August Log
August 1, 2002
Back up the mast
August 2, 2001
Shopping in Usulutan is fun. We sign up the day before and travel by
air-conditioned Toyota diesel bus. It holds 20 people if packed in oil and
squished together. Liz and I wander around remembering the shopping in the
Northwest just 3 days ago. We also remember the first time to Usulutan was like
and it was great shopping. We explore the market with Jackie and Steve on
Moonshadow. They were from Sweden and still have a great accent. They are
leaving the lagoon in two days. Liz and I load up on many fresh vegetables as
the boat is completely void of them. We have been can camping for the past 3
days. The radishes are great and the big one are hot. None of the oranges are
orange and most have a great shade to them, but they are ripe. We arrive back to
the boat and unload. Boy is it hot.
The movie was Pretty Woman and in the midst of the movie there was a huge
lightning storm. The cruiser blamed Captain Sparkie and Miss Lightning, since
they hadn’t had a storm like that since we had left. Liz and I left in the
middle of the movie to watch our boat. I was worried that the solar panels could
slide off into the water. The panga driver was great and we gave a beer and some
dollars for braving the major downpour. Of course 15 minutes after arriving back
to the boat the storm quite. Liz and I could hear the moving playing but we felt
good about staying on Slainte during the light show.
August 3, 2002
Today Allan continued to hook up electrical equipment. We find that the
connection on the radar mount is not talking to the radar unit and therefore
does not work. Allan troubleshoots all day to figure out what can be done to get
the two units to talk to each other. This evening we watched Woman in Red on the
VCR at the clubhouse with the other cruisers here.
August 4, 2002
Rewired the circuit breakers. This is the most unfun job. The position is
cramped in the quarter berth and the screws are tiny and the wires kept moving.
Liz and I redid all the AC breakers and several of the DC breakers. The
lightning made open switches of the bad breakers and I broke off one of the
levers on another. Watched ET and it was interesting to see the changes from the
80’s to now.
August 5, 2002
My butt is shaped like the boson’s chair. The lightening had melted the
eight-wire attachment inside of the radar. I cut off the new plug from the new
radar and cut the old plug and then soldered the eight-wire (wire size was 18)
with our butane solder. Three hours later we have a radar image. Accomplishment
makes the strandedness better. This evening we watched Hunt of the Red October.
I enjoy this every time.
August 6, 2002
Today we went to Usulutan and shopped. Most of the town was closed, as today is
an El Salvadoran religious holiday. The market and supermarkets were still open
and we did our shopping. The disappointment was the fabric store was closed and
we need to redo our sun awnings. Liz and I had chicken at a sit down restaurant
and it was great. Kind of like the KFC back home. The service was even better.
There were 8 customers and 15 people there to help us. No movie tonight.
August 7, 2002
We spent a quiet day sewing and taking a short swim to cool off. There are only
four people on their boat in Barillas Marina, Dennis on Knee Deep, Jill on Faith
and Liz and I. It seems deserted and lonely. I feel restless and would like to
get on with our voyage. With the SSB radio not working and finishing the sewing
time seems to drag on. There are several other jobs I should be doing but I am
skipping school. I should change the spreader lights, wire the solar panels and
put in the second bilge pump with the new hose we brought down with us. Of
course there many other small jobs that I never get to so maybe tomorrow. No
movie tonight
August 8, 2002
This morning I woke up with ideas for fixing the SSB tuner. I opened the tuner
with the loosening of the 12 screws and remove the top. With the mult-imeter I
check the connection to the backstay antenna, the power to the unit and the
fuse. The fuse was kaput. I replace it with enthusiasm and hope the unit would
work. No such luck. I was hoping to catch the Pan Pacific net and talk to our
friends ahead of us. Liz and I listened to several friends and couldn’t respond.
