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April’s Log
April 1, 2002 Today there were no April fools jokes. We washed the boat and put Cetol on the tops and sides. Later we went to town and tried the new dinghy wheels in a landing. The wheels worked great, there was little surf and we drove right up on to the sand, hopped out and walk the dinghy up the beach. Normally Liz and I would pick up the dinghy and carry it. The wheels make it much easier and better on the back. We went to town to do laundry and retrieve our emails. With that accomplished we went to the movies with Mexican subtitles. The movie was Bandits with Bruce Wills and Billy Bob Thornton in it. It was a six out of ten.
April 2, 2002 Today we did the big provisioning at the Commercial Mexican, sort of a Fred Meyer. Some folks say that Safeway owns this retail grocery and convenience store. There are Costco brands also sold here, “Kirkland for example.” We met Jane from Dream On and shared taxis back to the dock. We made a successful dinghy exit and dropped off Jane’s groceries; I hope her eggs made it in less than a scrambled mode. We had a beautiful dinner at the yacht club, with Elsewhere, Dream On, Mrs. Harrigan, Mamoona, Wet Bar, Santana, and Slainte. The ladies demanded that the boys change seating every 45 minutes. It was fun.
April 3, 2002 The draw back of cruising is saying goodbye to friends. I realize you might be saying that some of these folks we’ve know for a very short time, yet in several cases the connection is very close. Today we said goodbye to Dream On (David and Jane), Mrs. Harrigan (Doug and Lynn), Fairwinds (Lynn), Paudeen (Tamera and Darren) and said see you later to Wet Bar (Greg and Meg). Wet Bar is also heading south and we’ll see them in a week. Liz and I find it very difficult to say “see you later.”. Perhaps we shouldn’t stay in a port too long. That really is not the solution. We are blessed in making good friends and we will reacquaint our relationships are situations allow.
Today we did our last provisioning and listened to a South Africa couple that has done the Panama Canal three times. We had expected the couple to talk more about the crossing the Gulf of the Tuahuantepec, but more of the information was on the Canal and the coves of Costa Rica and Panama. This couple, in all three voyages skipped Huatulco and headed off shore 300-500 km from Porto Escondido, MX going south, or from Costa Rica going north. At this distance they believed that the blows of the Tuahuantepec would of diminished. After they’re presentation we were glad to have come. They’re information on the Canal demystified the processes and we should be better prepared to ask the proper questions of the Panama authorities. We ended the day by dinghying over to our other cruiser friends to say goodbye.
April 4, 2002 Morning began with retrieving the dinghy and motor and strapping them to the cabin. We hauled anchor and motor out of the bay which has been our destination for over two months. We motored for 20 miles and finally the wind came up to 10 knots. We set sail and caught a 10 pound Jack. It was quite a sporting fight. Liz was to net the fish but instead threw the net at him. Later we retrieved the net and fish. I released him as our fish book said he only tasted “fair.” We anchored in a small bight, called Papanoa, south of Zihuatanejo 30 miles and north of Acapulco 70 miles. There is a very small contingent of Mexican Navy/Army folks here. I believe half of their force boarded us and checked out papers. There were five of them with each carrying 45's and M-16. I didn't see any bullets. We believe half of the Mexicans armament was shot into the air on Easter, so their being careful with what bullets they have left. While I was dropping the anchor they were ramming our hull. They came aboard stepping on the sun shower and inspected the ramming damage, which was minor and they were very friendly in spite of our pequeno (small) Espanola. They were shy when I took their pictures. I putting their pictures in "Mexican Navy Wants Better Panga Drivers" as an add in all the marine magazines
Liz fixed a wonderful pork chop dinner that we covered with a plum chutney that I had made earlier in the day. We drank out last 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon. Liz commented that it was nice to be on our own, comparing the past two months sharing the bay with over 50 vessels. We chatted on the Southbound net via the Single Side Band net with Tundra Spirits, friends from Barra. They were crossing from Mazatlan to La Paz.
April 5, 2002 We began slowly and missed the Amigo net. We inflated the kayak and explored the town. We kayaked around Papanoa and saw the sights. This town has two offsetting jetties and then a small rock beach and cement pier where 30 or so pangas beach themselves. The "town" has about 50 buildings with about half with electricity. There are two small tiendas with a few potatoes, eggs, soft drinks and snacks, ie Hostess Twinkies. I prepared a Gazpacho that is in the refrig and it should be refreshing as it is just shy of 90 degrees in the cabin. Jacinda Rose another sailboat leaving Zihuatanejo and sailing south should be here tonight. Unfortunately yesterday morning they headed to Ixtapa for a mail delivery. When they returned someone had stolen their fuel tank and fuel line. Since they were leaving this morning the cruisers, Wet Bar, Mrs. Harrigan, Dream On and someone else found in their supplies to give them another setup. As Barbara said on Jacinda Rose via the VHF this morning, “It is a beautiful community that we exist in with wonderful people.” Barbara didn’t blame the Mexicans just because of a few bad apples, that ALL countries have. We will leave in the morning about 5 am to reach Acapulco before nightfall. We heard there would be more lights.
