007 - 22 DECEMBER
SO, WHERE ARE WE? - OH YES, PARADISE
Photos: Aphrodite’s Album
Isla Parga
Western Panamanian islands
Isla Coiba and Santa Catalina
On passage from Isla Jicaron
Islas Perlas to Panama
And we truly were. We dropped our anchor at Isla Parida by Isla Gamez. The sun was shining the water crystal clear and turquoise, the bleach-white sandy beaches beckoned from under the swaying palms - gorgeous - just what we signed up for 18 months ago. Liberty Call had arrived 24 hours earlier and Second Wind were still around. That was it apart from fishing pangas. There is NOTHING in the Western Panamanian islands - no shops, no WI-FI, no bar, no restaurant, nothing but gorgeous islands with excellent snorkelling. A large part of the islands form a National Park and the largest of the islands, Coiba, is home to a Ranger station housing around 30 Rangers who patrol the islands. Once you get to the Las Secas islands you are ‘in the park’ and will be approached to pay $10 per person for an 8 day stay. We actually stayed around 5/6 weeks and only ever paid once although the guys used to come and see us regularly for a chat! When paying, don’t expect a receipt. They will approach you in an anchorage and take your money and may ask for a copy of your boat’s registration, but they won’t give you a receipt. This isn’t a problem. The first time they came to us we were at Briancanco and they told us that we had to go to Coiba to pay. We asked if we could pay them as Coiba is almost the most easterly of the islands and some way away. They said no, we had to go to Coiba. They next day they returned to Briancanco and took our money - no problem! However, I digress, we are still in Isla Parida where we make the acquaintance of Carlos when he taps on our boat early one morning to see if we would like to buy fish and lobster. During the time we spent in Isla Parida - the boys - Daryl and Paul went fishing with Carlos and his buddies, leaving at 5.30 a.m. one morning, in the hope of learning some ‘age old’ methods of catching or baiting that would improve our hit rate. They were somewhat surprised to find that there was no equipment in the panga when they set off into the rainy sunrise. Soaked and shivering they finally arrived at a spot where Carlos said they would catch fish. He then leaned over the side of his panga and proceeded to haul in his net set the previous day!!! So, no new fishing skills, bait setting tricks, AND, NO FISH! The nets were empty except for rays, which were all released. Daryl actually went lobster catching with these guys also one wet cold rainy morning. It sounds like we were back into bad weather but generally it was gorgeous. Just cold and wet early in the morning on fishing days. Anyway, back to Daryl and his lobstering - he spent the entire morning diving in and out of the panga, until, finally exhausted, he flopped back into the boat having caught ZERO lobsters!!! Bless! Fortunately for us the local guys had bagged around 80 to 100 and at three for $5-00 we all ate lobster that night.
So, we sailed out of Parida/Gamez on the 13th of November, and continued to sail the whole day, (for you non-sailors reading this, I mention this as of the 3,600 miles we have under our keel so far, at least 40 percent of them have been under engine - possibly more) arriving at the Las Secas Islands. As we made our approach into the bay at Isla Cavada, two 40 foot whales surfaced just feet from our boat, dived under the boat and re-appeared just an arms stretch from the port side they continued to swim around us, blowing and diving, putting on the most amazing show in close quarters. To be honest, a little too close for me. When the pair of them ploughed head on for our stern I finally chickened out and started the engine, as I had decided it might possibly dissuade them from ramming us! As it turns out I missed the most spectacular whale activity possibly of my life. Just feet away, Paul tells me, they dived, their flukes spectacular, right off our stern. We motored into the cove at Cavada. This particular island is privately owned and is home to a very expensive ‘eco’ resort. The private property, no landing signs could only be read close up, well, that was our excuse, but we couldn’t really wander any further inland and so the following day we dropped down to Isla Pargo (still in the Las Secas chain) and found our first excellent snorkelling. The anchorage was great on the north side of Pargo between the two smaller islands. The best snorkelling (and it was good) was all around the westerly of the two small islands. There was also a couple of good hikes to be had here. A few days later we sailed, once gain, to the Islas Contreras chain, and anchored in Briancanco. Since leaving Parida, we hadn’t seen another boat. En route to Briancanco I caught my first Dorado (aka Mahi-mahi, Dolphin (not flipper!)) It wasn’t huge but it tasted great! Briancanco is where we first made the acquaintance of Willis and his colleagues from the Park Rangers office. It’s also about where Paul (smoker for 40+ years) ran out of cigarettes - remember, no shops, bars, restaurants = no cigarettes. Bless, the first day he took out all the nubs of cigarettes from the trash (luckily for him there were many as you can’t leave trash in any of the Western Panamanian islands) picked out the remnants of tobacco, dug out his pipe and then tried to ration himself. Just to complete the enforced ‘no-smoking’ story, four days later I found a cigar which kept him going for almost 24 hours. Anyway, back to Briancanco - EXCELLENT - snorkelling at the western headland of the bay, but all around the western side of the bay there was great coral and fish. From Briancanco we engined across to Isla Uva - and just after we set our anchor our alternator belt shredded itself - no worry - we had plenty of spares.
I think I mentioned before that in Golfito we had found a ‘better fitting’ alternator belt - number 15455 (a number that will now live in my memory for ever) and so, once we had established that this was the best fit belt we could find I headed out to the auto shop to buy several spares - as our belts are inclined to shred around the 50 hour mark. Not wishing to be too boring, so in brief, Aphrodite originally had a dynamo which we replaced with an alternator and it is fractionally out of alignment and hence we get through alternator belts. Anyway, not a problem because I just bought six 15445’s which should keep us going for quite some time. (Note the mistake?) No I didn’t either until we were anchored in Uva, miles from anywhere and trying vainly to fit the new belt the 15445 in place of the now stripped old belt - 15455. Merd!! Daryl, (who is a bit like sailing with West Marine) has two emergency ‘build your own belt’ kits, unfortunately neither of which worked adequately. If the issue was power only it wouldn’t have been such a problem, but our alternator belt also drives our engine cooling pump so, no belt, no engine, no shop, no belt. We decide after much thought that we actually now have to try and sail back, at least to Isla Parida, where we may be lucky and get a panga or fishing boat to the mainland. To continue east is taking us further away from any possibility of resolving our latest little difficulty. So we say our goodbyes to Daryl who is sailing to Coiba and head out on a very light breeze to retrace our tracks to Parida. Two hours (maybe three) later we have at least one knot of wind and are about 600 yards away from Daryl who is still at anchor! But we are getting a good push now from the tide - straight towards rocks. This is the point at which we gybe the cruising Shute but with so little wind, end up with a wrap. Paul tries to rejoin the DIY belt and Daryl (now up anchored) stands by. At this point the Ranger boat arrives but is in a emergency and so is not able to tow us but are certain that it would be better for us to proceed to Coiba rather than heading back to Parida. It is at this point that Ranger Rodriguez calls across to Paul ‘does he want cigarettes’ Paul, thrilled, shouts yes please and I head below to get the fish landing net for the handover. Rodriguez then shouts across to Paul ‘do you want cigars’ Paul, as long as it has nicotine in, would take a plant at this point (this is where he has now been tobacco-less for 5 days and I drop my alternator belt bombshell - he did remarkably well really. I arrive back on deck with the net to scoop up his much needed ‘injection’ just in time to see the park boat speed off into the distance and over the horizon, leaving Paul aghast and perplexed. Anyway, the wind finally comes back and we have a great sail to Coiba and drop our anchor at the Ranger station anchorage. It’s soon dark but we head in for a look around and are met by Rodriguez, clutching a jiffy bag containing two packs of cigarettes and the five biggest cigars I have ever seen. This little stash cost a staggering $35, but at this point Paul would have probably been prepared to exchange the boat. We were told that there was a mechanical engineer arriving at the island tomorrow and that he may have a belt for us. Sadly this didn’t work out and so it was determined that I would go to the mainland, 50 kilometres away, in a fishing boat.
As luck would have it a tourist panga came to the island later that day and it was agreed that I could head back with them to Santa Catalina from where I should be able to travel inland and find an alternator belt. The ride over was great, around 1 hour 45 minutes on flat seas - the speed was staggering. I arrived in Santa Catalina, a tiny place and set out to find a bed for the night. This thankfully was not too difficult. Although Santa Catalina is a tiny place, one store, one bar (cold beer!!) it is a huge surf spot and so I soon found a surf shack full of twenty-something guys running around semi-naked - it was terrible! It was also the owner’s birthday and a big BBQ and party was planned for that night - all guests invited - well, you have to have some luck! The next day I was up early and on the bus to the nearest town., 2 hours away. It had seven ‘auto type’ stores in which I found one belt! Knowing that this wasn’t sufficient I jumped on another bus for another 2 hours which took me to another much bigger city I now can’t remember the name of, that was so big I had no idea where to start and so got into a taxi and asked him to take me to ‘todo tiendas para auto’s’ I had an hour before I had to catch the bus back to get me back in time to get the next bus back to Santa Catalina. In one hour we went to 9 stores and I managed to find ONE belt (I now had two!) I decided that I would take a couple of belts one size down and a couple that were one size up and hopefully, please God, they would work.
So, clutching my belts, I just make it back to the bus station for my first of two 2 hour bus rides. The first bus is delayed by an accident and I arrive two minutes after my last bus back to Santa Catalina has left so my only option now is a taxi back to Rollo’s place. I had left at 5.00 a.m. that morning and got back just after 6.00 p.m. - knackered. Through a dive instructor living at Rollo’s surf camp - who just happened to be from my home town of Nottingham, England (!!???!!) I was able to get myself a ride back to Coiba the next day in the dive ‘support panga’ along with the cook and accumulated cool boxes and bags of food to support the three day dive trip. That morning, early, I had gone to the one store in Santa Catalina and bought a few supplies. Three thousand cigarettes for Paul, flour, sugar and 36 eggs. The eggs were in cardboard egg trays which were held together with tape. We waded out through the surf to the awaiting panga’s and set off into a dark and threatening sky. Approximately 20 minutes out in building seas and light rain, the engine stops for the first time. (It stopped a further three times but the driver thankfully was able to coax it back to life each time) In the meantime the seas are now HUGE, the rain is driving so hard that I ended up with a badly blood shot eye from the force of the rain in my eyes. Why didn’t you close them? The waves were so big and the panga was slamming so hard into them, over the top of them, down the front of them that you had to keep your eyes open so that you could see the next big one coming and open your mouth in order that your teeth didn’t smash together as the shock shot up through your spine. I was now also soaking wet and FREEZING COLD. My eggs were also soaking wet, or, to be more precise the cardboard trays, which had virtually disintegrated and so I was nursing them on a seat pad and hopelessly trying to hold them together in the soggy cardboard; I was also aware that I had at least one broken egg between my thighs but was determined that somehow I was going to get these dam eggs back to our boat. I had considered hurling them overboard a number of times so that I could free up my hands to hold on, but it had become my mission to get these eggs to Aphrodite, besides, I was now so cold I had no feeling left in either of my hands. Coiba finally came into view three hours after we had left Santa Catalina - I was so relieved I almost cried. They took me alongside where I handed up my precious cargo of (33) eggs to Paul and was then passed up myself - my hands and forearms were so numb I couldn’t pull myself up onto our boat. Neither could I take off my soaking clothes. Paul delighted to see me return but concerned about my condition took me into his arms and said ‘I told you you should have taken a coat!’
In my absence the boy’s (who had now been joined by Trevor on Nakiska) had had two days of the heaviest rain we had in weeks. But the next day, trauma’s forgotten, the sun came out and we headed out to Isla Rancheria. From Rancheria, a few days later we headed over to Bahia Honda where we had been told that we could get fruit and veg, milk etc. and Daryl and Trevor set off for Isla Granito on the east side of Coiba.
We arrived in Bahia Honda and, and before we could even get our anchor down, we were surrounded by children in dug-out canoes selling Grapefruits, bananas, papayas, pineapple, to name but a few, but no onions and I was on a mission for onions, so we launched the dink and headed into the island. This place is home to around 600 people. They are probably around half a mile from the mainland but the mainland is all dense rainforest with not so much as a path, let alone a road. We never did quite work out how the lovely people of this tiny island exist. On coming ashore we were led by two local children, to the tienda. The tienda was smaller than our Head and the proprietor sat there alongside her bottle of bleach and one 10 year old onion - which, in my sorrow for her, I bought! So we now asked our little guides ‘es otro tienda en isla?‘ Oh yes they say and off we skip to the other side of the island where we arrive at a larger, but still very small tienda that does however sell sodas and milk. So stocked up we head back across the island. On our way back I hand out to as many children as I can, packs of paper and pencils. I had nowhere near enough and we returned to the beach looking a little like the pied piper. If we ever do this again I will make sure that we carry more ‘goodies’ to give to these lovely people who were so grateful for a pencil and 10 sheets of paper each. We left Bahia Honda the next day and joined Daryl and Trevor at Isla Granito. WOW. We’d had good snorkelling most places we’d been to in Western Panama. but Isla Granito is special. Here you snorkel with turtles and sharks - OK so they’re only 4 foot white-tipped reef sharks, but they’re still sharks, hundreds/thousands of fantastic fish, lobsters, eels and all in excellent visibility. We could have stayed here for weeks. But we’ve been here now for 4 weeks, still have the rivers to explore on Coiba, before heading off around Punta Mala and onto the Perlas Islands (another hundred or so uninhabited islands) and be in Panama by 22nd December where Maria, Daryl’s partner will be arriving for Christmas and New Year.
We had a wonderful time chasing around the east side of Coiba - watching white-faced monkeys on the shoreline catching and eating crabs, Iguanas sunning themselves on rocks and alligators - yes alligators - on the river banks. There is one quite large river in Coiba which we navigated as far as we possibly could until we became ensnared by the dense mangroves and had to turn around. Floating back down the river on the outgoing tide and therefore with our engine switched off, we were able to watch , without disturbing, a family of ‘white-faced’ monkeys lunching in the trees along the banks of the river. We also found one particularly good waterfall along the shoreline - the sort you could stand under and shower. But time was now marching on and so we decided that it was time to head south to our last stop in Western Panama at the island of Jicaron, before heading east.
We said our goodbye’s to Trevor (and his lovely boat Nakiska which we would like to think we might own next year - watch this space!) and had an unenjoyable passage to Jicaron to find that the anchorage was a surf zone! Both Daryl and I had caught a very large fish each on the way down. Daryl having landed his first meant that our’s got to live another day. We did still have to land him though in order to get the hook and lure out. He gave us a fight and in fact even had Paul sweating for the best part of an hour. You almost don’t want to put it back after that, but Daryl’s fish was more than enough for three people. Oh, I should mention here that had our fridge and freezer been working we would of course have kept the fish. However it, the fridge/freezer, had died at the same time as the alternator belt had snapped and so we’d had not so much as a glass of cold water for some weeks now. Anyway, I digress again. Not much to say about Jicaron actually as we had a particularly uncomfortable and rolly night there, heading out early the next day, December 12th, for Punta Mala and the Las Perlas islands, 200 miles away. The wind was up and down more times than a pair of whore’s draws the next 24 hours and on the nose, so we sailed or motor-sailed for the best part of it, passing the most southerly point of our cruise - 07 deg 06. 08 N at 0010 hours so now it‘s all north-up from here to Europe. At 1600 hours the next day we are 6 miles away from Benao Cove and around 18 miles from Punta Mala. For those of you who don’t know, Punta Mala is another of those potentially ‘bad’ places to be. There is a strong adverse current off PM, coupled with the strong head winds we were now trying to beat into, it didn’t take us long to decide to pull into Benao Cove, which we could still make in daylight. We knew we would have a rolly night as the bay is open to the swell at this time of year, but was well-protected from the north easterly wind. So a rolly night was had and we headed out at 0700 hours the next morning into no wind! But therefore an extremely calm and simple run around Punta Mala. Unfortunately we had to engine the whole way across the Bay of Panama arriving at Isla San Jose, the most south westerly of the Perlas Islands, around 0300 hours. As we are still ‘depth-less’ we stood off until daybreak and then headed into our first Perlas anchorage, dropping in a gorgeous bay alongside Liberty Call.