That is frustrating to have this technology and can’t use it. Liz and I gave up
and headed back to the project of making a new sun/rain shade. The sewing Liz
did for the top is perfect and today we are retrofitting the sides. When it
rains it comes through all holes and directions. I emailed folks and talked to
the tuner manufacture, SGC in Bellevue, WA. Liz finished the sewing and now we
have a major improvement for the rain fly. Tomorrow we are heading back to
Usulutan and getting more material to redo the main boat cover. No movie tonight
August 9, 2002
Today we head back into town and buy more material for a center rain and sun
shade. The one we have, we have moved forward and need to make one for the
center of the boat. Without the sun shade the boat inside is hotter than the
exterior. And the exterior is hot… 95-100 degrees plus 95 percent humidity. Boy
are we hot. We finish up the sewing on the cockpit cover which we have
re-designed to be better in the tropics and provide better sun and rain
protection. We then cut the pieces of material we bought today to lay out the
new middle shade. For dinner, we decide to go vegetarian, salad of canned corn,
fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and parsley. We also have cooked green beans
and an avocado for protein. We also watch an electrical storm that is within a
mile of us. We decide to turn off the batteries and unhook the electrical units.
Just to be safe.
August 10, 2002
Today, we have repair people from San Salvador look at our Single Side Ban tuner
because it is on the fritz. It worked when we first re-installed it then blew
fuses and has not worked since. We can hear other people on the SSB without a
tuner, but we cannot transmit, send email, etc. It looks as if the tuner is not
repairable. It also looks like the repair company might have a SSB and tuner for
sale. They don’t have a tuner that will talk to our SSB, therefore we would need
to buy both. Another boat unit… $1,000.00. But still this is less expensive than
getting it from the states and shipped here. We are deciding whether we bite the
bullet. I think we have decided yes.
August 11, 2002
Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary. We spent all day working ugly projects. I
find that our fuel has a lot of algae in it and the fuel filters are full. We
install a second bilge pump and the hose. Feeding the hose is a rascal. The last
project was correctly hooking up the two, new solar panels. The lightening I
believe also killed the solar charger regulator, but I have brought a new one on
Ebay. After several disappointing starts finally the panels are pushing 7.7 amps
per hour. Liz and I have a nice dinner and watch a James Bond movie. Happy 23rd.
August 12, 2002
We finished the rain dodger and worked in the air-conditioned project room. The
movie was As water like chocolate.
August 13, 2002
This day was a get ready to leave day. Liz is doing the final shopping at
Usulutan and I will wait for the electronics fixing team, SEY COM to arrive. In
between Liz and I with the help of three other people tie our boat to the fuel
dock. This motion is quite a chore since the tide/current is against us and
doesn’t let our stern close to the dock. Liz leaves on the bus and I fill us
with water and fuel. I also get us hooked up to shore power and let the battery
charger work. This is the third time since October 2001 we have used the
charger, one in Cabo San Lucas, again in Ixtapa and now in Barillas Marina. Just
as I finish filling, Miguel, Mario and Saul arrive with our radio, tuner and
modem. In just an hour it is install. Miguel said that they worked all Sunday on
fixing our tuner. I nearly made cry. They are genuine and first class. I cannot
recommend them any higher.
August 14, 2002
Today was a prep day and I had butterflies and sadness as we said goodbye to
some very special people; Mary, Isabel, Louis, Heriberto and Juan. Mary has been
to the US and studied business in Florida. Her English was good and her eyes
were beautiful. Isabel works in the office and was the most professional of all
Barillas. She cared for us and always had a smile. Our picture doesn’t reflect
the friendship as well as her smile that she gave every time she said hello. I
missed giving her a hug as the CEO of Juan Wright’s enterprises was in the
office when we said goodbye. I can’t find the pictures of Louis, but he is first
class. He worked in the US mostly on the east coast in the 90’s. He came home,
back to El Salvador and is now expecting with his wife the first child.
Heriberto is the General Manager of Barillas and gave us very good service. I
believe he worked his magic for us at customs. Juan Wright is the owner of
Barillas and this is one of his eleven enterprises. He is exceptionally
personable and a good listener. There are many others that we enjoyed, Demos and
Louis and another fellow that taught me to say crab in Spanish, Cimimecca, that
were our panga drivers, the ladies in the kitchen and the many guards. Everyone
smiled and we will miss them a lot. The people really make Barillas a first
class resort. We had the feeling that they liked us as much as we appreciated
them. We chose the right place to come back to in order to head home, safely
leave the boat and have excellent care in coming back through customs.
August 15, 2002
This morning we left the lagoon after the Port Captain, the Navy representative
and Louis from the marina checked us out. The two government fellows stamped
every paper and bid us a good trip to Costa Rica. We will really miss Louis. His
wife is having their first baby in two month and we wish them well.