April 6, 2002 Liz made food for our transit to Acapulco that included potato salad and meat loaf, both were prepared in the pressure cooker. I downed my snorkel gear and worked on Jacinda Rose’s bottom. They had cleaned their bottom just one month ago but there was a forest growing. Most of the forest was a barnacles with a sea fern attached. The sea fern was about 2 inches wide by 3-4 inches long. They are brown and sometimes little crabs live in the moss looking stuff. After I finished I went on board and my shirt was covered with 1/8-inch shrimp. There were a couple hundred just on the front of my shirt. Carl put his zincs on and worked on his scuba gear. He hadn’t scuba dived for over 30 years and his gear needed some work. After coming home with the blow-up kayak Liz and I washed it and packed it away for the trip to Acapulco. We left Papanoa at 6:15pm with just enough light to motor off shore and set the sails. We continued to sail for 12 hours and finally got the Monitor windvane to take control. Liz and I did two hour on and two hour off watches. This is shorter than our normal watch, but since we were sailing and the winds were light we thought we would have had to hand steer through the night. After the second watch I got “Vinnie the Vane” to work and it is allow easier to do a watch without always correcting for wind shifts and course corrections. The moon is now a small crescent and it came up at 3pm. Liz commented that the stars look at lot different and she is right. There are some similar constellations but they are in different parts of the sky. The big dipper and the north star is very low on the horizon.
April 7, 2002 Today we had the change of daylight saving time and we believe that Mexico did not participant. Today really began last night as we left Papanoa (Papa Know a) yesterday at 6:15 in the evening. Our 12 hour sail was the longest since we left Astoria, Oregon. Most of this trip seems to be based on time deadline and we used the motor to achieve 5 knots as opposed to sailing at 2-4 knots. This sail was quiet and cool; I put on my fleece vest cause I got cold in 80-degree weather. About 9 or 10 this morning 20+ dolphins visited us and played in our bow wave. We have seen many dolphins but the water was so so clear and they appeared to be flying. One dolphin was covered with scars and he loved to play in the bow wave more that anyone else, he even push others out, perhaps that is how he got some of his/her scars. He stayed with us for over an hour.
During the morning we encountered a long-line that fishes for Mahi Mahi. These lines are about 5 miles ling and every 200 hundred feet there is a bait buoy. A panga was checking their kill. I gave some thought to how good Mahi Mahi (Dorado) tastes and the killing techniques used. These long lines are new in the past five years as a technique to harvest Dorado.
We were looking at some charts and you might want to know we are at Latitude 16 degrees 50 minutes, North and Longitude of 99 degree and 58 minutes West. From a longitude point of view we are east of Wichita, KS and nearly at Oklahoma City, OK. On a latitude bases we are south of Laos and Cuba. We are 2,455 miles from Seattle, 2,365 miles from Portland, OR, 2,385 miles to Cashmere, WA and 2,336 from Spokane. I estimate we have traveled a bit over 3,200 miles from Portland Oregon, since October 20, 2001.
Just as we were entering Acapulco, Elskan was sailing south. Mariah II left two days ago an we all expect to gather in Huatulco. Tonight we are having a quiet evening on a buoy in the inner part of Acapulco. Liz fixed Arrachera (marinated flank steak) and cold slaw. Our new wind scoop is the best of our purchases. Our cabin is nearly the temperature of the outside. If there is any wind we have more than an enough. We may not have ice, but a breeze is wonderful and we must thank Lynn on Fairwinds for making it for us. This wind scoop (Four Winds) doesn’t care where the boat is in relation to the wind. It has four panels and when the wind shifts the most appropriate panel opens up and pours the wind into the boat. Ahhhh! Tomorrow we will explore and provision. There is a Costo, WalMart, Sam’s Club and several commercial markets. I am hoping that we can find everything. Actually we are very we provisioned.
April 8, 2002 Liz and I went exploring and had a good day. We caught a bus to town costing 3.5 pesos each. We started at Wal-Mart. Reasonable prices about the same as in the USA. The food department was huge and we bought some items. Next we shopped at a place call Home Mart that resembles Home Depot but this store has mucho service. Many of the attendants kept asking if we needed help. Perhaps we have a helpless look about ourselves. Well anyway this fellow nearly 7 feet tall spoke English and we were in much better hands. We bought another pot, potting soil, fertilizer and some herb seeds, some wire and plumbing attachments. The checkout clerk even tried to sell us their special silicon sealer. After stowing our stuff we went in to the marina where Good Medicine and Trilogy are staying and visited the pool. We met Patrick and Wendy on Promise who are English and bought their Erickson 39 in Los Angles and have been sailing for the past 1.5 years. They are also heading for the Panama Canal. After climbing out of the pool we were very chilled. What a nice feeling.