We spent two days at Isla San Jose before heading north to Isla Gonzalez. The only reason we went into Isla Gonzalez was to try and obtain diesel for Daryl who, following our passage to Perlas, was now running on fumes. The pilot books all state that petrol is available at Gonzalez but don’t mention diesel but we go there anyway. We had a great sail and as soon as our anchors were down Marcel paddled out in his dug-out canoe to see if we wanted gas or diesel. That got organised for the following morning and so we headed to shore in the hope of finding a small bar or café where we could ‘eat out’ for the first time in six weeks. Marcel told us this would be no problem and so we headed into the centre of the village where we were told that Marcel’s wife would make us dinner. I forgot to mention that Daryl, bless him, had gone ashore a little before us and when we washed up on the beach (literally) there he was clutching cold beers. This was the first alcohol any of us had had for almost 6 weeks, and cold at that - BLISS. We headed into one of the village’s stores and it I was perhaps the affect of the alcohol that got us to agree that rice and iguana would be lovely thank you very much. Marcel went off to organise this delightful meal, leaving us in the shop. The store owner pulled out a table and three rickety chairs and asked us to sit - so we did and had another beer. Around this time a lady arrived (whom we assumed to be Marcel’s wife) took us up to the counter and asked us what we wanted to eat so, in our limited Spanish and somewhat confused, we said, rice, beans and perhaps a little fish or chicken? So she buys, or more correctly we buy for her, rice, beans, cooking oil and one or two other things we never see again, and off she goes and we return to our wobbly table and our cold beer. Another 15 minutes pass and in walks a lady with three plates of rice and iguana. Neither Daryl nor I are too happy about eating this poor creature, Paul has no such reservations, but out of politeness (and hunger) we all tuck in. Bellies full we wonder what happened to the beans that we’d bought to go along with this meal when the second lady reappears with three plates of rice, beans and fish. Not wishing to offend anyone, we tuck into our second ‘meal’ with a little more relish than that poor iguana.
The next morning Marcel rows out 30 gallons of diesel in his dug-out canoe with one paddle, we fill up and head out to Contadora - the only fully habited island in the Las Perlas. We had another great sail and anchored on the south side of the island - where we had been told we would probably be able to get our first internet signal in 7 weeks - and headed ashore and into the first restaurant we came to. We had SALAD - mountains of it, we had Filet Mignon and New York Strip steak, we had cold beer, wine, cold water, ice cream - we were in heaven. We were also at the Romantica hotel and restaurant, run by Charlie; affectionately re-named Crazy Charlie by us. Crazy Charlie makes Basil Fawlty look like the world’s finest hotelier. It was worth if just for the entertainment value alone, but the food was gorgeous and not just because we hadn’t had meat for 7 weeks. Returning to the boat that night I found we also had INTERNET - hooray, I was so happy to be able to contact my family, particularly my Mum, pay my visa bill - which turned into a saga that I won’t bore you with other than to say that because of one missed payment during our delay in the islands, they had cut my credit limit from $14,000 to $700 and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time bearing in mind our imminent canal transit and opportunity to purchase parts for our broken fridge, depth gauge, gps, etc., etc. Anyway, undaunted I Google-searched for the Chairman of Tesco Visa and sent him a little letter explaining my feelings regarding the matter. The upshot of which resulted in our credit limit being re-instated some 15 nail-biting days later.
So where were we? Oh yes, Contadora. We had 3 or 4 days there and then a couple of nights at Pacheca before finally heading in to Panama, arriving on December 20th.
Watch this space for our next disaster - you won’t have to wait long, it’s already happened but I can’t write anymore today!! Will try and update by next week. Happy New Year to everyone.
SO, WHERE ARE WE? - OH YES, PARADISE
Photos: Aphrodite’s Album
Isla Parga
Western Panamanian islands
Isla Coiba and Santa Catalina
On passage from Isla Jicaron
Islas Perlas to Panama
And we truly were. We dropped our anchor at Isla Parida by Isla Gamez. The sun was shining the water crystal clear and turquoise, the bleach-white sandy beaches beckoned from under the swaying palms - gorgeous - just what we signed up for 18 months ago. Liberty Call had arrived 24 hours earlier and Second Wind were still around. That was it apart from fishing pangas. There is NOTHING in the Western Panamanian islands - no shops, no WI-FI, no bar, no restaurant, nothing but gorgeous islands with excellent snorkelling. A large part of the islands form a National Park and the largest of the islands, Coiba, is home to a Ranger station housing around 30 Rangers who patrol the islands. Once you get to the Las Secas islands you are ‘in the park’ and will be approached to pay $10 per person for an 8 day stay. We actually stayed around 5/6 weeks and only ever paid once although the guys used to come and see us regularly for a chat! When paying, don’t expect a receipt. They will approach you in an anchorage and take your money and may ask for a copy of your boat’s registration, but they won’t give you a receipt. This isn’t a problem. The first time they came to us we were at Briancanco and they told us that we had to go to Coiba to pay. We asked if we could pay them as Coiba is almost the most easterly of the islands and some way away. They said no, we had to go to Coiba. They next day they returned to Briancanco and took our money - no problem! However, I digress, we are still in Isla Parida where we make the acquaintance of Carlos when he taps on our boat early one morning to see if we would like to buy fish and lobster. During the time we spent in Isla Parida - the boys - Daryl and Paul went fishing with Carlos and his buddies, leaving at 5.30 a.m. one morning, in the hope of learning some ‘age old’ methods of catching or baiting that would improve our hit rate. They were somewhat surprised to find that there was no equipment in the panga when they set off into the rainy sunrise. Soaked and shivering they finally arrived at a spot where Carlos said they would catch fish. He then leaned over the side of his panga and proceeded to haul in his net set the previous day!!! So, no new fishing skills, bait setting tricks, AND, NO FISH! The nets were empty except for rays, which were all released. Daryl actually went lobster catching with these guys also one wet cold rainy morning. It sounds like we were back into bad weather but generally it was gorgeous. Just cold and wet early in the morning on fishing days. Anyway, back to Daryl and his lobstering - he spent the entire morning diving in and out of the panga, until, finally exhausted, he flopped back into the boat having caught ZERO lobsters!!! Bless! Fortunately for us the local guys had bagged around 80 to 100 and at three for $5-00 we all ate lobster that night.
So, we sailed out of Parida/Gamez on the 13th of November, and continued to sail the whole day, (for you non-sailors reading this, I mention this as of the 3,600 miles we have under our keel so far, at least 40 percent of them have been under engine - possibly more) arriving at the Las Secas Islands. As we made our approach into the bay at Isla Cavada, two 40 foot whales surfaced just feet from our boat, dived under the boat and re-appeared just an arms stretch from the port side they continued to swim around us, blowing and diving, putting on the most amazing show in close quarters. To be honest, a little too close for me. When the pair of them ploughed head on for our stern I finally chickened out and started the engine, as I had decided it might possibly dissuade them from ramming us! As it turns out I missed the most spectacular whale activity possibly of my life. Just feet away, Paul tells me, they dived, their flukes spectacular, right off our stern. We motored into the cove at Cavada. This particular island is privately owned and is home to a very expensive ‘eco’ resort. The private property, no landing signs could only be read close up, well, that was our excuse, but we couldn’t really wander any further inland and so the following day we dropped down to Isla Pargo (still in the Las Secas chain) and found our first excellent snorkelling. The anchorage was great on the north side of Pargo between the two smaller islands. The best snorkelling (and it was good) was all around the westerly of the two small islands. There was also a couple of good hikes to be had here. A few days later we sailed, once gain, to the Islas Contreras chain, and anchored in Briancanco. Since leaving Parida, we hadn’t seen another boat. En route to Briancanco I caught my first Dorado (aka Mahi-mahi, Dolphin (not flipper!)) It wasn’t huge but it tasted great! Briancanco is where we first made the acquaintance of Willis and his colleagues from the Park Rangers office. It’s also about where Paul (smoker for 40+ years) ran out of cigarettes - remember, no shops, bars, restaurants = no cigarettes. Bless, the first day he took out all the nubs of cigarettes from the trash (luckily for him there were many as you can’t leave trash in any of the Western Panamanian islands) picked out the remnants of tobacco, dug out his pipe and then tried to ration himself. Just to complete the enforced ‘no-smoking’ story, four days later I found a cigar which kept him going for almost 24 hours. Anyway, back to Briancanco - EXCELLENT - snorkelling at the western headland of the bay, but all around the western side of the bay there was great coral and fish. From Briancanco we engined across to Isla Uva - and just after we set our anchor our alternator belt shredded itself - no worry - we had plenty of spares.
I think I mentioned before that in Golfito we had found a ‘better fitting’ alternator belt - number 15455 (a number that will now live in my memory for ever) and so, once we had established that this was the best fit belt we could find I headed out to the auto shop to buy several spares - as our belts are inclined to shred around the 50 hour mark. Not wishing to be too boring, so in brief, Aphrodite originally had a dynamo which we replaced with an alternator and it is fractionally out of alignment and hence we get through alternator belts. Anyway, not a problem because I just bought six 15445’s which should keep us going for quite some time. (Note the mistake?) No I didn’t either until we were anchored in Uva, miles from anywhere and trying vainly to fit the new belt the 15445 in place of the now stripped old belt - 15455. Merd!! Daryl, (who is a bit like sailing with West Marine) has two emergency ‘build your own belt’ kits, unfortunately neither of which worked adequately. If the issue was power only it wouldn’t have been such a problem, but our alternator belt also drives our engine cooling pump so, no belt, no engine, no shop, no belt. We decide after much thought that we actually now have to try and sail back, at least to Isla Parida, where we may be lucky and get a panga or fishing boat to the mainland. To continue east is taking us further away from any possibility of resolving our latest little difficulty. So we say our goodbyes to Daryl who is sailing to Coiba and head out on a very light breeze to retrace our tracks to Parida. Two hours (maybe three) later we have at least one knot of wind and are about 600 yards away from Daryl who is still at anchor! But we are getting a good push now from the tide - straight towards rocks. This is the point at which we gybe the cruising Shute but with so little wind, end up with a wrap. Paul tries to rejoin the DIY belt and Daryl (now up anchored) stands by. At this point the Ranger boat arrives but is in a emergency and so is not able to tow us but are certain that it would be better for us to proceed to Coiba rather than heading back to Parida. It is at this point that Ranger Rodriguez calls across to Paul ‘does he want cigarettes’ Paul, thrilled, shouts yes please and I head below to get the fish landing net for the handover. Rodriguez then shouts across to Paul ‘do you want cigars’ Paul, as long as it has nicotine in, would take a plant at this point (this is where he has now been tobacco-less for 5 days and I drop my alternator belt bombshell - he did remarkably well really. I arrive back on deck with the net to scoop up his much needed ‘injection’ just in time to see the park boat speed off into the distance and over the horizon, leaving Paul aghast and perplexed. Anyway, the wind finally comes back and we have a great sail to Coiba and drop our anchor at the Ranger station anchorage. It’s soon dark but we head in for a look around and are met by Rodriguez, clutching a jiffy bag containing two packs of cigarettes and the five biggest cigars I have ever seen. This little stash cost a staggering $35, but at this point Paul would have probably been prepared to exchange the boat. We were told that there was a mechanical engineer arriving at the island tomorrow and that he may have a belt for us. Sadly this didn’t work out and so it was determined that I would go to the mainland, 50 kilometres away, in a fishing boat.
As luck would have it a tourist panga came to the island later that day and it was agreed that I could head back with them to Santa Catalina from where I should be able to travel inland and find an alternator belt. The ride over was great, around 1 hour 45 minutes on flat seas - the speed was staggering. I arrived in Santa Catalina, a tiny place and set out to find a bed for the night. This thankfully was not too difficult. Although Santa Catalina is a tiny place, one store, one bar (cold beer!!) it is a huge surf spot and so I soon found a surf shack full of twenty-something guys running around semi-naked - it was terrible! It was also the owner’s birthday and a big BBQ and party was planned for that night - all guests invited - well, you have to have some luck! The next day I was up early and on the bus to the nearest town., 2 hours away. It had seven ‘auto type’ stores in which I found one belt! Knowing that this wasn’t sufficient I jumped on another bus for another 2 hours which took me to another much bigger city I now can’t remember the name of, that was so big I had no idea where to start and so got into a taxi and asked him to take me to ‘todo tiendas para auto’s’ I had an hour before I had to catch the bus back to get me back in time to get the next bus back to Santa Catalina. In one hour we went to 9 stores and I managed to find ONE belt (I now had two!) I decided that I would take a couple of belts one size down and a couple that were one size up and hopefully, please God, they would work.
So, clutching my belts, I just make it back to the bus station for my first of two 2 hour bus rides. The first bus is delayed by an accident and I arrive two minutes after my last bus back to Santa Catalina has left so my only option now is a taxi back to Rollo’s place. I had left at 5.00 a.m. that morning and got back just after 6.00 p.m. - knackered. Through a dive instructor living at Rollo’s surf camp - who just happened to be from my home town of Nottingham, England (!!???!!) I was able to get myself a ride back to Coiba the next day in the dive ‘support panga’ along with the cook and accumulated cool boxes and bags of food to support the three day dive trip. That morning, early, I had gone to the one store in Santa Catalina and bought a few supplies. Three thousand cigarettes for Paul, flour, sugar and 36 eggs. The eggs were in cardboard egg trays which were held together with tape. We waded out through the surf to the awaiting panga’s and set off into a dark and threatening sky. Approximately 20 minutes out in building seas and light rain, the engine stops for the first time. (It stopped a further three times but the driver thankfully was able to coax it back to life each time) In the meantime the seas are now HUGE, the rain is driving so hard that I ended up with a badly blood shot eye from the force of the rain in my eyes. Why didn’t you close them? The waves were so big and the panga was slamming so hard into them, over the top of them, down the front of them that you had to keep your eyes open so that you could see the next big one coming and open your mouth in order that your teeth didn’t smash together as the shock shot up through your spine. I was now also soaking wet and FREEZING COLD. My eggs were also soaking wet, or, to be more precise the cardboard trays, which had virtually disintegrated and so I was nursing them on a seat pad and hopelessly trying to hold them together in the soggy cardboard; I was also aware that I had at least one broken egg between my thighs but was determined that somehow I was going to get these dam eggs back to our boat. I had considered hurling them overboard a number of times so that I could free up my hands to hold on, but it had become my mission to get these eggs to Aphrodite, besides, I was now so cold I had no feeling left in either of my hands. Coiba finally came into view three hours after we had left Santa Catalina - I was so relieved I almost cried. They took me alongside where I handed up my precious cargo of (33) eggs to Paul and was then passed up myself - my hands and forearms were so numb I couldn’t pull myself up onto our boat. Neither could I take off my soaking clothes. Paul delighted to see me return but concerned about my condition took me into his arms and said ‘I told you you should have taken a coat!’