The trip down the lagoon takes about two hours and is about 10 miles just
outside of the breakers. Liz and I had an anxious moment as the depth sounder
dropped as low as 8 feet under the keel and we were over a mile offshore. The
day was magnificent and the wind never piped up. We were tempted to just
continue but Liz was hoping to anchor behind Conchaquita as we did coming down
the first time.
Arrived at Fonseca at 18:30 and anchored. Great dinner by Liz, especially the
homemade leftover potato salad. At 19:30 winds piped up from the east and we
were on a lee shore. After bouncing for a while we upped anchored and went to
the southwest side of Conchaquita Island. We spent a rolly night in 35 feet of
water; winds gusted above 50 knots during the night. I with hind site wished we
had kept going.
August 16, 2002
After diving the bottom to clean the prop we left. We watched carefully for
fishing long lines that on our first trip caught both Mantra and Volantis. The
day was great and depending on wind strength we rolled out the jenny. We pushed
against a 1 to 1.5 knot current most of the morning. The only concern was I came
a bit to close to a fishing boat during the night about 11pm or 23:00.
August 17, 2002
Today was a long day with an over night passage. The weather was reasonably fine
compared with some of our fellow cruisers recounts. Most of them had severe east
winds and if they were farther than 4/5 miles from the beach they experienced
very large wind waves. The day was slow until the east winds kicked up to 20 –
25 knots with gusts in the mid 30’s. We shortened sail and made for the beach.
This maneuver cost us about 3 hours. This got us about 3 miles offshore and were
we stayed until past the end of Nicaragua. Of course about 6 pm the lightning
was our constant companion.
We past between three squalls and the lightning stay about 6miles or closer At
one point I slipped below and located our copy of Bowditch. Bowditch has been
the mariner’s bible for maybe 150 years and is about 4 to 5 inches thick. I was
after the feet per second that sound travels. Bowditch says sound travels 4,960
feet per second and a mile has over 5, 200 feet. But after a more careful look
that is the speed of sound traveling through water. Well my cousin, Jeff, has me
with saying that if I count six seconds between the flash of lightning the
thunder I can determine how far the lightning if from us. I had thought it was a
second per mile and Jeff’s calculation is 6 seconds per mile or 300 meters per
second confirms that if the lightening is less than 6 seconds we keep our head
low and our electronics off. Due to the lightning we turned off the radar, GPS,
and disconnected other electronic equipment. When we were about 5.5 miles from
the entrance of Bahia Santa Elena we turned the equipment back on. Since we had
been here before I felt confident on making a safe anchoring in the dark. This
night landing was possible since we had been here and spent four nights.
Charlie's Charts waypoint is off. So using radar, Charlie's, the computer with
Maptec charts and Nobeltec software and the depth sounder we made a easy
approach and destination anchored in Bahia Santa Elena at 23:00. While we
rounded the point and into the bay I used a spotlight (the million candles type,
that if you leave it on long it could heat the boat and fry everyone’s eyes),
each time I turn on the light literally thousand of small fish jumped out of the
water. Each time. Then much larger fish our make huge leaps and I suppose they
were eating the smaller fish. Several times we past large fish just under the
water and they just sat still bathed in the light. That was incredible! After we
anchored I cleaned the Dorado that Liz caught at about 17:00. Thank goodness
we’re BACCCCCCK in Costa Rica! We were going to have a lovely bottle of
champagne the Art Schumann from Seattle’s Department of Economic Development
gave us a year ago as we were departing. It is lovely French Champagne, called
Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, a Brut from Reims district. We had planned on having
it after crossing the Panama Canal, but decided we needed to treat ourselves
after our several setbacks. Also, with the water temperature hovering at 90
degrees where our wine locker is in a compartment close to the hull of the boat
we were not certain it could last another two to three months. We will have it
tomorrow, as we are too tired. Our Lat/Lon is 10 55.682 N 85 49.060
August 18, 2002
Good morning, actually it is ten after eleven. Liz and I woke a bit late and
missed the SSB net. Last Thursday I committed to be the Pan Pacific controller,
the person that handles the traffic for the net. I will be doing that for a
couple months on Thursdays. The net starts at 8 am and last 30 minutes to an
hour. Depending on the time of year they can be as few as 10 check-ins and as
many as 75 cruisers checking in. The purpose of the net is to allow fellow
cruisers to check where their friends are and pass information about weather,
anchorages, port captains, snorkeling/scuba spots and just chat. There are a
couple rules, but mostly courtesy dictates the usage.