April 9, 2002 We began the day chatting on the Amigo net. John on Escapade needed a price on an alternator regulator that the marine store at the Yacht Club had in stock. The prices on marine items can be mind-boggling. I asked the price on a head (toilet) replacement assembly. The West Marine price is $89 and their price was just over $400 usd, the Raycor 500 filters are about $7 in Ballard, WA and I paid nearly $20. The regulator that John wants is $283 in the West Marine catalog and they want over $700 for it. Whooooooo Gess.
After the net, four couples from Wet Bar, Slainte, Jacinda Rose and 401-K went to Sam’s Club to provision. The air conditioning was great and there were some good deals on food and maintenance items. After stowing our bounty we were picked up by Wet Bar and went swimming at a pool in a marina. We left about 6:45 pm to walk about a mile to where the Acapulco divers were performing their 100+ foot dives. The sun was setting as they plunged into the Ocean swells. There were five divers that appeared to be between 13 and 25 year old. A man behind us told us that each year the grandfather of this diving location who is 77 years old, still dives on December 12th. As the four of us walked home we had a great dinner and service. We were the only folks dining and had 5 persons serving us including the bartender. The food was great and we were concerned because we broke the first rule of dining, which is if no one eating don’t eat there. Throughout the dinner mangos keep dropping on Greg and to “top’ that off a bird pooped on him as well. The bird was a bit of target as Greg has a shiny spot. Greg really said that spot is a solar panel for a sex machine and Meg agreed. The walk after dinner was great and the wayward traffic didn’t even scare us. Tomorrow we need to top of our fuel tank, buy the fresh provisions, hit the Internet and call home. Thursday we will be heading to Huatulco or Port Angel.
April 11, 2002 Liz and I headed to town. We found a bank, called our parents and had a nice tourista lunch. We were going to take a swim but the pool was closed for deep cleaning. The pool is only four and a half feet deep, but since Liz contracted Conjunctivitis or Pink Eye we think from the pool. We believe deep cleaning is a good thing. We hauled the dinghy aboard and left Acapulco. At the entrance of the bay a Mexican Navy boat was boarding someone else. We thought we were lucky when the “cavalry came a running.. The Mexican Navy came out to look at us. They were doing 35-40 knots and passed our bow within 50 Ffing feet. They were so close that their spray hit our dodger. Their driver must have been a recent taxi driver. Oh well they didn't check us and we didn't check in, so were even.
We are under sail with "Vinny" the wind vane steering as the sun has set. Vinny hasn't jibbed us yet but that will be coming, I speck. I have a flaw with Vinny, our stern nav. light hits the wind vane. Oh well another project. We will be listening to the single side band net tonight and 9 pm and again tomorrow at 9 am to hear where our friends are and what the weather is. We are going 4.5 knots and hopefully will have enough wind to sail through the night. It will take us 2 days and 2 nights (48 hours) to make it to Puerto Angel. We will stay there a day or two and then onto Huatulco. Tonight we will have a chicken salad that I made earlier. I made Gazpacho last week and plum chutney and both were fantastic, I am really humble and Liz said it was great.
All in All Acapulco was ok, we did the diver thing, did Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. We ate out twice and bought the ten beers for $100 pesos for lunch with Wet Bar and then had three more cuz we could. We have been out of Acapulco about 5 hours and we caught three fish. There were two Mexican Little Tunnies and a Common Jack. Since they are average tasting, we don't have a kitty and our refrig is full they were returned to the sea. Boy, weren't they lucky to be caught by me.
April 12, 2002 We just continued down (really east) coast. We each took our turns sleeping and relaxing and dumping our water jugs as we continue to make fresh water. About an hour prior to sunset we took showers and it was great to get the salt off.
The night was very uneventful. We saw only a couple of ships; one was the Carnival’s Line, Carnival Spirit. We were watching a very extensive thunderstorm on the mainland about 20 miles to the northeast of us, when the Carnival Spirit all of sudden stopped. These cruiserliner look like small cities at night with all of their lights. After I watched him stop I called the vessel. Believe it, they answered back. I asked it they were holding their position due to the storm and he said they were stopped so they wouldn’t reach Acapulco too early. He gave me what the weather was like in the Tuahuantepec basin that morning.
April 13, 2002 About 8 am we motored in to Puerto Angel (pronounced Ahn Hell). The bay was quite small with a south swell rolling on in. There were two bays with palapas (eating establishments on the beach) with a colorful cemetery on the hill behind them. After hanging for a while we decided that Huatulco was a better choice. After catching two more Mexican Little Tunnys I stored the rod and reel. The fishing and fighting (by the fish) is fun, but we don’t want to eat these. Most folks think they taste like cat food. I haven’t tasted cat food but I have eaten dried dog food. Maybe not the same thing, huh? We have eaten on MLT and the flesh was very red and very fishy. We just finished talking with Blue Bell a sailboat that we met in Barra around Christmas. They gave us the lowdown on the bays in the Huatulco area.