In my absence the boy’s (who had now been joined by Trevor on Nakiska) had had two days of the heaviest rain we had in weeks. But the next day, trauma’s forgotten, the sun came out and we headed out to Isla Rancheria. From Rancheria, a few days later we headed over to Bahia Honda where we had been told that we could get fruit and veg, milk etc. and Daryl and Trevor set off for Isla Granito on the east side of Coiba.
We arrived in Bahia Honda and, and before we could even get our anchor down, we were surrounded by children in dug-out canoes selling Grapefruits, bananas, papayas, pineapple, to name but a few, but no onions and I was on a mission for onions, so we launched the dink and headed into the island. This place is home to around 600 people. They are probably around half a mile from the mainland but the mainland is all dense rainforest with not so much as a path, let alone a road. We never did quite work out how the lovely people of this tiny island exist. On coming ashore we were led by two local children, to the tienda. The tienda was smaller than our Head and the proprietor sat there alongside her bottle of bleach and one 10 year old onion - which, in my sorrow for her, I bought! So we now asked our little guides ‘es otro tienda en isla?‘ Oh yes they say and off we skip to the other side of the island where we arrive at a larger, but still very small tienda that does however sell sodas and milk. So stocked up we head back across the island. On our way back I hand out to as many children as I can, packs of paper and pencils. I had nowhere near enough and we returned to the beach looking a little like the pied piper. If we ever do this again I will make sure that we carry more ‘goodies’ to give to these lovely people who were so grateful for a pencil and 10 sheets of paper each. We left Bahia Honda the next day and joined Daryl and Trevor at Isla Granito. WOW. We’d had good snorkelling most places we’d been to in Western Panama. but Isla Granito is special. Here you snorkel with turtles and sharks - OK so they’re only 4 foot white-tipped reef sharks, but they’re still sharks, hundreds/thousands of fantastic fish, lobsters, eels and all in excellent visibility. We could have stayed here for weeks. But we’ve been here now for 4 weeks, still have the rivers to explore on Coiba, before heading off around Punta Mala and onto the Perlas Islands (another hundred or so uninhabited islands) and be in Panama by 22nd December where Maria, Daryl’s partner will be arriving for Christmas and New Year.
We had a wonderful time chasing around the east side of Coiba - watching white-faced monkeys on the shoreline catching and eating crabs, Iguanas sunning themselves on rocks and alligators - yes alligators - on the river banks. There is one quite large river in Coiba which we navigated as far as we possibly could until we became ensnared by the dense mangroves and had to turn around. Floating back down the river on the outgoing tide and therefore with our engine switched off, we were able to watch , without disturbing, a family of ‘white-faced’ monkeys lunching in the trees along the banks of the river. We also found one particularly good waterfall along the shoreline - the sort you could stand under and shower. But time was now marching on and so we decided that it was time to head south to our last stop in Western Panama at the island of Jicaron, before heading east.
We said our goodbye’s to Trevor (and his lovely boat Nakiska which we would like to think we might own next year - watch this space!) and had an unenjoyable passage to Jicaron to find that the anchorage was a surf zone! Both Daryl and I had caught a very large fish each on the way down. Daryl having landed his first meant that our’s got to live another day. We did still have to land him though in order to get the hook and lure out. He gave us a fight and in fact even had Paul sweating for the best part of an hour. You almost don’t want to put it back after that, but Daryl’s fish was more than enough for three people. Oh, I should mention here that had our fridge and freezer been working we would of course have kept the fish. However it, the fridge/freezer, had died at the same time as the alternator belt had snapped and so we’d had not so much as a glass of cold water for some weeks now. Anyway, I digress again. Not much to say about Jicaron actually as we had a particularly uncomfortable and rolly night there, heading out early the next day, December 12th, for Punta Mala and the Las Perlas islands, 200 miles away. The wind was up and down more times than a pair of whore’s draws the next 24 hours and on the nose, so we sailed or motor-sailed for the best part of it, passing the most southerly point of our cruise - 07 deg 06. 08 N at 0010 hours so now it‘s all north-up from here to Europe. At 1600 hours the next day we are 6 miles away from Benao Cove and around 18 miles from Punta Mala. For those of you who don’t know, Punta Mala is another of those potentially ‘bad’ places to be. There is a strong adverse current off PM, coupled with the strong head winds we were now trying to beat into, it didn’t take us long to decide to pull into Benao Cove, which we could still make in daylight. We knew we would have a rolly night as the bay is open to the swell at this time of year, but was well-protected from the north easterly wind. So a rolly night was had and we headed out at 0700 hours the next morning into no wind! But therefore an extremely calm and simple run around Punta Mala. Unfortunately we had to engine the whole way across the Bay of Panama arriving at Isla San Jose, the most south westerly of the Perlas Islands, around 0300 hours. As we are still ‘depth-less’ we stood off until daybreak and then headed into our first Perlas anchorage, dropping in a gorgeous bay alongside Liberty Call.
We spent two days at Isla San Jose before heading north to Isla Gonzalez. The only reason we went into Isla Gonzalez was to try and obtain diesel for Daryl who, following our passage to Perlas, was now running on fumes. The pilot books all state that petrol is available at Gonzalez but don’t mention diesel but we go there anyway. We had a great sail and as soon as our anchors were down Marcel paddled out in his dug-out canoe to see if we wanted gas or diesel. That got organised for the following morning and so we headed to shore in the hope of finding a small bar or café where we could ‘eat out’ for the first time in six weeks. Marcel told us this would be no problem and so we headed into the centre of the village where we were told that Marcel’s wife would make us dinner. I forgot to mention that Daryl, bless him, had gone ashore a little before us and when we washed up on the beach (literally) there he was clutching cold beers. This was the first alcohol any of us had had for almost 6 weeks, and cold at that - BLISS. We headed into one of the village’s stores and it I was perhaps the affect of the alcohol that got us to agree that rice and iguana would be lovely thank you very much. Marcel went off to organise this delightful meal, leaving us in the shop. The store owner pulled out a table and three rickety chairs and asked us to sit - so we did and had another beer. Around this time a lady arrived (whom we assumed to be Marcel’s wife) took us up to the counter and asked us what we wanted to eat so, in our limited Spanish and somewhat confused, we said, rice, beans and perhaps a little fish or chicken? So she buys, or more correctly we buy for her, rice, beans, cooking oil and one or two other things we never see again, and off she goes and we return to our wobbly table and our cold beer. Another 15 minutes pass and in walks a lady with three plates of rice and iguana. Neither Daryl nor I are too happy about eating this poor creature, Paul has no such reservations, but out of politeness (and hunger) we all tuck in. Bellies full we wonder what happened to the beans that we’d bought to go along with this meal when the second lady reappears with three plates of rice, beans and fish. Not wishing to offend anyone, we tuck into our second ‘meal’ with a little more relish than that poor iguana.
The next morning Marcel rows out 30 gallons of diesel in his dug-out canoe with one paddle, we fill up and head out to Contadora - the only fully habited island in the Las Perlas. We had another great sail and anchored on the south side of the island - where we had been told we would probably be able to get our first internet signal in 7 weeks - and headed ashore and into the first restaurant we came to. We had SALAD - mountains of it, we had Filet Mignon and New York Strip steak, we had cold beer, wine, cold water, ice cream - we were in heaven. We were also at the Romantica hotel and restaurant, run by Charlie; affectionately re-named Crazy Charlie by us. Crazy Charlie makes Basil Fawlty look like the world’s finest hotelier. It was worth if just for the entertainment value alone, but the food was gorgeous and not just because we hadn’t had meat for 7 weeks. Returning to the boat that night I found we also had INTERNET - hooray, I was so happy to be able to contact my family, particularly my Mum, pay my visa bill - which turned into a saga that I won’t bore you with other than to say that because of one missed payment during our delay in the islands, they had cut my credit limit from $14,000 to $700 and it couldn’t have happened at a worse time bearing in mind our imminent canal transit and opportunity to purchase parts for our broken fridge, depth gauge, gps, etc., etc. Anyway, undaunted I Google-searched for the Chairman of Tesco Visa and sent him a little letter explaining my feelings regarding the matter. The upshot of which resulted in our credit limit being re-instated some 15 nail-biting days later.
So where were we? Oh yes, Contadora. We had 3 or 4 days there and then a couple of nights at Pacheca before finally heading in to Panama, arriving on December 20th.
Watch this space for our next disaster - you won’t have to wait long, it’s already happened but I can’t write anymore today!! Will try and update by next week. Happy New Year to everyone.
Monday, December 17, 2007
LEAVING GOLFITO – THANK GOD! (or are we?)
6th November 2007
Finally, the engine is fixed, the leaky hatch no longer leaks, the bookshelf is dry. We don’t have a fixed GPS or depth gauge, but we do have a lead line, so we’re off. A couple of days before we checked out, Tom and Carol (Sussuru) returned to their boat at Land and Sea in Golfito and so it was lovely to spend some time with them once again before parting company – once again! Daryl (Liberty Call) is chomping at the bit to ‘get out of Golfito’ (it really isn’t that bad, just WET) and on 6th November we do the rounds – Customs, Immigration, Port Captain, get our paperwork and Zarpe and head back to the boat to make our departure around mid-day. I don’t know whether I mentioned at the last time of writing, how disgustingly dirty the water in Golfito is? Well anyway, we make plans with Daryl to up anchor at 1400 hours, naturally it starts to rain at 1350 hours – heavy. Paul hauls up the anchor, (Daryl’s already disappearing into the rain) and I motor forward – well, I go through the motions of motoring forward. Paul keeps shouting back to me – ‘you can power on now love’ and I gently ‘coo’ back to him ‘I’m at full revs and we’re going chuffin nowhere.’ Naturally Paul assumes that this is operator error rather than a boat problem and comes back to take over. We’re still going nowhere – well we managed a tiny little bit in astern, but we’re going nowhere forward fast. Paul checks to see if we have still have a prop. Naturally we assume it’s an engine problem as that’s been in bits for the best part of 10 days. Once Paul had ascertained for himself that we really were going nowhere we rapidly re-deployed the anchor to steady our 4 knot drift backwards into several other boats anchored behind us. Oh yes, as well as the filthy water there is an impressive tide in Golfito – up to 4 knots at half ebb. Daryl now returns from the fug and drops his anchor. Paul realises that he is going to have to get into the DISGUSTINGLY DIRTY water to check that we still have a prop (it’s man’s work) It’s still raining, it’s actually quite cold, and the tide is now running around 3 to 4 knots as Paul lowers himself into the murk. I have a line around his waist to ensure he sticks around. The minute he is in the water he is ‘whooshed’ away to the extent of the line. With effort I haul him back – it’s impossible to swim against it – and Paul sticks his head under water to discover that our prop (and hull) now resemble a coral reef! He can’t see the blades on the prop due to the build up of ‘crud’ barnacles, weed and general filth. He also can’t scrape it off at this point in time as the tide is so ferocious it’s all he can do to hold on. Just a word of warning to future visitors of Golfito – we were there for three weeks! Our ‘bottom’ was clean when we arrived! There are no diving services for hull cleaning. We inform Daryl that we’re going nowhere that day and Daryl heads out. The rain lashes down for the remainder of the day and all through the night - the silver lining – our water tanks are full to overflowing. Anyway, the next day dawns sunny! Paul’s back in the water at slack tide – which makes the water clarity even more disgusting – and gets the prop scraped off. I make him shower twice using anti-bacterial handwash. We have a last lunch with Tom and Carol and then leave with the outgoing tide. It’s not raining – YET.
As we look back at Golfito we see it disappear into a black hole whilst we head down the Golfo Dulce into a lovely sunset. By 0100 hours it’s hammering down – Paul tells me. I decide that’s a good time for me to take over duties ‘below decks.’ It rained the entire night and was a hard slog around Punta Burica - the border between Costa Rica and Panama – but boy, was it worth it. We arrived the following morning (8th November) in Isla Parida, (08 deg 06.0N, 82 deg 26.0W) the most westerly of the Western Panamanian islands – we’d finally found paradise or have we?
6th November 2007
Finally, the engine is fixed, the leaky hatch no longer leaks, the bookshelf is dry. We don’t have a fixed GPS or depth gauge, but we do have a lead line, so we’re off. A couple of days before we checked out, Tom and Carol (Sussuru) returned to their boat at Land and Sea in Golfito and so it was lovely to spend some time with them once again before parting company – once again! Daryl (Liberty Call) is chomping at the bit to ‘get out of Golfito’ (it really isn’t that bad, just WET) and on 6th November we do the rounds – Customs, Immigration, Port Captain, get our paperwork and Zarpe and head back to the boat to make our departure around mid-day. I don’t know whether I mentioned at the last time of writing, how disgustingly dirty the water in Golfito is? Well anyway, we make plans with Daryl to up anchor at 1400 hours, naturally it starts to rain at 1350 hours – heavy. Paul hauls up the anchor, (Daryl’s already disappearing into the rain) and I motor forward – well, I go through the motions of motoring forward. Paul keeps shouting back to me – ‘you can power on now love’ and I gently ‘coo’ back to him ‘I’m at full revs and we’re going chuffin nowhere.’ Naturally Paul assumes that this is operator error rather than a boat problem and comes back to take over. We’re still going nowhere – well we managed a tiny little bit in astern, but we’re going nowhere forward fast. Paul checks to see if we have still have a prop. Naturally we assume it’s an engine problem as that’s been in bits for the best part of 10 days. Once Paul had ascertained for himself that we really were going nowhere we rapidly re-deployed the anchor to steady our 4 knot drift backwards into several other boats anchored behind us. Oh yes, as well as the filthy water there is an impressive tide in Golfito – up to 4 knots at half ebb. Daryl now returns from the fug and drops his anchor. Paul realises that he is going to have to get into the DISGUSTINGLY DIRTY water to check that we still have a prop (it’s man’s work) It’s still raining, it’s actually quite cold, and the tide is now running around 3 to 4 knots as Paul lowers himself into the murk. I have a line around his waist to ensure he sticks around. The minute he is in the water he is ‘whooshed’ away to the extent of the line. With effort I haul him back – it’s impossible to swim against it – and Paul sticks his head under water to discover that our prop (and hull) now resemble a coral reef! He can’t see the blades on the prop due to the build up of ‘crud’ barnacles, weed and general filth. He also can’t scrape it off at this point in time as the tide is so ferocious it’s all he can do to hold on. Just a word of warning to future visitors of Golfito – we were there for three weeks! Our ‘bottom’ was clean when we arrived! There are no diving services for hull cleaning. We inform Daryl that we’re going nowhere that day and Daryl heads out. The rain lashes down for the remainder of the day and all through the night - the silver lining – our water tanks are full to overflowing. Anyway, the next day dawns sunny! Paul’s back in the water at slack tide – which makes the water clarity even more disgusting – and gets the prop scraped off. I make him shower twice using anti-bacterial handwash. We have a last lunch with Tom and Carol and then leave with the outgoing tide. It’s not raining – YET.
As we look back at Golfito we see it disappear into a black hole whilst we head down the Golfo Dulce into a lovely sunset. By 0100 hours it’s hammering down – Paul tells me. I decide that’s a good time for me to take over duties ‘below decks.’ It rained the entire night and was a hard slog around Punta Burica - the border between Costa Rica and Panama – but boy, was it worth it. We arrived the following morning (8th November) in Isla Parida, (08 deg 06.0N, 82 deg 26.0W) the most westerly of the Western Panamanian islands – we’d finally found paradise or have we?
Saturday, November 03, 2007
FROM BAD TO WORSE!