About 9 we moved to the south end of the bay. This is to get some shelter from
the east winds and be closer to the hike that Carl from Abraxas told us about.
There is supposed to be a fresh water pool about 2 miles from the south end of
this bay. This pool is about 40 by 60 feet in size. The directions are from the
south part of the bay, walk about 100 yard back in the foliage and find the
logging road. Walk about ¾ of a mile to the left, cross two streams and walk ¾
of a mile up the second stream. It is worth a try.
As I said above last night about 11 pm or 23:00 Liz and I dropped anchor back in
Santa Elena bay after being gone for two months home and getting the boat
reworked to set off again. This bay is shaped like an egg with the opening at
the thicker end. The chartlets in Maptec and in Charlie’s are about three
quarter of mile offset to the east. So if you were just using your electronic
charts with the GPS you’d end up on the rocks at the entrance of the bay.
I started cleaning the hull and finished the starboard side. Tomorrow I will do
the port and then take a putty knife and cut off the barnacles on the bottom.
There is no antifouling paint on the bottom of the keel and everything really
grows there. I will on a snorkeling trip with my new spear gun. I didn’t see any
large fish and shot the gun a few times to see what is was like. If I can only
aim this gun the fish should really watch out for me. There we hundreds of
puffer fish on the bottom. I would push them around a bit and then they’d puff
up and look like a pinecone or a porcupine. I could then grab their tail and
push them around. Several times the quills punctured my gloves and I felt the
sharp points.
We are enjoying our champagne in our Riedel glasses, this is cruising. Ah! Liz
is cooking our cauliflower, as it is droopy. I have spotted some limes that may
be turning bad soon. Now what should I do with those. Tonight will be having
fresh sushi (last’s nights Dorado) and other great stuff.
Some thought on sailing. We have a sailing vessel for the purpose of sailing.
That sound obvious but almost all of our friends have sailing vessels motor so
much of the time. It seems for us we turn on the diesel and expect to turn her
off as we get wind. The main doesn’t get use as often as it should be. I believe
it is because I don’t want to get up and take the cove off and then tug the mail
to the top. I have forgotten that sailing is much more efficient than motoring
especially into choppy seas. We are now in a section of Costa Rica that allows
us little hops. In several days we would like to visit Bat Islands, Isla
Murcielagos. The route is around a cape and into some islands. Sailing should be
our preferred method of movement. I hope I can talk myself into getting of off
my butt and hosting some sail, as the wind gods allow.
August 19, 2002
Today is a rest day. I finished cleaning the bottom. The very bottom of the keel
was covered with barnacles and there was a lot of scum on the rest of the hull.
The fish were very please to eat the crushed barnacles. Even wearing gloves the
barnacle’s cut through the gloves and removes a piece of my skin on the knuckle.
Last nights sushi was great and tonight we are barbequing the rest of the
Dorado. The wind was really blowing most of the morning; some of the gusts were
over 30 knots. We finally remove the forward sunshade as we thought it would
blow apart. As it was the wind tore off the overhead connection loop.
August 20, 2002
Today Liz thinks I got anxious and wanted to leave our pristine bay. Maybe she
is right. Any way we decided to sail to the Bat Island. This is about a 17-mile
trip around Cape Santa Elena. Left Bahia Santa Elena at 9:30 am and motored out
of the entrance. We began sailing about 10 am and had winds gusting to 30 knots
with the majority of the wind at15 to 20 knots. We sailed about 10 miles on a
beam reach and then a broad reach. We jibed and rounded Cabo Santa Elena where
the winds were filing down out of Bahia Murcielagos. We were to drop anchor in
either Key Point on the mainland or in between several of the Islas Murcielagos
(Bat Islands). The wind was now out of the northeast at 25-30 knots and we
decided to head to Bahia Huevos (bay of eggs), named for two islands that
someone thinks look like eggs. In the process of reducing sail I spotted the bad
sea snake. It was yellow and brown and was quite small, similar to a common
garden snake. The bottom is yellow and the top is brown. The yellow-bellied sea
snake is one of the most widely distributed venomous sea snakes in the world.