Later in the day we made contract with Mariah II and Elskan. We were all to meet in a bay west of Huatulco and stay the night and have dinner. Elskan didn’t make it as they were doing laundry. We met Jame’s brother, Robert and had a lovely dinner with Mariah II bringing the wine and we barbequed some meat and had salad. We are in Huatulco, actually a bay 3 miles west of the town.(pronounced Watoolco). We are hiding out until tomorrow, when we will check in and pay the port fees and importation fees. There maybe a weather window on Tuesday to cross the Tuahuantepec. Several of our cruiser friends; Elskan, Mariah II, Trilogy, Good Medicine, Morning Wood (an interesting name, huh?) and Escapade are in the area and may shove off as well. We used to receive the weather from a forecaster, but he is going to the states for a medical problem. So we are relying on fisherman and emails from a NOAA person that Trilogy knows. We will keep you posted how it went. Liz and I hope that your spring is springing and warm weather is in sight. It is very warm here and we had a small shower yesterday, which helped cool things down. The raining season begins sometime in May or June. Two nights ago underway we had the most spectacular lightening storm, so we skirted it by going out to sea 25 miles. What a light show. During the day we saw sea turtles and dolphins and maybe some manta rays. The water is incredibly clear. Allan got some great shots of dolphins so we will send those on the next log update.
April 14, 2002 This morning we woke and Mariah II had left at 4 am due to the swells. Liz made breakfast; we listened to the net and went snorkeling. We looked at a dead turtle on the beach and saw many fish that live around the coral. In swimming back we saw a school of rays. There were over 30 of them just cruising the bottom. Today we snorkeled in this bay and saw a "school" of sting rays, there were over 30 of them just schooling along. Our vegetables are spoiling so we are having a veggie dinner. Later in the evening we heard a call on the VHF radio of a vessel calling any vessel in Huatulco. We answered back and found out the Faith a 50-foot ketch had left Puerto Angel and was sailing south. We told them that we would help them into our bay. We began talking with them at 7pm and they anchored at 12:30 am. This long time span caused us to open another bottle of wine. A bad choice. The wine got Liz pretty happy and she led me to the bow for some dancing. I had to explain that with all the rollyness occurring we might fall into the water. She got me to promise that dancing was a priority when we hit a calmer anchorage. Wine really brings out the Fred Astair in Liz.
April 15, 2002 We left early and we were a bit slow. We anchored in the main bay of Huatulco, next to Mariah II. We launched the dinghy and headed to the Captaina de Puerto. He was very helpful and Elskan had arranged for Immigration to check several of us out so the paper work went very smoothly. We got all the paper work done in less than 2 hours, a record. Liz headed to a small town to do laundry with Lisa and Stephanie. Randy and I headed to the Pemex station for diesel. The taxi was very accommodating to allow us to carry our diesel canisters in his trunk. A total of 29 gallons were brought back and loaded on our boats. We all got together this afternoon for several beers, floated in the sea and planned tonight’s dinner/internet/laundry and leaving plans. We plan to leave tomorrow for El Salvador. The trip to Costa del Sol, El Salvador is about 485 nautical miles or about 5 days (5 time 24 hours). We wish all of you fun and fairwinds. Hug Liz and Allan on Slainte.