Aphrodite's Album - Rain, Rain, Rain and Golfito Grey and Everything Breaks!
I was somewhat premature in my last blog, stating that things were as bad as they could get. The following day we decided to re-anchor, closer in shore, which necessitated starting our engine. In hindsite it's a good thing, but at the time, while we were re-anchoring our 10 month old alternator was siezing up! The blue smoke and gentle aroma were the immediate warning signs! The good thing in hindsite is that had we not re-anchored it would have happened as we headed out to sea, and having discovered it in the safety of the anchorage, we were also able to discover Robert - genius, saviour - I could go on. He arrived the following morning, unsiezed the alternator and then proceeded to check why it had done so. He discovered a leak in our heat exchanger, and on closer examination found it badly corroded in one end. Some parts are still available, obviously not the ones we needed, in the USA, at exhorbitant prices. Once sourced they then have to be shipped to Costa Rica - no mean feat - and, should they arrive (questionable), you then pay your 37% import tax and away you go! This all happened on a Friday, and by Monday, Robert got back to us and said he was very confident that he could rebuild the offending item. Long story short, we hope to have it re-installed today. Then we can run the fridge, and THEN, we can have cold beer! For anyone heading to Golfito, if you have problems with anything either electrical, electronic or mechanical - Robert is your man - 861 6561, He's American but has lived in Golfito most of his life. He fixes outboards, fridges, engines, computers, radars, etc, etc, etc. But, on the bright side, the weather seems to be taking a turn for the better. The rain photo's on the site give absolutely no idea of what a good downpour is like! Paul is still labouring on the forehatch as a leaky stanchion diverted his attention when we found that most of our books on the port bookshelf were very wet! And today is gorgeous - sunny, lots of amps pouring into the solar panels means Paul's a happy man. As soon as he gets them in I plug in my computer and take them out again, which makes Paul's an unhappy man! But what with mouldy clothes, an upsidedown FILTHY boat with internal waterfalls, a girl has to find some solace somewhere! We hope to be moving on early next week
Aphrodite's Album - Rain, Rain, Rain and Golfito Grey and Everything Breaks!
I was somewhat premature in my last blog, stating that things were as bad as they could get. The following day we decided to re-anchor, closer in shore, which necessitated starting our engine. In hindsite it's a good thing, but at the time, while we were re-anchoring our 10 month old alternator was siezing up! The blue smoke and gentle aroma were the immediate warning signs! The good thing in hindsite is that had we not re-anchored it would have happened as we headed out to sea, and having discovered it in the safety of the anchorage, we were also able to discover Robert - genius, saviour - I could go on. He arrived the following morning, unsiezed the alternator and then proceeded to check why it had done so. He discovered a leak in our heat exchanger, and on closer examination found it badly corroded in one end. Some parts are still available, obviously not the ones we needed, in the USA, at exhorbitant prices. Once sourced they then have to be shipped to Costa Rica - no mean feat - and, should they arrive (questionable), you then pay your 37% import tax and away you go! This all happened on a Friday, and by Monday, Robert got back to us and said he was very confident that he could rebuild the offending item. Long story short, we hope to have it re-installed today. Then we can run the fridge, and THEN, we can have cold beer! For anyone heading to Golfito, if you have problems with anything either electrical, electronic or mechanical - Robert is your man - 861 6561, He's American but has lived in Golfito most of his life. He fixes outboards, fridges, engines, computers, radars, etc, etc, etc. But, on the bright side, the weather seems to be taking a turn for the better. The rain photo's on the site give absolutely no idea of what a good downpour is like! Paul is still labouring on the forehatch as a leaky stanchion diverted his attention when we found that most of our books on the port bookshelf were very wet! And today is gorgeous - sunny, lots of amps pouring into the solar panels means Paul's a happy man. As soon as he gets them in I plug in my computer and take them out again, which makes Paul's an unhappy man! But what with mouldy clothes, an upsidedown FILTHY boat with internal waterfalls, a girl has to find some solace somewhere! We hope to be moving on early next week
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Current Position: 8 deg 36.9N
83 deg 11.1W
Miles to Date: 3,700 approx
10th October 2007 we left Guacamaya for Ballena Bay in the Gulf of Nicoya and had a wet overnight passage but arrived in the Gulf the next day to a glorious sun rise and, among the debris in the water that we had been warned we would encounter, two 40 foot whales surfaced around 10 feet from our bow, blew, dived and then surfaced again on our port side within stroking distance! Whilst I was nervously fumbling for the camera, Paul knocked the autohelm off and threw the helm over starboard and we still don’t know how we missed them – we love to see whales, but that encounter was just a bit too close for comfort. Needless to say by the time I had the camera ready, it was all over. The debris in the Gulf was not as bad as we had expected, but there were some sizeable branches and trunks that you wouldn’t want to go bump in the night. The reason for all this trash is – rainy season – torrential rains bring trees and garbage down the rivers and out into the gulf.
We arrived in Ballena Bay just as it started to rain and anchored there in pretty big swell for two nights. Paul set the kedge anchor and so kept us head up to the swell, which made for a more comfortable night’s sleep, but the surf at the beach defeated us and our attempts to make a landing were thwarted.
We know from the cruising guides we are reading that at this time of year, most of the anchorages in Costa Rica are going to be either uncomfortable or, at worst, untenable, and so from Ballena be crossed back over the gulf to Bahia Herradura, where we spent 3 rolly nights, before heading south again to Drake’s Bay. A further two rolly/rainy nights were spent here before another overnight passage brought us into Golfito in the Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica. Although the anchorage is very tidal, it is almost completely landlocked and therefore as smooth as glass most of the time. Here we have re-joined our buddy Daryl from Liberty Call, and next week we will head out together to cruise the Western Panamanian islands where we hope to finally get some clear waters, white beaches and good diving and snorkelling. Our time in Golfito has been spent in the main, hiding under our ‘bat tent’ of tarps but Paul has re-built our forehatch which was leaking quite badly and pouring into our sail locker. Thankfully we have had three (consecutive!!) dry sunny days in which I’ve been able to dry out all our stored sails (Drifter, Mizzen staysail and storm sails) and launder most of our mouldy clothing – yes, actual green furry stuff growing on almost everything, so, it’s not all blue skies and endless fun. We’ve also developed problems with our refrigeration but Paul and Daryl’s joint efforts seem to have it back up and running at the moment. I have to to say that Isotherm’s on-line support has been excellent – responding in less than 24 hours to our questions and pleas for assistance. We have also discovered that our Fishfinder/GPS/Depth has given up the ghost and now face the prospect of sailing to Panama without a depth guage. Something I’m not all too happy about, but which Paul is not in the least bit phased – I think he’s just looking forward to having a real reason to ‘swing the lead’ We hope to get a replacement in Panama. We have two back-up handheld GPS’s on board, so the only issue is depth really, and as we are cruising this next leg in company, don’t envisage it to be too problematic. Paul being Paul quite often uses the lead line when we are entering an anchorage – just because he can. I naturally am at the helm with my eyes glued to the depth readout, and invariably his soundings are within a foot or less of the gauge, so, on this, I will trust him. Anyway, hopefully we are nearing the end of rainy season, although as I look out of the window right now, it is hard to be convinced as we are once again enveloped in low cloud and non-stop rain – but as Paul keeps reminding me, each time I whinge about getting wet – it will soon be over and it’s not sulphuric acid – naturally this always immediately makes me feel better!
83 deg 11.1W
Miles to Date: 3,700 approx
10th October 2007 we left Guacamaya for Ballena Bay in the Gulf of Nicoya and had a wet overnight passage but arrived in the Gulf the next day to a glorious sun rise and, among the debris in the water that we had been warned we would encounter, two 40 foot whales surfaced around 10 feet from our bow, blew, dived and then surfaced again on our port side within stroking distance! Whilst I was nervously fumbling for the camera, Paul knocked the autohelm off and threw the helm over starboard and we still don’t know how we missed them – we love to see whales, but that encounter was just a bit too close for comfort. Needless to say by the time I had the camera ready, it was all over. The debris in the Gulf was not as bad as we had expected, but there were some sizeable branches and trunks that you wouldn’t want to go bump in the night. The reason for all this trash is – rainy season – torrential rains bring trees and garbage down the rivers and out into the gulf.
We arrived in Ballena Bay just as it started to rain and anchored there in pretty big swell for two nights. Paul set the kedge anchor and so kept us head up to the swell, which made for a more comfortable night’s sleep, but the surf at the beach defeated us and our attempts to make a landing were thwarted.
We know from the cruising guides we are reading that at this time of year, most of the anchorages in Costa Rica are going to be either uncomfortable or, at worst, untenable, and so from Ballena be crossed back over the gulf to Bahia Herradura, where we spent 3 rolly nights, before heading south again to Drake’s Bay. A further two rolly/rainy nights were spent here before another overnight passage brought us into Golfito in the Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica. Although the anchorage is very tidal, it is almost completely landlocked and therefore as smooth as glass most of the time. Here we have re-joined our buddy Daryl from Liberty Call, and next week we will head out together to cruise the Western Panamanian islands where we hope to finally get some clear waters, white beaches and good diving and snorkelling. Our time in Golfito has been spent in the main, hiding under our ‘bat tent’ of tarps but Paul has re-built our forehatch which was leaking quite badly and pouring into our sail locker. Thankfully we have had three (consecutive!!) dry sunny days in which I’ve been able to dry out all our stored sails (Drifter, Mizzen staysail and storm sails) and launder most of our mouldy clothing – yes, actual green furry stuff growing on almost everything, so, it’s not all blue skies and endless fun. We’ve also developed problems with our refrigeration but Paul and Daryl’s joint efforts seem to have it back up and running at the moment. I have to to say that Isotherm’s on-line support has been excellent – responding in less than 24 hours to our questions and pleas for assistance. We have also discovered that our Fishfinder/GPS/Depth has given up the ghost and now face the prospect of sailing to Panama without a depth guage. Something I’m not all too happy about, but which Paul is not in the least bit phased – I think he’s just looking forward to having a real reason to ‘swing the lead’ We hope to get a replacement in Panama. We have two back-up handheld GPS’s on board, so the only issue is depth really, and as we are cruising this next leg in company, don’t envisage it to be too problematic. Paul being Paul quite often uses the lead line when we are entering an anchorage – just because he can. I naturally am at the helm with my eyes glued to the depth readout, and invariably his soundings are within a foot or less of the gauge, so, on this, I will trust him. Anyway, hopefully we are nearing the end of rainy season, although as I look out of the window right now, it is hard to be convinced as we are once again enveloped in low cloud and non-stop rain – but as Paul keeps reminding me, each time I whinge about getting wet – it will soon be over and it’s not sulphuric acid – naturally this always immediately makes me feel better!
Friday, October 05, 2007
RETURNING TO NICARAGUA
Current Lat/Long 10 deg 34’ N
85 deg 43’ W
Following our return to Nicaragua from England, we spent a couple of weeks getting Aphrodite ship-shape – which meant Paul doing lots of jobs and me doing lots of reading. Most afternoons we hit the pool at the marina, or the pool at the beach where at least there was a cooler coastal breeze. We relaxed, watched local fishermen in their dug-out canoes and then decided that it was time to move on south to Costa Rica. And so we left Puesta del Sol on the 18th of September, on a cloudy dull day, and bumped out to sea on a rolly swell, which thankfully smoothed out a little as we made offshore and into deeper water. Our first passage was an overnight of some 135 miles and our destination, Bahia Santa Elena in Northern Costa Rica. We were quite fortunate with the weather until around 0300 hours the next day when we were hit by an unavoidable deluge – naturally I stayed below, dry, while Paul go his first real drenching. The day broke cloudy on the 19th September with around 25 miles to go to Bahia Santa Elena. We made our entry around 1500 hours that day and dropped our anchor. The bay is almost landlocked and therefore like a pond. It was incredibly calm and beautiful, surrounded by rain forest on three sides. We sat in the cockpit and watched the parrots flying overhead and marvelled at our surroundings. We were the only boat in the bay apart from a small fishing panga which disappeared to goodness knows where at night. We spent a very calm and relaxing 5 days pootling around in the dinghy and on the third day had visitors – the Costa Rican police came aboard to check our paperwork, and drink all our coke! While the senior officers were aboard dotting i’s and crossing t’s the rest of the boat crew slalomed around us in their panga having a hilarious time and sending tidal waves of wash our way! As beautiful as Bahia Santa Elena is, you can only have so much relaxation (well I can anyway) and so it was on the 24th of September, our 7th wedding anniversary, that I persuaded Paul to up anchor and carry on south. Our next stop was at the Islas Las Mucielagos, just a short daysail from Santa Elena and we dropped our anchor at Key Point off the Santa Elena Peninsula at 1530 hours to enjoy a glass of sherry!!! and a beautiful sunset. Not a bad anniversary as they go – no wrapping paper to throw away, but we had had a day of natural gifts – early on in the day a whale had surfaced quite close to the boat, followed by the company of dolphins and turtles for most of the passage – better than anything you can put in a box and wrap – and topped off with a glass of cheap cooking sherry – we know how to live!!! The anchorage in the islands however was a little rolly and so we upped anchor early next morning on the 25th September and headed towards Playa del Coco where we would officially check into Costa Rica. We engined through the morning and then had a lovely sail into the bay in the afternoon, anchoring at 1600 hours. The following morning we dinghied ashore, took care of the necessary paperwork with the Port Capitan, Immigracion and Aduane (Customs) – all very straightforward and FREE. I think it is the first country we have checked into so far that hasn’t charged anything.. Coco has everything the cruiser needs ashore – lots of internet cafes and free wi-fi, a good supermarket, a chandlery (marine hardware shop for our American friends), laundry and a wide selection of bars and restaurants.
So now it’s Saturday 29th September and we’re off again, but this time not very far – to Bahia Guacamaya – for those of you that follow us, I don’t think you’ll locate this one on any world map. A tiny little bay with excellent snorkling and diving (apparently) and good protection from all wind directions, so hopefully a couple of peaceful nights ahead. From here we will be heading down to the Gulf of Nicoya and expect a bumpy ride until we get into Bahia Ballena and spend a week or so cruising the islands in the Gulf.
So far we are extremely enamoured with Costa Rica – although I have my reservations about cruising during the Rainy Season – we are among a very small handful of people that havn’t taken shelter through to the end of October/early November – the main benefit is very obvious. Everything is incredibly lush and green. The Northern Costa Rica coast is beautiful – in many places the tropical rain forest stretches all the way to the sea and the coastal vistas are breathtaking. The photographs, which I hope to upload somewhere soon, just don’t do the scenery justice. The absence of photographs at present, I apologies for, due to the lack of an onboard wi-fi signal and the impracticality of taking my laptop ashore when we are making dinghy landings through surf onto the beach – hopefully I’ll be able to upload once we get further south.