April 16,
2002 There are eight of us; Question, Elskan, Mariah II, Good Medicine, Trilogy, Blue Bell, Tashie and Slainte. Most of us are doing the rhumb line across the Tuahuantepec that is about 275 km is best due to the weather forecasts. The shore route is about 30 km less, then both routes continue for 160 or so km to El Salvador (Costa del Sol or Barillas). There is another group, which we know well, that are about 200 miles behind us, still in Acapulco. This group includes, Mamoona, Jacinda Rose, Wet Bar, Siren's Song, Heidi, and 401-K. We expect to be in Costa del Sol five days from now. We need to catch a tide to get over a bar to enter either of these anchorages. Costa del Sol is up into a lagoon and Barillas is up a river 10 miles. The radio wave propagation wasn't right and we couldn't send the messages as we left. Now we are now sailing/motoring on a course of 109 magnetic. That really is approximate since we "weaver" (probably not a real word) back and forth. It is 6:45 and the temp is 85 outside and 87 inside. Our wonderful wind-scoop really keeps the temp down in the cabin. Thank you Lynn on Fairwind. The wind is out of the SSW and the Bar. is 1010.7 and steady. We have caught three small Dorado and two skipjack. They are still alive. We have even made sticky rice for the proper-sized victim. Tonight if there isn't any fish, we are having BQ'd beef (Arrachura, marinated flank steak) and homemade potato salad, no wine, bummer. I will be taking the first shift from 10 to either 12 or 1 and then Liz does either 2 or 3 hours, then we repeat. This will be going on for 5 days. There are now 9 boats in our flotilla (we picked up Promise who is taking the shore route) and we have been checking in every 3 hours. We aren't very serious and humor is good, but a bit corny. I try for all the sympathy laughs I can get. No surprises there. We began taking our malaria medicine last Sunday. We have two types, one for the Pacific side and another of the Atlantic side that is resistant to this sides meds. So if we understand our med info, we could have an overlap in the taking of the two type of malaria medicine. (What do you think Jim?) We had several inputs for the weather that convinced us to start now. Normally we get the weather on the Tuahuantepec via one of the SSB nets. But the fellow that gets the weather is in the states and therefore nothing is available. We have weather chart via the NOAA that we can receive via our SSB. Another Cruiser, Trilogy also has a weather service and shared the info. We can expect for the next 3 days "light and variable in the morning and 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon. There are no expected Tuahuantepeckers, winds blowing from the Caribbean through Central America, primarily Guatemala, causing 40 to 60 knots." Too bad we don't have a moon. The night was uneventful and mostly motored. We did some sailing during the last hours. I checked in on the Southbound net. I believe we won’t be able to do so for much longer as the frequency and the propagation cause poor reception. During the night Question asks if he is hallucinating, as the sky has been flashing. Andy as well as the others can see the lightening in front of us. April 17, 2002 About 6 am we can see the storm cells on the radar. This is good and bad, good because we can alter course to miss some of the cells, and bad cause the cells move erratically and therefore it is a crapshoot in trying to miss the dark spots on the radar. We have been checking in every three hours and Trilogy, Good Medicine and Blue Bell have moved 20+ km ahead of the remaining four of us. At about 8 am all of us need to reef our sail as the wind and waves have picked up. We don’t know if this is due to the storm cells or is this a Tuahuantepecker. After 6-7 hours of 20 steady winds and gusts to 29 knots the winds subside. There have been 8 to an occasional 10-foot waves, all of these large one are within 50 feet of each other and usually come in threes. These rascals push us over, since we are on a beam reach and sometimes come into the cockpit or shower over the topside, as if we are not already salty. I believe that our new crop of seedling (thyme, basil and cilantro have been severely salted and probable will perish. We have more seeds. After the seas calm most of us sail until the winds die completely. Liz and I have been keeping track of our pod of now five boats. Summer Time, Steve a single-hander (Sandra he has both arms) on a Islander 28 joined our check-ins in the midst of our high winds. Steve and Elskan are keeping similar course and have been able to rely the navigation positions back to us. These two are about 18-20 miles behind us. Liz and I make water and fish. During my off watch a unseen and very large fish breaks the 130 lb line and absconds with my favorite tuna lure. April 18, 2002 Good morning. We are over half way across the Tehuantepec. We are still in a pack of 5 boats, Mariah II (Morgan 35), Elskan (Cape Dory 28), Summer Time (Islander 28) and Question (Pearson 36). Originally we started with nine vessels, and then picked up Summer time, so the total group that includes Promise (they followed the shore route (Erickson 39), Trilogy (Cal 2-46), Blue Bell (40 feet) and Good Medicine (Tayanna 42). Trilogy, Blue Bell and Good Medicine are faster and are about 30 miles ahead of our pack of five and Promise is out of radio contact and well over 50 miles north of us. This morning’s sunrise was great as the sun came through the clouds and was bright crimson. There have been two whales broaching off the starboard side and we motored through 10-15 turtles each with a bird perched on top of their shell. The sticky rice is now breakfast with sugar and leche on it. The boxed milk (leche) is great and doesn’t require refrigeration unless opened. Maybe we’ll catch a fish today, the lines are back out and our fingers are crossed. Well the sun is coming up and the temperature is rising. The