Current Lat/Long 10 deg 34’ N
85 deg 43’ W
Following our return to Nicaragua from England, we spent a couple of weeks getting Aphrodite ship-shape – which meant Paul doing lots of jobs and me doing lots of reading. Most afternoons we hit the pool at the marina, or the pool at the beach where at least there was a cooler coastal breeze. We relaxed, watched local fishermen in their dug-out canoes and then decided that it was time to move on south to Costa Rica. And so we left Puesta del Sol on the 18th of September, on a cloudy dull day, and bumped out to sea on a rolly swell, which thankfully smoothed out a little as we made offshore and into deeper water. Our first passage was an overnight of some 135 miles and our destination, Bahia Santa Elena in Northern Costa Rica. We were quite fortunate with the weather until around 0300 hours the next day when we were hit by an unavoidable deluge – naturally I stayed below, dry, while Paul go his first real drenching. The day broke cloudy on the 19th September with around 25 miles to go to Bahia Santa Elena. We made our entry around 1500 hours that day and dropped our anchor. The bay is almost landlocked and therefore like a pond. It was incredibly calm and beautiful, surrounded by rain forest on three sides. We sat in the cockpit and watched the parrots flying overhead and marvelled at our surroundings. We were the only boat in the bay apart from a small fishing panga which disappeared to goodness knows where at night. We spent a very calm and relaxing 5 days pootling around in the dinghy and on the third day had visitors – the Costa Rican police came aboard to check our paperwork, and drink all our coke! While the senior officers were aboard dotting i’s and crossing t’s the rest of the boat crew slalomed around us in their panga having a hilarious time and sending tidal waves of wash our way! As beautiful as Bahia Santa Elena is, you can only have so much relaxation (well I can anyway) and so it was on the 24th of September, our 7th wedding anniversary, that I persuaded Paul to up anchor and carry on south. Our next stop was at the Islas Las Mucielagos, just a short daysail from Santa Elena and we dropped our anchor at Key Point off the Santa Elena Peninsula at 1530 hours to enjoy a glass of sherry!!! and a beautiful sunset. Not a bad anniversary as they go – no wrapping paper to throw away, but we had had a day of natural gifts – early on in the day a whale had surfaced quite close to the boat, followed by the company of dolphins and turtles for most of the passage – better than anything you can put in a box and wrap – and topped off with a glass of cheap cooking sherry – we know how to live!!! The anchorage in the islands however was a little rolly and so we upped anchor early next morning on the 25th September and headed towards Playa del Coco where we would officially check into Costa Rica. We engined through the morning and then had a lovely sail into the bay in the afternoon, anchoring at 1600 hours. The following morning we dinghied ashore, took care of the necessary paperwork with the Port Capitan, Immigracion and Aduane (Customs) – all very straightforward and FREE. I think it is the first country we have checked into so far that hasn’t charged anything.. Coco has everything the cruiser needs ashore – lots of internet cafes and free wi-fi, a good supermarket, a chandlery (marine hardware shop for our American friends), laundry and a wide selection of bars and restaurants.
So now it’s Saturday 29th September and we’re off again, but this time not very far – to Bahia Guacamaya – for those of you that follow us, I don’t think you’ll locate this one on any world map. A tiny little bay with excellent snorkling and diving (apparently) and good protection from all wind directions, so hopefully a couple of peaceful nights ahead. From here we will be heading down to the Gulf of Nicoya and expect a bumpy ride until we get into Bahia Ballena and spend a week or so cruising the islands in the Gulf.
So far we are extremely enamoured with Costa Rica – although I have my reservations about cruising during the Rainy Season – we are among a very small handful of people that havn’t taken shelter through to the end of October/early November – the main benefit is very obvious. Everything is incredibly lush and green. The Northern Costa Rica coast is beautiful – in many places the tropical rain forest stretches all the way to the sea and the coastal vistas are breathtaking. The photographs, which I hope to upload somewhere soon, just don’t do the scenery justice. The absence of photographs at present, I apologies for, due to the lack of an onboard wi-fi signal and the impracticality of taking my laptop ashore when we are making dinghy landings through surf onto the beach – hopefully I’ll be able to upload once we get further south.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Aphrodite's Album:
Conchigita
Casey
Norfolk
La Rochelle
Current Lat/Long: 12' 36.6N 87'22.4W
And it’s been forever since I updated our blogspot - my apologies - so this is going to be a quick round-up to bring us up-to-date through July and August. We left Barillas (El Salvador) on 28th June 2007, along with Daryl on Liberty Call, heading for Nicaragua via the Gulf of Fonseca, which has borders with El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. We followed the Barillas Pilot nine miles down river and through the break in the reef. The surf was up and pounding on the reef and our exit was far more uncomfortable than our entry several days earlier, but once out to sea the swell was relatively low and the sun was shinning. From mid-day onwards we saw the squall clouds building (now re-named the ‘Alien Cloud’ by SV Hurrah who we were to meet later in Nicaragua) and at 1350 hours - just as we were about to round the point into the Gulf - it hit us. Around 35 knots on the nose and building seas, (we had already dropped sail) and so we pointed due west out to sea to ride it out, finally dropping our anchor off the shore of Isla Conchagita at 2130 hours. Spent the next day relaxing then the following day sailed around the top of the island, passing it’s one solitary village, and on to Isla Meanguera where we anchored in a small cove at the south east end of the island. We’d caught fish on our way across so Daryl joined us as we fired up the BBQ and we contemplated what the ‘really quite nice building’ could be in the bay. It was so unexpected that we assumed it was either the President’s summer house or a drug baron’s hide out. The next morning Daryl kayaked ashore and returned to us with the news that it was an ‘American-style’ hotel - no mention of it in any pilot book, and totally unexpected. We all went ashore and met Richard (American) who owns the hotel with his Salvadoran wife and their children Rachel and Arturo. We were made very welcome and spent the next two days eating fabulous meals prepared by Richard’s wife and chilling on their patio. The hotel is called El Joya Del Golfo and Richard can be contacted at the following Richardshagen@aol.com. If you’re heading down that way it’s well worth a stop - pretty much protected from any south westerly swell but open to anything big from the north. You could however always up anchor and in twenty minutes be around the bottom of the island in the anchorage to the south which affords shelter in a Papagallo, according to Capt. Pat Raines’ Cruising Ports, The Central American Route.
So, reluctantly we upped anchor on the 4th of July and headed out to Puesta del Sol in Nicaragua, arriving just in time to be invited to the Independence Day BBQ and celebrations! The entrance into Puesta is very straight-forward as long as you do your ‘tidal homework’ and enter on an incoming or high tide. It would be nearly impossible to enter on the ebb (around 5/6 knots against). We entered on the flood and had difficulty staying in the channel!!! But the entrance is short and you’re in within minutes.
On arriving in Puesta, and now fully into the rainy season, which sees huge tropical downpours with winds up to 50 knots and enormous thunderstorms, I suggested that it would perhaps be a good time to go home, if indeed we were going to go home. Paul’s son Adam and his wife Vicky were due to give birth to their first child - our first grandchild - on August 19th and so, after much debate we decided to book our flights. As we were now heading home, Daryl (Liberty Call) decided to continue on down to Costa Rica and a visit from his girlfriend.
Before I go any further - A BIG APOLOGY TO THOSE OF YOU WE DIDN’T SEE - our trip home was extremely hectic and absolutely flew by. We returned to England to MASSIVE flooding with large areas of the country without water and electricity - thankfully not Nottingham where we were staying with Mum, but my sister in Gloucestershire was without water for 2 weeks. In between ordering and supervising the fitting of new windows for my Mum, we caught up with local friends - and once again whiled away the wee hours at Gary and Dawn’s with Pat and Max. We also managed to fly out to La Rochelle and spend a lovely few relaxing days with Martin and Shirley on their boat Kismet, moored in the inner harbour in La Rochelle enabling a short walk ashore into this beautiful town/city? On returning, Vicky very conveniently gave birth the very next day - two weeks early - which was great for us as it meant we now had two weeks longer with our new grand-daughter. Mum and baby went through the usual trials but both were and continue to be very well - and naturally, she‘s gorgeous. Following that, many visits with family, placing daily internet orders for boat things that are impossible to source in Central America; the luxury of eating soggy white English bread and many other totally bad but uuuummmm so much missed foods - curry to name but one!!! We also arrived home in time to join our friends’ Helen and Richard for their wedding celebration. They had married in February but decided to delay the celebration until the summer where they planned a BBQ at the gliding club. It rained ALL DAY (!!!) but we nevertheless had a lovely time.
More shopping and baby cooing. Grandad was occupied for a week decorating the nursery - oh - baby’s name by the way is Casey and is a girl!!
A weekend with our friends Michael and Anne on their Contest 44 Nimue, along the south coast of England and across to the Isle of Wight, gave us the best sail we have had in months!!!???!!! A trip to Norfolk to visit John and Judy in their lovely cottage alongside the wharf in Wells Next the Sea came complete with a local regata and sailing races thrown in for good measure. Next a cross-country trek to the Cotswalds for a last visit with my sister Helen and her family.
Before we knew it time had run out and it was time to return. It had been lovely to catch up with friends and family, but sadly we only got to see half the people we had hoped to see - including 45 minutes with my elder sister and an unsuccessful trip to see Paul‘s sister. It’s amazing how my brother’s and sister’s children have changed in just over one year, but equally good to see that Mum hadn’t changed much at all, if anything looked better! My lovely brother rose at 4 a.m. on Sunday 2nd of September and delivered us back to Heathrow. 48 hours later we are back on our boat - tidying up and preparing to leave shortly for Costa Rica. It is still rainy season and I AM NOT looking forward to the lightening storms and 50 knot squalls, but Paul reassures me its only water and we might get wet!!! Hasn’t said much about the lightening though! More to follow in the next couple of weeks, assuming our safe arrival in Costa Rica.
Conchigita
Casey
Norfolk
La Rochelle
Current Lat/Long: 12' 36.6N 87'22.4W
And it’s been forever since I updated our blogspot - my apologies - so this is going to be a quick round-up to bring us up-to-date through July and August. We left Barillas (El Salvador) on 28th June 2007, along with Daryl on Liberty Call, heading for Nicaragua via the Gulf of Fonseca, which has borders with El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. We followed the Barillas Pilot nine miles down river and through the break in the reef. The surf was up and pounding on the reef and our exit was far more uncomfortable than our entry several days earlier, but once out to sea the swell was relatively low and the sun was shinning. From mid-day onwards we saw the squall clouds building (now re-named the ‘Alien Cloud’ by SV Hurrah who we were to meet later in Nicaragua) and at 1350 hours - just as we were about to round the point into the Gulf - it hit us. Around 35 knots on the nose and building seas, (we had already dropped sail) and so we pointed due west out to sea to ride it out, finally dropping our anchor off the shore of Isla Conchagita at 2130 hours. Spent the next day relaxing then the following day sailed around the top of the island, passing it’s one solitary village, and on to Isla Meanguera where we anchored in a small cove at the south east end of the island. We’d caught fish on our way across so Daryl joined us as we fired up the BBQ and we contemplated what the ‘really quite nice building’ could be in the bay. It was so unexpected that we assumed it was either the President’s summer house or a drug baron’s hide out. The next morning Daryl kayaked ashore and returned to us with the news that it was an ‘American-style’ hotel - no mention of it in any pilot book, and totally unexpected. We all went ashore and met Richard (American) who owns the hotel with his Salvadoran wife and their children Rachel and Arturo. We were made very welcome and spent the next two days eating fabulous meals prepared by Richard’s wife and chilling on their patio. The hotel is called El Joya Del Golfo and Richard can be contacted at the following Richardshagen@aol.com. If you’re heading down that way it’s well worth a stop - pretty much protected from any south westerly swell but open to anything big from the north. You could however always up anchor and in twenty minutes be around the bottom of the island in the anchorage to the south which affords shelter in a Papagallo, according to Capt. Pat Raines’ Cruising Ports, The Central American Route.
So, reluctantly we upped anchor on the 4th of July and headed out to Puesta del Sol in Nicaragua, arriving just in time to be invited to the Independence Day BBQ and celebrations! The entrance into Puesta is very straight-forward as long as you do your ‘tidal homework’ and enter on an incoming or high tide. It would be nearly impossible to enter on the ebb (around 5/6 knots against). We entered on the flood and had difficulty staying in the channel!!! But the entrance is short and you’re in within minutes.
On arriving in Puesta, and now fully into the rainy season, which sees huge tropical downpours with winds up to 50 knots and enormous thunderstorms, I suggested that it would perhaps be a good time to go home, if indeed we were going to go home. Paul’s son Adam and his wife Vicky were due to give birth to their first child - our first grandchild - on August 19th and so, after much debate we decided to book our flights. As we were now heading home, Daryl (Liberty Call) decided to continue on down to Costa Rica and a visit from his girlfriend.
Before I go any further - A BIG APOLOGY TO THOSE OF YOU WE DIDN’T SEE - our trip home was extremely hectic and absolutely flew by. We returned to England to MASSIVE flooding with large areas of the country without water and electricity - thankfully not Nottingham where we were staying with Mum, but my sister in Gloucestershire was without water for 2 weeks. In between ordering and supervising the fitting of new windows for my Mum, we caught up with local friends - and once again whiled away the wee hours at Gary and Dawn’s with Pat and Max. We also managed to fly out to La Rochelle and spend a lovely few relaxing days with Martin and Shirley on their boat Kismet, moored in the inner harbour in La Rochelle enabling a short walk ashore into this beautiful town/city? On returning, Vicky very conveniently gave birth the very next day - two weeks early - which was great for us as it meant we now had two weeks longer with our new grand-daughter. Mum and baby went through the usual trials but both were and continue to be very well - and naturally, she‘s gorgeous. Following that, many visits with family, placing daily internet orders for boat things that are impossible to source in Central America; the luxury of eating soggy white English bread and many other totally bad but uuuummmm so much missed foods - curry to name but one!!! We also arrived home in time to join our friends’ Helen and Richard for their wedding celebration. They had married in February but decided to delay the celebration until the summer where they planned a BBQ at the gliding club. It rained ALL DAY (!!!) but we nevertheless had a lovely time.
More shopping and baby cooing. Grandad was occupied for a week decorating the nursery - oh - baby’s name by the way is Casey and is a girl!!
A weekend with our friends Michael and Anne on their Contest 44 Nimue, along the south coast of England and across to the Isle of Wight, gave us the best sail we have had in months!!!???!!! A trip to Norfolk to visit John and Judy in their lovely cottage alongside the wharf in Wells Next the Sea came complete with a local regata and sailing races thrown in for good measure. Next a cross-country trek to the Cotswalds for a last visit with my sister Helen and her family.
Before we knew it time had run out and it was time to return. It had been lovely to catch up with friends and family, but sadly we only got to see half the people we had hoped to see - including 45 minutes with my elder sister and an unsuccessful trip to see Paul‘s sister. It’s amazing how my brother’s and sister’s children have changed in just over one year, but equally good to see that Mum hadn’t changed much at all, if anything looked better! My lovely brother rose at 4 a.m. on Sunday 2nd of September and delivered us back to Heathrow. 48 hours later we are back on our boat - tidying up and preparing to leave shortly for Costa Rica. It is still rainy season and I AM NOT looking forward to the lightening storms and 50 knot squalls, but Paul reassures me its only water and we might get wet!!! Hasn’t said much about the lightening though! More to follow in the next couple of weeks, assuming our safe arrival in Costa Rica.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
GUATEMALA TO EL SALVADOR
18th June saw an early morning departure from Guatemala – having received our paperwork later than expected, we decided to spend another night – expecting to get away early, and therefore without paying for it – WRONG. One thing you can’t fault at the marina Pez Vela in Guatemala is the tenacity of the security guards!!! So 0700 saw us head out to sea for our 48 hour passage to El Salvador. An uneventful passage with a little sailing and a lot of engining, arriving with Liberty Call off the Bahia Jiquilisco (Hi-ki-lis-co), awaiting the arrival of the Pilot panga that will guide us in and over the bar, past the shoals where the breakers are scary and nine miles up the river into paradise – baring the mosquito’s. Barillas marina is in fact mooring buoys ($11-20) per day in the river, surrounded by mangroves and alongside a very nice resort with pool, spa bath, bar, restaurant, hammocks swung in palm trees, all in all, a nice little stop. Here we find Maverick!!! Who we thought was in Costa Rica by now, but they arrived and 35 days later, where still here. They have in fact decided to leave their boat here – excellent shelter and great security – and fly back to Germany for 4 weeks. Three other cruising boats with people on board are still here (it’s now very out of season), and a handful of boats have been left here to shelter for the duration of hurricane season. We are still not quite out of the possible hurricane area, but El Salvador has never been hit to date. This is a fabulous place to relax. A 20 minute walk from the resort takes you into the forest where you will find partially tame – enough that they will come and take your banana’s – Spider monkeys swinging in the trees.