day progressed with catching a 15-pound Dorado. After it was properly chilled we had sushi. The wasabi that Jeanie Morimoto gave us was the best. We ate a least a pound of fish with avocado on the side. We had a 29 peso ($3) Lepfermelich (sp) wine and coconut bars for desert. We believe that today we have passed within a 100 yards over 400 turtles, in the morning most had a hitchhiking bird on top of their shell. I was listening to the Manana net, which the net controller is out of Hillsboro, OR. Liz, Sandy and I met him in Cathlamet last July. Ralph is blind, outgoing and really is a asset for sailors. He had planned to call Sandy Rehm, as Sandy also lives in Hillsboro. Small world as always!!!!!. About 3 pm I went for a swim around Slainte. The water was totally clear and we were in 150 feet. I could not see the bottom but maybe all most. Later in the day we had another encounter with a persistent booby-bird. Question ran after this bird shouting and shouting and finally it flew over to us. I tried to land on our spreader, but I have tied line that prevents lands. Next it tried to land on the top of the mast, which if it were successful would of broken off our wind indicator. It landed on the tip of the spreader and flopped around. I fired the slingshot many times missing our new mast and the bird. Finally after the rascal pooped I scared him with the halyard. When we were looking a way feeling confident of scaring him off, we noticed he had landed on the bowsprit. We yelled and yelled, still the booby remained preening. Liz bare butt (too hot to wear clothes) and all proceed to walk out on the bowsprit flapping her arms; finally she pushed the hitchhiker off. Liz had not longer walked back to the mast when the booby relanded. Again Liz pushed the pecker off. He dove, caught a fish and didn’t return. Throughout the night and the next morning we passed at least a hundred pangas filled with fisherman. Trilogy and Good Medicine have been relaying back to us where the pangas are. Sometimes this helps, but they are 12-15 miles out further. They are out to avoid being boarded by the Guatemalan navy. April 19, 2002 We have been watching for pangas all night and morning. Gail and I were talking early this morning and we believe it has been early than age 3 that either of us has been naked for over 3 days continuously. Life is different when the lowest temperature of the day is 82. The day is starting off with clouds and all of us on the radio are hopping for a cooler day. The Panama Pacific Net is about to begin, 1300 Zulu time and it is almost 8 am our time, which is wrong because Guatemala time is really 7, a.m. I am confused as you? The wind piped up to 18 knots this afternoon and we have been sailing. It is now 5:30 pm or 22 Zulu and we are still sailing. The wind is dropping down from 18 to 8 knots. A high-wind cell with velocities of over 30 knots hit the three boats ahead of us. We were behind 15 miles and didn’t see anything over 18, location, location, and location. Right now we are selecting the evening meal; Dorado, chicken or pasta, hum. The wind vane is on watch and we are showered so dinner will be relaxing. The high tide at del Sol is at 8 am and we probably won’t make it. Question is behind us about 20 miles and they are conserving fuel and are only sailing. They may not make the later evening tide and will coming in Sunday morning. We haven’t heard from Elskan for 2 days and they could arrive Monday. Lisa will be spending her birthday and their first anniversary at sea. The wind has died and Question is now almost 30 miles behind us, Mariah is about 10 miles ahead of us. We need to make a decision to either slow down and just sail or start up the engine and push for the next 14 hours and make the bar. The motor is pushing hard and we have calculated that 14 hours at 6 knots with give us a two-hour allowance for adverse currents. We slowly sneak up on Mariah II and pass them. The dolphins during the night danced not only on the bow but also all around Slainte. There must have been over 50 within 30 feet of the boat. They were squeaking and keeping our energy levels up. These 14 hours found us changing our watch system. Since our electrical autopilot doesn’t work we are hand steering, and moving under the engine as fast as we are the boat needs more steering attention than normal. Remember we are moving fast at 6 knots or about 8 miles per hour, whooooow. April 20, 2002 The morning is beautiful and the city lights from La Libertad were intriguing. We are now in El Salvador waters. El Salvador is about the size of Massachusetts, with about 6 million residents. Liz and I are amazed the just 10 years ago this country was in an all out war killing many of the indigenous population. Americans were woken up by this war with the rape and murder of four nuns in the late 1980’s. Their were many sides to the civil war, the political parties, the aid from the USA, the selling of children, death squads, and religion. During the 12 years this war raged on an estimated 75,000 people were killed and the US government gave $6 Billion dollars to the Salvadoran government’s war efforts. We don’t have adverse currents, but receive a push of about a knot and so we are arriving about 4 hours early. I slow the boat down and we arrived right on time about 7 am. Good Medicine, Trilogy and Blue Bell are anchored at the waypoint that is about 3 miles offshore. Chatting on the radio with a lady named Jan on Quantum Leap, our group organizes to cross the bar. Santana a local man with great experience is our leader and Jan our interrupter lead us across the bar in groups of three. The entrance is almost invisible where breakers are foaming and the entrance is only a swell with an occasional break. Once we are in passed the breaker about 100 yards we turn to port and now have our beam to the waves behind the breaker and the bar. The swell is moderate and after 200 yards we turn into the estuary and calm waters. We motor up the estuary about half mile and anchor. There are now 17 sailboats here. After we are anchored Santana bring by the happy Port Captain and a navy representative. They are quick and very helpful. We launch our dingy and head to the hotel where we meet the Immigration officer and get our 90-day visa. The other 5 boats arrive at the hotel and we finish checking in and hit the pool. Aaaaah. After swimming we find ourselves beyond tired. We have had two beers and I am tired. Liz and I are talking to several boats that we have met earlier. I do the nod and catch my head as it hits my shoulders and chest. Oooops. Liz says we must get a sleep and recop and get our energy back.. We head to the boat and eat a great snack and sleep for 5 hours. We awake after 9 pm and head for the cockpit as there is a slight wind and a cool feeling. Cool is great. We chat about our experiences for the past five days and listen to the band waftening over the water. This is relaxing, are we in Mexico, no we’re in El Salvador. A bit of a change and we are really very not that far from home, not over 3,000 miles. April 21, 2002 This morning we talk Jan and Santana to pick us up and help Question and Elskan over the bar. We are again lucky to see the bar from another perspective and we are happy that our friends are in the estuary safe. Tonight we will be celebrating Lisa birthday and their anniversary. I have prepared Dorado sushi rolls and sashimi. Again I thank Jeanie Morimoto for the Nori seaweed paper and Wasabi. Hugs to you Jeanie and you owe me a kiss. Blush, Blush and Blush. Liz has gone to the airport to get some US dollars. Jan, off of Quantum Leap our guide-friend has arrange to get a car and several of the boater are taking the car and are returning with money, beer, fresh veggies and? So life is great when ya have wheels. Huh? While Liz is gone I am playing my country music and preparing sushi and drinking gin and tonics. Life feels special and damn hot. Liz returned, wakes me up and we dinghy over to Elskan for the party. We brought sashimi, sushi rolls and brownies. Our hosts made great margaritas and “cuba.” Cuba is prepared in the pressure cooker with lots of fruit and two fifths of “what ever you have” and then they add a bunch of fruit juice. The pot is passed around until all of the liquid is gone and then you eat the fruit. It was a nice night with Mariah II, Baggie Wrinkles, Slainte and Question. Oh God am I going to have a hangover. Of course in retrospect I did! Liz suggested that my Gin to Tonic mixture was, well liberal. April 22, 2002 This morning Liz and I are planning the next steps for exploring El Salvador and Guatemala. Several cruisers (Mantra, Pipe Dream, Tarazed and Chewbacca) have been to Guatemala and we have been gleaning their information. We did several boat chores and had lunch of steak sandwiches at the restaurant at the top of the dock. We cooled in the pool and came back to the boat for dinner. April 23, 2002 This morning, Question asked us to walk the beach with their dogs. They have three dogs, two of which are large on their sailboat. After a long walk on the white sandy beach of beautiful white sand, we stopped at the pool near the beach and did laps. That evening, we took drinks and appetizers to Mantra (Buzz and Penny) to watch pictures of their trip into Guatemala. Other boats Elskan and Baggy Wrinkles were also there to enjoy the pictures and information on places to stay and things to see. Antigua is the original capital of this city, built in the 1500s, a must to see. We also heard great things about Antigua from our friend Pete Huddelson when he was in Zihuatanejo. April 24, 2002 Spent the afternoon on Trilogy examining their Cal 2-46. It is a large boat, with everything for sailing accessible from the cockpit. Their center cockpit is also very livable and would make a great live aboard boat for the future. That evening the hotel presented the director of tourism for El Salvador, to share information on the many aspects of traveling in El Salvador. It was very interesting and after the presentation the hotel had appetizers and $1 drinks for all of us. April 25, 2002 Today we had a very full expedition to San Salvador and back. We caught an 8 am bus and were lucky to not wait since there is no bus schedule. Most of the bus we believe are privately owned and decorated. All of the El Salvadoran buses have American flags in each bus. We change buses by climbing up a dirt trail to the main highway and catch the 495 to San Marco, a suburb outside of San Salvador. We then catch No. 26 to Centro or the central part of town. Here is the town square and market. We look at the country’s mansion, main church and other historic buildings. Wandering the market we eat several pupusas (the countries national food, thick tortillas filled with squash, beans or meat combined with cheese), which were very good. In Herradura these were cooked on wood stove and in San Salvador’s market most we using propane. We wandered the market finding Washington State apples (see picture at market). We had even seen Washington’s apples in La Herradura as well. The Washington State Apple Commission has done a good job. That commission started in Wenatchee had both my grandfather and my great uncle as their founding members. After the market we used a cruiser’s receipt to find a place that sells oil and filters. We caught the right bus and Liz spotted the business and we debarked and I was able to purchase the right oil and filters. The gentleman that helped us spoke English. He had completed high school in Los Angeles and had moved back to his country in 1992, which was just after the Peace Accord was put in motion. Gail, Andy, Liz and I caught another bus to El Salvador’s national museum, or at least we thought we were going in that direction. After racing a Blue Bell Bus for 8 miles we need to jump off, as we were lost. We were lost next to a great Chinese restaurant. We