El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America and also the only once without both a Caribbean and Pacific coast. It is still however chiefly remembered for its vicious civil war in the 1980’s and although Peace Accords were signed in 1992 Peace Accords, the country still doesn’t attract the tourism enjoyed by its neighbours, Guatemala and Nicaragua. We took a ride into San Salvador, the capital, with Kurt and Agatha then they left for the airport, but returned back to Barillas later that day pretty uninspired. For me the city was bland and had no soul, the only redeeming feature I found was an amazing church, which from the outside looked like a solid concrete semi-circle without a single window, it was only on entering that it became apparent that concrete was inter-laced with the most beautiful abstract stain glass windows. The botanical gardens where not the best, but an oasis in what is otherwise a fairly ugly city.
So here we are, still in Barillas, making the most of the pool, the hammocks and the general air of relaxation. We will probably leave later in the week for Fonseca, where we hope to anchor at the islands for a few days snorkelling, before continuing on to Costa Rica.
18th June saw an early morning departure from Guatemala – having received our paperwork later than expected, we decided to spend another night – expecting to get away early, and therefore without paying for it – WRONG. One thing you can’t fault at the marina Pez Vela in Guatemala is the tenacity of the security guards!!! So 0700 saw us head out to sea for our 48 hour passage to El Salvador. An uneventful passage with a little sailing and a lot of engining, arriving with Liberty Call off the Bahia Jiquilisco (Hi-ki-lis-co), awaiting the arrival of the Pilot panga that will guide us in and over the bar, past the shoals where the breakers are scary and nine miles up the river into paradise – baring the mosquito’s. Barillas marina is in fact mooring buoys ($11-20) per day in the river, surrounded by mangroves and alongside a very nice resort with pool, spa bath, bar, restaurant, hammocks swung in palm trees, all in all, a nice little stop. Here we find Maverick!!! Who we thought was in Costa Rica by now, but they arrived and 35 days later, where still here. They have in fact decided to leave their boat here – excellent shelter and great security – and fly back to Germany for 4 weeks. Three other cruising boats with people on board are still here (it’s now very out of season), and a handful of boats have been left here to shelter for the duration of hurricane season. We are still not quite out of the possible hurricane area, but El Salvador has never been hit to date. This is a fabulous place to relax. A 20 minute walk from the resort takes you into the forest where you will find partially tame – enough that they will come and take your banana’s – Spider monkeys swinging in the trees.
El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America and also the only once without both a Caribbean and Pacific coast. It is still however chiefly remembered for its vicious civil war in the 1980’s and although Peace Accords were signed in 1992 Peace Accords, the country still doesn’t attract the tourism enjoyed by its neighbours, Guatemala and Nicaragua. We took a ride into San Salvador, the capital, with Kurt and Agatha then they left for the airport, but returned back to Barillas later that day pretty uninspired. For me the city was bland and had no soul, the only redeeming feature I found was an amazing church, which from the outside looked like a solid concrete semi-circle without a single window, it was only on entering that it became apparent that concrete was inter-laced with the most beautiful abstract stain glass windows. The botanical gardens where not the best, but an oasis in what is otherwise a fairly ugly city.
So here we are, still in Barillas, making the most of the pool, the hammocks and the general air of relaxation. We will probably leave later in the week for Fonseca, where we hope to anchor at the islands for a few days snorkelling, before continuing on to Costa Rica.
CROSSING THE GULF AND LEAVING MEXICO
Huatulco is the last recreational destination on Mexico’s Pacific coast and when heading south, cruisers have to negotiate the Gulf of Tehuantepec, infamous for its sudden gales. The bay is 260 miles across and is relatively shallow. The weather in the Gulf is dominated by the weather in the Caribbean and leads to approximately 180 days per year experiencing Force 8 winds or higher. A Tehuantepec gale, or T-pecker, is capable of blowing a 120 foot coastal freighter 350 miles off shore into horrendously steep seas. Each year a number of smaller boats are caught out by the T-peckers, with disastrous results. . They are impossible to predict from local cloud observation and onboard barometer readings. They strike suddenly and last from a few hours to several days, However, because the Gulf is so notorious, a great deal of resources have been poured into the forecasting of these storms, so we sit and wait with daily visits to the internet café, scanning every piece of weather information we can get. We want a five day passage. The Gulf is 260 miles and we then have a further 108 miles to the next tenable anchorage/marina in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. So, 9th June and, with a decent 5 day forecast we – Aphrodite, Liberty Call, Anna Lee and Xochitl - head out of Huatulco with light winds, as per the forecast, of around 8-10 knots. In fact the forecast shows nothing in the next 5 days over 14 knots. We turn the corner at the north western end of the Gulf and are hit by 25 knots on the nose!!! We are the first to turn back, swiftly followed by the other three boats. These winds continue for the next 24 hours and so on 11th June we all set out once more. This time we have more luck and, in fact, don’t have enough wind. We originally intended to by-pass Guatemala, making our first landfall in El Salvador, but four days later, and with dwindling diesel supplies – having engined the entire way, due to lack of wind, barring a 3 hour slot where we had 20 knots and a great sail – we decide to pull in to Puerto Quetzal. Liberty Call and Xochitl had had to stop and re-fuel in Puerto Madero, which is the last port in Mexico, and one that we wanted to bypass. We had checked out in Huatulco and obtained our Zarpe to leave the country. Going into Puerto Madero meant having to re-do the paperwork and a potential delay of 1 or 2 days. As it happens they weren’t required to obtain a new Zarpe and were therefore only held up for a few hours.
So, 0600 hours, Friday 15th June we arrive in Guatemala. Guatemala’s Pacific coast is only 132 nautical miles long and is dramatic, its volcano peaks, some 10 to 20 miles inland, rise abruptly from the coastal plane, Volcan Fuego at 13,000 feet being the highest active one. Also nearby is Volcan Pocaya, both of which can be seen at night spewing smoke and molten lava – a majestic coastline. We pull into Marina Pez Vela – the only option here as both anchorages have been closed – and are met by Miguel the paperwork agent. We had been lead to believe that you can manage your own entry here, but it transpires that you can’t, and are therefore obliged to pay the $165-00 entry/exit fee to the agent, who in fact probably only sees around $15. The Pez Vela marina is also staggeringly expensive $2.50 per foot per day – to be avoided if at all possible. However, if you wish to visit Guatemala, this is the only option. My Rough Guide tells me that “…spread across a verdant and mountainous chunk of land, Guatemala is endowed with simply staggering natural, historical and cultural interest. Though the giant Maya temples and rainforest cities have been long abandoned, ancient traditions remain very much alive. And, all over the country you’ll come across remnants of Guatemalas colonial past, nowhere more so that in the graceful former capital of Antigua.” ….. so we head to Antigua. But not before heading into town – San Jose – to try to obtain some local currency on my visa card. I forgot to mention that when we were in Huatulco my purse was stolen, not much money, but the huge inconvenience of losing credit and bank cards. The battle of the banks that followed, resulted in me obtaining one replacement card in Mexico – thank you so much Visa, nil points to HSBC and Citibank who both gave it their best shot to make a bad situation much worse. Anyway, we headed in to San Jose – which made the OK Coral look like Sunday school. Guns everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Bank doors opened just enough for a hand to appear through the crack and beckon you in. Once inside you were surrounded by guards toting pump-action shotguns – a legacy of the bitter conflict that has dogged Guatemala. Rough Guide …”But with the signing of the 1996 peace accords between the government and the ex-guerrillas, Latin America’s longest running civil war ceased though many of the countries deep-rooted inequalities persist.”
On returning to the marina we made VHF contact with Daryl of Liberty Call, who, despite the outrageous marina charges, decided that he was going to come in for a break. A few minutes later and we raised Xochitl who for 15 excited minutes thought that they too would be coming in and ending a five day passage, only to find that the charges were beyond their budget and so turned around and headed back out to sea.
The only other sailboat in the marina was the Elizabeth with Paul and Charlene on board. They gave us the details for an excellent local taxi driver who would take us to the city of Antigua. The following day Paul, myself, Daryl and Charlene made our way inland, taking the opportunity to see, sadly, only a small portion of this beautiful country.
I was going to write lots of information here about the Mayan ruins in Guatemala, but can’t get on line to down-load it, but suggest that you take a look at it for yourself.
We went to Antigua, a beautiful city and the former capital of Guatemala. On the way we passed through the town of ……………………… and it was our fortune that that day they were celebrating their town’s anniversary. Virtually everyone in the town was gathered at the church for a service of thanksgiving. The town is famed for its fabric factory (the gracefully arched building in the photographs, not looking the least bit like a factory) where it weaves the beautiful multi-coloured cloths worn by all the local women, old and young. On arrival in Antigua we went to the jade museum, Guatemala and Burma being the only two countries in the world producing jade. A fascinating visit with as much information about the Mayan history of Guatemala as the history of jade. A very beautiful city that deserved more time.
We returned to the marina and awaited the arrival of Miguel who was bringing our Zarpe’s for our departure later that evening.
Huatulco is the last recreational destination on Mexico’s Pacific coast and when heading south, cruisers have to negotiate the Gulf of Tehuantepec, infamous for its sudden gales. The bay is 260 miles across and is relatively shallow. The weather in the Gulf is dominated by the weather in the Caribbean and leads to approximately 180 days per year experiencing Force 8 winds or higher. A Tehuantepec gale, or T-pecker, is capable of blowing a 120 foot coastal freighter 350 miles off shore into horrendously steep seas. Each year a number of smaller boats are caught out by the T-peckers, with disastrous results. . They are impossible to predict from local cloud observation and onboard barometer readings. They strike suddenly and last from a few hours to several days, However, because the Gulf is so notorious, a great deal of resources have been poured into the forecasting of these storms, so we sit and wait with daily visits to the internet café, scanning every piece of weather information we can get. We want a five day passage. The Gulf is 260 miles and we then have a further 108 miles to the next tenable anchorage/marina in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. So, 9th June and, with a decent 5 day forecast we – Aphrodite, Liberty Call, Anna Lee and Xochitl - head out of Huatulco with light winds, as per the forecast, of around 8-10 knots. In fact the forecast shows nothing in the next 5 days over 14 knots. We turn the corner at the north western end of the Gulf and are hit by 25 knots on the nose!!! We are the first to turn back, swiftly followed by the other three boats. These winds continue for the next 24 hours and so on 11th June we all set out once more. This time we have more luck and, in fact, don’t have enough wind. We originally intended to by-pass Guatemala, making our first landfall in El Salvador, but four days later, and with dwindling diesel supplies – having engined the entire way, due to lack of wind, barring a 3 hour slot where we had 20 knots and a great sail – we decide to pull in to Puerto Quetzal. Liberty Call and Xochitl had had to stop and re-fuel in Puerto Madero, which is the last port in Mexico, and one that we wanted to bypass. We had checked out in Huatulco and obtained our Zarpe to leave the country. Going into Puerto Madero meant having to re-do the paperwork and a potential delay of 1 or 2 days. As it happens they weren’t required to obtain a new Zarpe and were therefore only held up for a few hours.
So, 0600 hours, Friday 15th June we arrive in Guatemala. Guatemala’s Pacific coast is only 132 nautical miles long and is dramatic, its volcano peaks, some 10 to 20 miles inland, rise abruptly from the coastal plane, Volcan Fuego at 13,000 feet being the highest active one. Also nearby is Volcan Pocaya, both of which can be seen at night spewing smoke and molten lava – a majestic coastline. We pull into Marina Pez Vela – the only option here as both anchorages have been closed – and are met by Miguel the paperwork agent. We had been lead to believe that you can manage your own entry here, but it transpires that you can’t, and are therefore obliged to pay the $165-00 entry/exit fee to the agent, who in fact probably only sees around $15. The Pez Vela marina is also staggeringly expensive $2.50 per foot per day – to be avoided if at all possible. However, if you wish to visit Guatemala, this is the only option. My Rough Guide tells me that “…spread across a verdant and mountainous chunk of land, Guatemala is endowed with simply staggering natural, historical and cultural interest. Though the giant Maya temples and rainforest cities have been long abandoned, ancient traditions remain very much alive. And, all over the country you’ll come across remnants of Guatemalas colonial past, nowhere more so that in the graceful former capital of Antigua.” ….. so we head to Antigua. But not before heading into town – San Jose – to try to obtain some local currency on my visa card. I forgot to mention that when we were in Huatulco my purse was stolen, not much money, but the huge inconvenience of losing credit and bank cards. The battle of the banks that followed, resulted in me obtaining one replacement card in Mexico – thank you so much Visa, nil points to HSBC and Citibank who both gave it their best shot to make a bad situation much worse. Anyway, we headed in to San Jose – which made the OK Coral look like Sunday school. Guns everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Bank doors opened just enough for a hand to appear through the crack and beckon you in. Once inside you were surrounded by guards toting pump-action shotguns – a legacy of the bitter conflict that has dogged Guatemala. Rough Guide …”But with the signing of the 1996 peace accords between the government and the ex-guerrillas, Latin America’s longest running civil war ceased though many of the countries deep-rooted inequalities persist.”
On returning to the marina we made VHF contact with Daryl of Liberty Call, who, despite the outrageous marina charges, decided that he was going to come in for a break. A few minutes later and we raised Xochitl who for 15 excited minutes thought that they too would be coming in and ending a five day passage, only to find that the charges were beyond their budget and so turned around and headed back out to sea.
The only other sailboat in the marina was the Elizabeth with Paul and Charlene on board. They gave us the details for an excellent local taxi driver who would take us to the city of Antigua. The following day Paul, myself, Daryl and Charlene made our way inland, taking the opportunity to see, sadly, only a small portion of this beautiful country.
I was going to write lots of information here about the Mayan ruins in Guatemala, but can’t get on line to down-load it, but suggest that you take a look at it for yourself.
We went to Antigua, a beautiful city and the former capital of Guatemala. On the way we passed through the town of ……………………… and it was our fortune that that day they were celebrating their town’s anniversary. Virtually everyone in the town was gathered at the church for a service of thanksgiving. The town is famed for its fabric factory (the gracefully arched building in the photographs, not looking the least bit like a factory) where it weaves the beautiful multi-coloured cloths worn by all the local women, old and young. On arrival in Antigua we went to the jade museum, Guatemala and Burma being the only two countries in the world producing jade. A fascinating visit with as much information about the Mayan history of Guatemala as the history of jade. A very beautiful city that deserved more time.
We returned to the marina and awaited the arrival of Miguel who was bringing our Zarpe’s for our departure later that evening.
PUERTO ANGEL TO HUATULCO
17th May we headed out for a day sail to Marina Chahue (chow-Way) with very little wind. We had decided that since adding our second new electronic fuel pump in Puerto Angel, that we would engine all the way there just to check that we could ! We arrived without incident late afternoon, and, unable to raise anyone on the VHF, made our way into the marina, chose a slip and tied alongside.
Our time in Chahue passed quickly, Paul spending the first 3 days fitting the autohelm that has become our 4th crew member. Because we have a wooden wheel, the fitting wasn’t that simple, and so he spent hours in lockers and under floors while I relaxed at the pool by the beach and checked the weather. Southern Mexico isn’t clear of the Pacific hurricane belt and in order to be safe, all cruising boats are advised to be in Northern Costa Rica by the middle to end of May. It was now May 20th and on checking the weather that particular day I, along with the crew of another boat that had arrived in Chahue just a few hours before we did - Rusty and John on the Anna Lee – noted a tropical depression forming approximately 150 miles due west of Huatulco. This became a conversation stopper in the marina and by the next day it had been named as Tropical Storm Barbara (later to develop into hurricane Barbara), and was forecast to make landfall in approximately three days time with predicted wind speeds of 180 kph. So, what to do? Batten down and have a party! We avidly tracked the storm, hoping that it would follow the regular track of all such hurricanes, and head off north west, out into the Pacific. Contrary to all known weather models, it actually turned and headed south east, and into the Gulf of Tehuantepec, making its landfall between Salina Cruz and Puerto Madero, approximately 150 miles south east of Huatulco. The only effects felt by the boats in Chahue was a few hours of heavier winds, but nothing significant. The boys on Anna Lee and Xochitl decided that these winds would make for great surfing conditions and took off for the beach, to return several hours later battered.
So, having fitted the autohelm, Paul then had to get to the bottom of the engine problem, once and for all. He thought that we may have had some bad fuel which was now the cause of our problems, so decided to empty both fuel tanks and clean them. We had noticed that the problems seemed to occur when we were using the starboard fuel tank. The port tank was emptied and cleaned with nothing evident. Paul re filtered the fuel before returning it to the clean tank. Next the starboard tank which still had around 45 gallons of diesel in it, and so, with a siphon pipe, he set about emptying the tank. Long story short, the starboard tank had a very large amount of water in the diesel, the most disconcerting thing being that we still don’t know how it got in there. Three days later Paul had filtered, re-filtered and re-re-filtered the diesel, cleaned both tanks and, crossed fingers, we may now have got to the bottom of our engine problems. !!??!!
Although the majority of ‘traffic’ had gone through this marina for the season, there were still another couple of boats around, the Vrouwe Christina, an immaculate and beautiful dutch barge, crewed by Ari and Hillier, and waiting for a window to head north, which is just as difficult at this time of year as heading south, and Kim, another single hander, waiting to go south. We’d only been in the marina a day when a large catamaran came in, enroute from Panama to Puerto Vallarta, with engine problems. There was a delivery crew on board who jumped ship the following day to return to the States, but not before emptying out their fridge, freezer and cupboard contents to us, supplying 9 of us with enough food to eat for the next 5 nights!!!! Every night in Chahue was a BBQ and party, we needed to leave soon to get some rest!!! We were just waiting for a good window to cross the dreaded Gulf of Tehuantepec (T-peck).
17th May we headed out for a day sail to Marina Chahue (chow-Way) with very little wind. We had decided that since adding our second new electronic fuel pump in Puerto Angel, that we would engine all the way there just to check that we could ! We arrived without incident late afternoon, and, unable to raise anyone on the VHF, made our way into the marina, chose a slip and tied alongside.
Our time in Chahue passed quickly, Paul spending the first 3 days fitting the autohelm that has become our 4th crew member. Because we have a wooden wheel, the fitting wasn’t that simple, and so he spent hours in lockers and under floors while I relaxed at the pool by the beach and checked the weather. Southern Mexico isn’t clear of the Pacific hurricane belt and in order to be safe, all cruising boats are advised to be in Northern Costa Rica by the middle to end of May. It was now May 20th and on checking the weather that particular day I, along with the crew of another boat that had arrived in Chahue just a few hours before we did - Rusty and John on the Anna Lee – noted a tropical depression forming approximately 150 miles due west of Huatulco. This became a conversation stopper in the marina and by the next day it had been named as Tropical Storm Barbara (later to develop into hurricane Barbara), and was forecast to make landfall in approximately three days time with predicted wind speeds of 180 kph. So, what to do? Batten down and have a party! We avidly tracked the storm, hoping that it would follow the regular track of all such hurricanes, and head off north west, out into the Pacific. Contrary to all known weather models, it actually turned and headed south east, and into the Gulf of Tehuantepec, making its landfall between Salina Cruz and Puerto Madero, approximately 150 miles south east of Huatulco. The only effects felt by the boats in Chahue was a few hours of heavier winds, but nothing significant. The boys on Anna Lee and Xochitl decided that these winds would make for great surfing conditions and took off for the beach, to return several hours later battered.
So, having fitted the autohelm, Paul then had to get to the bottom of the engine problem, once and for all. He thought that we may have had some bad fuel which was now the cause of our problems, so decided to empty both fuel tanks and clean them. We had noticed that the problems seemed to occur when we were using the starboard fuel tank. The port tank was emptied and cleaned with nothing evident. Paul re filtered the fuel before returning it to the clean tank. Next the starboard tank which still had around 45 gallons of diesel in it, and so, with a siphon pipe, he set about emptying the tank. Long story short, the starboard tank had a very large amount of water in the diesel, the most disconcerting thing being that we still don’t know how it got in there. Three days later Paul had filtered, re-filtered and re-re-filtered the diesel, cleaned both tanks and, crossed fingers, we may now have got to the bottom of our engine problems. !!??!!
Although the majority of ‘traffic’ had gone through this marina for the season, there were still another couple of boats around, the Vrouwe Christina, an immaculate and beautiful dutch barge, crewed by Ari and Hillier, and waiting for a window to head north, which is just as difficult at this time of year as heading south, and Kim, another single hander, waiting to go south. We’d only been in the marina a day when a large catamaran came in, enroute from Panama to Puerto Vallarta, with engine problems. There was a delivery crew on board who jumped ship the following day to return to the States, but not before emptying out their fridge, freezer and cupboard contents to us, supplying 9 of us with enough food to eat for the next 5 nights!!!! Every night in Chahue was a BBQ and party, we needed to leave soon to get some rest!!! We were just waiting for a good window to cross the dreaded Gulf of Tehuantepec (T-peck).
MANZANILLO, LAS HADAS TO ZIHUATANEJO (Zee-what-a-nay-o)
6th May we left the lovely harbour of Las Hadas, Manzanillo, and headed out for Zihuatanejo. On passage we received our first visit from the Mexican navy who came along side but didn’t board us. Fortunately we had actually brought our paperwork up to date in Las Hadas. Up to this point, we had not reported in or out of any of our anchorages or harbours since Ensenada and had a crew list showing four persons. This we amended in Las Hadas, and were grateful that we had. We were able to sail at least 50% of this leg but as soon as we started engining, the hand steering recommenced. Although we have had many dolphins before, on this leg we were surrounded from one horizon to the other by thousands of dolphins that stayed with us for several hours. They were incredibly entertaining – porpoising and dancing on their tails, their entire bodies waving around above the water – quite amazing, and not a single photo to prove it!
We arrived in Zihuatanejo to find Maverick and Susurru at anchor in the bay, and were joined later by Liberty Call (Daryl) and Xochitl (pron. So-chi) with Ben and Ava. Zihuatanejo is the greatest town – probably my favourite so far. A little touristy but still very Mexican and certainly we could have spent more time, however, due to the increasing number of hours spent at the helm, rather than spent reading or sleeping, I decided that we weren’t going to go any further south until we had an auto helm on the boat. Denis, our windvane, is great and steers the boat for us when we have wind (which in recent experience isn’t often), however he cannot steer the boat when we are under engine; for this we need an autohelm. So within a couple of hours of arriving in Z-town, I have located a Ray Marine autohelm in San Diego and have booked my flight. I was very excited about returning to San Diego and Chula Vista, an unexpected opportunity to visit with our lovely friends there, albeit for 2 days! The next day I flew out, via Houston, where we were grounded by an enormous storm. At one point the Tower was evacuated as it started to rock in 69 mph winds!!!! I arrived late Thursday night in San Diego to be met by 4 friends from Chula Vista, Jim and Heidi in the terminal, and Glen and Kent driving around outside! I was thrilled to see them all again, and although the delay meant I had arrived too late for my party, it was still great to be ‘home’ Friday I raced around San Diego, chauffeured by Glen and with my own ’private shopper’ Terry, at West Marine who soon had my trolley overflowing with most of the items from my list and that of Liberty Call and Sotchi. Friday night Penny and Charlie threw a party at the houseboat and it really was just like old times, except for the fact that Paul had stayed with the boat and had left Z-town along with Liberty Call and Xochitl and headed for Acapulco, where I was too meet them the next day. So 5.a.m. Saturday morning saw me on my way back to the airport and heading back to Mexico. We anchored in a small bay just southwest of Acapulco and so it was relatively easy to locate the boat and Paul on my return. Acapulco was somewhat of a let-down, not at all what we expected, but just a large dirty city with a dirtier bay in front of it. I arrived back on Paul’s birthday (May 16th), and just as we were settling down that evening, we were boarded by ‘pirates’ (Daryl, Ava and Ben) who had baked up a birthday cake for Paul (who they have christened ‘Salty’), baked by Ava on Daryl’s boat (Xochitl having no oven), just late enough to make it unbearable for Daryl to sleep down below on his boat that night! We were now in the tropics and temperatures below were not often less that 90 degrees plus. Oh, almost forgot to mention Paul’s ‘one that got away’ Enroute from Zihuatanejo to Acapulco he set his hand trolling line with the hydrovane in-line. Some time later, having forgotten that the line was out he heard an enormous splash behind him and startled, jumped up just in time to see the 10 foot sail fish, with sail fin flying, jump twice more out of water before snapping the line and taking most of the kit with it. We were quite lucky that it didn’t take the pushpit too. He still can’t believe that he hooked this enormous fish on a trolling line and medium sized hook, but was quite relieved that it got away.
So the following day saw us all heading out of Acapulco for Puerto Angel; Aphrodite towing Xochitl out of the anchorage following their recurring engine problems. Approximately 2 hours later the wind filled in we dropped Xochitl off the tow, telling them to call us at any time, should they need taking back in tow. We all managed to maintain our sail until around 10pm that evening when, as seems to be the pattern along this coast, the wind died and we all went for the ‘iron’ sail. Xochitl’s engine problems appeared to be resolved and so they were no longer reliant on us for a tow, which was quite fortunate, as our engine, once again, cut out on us. Paul spent the entire night with his head in the engine bay, trying a number of fixes, including fitting an electronic pump into the fuel line, as at one point he thought that it was the mechanical lift pump that wasn’t working. Thankfully we were fortunate enough to get some late wind which gave us just enough to ghost along at around 2.8 knots – just not quite enough for Denis to steer, so while Paul spent his night in the engine, I spent the night, once again, hand steering (we needed to be at a clock to fit the autohelm, which was therefore, still in it’s box). Without the engine we made a slow passage through the night but the following day got enough wind to actually sail at around 5 knots, putting us approximately 8 miles off Puerto Angel with around an hour and a half’s day light left, which was essential to make the entrance into this tiny bay, and the wind died, completely. Our friends from Xochitl and Liberty Call had arrived earlier in the day and where way up on the hill at the lighthouse when they call us up on the VHF – Daryl having the foresight to take his hand-held ashore with him. We asked them to check out the possibility of organising a panga to come and tow us in once they returned to the bay, but in the meantime we decided that we should try forcing the engine to run by hand-pumping the ‘squeeze ball’ that pushes diesel around the engine for bleeding, etc. We were relieved to find that it worked, but God, what a job. Paul took the first hour while I steered. His moans and groans seemed somewhat excessive to me until we switched over so that Paul could take the boat in (it was now virtually dark). We were just dousing our sail when Ava and Ben appeared in a panga alongside, but decided that we would continue under our own way for as long as we could, with them standing by to take us in tow, should the engine cut out. The entrance into the small bay was narrow and very rocky on both headlands. So with me now hanging over the incredibly hot, noisy engine bay, pumping for all I’m worth, having to use both hands as the grip from one wasn’t sufficient, I now completely understood Paul’s occasional grunt as I wailed and moaned, as we made our way in to the bay. What a huge relief to get the anchor down.
Puerto Angel is a beautiful little bay, but open to any swell from the south which makes it very uncomfortable. We had swell, but not too much, although the anchorage was somewhat rocky-rolly. It’s a very pretty bay and worth stopping into, although it is only just over 30 miles from Huatulco, the stop to wait and see what is happening in Tehuantepec, anchorage and marina.
We spent 3 days in Puerto Angel, visiting Pochutla – a small market town inland, where we bought another electronic fuel pump, having established that the one Paul had fitted, actually didn’t work. Ava, Ben and Daryl had discovered a deserted hotel at the top of the hill with an even more deserted swimming pool where we spent a great afternoon, and which also gave us an amazing view of the bay. The day before our departure a local fisherman named Luis gave us all a number of fishing lures he had hand-carved from bone, wood and metal. Paul says they are too special to actually use!!! However, I’m going to try at least one of them. So, next stop marina Chahue (chow-Way) where we will sit and await a window in the weather to cross Tehuantepec.
6th May we left the lovely harbour of Las Hadas, Manzanillo, and headed out for Zihuatanejo. On passage we received our first visit from the Mexican navy who came along side but didn’t board us. Fortunately we had actually brought our paperwork up to date in Las Hadas. Up to this point, we had not reported in or out of any of our anchorages or harbours since Ensenada and had a crew list showing four persons. This we amended in Las Hadas, and were grateful that we had. We were able to sail at least 50% of this leg but as soon as we started engining, the hand steering recommenced. Although we have had many dolphins before, on this leg we were surrounded from one horizon to the other by thousands of dolphins that stayed with us for several hours. They were incredibly entertaining – porpoising and dancing on their tails, their entire bodies waving around above the water – quite amazing, and not a single photo to prove it!
We arrived in Zihuatanejo to find Maverick and Susurru at anchor in the bay, and were joined later by Liberty Call (Daryl) and Xochitl (pron. So-chi) with Ben and Ava. Zihuatanejo is the greatest town – probably my favourite so far. A little touristy but still very Mexican and certainly we could have spent more time, however, due to the increasing number of hours spent at the helm, rather than spent reading or sleeping, I decided that we weren’t going to go any further south until we had an auto helm on the boat. Denis, our windvane, is great and steers the boat for us when we have wind (which in recent experience isn’t often), however he cannot steer the boat when we are under engine; for this we need an autohelm. So within a couple of hours of arriving in Z-town, I have located a Ray Marine autohelm in San Diego and have booked my flight. I was very excited about returning to San Diego and Chula Vista, an unexpected opportunity to visit with our lovely friends there, albeit for 2 days! The next day I flew out, via Houston, where we were grounded by an enormous storm. At one point the Tower was evacuated as it started to rock in 69 mph winds!!!! I arrived late Thursday night in San Diego to be met by 4 friends from Chula Vista, Jim and Heidi in the terminal, and Glen and Kent driving around outside! I was thrilled to see them all again, and although the delay meant I had arrived too late for my party, it was still great to be ‘home’ Friday I raced around San Diego, chauffeured by Glen and with my own ’private shopper’ Terry, at West Marine who soon had my trolley overflowing with most of the items from my list and that of Liberty Call and Sotchi. Friday night Penny and Charlie threw a party at the houseboat and it really was just like old times, except for the fact that Paul had stayed with the boat and had left Z-town along with Liberty Call and Xochitl and headed for Acapulco, where I was too meet them the next day. So 5.a.m. Saturday morning saw me on my way back to the airport and heading back to Mexico. We anchored in a small bay just southwest of Acapulco and so it was relatively easy to locate the boat and Paul on my return. Acapulco was somewhat of a let-down, not at all what we expected, but just a large dirty city with a dirtier bay in front of it. I arrived back on Paul’s birthday (May 16th), and just as we were settling down that evening, we were boarded by ‘pirates’ (Daryl, Ava and Ben) who had baked up a birthday cake for Paul (who they have christened ‘Salty’), baked by Ava on Daryl’s boat (Xochitl having no oven), just late enough to make it unbearable for Daryl to sleep down below on his boat that night! We were now in the tropics and temperatures below were not often less that 90 degrees plus. Oh, almost forgot to mention Paul’s ‘one that got away’ Enroute from Zihuatanejo to Acapulco he set his hand trolling line with the hydrovane in-line. Some time later, having forgotten that the line was out he heard an enormous splash behind him and startled, jumped up just in time to see the 10 foot sail fish, with sail fin flying, jump twice more out of water before snapping the line and taking most of the kit with it. We were quite lucky that it didn’t take the pushpit too. He still can’t believe that he hooked this enormous fish on a trolling line and medium sized hook, but was quite relieved that it got away.