have a great lunch and caught a taxi to the area known for their handicrafts. After shopping we walked to Dr Guzman Anthological National Museum. See pictures, and yes Tom I like pottery. We did the museum quickly as we needed to catch the last bus to Costa del Sol and all of the signage was in Spanish. The exhibits were great and there should be pictures that we took on this website. The bus ride back was an experience with the bus totally full with 60 passengers. We stopped at a free-trade zone where another 40 women boarded and then we caught a school recessing and another 25 children boarded. So now we are 125+ strong. We four gringos were the last to leave the bus after our two-hour ride and all for the price of 80 cents per person. We walked down the lane to the pool and feel in. Liz and I stayed in the pool until dark protecting us from the mosquitoes. See us now, a beer (either Suprema or Pilsner) just above the water with only our mouth and ear out of the water watch other and telling them of a mosquito around them. Life is wet and wild. April 26, 2002 During the night we awoke to rain coming through the forward hatch. We quickly took down the wind scoop and shut the hatch. I think the shower was fairly short, and the rest of the night was quite hot and stuffy. We awoke in the morning, had coffee and juice and French toast. We made water and charged the batteries. Allan completed a compilation of our pictures to send home for the web page and will head into the pool late this afternoon to shower and cool down. The hotel has outdoor showers that all the cruisers use. It is a real picture to see grown, men and women and children, in their suits, sudsing up and showering before the mosquitoes come out at sunset. We came back to the boat and had a nice dinner of barbequed arrachara (beef flank steak), roasted vegetables and a tomato salad. We talked outside in the cockpit under a nearly full moon and watched as local fishing canoes rowed past us with their lights on their heads to light their way. I think they use the light to attract fish. April 27, 2002 Today was the trip to Zacatecoluca to make cheap (25 cents per minute to the USA) phone calls. The normal rate here is $1.20 per minute. Seven of us, Liz stay on the boat feeling poorly, hoped the wrong bus and after changes buses in a bend in the road we made Zacatecoluca after 2.5 hours. All for cheap phone calls. I later was told that there was a small town that sold the phone call card about 15 minutes from the anchorage. Well we did have an adventure. The main church was beautiful, we had OK Chinese food, got to hear an evangelist in Spanish make people flop around the stage, we were swarmed by El Salvadorans that wanted to get on a bus, any bus and of course I completed our phone calls. The bus back was cooler than hanging out in the bus station and we laughed as we passed the close town where we could of called. After calling Liz on the boat and a quick swim I headed home. The current was running and of course the motor wouldn’t start. After about 15 minutes I got a tow back by Tarazed. Liz was felling a bit better and hopefully she’ll be recovered by tomorrow. April 28, 2002 Yesterday Jan off of Quantum Leap organized a potluck on shore for all the cruisers. She is a fellow cruiser who has been here for two years, trying to get her boat back home. We met on the island of the estuary and had a lovely afternoon. There was lightening during the evening, with the full mooning peeking through. Very beautiful, but very hot and humid. Jan says this is the hottest month here, and that when the rains start in May things cool down a bit. We are looking forward to that. The days are in the mid 90s with very high humidity. I don’t think I have ever been this hot. But it is good for the skin as you perspire and hydrate all the time. April 29, 2002 I have a hot night and Liz was sleeping pretty well. The bugs got me and I decided to read my latest Dirk Pitt/Clive Cussler book. I believe I have read all but two in his series since Christmas when Tundra Spirit and Li’l Gem introduced me to Dirk’s escapades. We got up and were invited to Mariah II’s for breakfast. After breakfast Randy on Elskan and Jim on Mariah II ferried jerry jugs to Slainte. Our dinghy is too small for the weight of several jugs. I can carry one (13 gallon times 8 lbs per jug) and their inflatable carried the equivalent of 4 jugs at a time. There is a large tidal flow of over 4 knots through this estuary and that really impedes our dinghy and 2-horse power engine. Thank you Randy and James (Himay) for your help. April 30, 2002 We gathered with Good Medicine and headed to San Salvador. We left Bahia del Sol, a 2-hour trip including a bus transfer to San Salvador. We had another 2 hour wait and had a great lunch from a Texan lady that had just bought this restaurant. Her family was still in Texas and her food was great. We boarded our bus and our $20 fares allow the bus company to clear us out of El Salvador and in to Guatemala. The lower fares make the riders disembark and do the paperwork themselves and the wait can be over 2 hours. Since we stayed on our bus we watched the moneychanger, with their wads of bucks/Quetzals scramble to attach each entering bus. A single lane high span bridge connects the countries over a river waiting for the raining season. The river was filled with horses, birds, and people trying to cool off. Once in Guatemala City we caught the microbus that drove like a crazy person. We literally jumped off of our ride an climbed on the Antigua bus. Our bus (Blue Bird) painted like a whorehouse and built for 50 people but loaded with 90. We had no Quetzals and the fare collector wouldn’t take US dollars. George (Jorge) the guy next to me took our $2 for the four of us and paid our fare. After arriving in Antigua we found our hotel and had a great dinner. What a great and wonderful day.
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