So the following day saw us all heading out of Acapulco for Puerto Angel; Aphrodite towing Xochitl out of the anchorage following their recurring engine problems. Approximately 2 hours later the wind filled in we dropped Xochitl off the tow, telling them to call us at any time, should they need taking back in tow. We all managed to maintain our sail until around 10pm that evening when, as seems to be the pattern along this coast, the wind died and we all went for the ‘iron’ sail. Xochitl’s engine problems appeared to be resolved and so they were no longer reliant on us for a tow, which was quite fortunate, as our engine, once again, cut out on us. Paul spent the entire night with his head in the engine bay, trying a number of fixes, including fitting an electronic pump into the fuel line, as at one point he thought that it was the mechanical lift pump that wasn’t working. Thankfully we were fortunate enough to get some late wind which gave us just enough to ghost along at around 2.8 knots – just not quite enough for Denis to steer, so while Paul spent his night in the engine, I spent the night, once again, hand steering (we needed to be at a clock to fit the autohelm, which was therefore, still in it’s box). Without the engine we made a slow passage through the night but the following day got enough wind to actually sail at around 5 knots, putting us approximately 8 miles off Puerto Angel with around an hour and a half’s day light left, which was essential to make the entrance into this tiny bay, and the wind died, completely. Our friends from Xochitl and Liberty Call had arrived earlier in the day and where way up on the hill at the lighthouse when they call us up on the VHF – Daryl having the foresight to take his hand-held ashore with him. We asked them to check out the possibility of organising a panga to come and tow us in once they returned to the bay, but in the meantime we decided that we should try forcing the engine to run by hand-pumping the ‘squeeze ball’ that pushes diesel around the engine for bleeding, etc. We were relieved to find that it worked, but God, what a job. Paul took the first hour while I steered. His moans and groans seemed somewhat excessive to me until we switched over so that Paul could take the boat in (it was now virtually dark). We were just dousing our sail when Ava and Ben appeared in a panga alongside, but decided that we would continue under our own way for as long as we could, with them standing by to take us in tow, should the engine cut out. The entrance into the small bay was narrow and very rocky on both headlands. So with me now hanging over the incredibly hot, noisy engine bay, pumping for all I’m worth, having to use both hands as the grip from one wasn’t sufficient, I now completely understood Paul’s occasional grunt as I wailed and moaned, as we made our way in to the bay. What a huge relief to get the anchor down.
Puerto Angel is a beautiful little bay, but open to any swell from the south which makes it very uncomfortable. We had swell, but not too much, although the anchorage was somewhat rocky-rolly. It’s a very pretty bay and worth stopping into, although it is only just over 30 miles from Huatulco, the stop to wait and see what is happening in Tehuantepec, anchorage and marina.
We spent 3 days in Puerto Angel, visiting Pochutla – a small market town inland, where we bought another electronic fuel pump, having established that the one Paul had fitted, actually didn’t work. Ava, Ben and Daryl had discovered a deserted hotel at the top of the hill with an even more deserted swimming pool where we spent a great afternoon, and which also gave us an amazing view of the bay. The day before our departure a local fisherman named Luis gave us all a number of fishing lures he had hand-carved from bone, wood and metal. Paul says they are too special to actually use!!! However, I’m going to try at least one of them. So, next stop marina Chahue (chow-Way) where we will sit and await a window in the weather to cross Tehuantepec.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
I've now decided it's too much trouble to try and insert photo's into the text so all pictures are in 'Aphrodite's Album'
Albums for this log - Puerto Vallarta/Turtles - Tenacatita to Manzanillo/ La Cruz Early Morning/
LA CRUZ DE HUANACAXTLE (whan-cash-ley – it’s a tree, so the cross of the tree)
Or more commonly called ‘La Cruz’ is in the North Eastern corner of the Bahia Banderas, approximately 8 mile north of Puerto Vallarta. We had a two day passage from Mazatlan, once again with variable winds, sailing well from mid-day to early evening (on the drifter) and then motoring/motor sailing through the night – tiresome! We, or at least I, am very much regretting not having an autohelm. Denis our windvane is great when there is wind, allowing hands-free sailing, but without the wind, and no autohelm, we have to hand steer. This soon becomes tedious, and there’s not a lot we can do about the situation until we get to Panama, so only another 1,500 miles-ish to hand steer! Anyway, awaiting our arrival in La Cruz were our lovely friends Paul and Lynne on Pincoya, who we hadn’t seen since Christmas in Ensenada – it seemed a lot longer than 4 months ago. We first met Paul and Lynne (who are from Birmingham, UK) at Chula Vista marina in San Diego, and became firm friends. We were really looking forward to meeting up again and spending a few days with them. Sadly our cruising plans are taking opposing directions and so it is highly unlikely that we shall see one another again until we are in Europe, where, we don’t know, but wherever it is, it will be a great reunion. We were in La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta for 8 days and on anchoring in La Cruz, had became close up and personal with a local fisherman by the early hours of the next morning when his panga ‘clonked’ into Aphrodite around 0600 as he was trying to extricate his fishing net from our anchor chain. I think it may be the last time he sets it in amongst anchored boats! The crab by the way, which got proudly passed over for photographs, somehow got dropped during its transfer back from Paul to the panga, leaving his 500 yard fishing net bringing in a catch of three tiddlers and two crayfish. Following the dropped crab incident, the panga sped off, giving our boat a skimming ‘clunk’ for good measure – Paul says it was an accident – maybe I’m just too cynical! We also crossed paths with Tom and Carol on Susurru and Kurt and Agatha on Maverick, who we will hopefully be catching up as we now head south, a week after them. We had a truly lovely and fun time in La Cruz, an interesting town/village (?) which at the moment is undergoing major change as a new marina development is to permanently alter the coastline, creating many more marina berths, but at the same time, creating devastation for many of La Cruz’s residents. What was once the shoreline boasting beautiful beachfront homes is now one block back, the developers having ‘filled in’ the bay creating land to build condominiums, hotels, bars and restaurants. A time of flux, anger and change. It’s a place of many faces. A small Mexican town – cobblestone streets, poor (by western standards) homes, but because of it’s charm, it’s a place that people have come to and stayed. Walking down the dusty streets passing little tiendas with minimal stock on the shelves, you then turn into the courtyard of an Italian restaurant with a cascading waterfall and amazing food. Paul and I both love Mexican food, but boy, was it good to eat European for a change. There are two or three such restaurants in La Cruz, and not surprisingly, in the time we spent there with Paul and Lynne, we didn’t by-pass any of them! We also spent a day in Puerto Vallarta, which for all it’s touristy resort reputation, I really liked. The sculptures along the Malecon are probably the finest we have seen so far, the old town quaint and interesting, making me wish we had been able to spend more time than we did. A quick trip was made to Marina Vallarta in order to ‘clean our bottom’ and at the same time, Paul installed ‘lazy jacks’ on both masts. Heading back to La Cruz to say our farewells and to spend one last evening with Paul and Lynne, we headed into town and back to Anna Banana’s – cruisers used to dinghy into and tie up at the dock at Anna Banana’s –AB’s no longer has ocean front and it’s view of the sea is now eclipsed by a huge ‘sand-dune’ – more landfill waiting to be levelled into the sea. But the spirit lives on at AB’s, and every Sunday night there is great live music from both local and American musicians, a great atmosphere and a must for anyone stopping over in La Cruz.
1st May saw us saying our final farewells to Paul and Lynne and La Cruz, and heading south once more for Tenecatita.
TENECATITA
A lovely bay with good shelter and a quite 2 night stop. Here we met Ruth and Buddy of Anapurna who welcomed us into the bay as we made our arrival around 1930 hours on May 1st, inviting us over for coffee the following day. Anapurna a Hanns Christian 48, is my new favourite boat, AND, it’s for sale!!! AND, if we had the money, we’d buy it RIGHT NOW! Absolutely everything the perfect cruising boat (if there is ever such a thing?) should be and therefore out of our price bracket, but if wishes were horses…….!!
Our entire time in Tenecatita Aphrodite was surrounded by thousands of fish, and on our departure, we were surrounded once again, but this time by large jelly fish – literally thousands of them as far as the eye could see. Did very little in Tenecatita – including not even going ashore! Paul of course was busy – oil change and other boy things that I can’t remember, but I’m sure were essential.
So, 4th May – da dar!!! My birthday – and we are heading on down to Manzanillo for 1/ 2 nights and then chasing after Maverick and Susurru who are already some 200 miles ahead of us. Sadly, once again, there is insufficient wind to sail so we are engining, but, due to the lack of wind and therefore the smooth surface, we have seen lots of turtles – fab! Fishing lines are out and Paul and I are competing to see who gets the first bite – as it’s my birthday it should really be me – it’s only fair – but I have a niggling feeling that it’ll be him – that said, neither of us are trying very hard, but a nice fish dinner would go down a treat tonight – I already have the white wine in the freezer chilling.
Albums for this log - Puerto Vallarta/Turtles - Tenacatita to Manzanillo/ La Cruz Early Morning/
LA CRUZ DE HUANACAXTLE (whan-cash-ley – it’s a tree, so the cross of the tree)
Or more commonly called ‘La Cruz’ is in the North Eastern corner of the Bahia Banderas, approximately 8 mile north of Puerto Vallarta. We had a two day passage from Mazatlan, once again with variable winds, sailing well from mid-day to early evening (on the drifter) and then motoring/motor sailing through the night – tiresome! We, or at least I, am very much regretting not having an autohelm. Denis our windvane is great when there is wind, allowing hands-free sailing, but without the wind, and no autohelm, we have to hand steer. This soon becomes tedious, and there’s not a lot we can do about the situation until we get to Panama, so only another 1,500 miles-ish to hand steer! Anyway, awaiting our arrival in La Cruz were our lovely friends Paul and Lynne on Pincoya, who we hadn’t seen since Christmas in Ensenada – it seemed a lot longer than 4 months ago. We first met Paul and Lynne (who are from Birmingham, UK) at Chula Vista marina in San Diego, and became firm friends. We were really looking forward to meeting up again and spending a few days with them. Sadly our cruising plans are taking opposing directions and so it is highly unlikely that we shall see one another again until we are in Europe, where, we don’t know, but wherever it is, it will be a great reunion. We were in La Cruz and Puerto Vallarta for 8 days and on anchoring in La Cruz, had became close up and personal with a local fisherman by the early hours of the next morning when his panga ‘clonked’ into Aphrodite around 0600 as he was trying to extricate his fishing net from our anchor chain. I think it may be the last time he sets it in amongst anchored boats! The crab by the way, which got proudly passed over for photographs, somehow got dropped during its transfer back from Paul to the panga, leaving his 500 yard fishing net bringing in a catch of three tiddlers and two crayfish. Following the dropped crab incident, the panga sped off, giving our boat a skimming ‘clunk’ for good measure – Paul says it was an accident – maybe I’m just too cynical! We also crossed paths with Tom and Carol on Susurru and Kurt and Agatha on Maverick, who we will hopefully be catching up as we now head south, a week after them. We had a truly lovely and fun time in La Cruz, an interesting town/village (?) which at the moment is undergoing major change as a new marina development is to permanently alter the coastline, creating many more marina berths, but at the same time, creating devastation for many of La Cruz’s residents. What was once the shoreline boasting beautiful beachfront homes is now one block back, the developers having ‘filled in’ the bay creating land to build condominiums, hotels, bars and restaurants. A time of flux, anger and change. It’s a place of many faces. A small Mexican town – cobblestone streets, poor (by western standards) homes, but because of it’s charm, it’s a place that people have come to and stayed. Walking down the dusty streets passing little tiendas with minimal stock on the shelves, you then turn into the courtyard of an Italian restaurant with a cascading waterfall and amazing food. Paul and I both love Mexican food, but boy, was it good to eat European for a change. There are two or three such restaurants in La Cruz, and not surprisingly, in the time we spent there with Paul and Lynne, we didn’t by-pass any of them! We also spent a day in Puerto Vallarta, which for all it’s touristy resort reputation, I really liked. The sculptures along the Malecon are probably the finest we have seen so far, the old town quaint and interesting, making me wish we had been able to spend more time than we did. A quick trip was made to Marina Vallarta in order to ‘clean our bottom’ and at the same time, Paul installed ‘lazy jacks’ on both masts. Heading back to La Cruz to say our farewells and to spend one last evening with Paul and Lynne, we headed into town and back to Anna Banana’s – cruisers used to dinghy into and tie up at the dock at Anna Banana’s –AB’s no longer has ocean front and it’s view of the sea is now eclipsed by a huge ‘sand-dune’ – more landfill waiting to be levelled into the sea. But the spirit lives on at AB’s, and every Sunday night there is great live music from both local and American musicians, a great atmosphere and a must for anyone stopping over in La Cruz.
1st May saw us saying our final farewells to Paul and Lynne and La Cruz, and heading south once more for Tenecatita.
TENECATITA
A lovely bay with good shelter and a quite 2 night stop. Here we met Ruth and Buddy of Anapurna who welcomed us into the bay as we made our arrival around 1930 hours on May 1st, inviting us over for coffee the following day. Anapurna a Hanns Christian 48, is my new favourite boat, AND, it’s for sale!!! AND, if we had the money, we’d buy it RIGHT NOW! Absolutely everything the perfect cruising boat (if there is ever such a thing?) should be and therefore out of our price bracket, but if wishes were horses…….!!
Our entire time in Tenecatita Aphrodite was surrounded by thousands of fish, and on our departure, we were surrounded once again, but this time by large jelly fish – literally thousands of them as far as the eye could see. Did very little in Tenecatita – including not even going ashore! Paul of course was busy – oil change and other boy things that I can’t remember, but I’m sure were essential.
So, 4th May – da dar!!! My birthday – and we are heading on down to Manzanillo for 1/ 2 nights and then chasing after Maverick and Susurru who are already some 200 miles ahead of us. Sadly, once again, there is insufficient wind to sail so we are engining, but, due to the lack of wind and therefore the smooth surface, we have seen lots of turtles – fab! Fishing lines are out and Paul and I are competing to see who gets the first bite – as it’s my birthday it should really be me – it’s only fair – but I have a niggling feeling that it’ll be him – that said, neither of us are trying very hard, but a nice fish dinner would go down a treat tonight – I already have the white wine in the freezer chilling.
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