Fairly common in Central America and it should be given a wide berth. After
passing the Bat Islands we headed straight to Bahia Huevos on a course of 140
mag. We passed through two major squalls with the first letting us know there is
more lightning available. Liz and I went through the familiar routine of turning
off electronics and unplugging others. The lightning that goes CRACK is always
nearer than 3 miles. We heard four such cracks and gave us memories. At 4:30pm
we anchored in Huevos in about 18 feet of water. There are automobile and truck
sounds and when we entered this bay we noticed three large construction cranes
in the next bay over. That bay is Bahia de Culebra, bay of snakes. This is where
we will check into the country and where Mantra is still at anchor. We look
forward to seeing them again.
We finished dinner that consisted of Dorado fish cakes and broccoli. It was
great. The air had a light breeze and we could hear Howler monkeys. It was very
relaxing, that included a small swell coming from the south into the bay.
Tomorrow we plan to go ashore and snorkel and do some boat chores.
August 21, 2002
Bahia Huevos is everything the other cruisers suggested. It is quiet, calm, with
lovely green hills. We checked into the Pan Pacific net and found out where our
friends were and what their plans for the coming weeks. After breakfast we
enjoyed snorkeling and fishing for several hours. Then back to the boat as the
clouds, thunder and lightening start. We caught some rain in our jugs. We
decided to watch a movie on the DVD on the computer after dinner and sunset.
August 22, 2002
Allan is net controller for the Pan Pacific and has 17 checkins and did a fine
job. We move from Bahia Huevos to Cocos and are greeted by Buzz on Mantra on our
way in. Great to catch up with them as they are our friends that were with us
the night we were hit by lightening and got Volantis off the beach. We catch a
ride by his dinghy to town to get a feel for the layout and checking into the
country tomorrow. We also meet with Penny, who worked for a fish wholesaler the
past two weeks to get them ready for a FDA audit. That afternoon we walked
around, had a great lunch and met other local gringos at a bar during happy
hour. Then at dark we headed back to the boat with Mantra. We had leftovers and
hit the bed early.
August 23, 2002
This morning we take our documents ashore and check into the country. Things go
well and the process takes about 2 hours. After that we spent 2 hours doing
email and letting friends and family know where we are. We meet up with Jackie
and Steve on Moonshadow and plan to all get together for dinner at a highly
recommended Italian pizza restaurant. It was truly excellent. We had a great day
catching up with Mantra and Moonshadow.
August 24th 2002
We decide to head to Bahia Hermosa, the next bay over for the weekend to see
something a little different. Hermosa is a lovely bay, with some development of
condos and small hotels. We make chili and have Mantra and Moonshadow over for
dinner. Fun was had by all, although Allan and Buzz fell asleep in the cockpit
after dinner.
August 25th, 2002
Today, we went snorkeling with Moonshadow. We were able to see some of the
clearest water and great reef fish this far on the trip. Allan and Steve shot
fish and Allan scared a bull shark in a cave. He backed up quickly and swam
backwards for a while. During the early evening hours we took a walk on shore
and looked at some of the new building at the bay and spent a very enjoyable
time at a location called the Monkey Bar where we met a young couple from
Washington D.C., Liz and Ryan. He was a computer technologist and she was a
travel agent. We made it back to the dinghys in the dark and after a wet
departure made it safe and sound back to the boats
August 26th
Today was full of more fishing and Allan diving the propeller to put a new zinc
on the bottom. This turned into a long and arduous job as he had to prepare the
surface by removing the barnacles and growth and shinning the surface with
bronze wool in order for the zinc to have a good contact. Zincs are valuable to
boats in that they soak up the electrolysis and are the sacrificial lambs. It is
important to keep them changed often. The evening hours brought rain and we had
a nice dinner on board and a movie.
August 27th 2002
Penny and Buzz on Mantra had us over for a lovely lunch with homemade, beautiful
salads and we swam off of their boat until the rain started in earnest. We raced
back to the boat and were lucky in catching about 20 gallons of water in a hour
as we have a great rain catcher that we made in Barillas. We finally dug the
water hose out of storage and now we can direct the rain directly into the water
fill hole. Allan and Jackie and Stephen on Moonshadow went fishing for Dorado at
sunset and then they came to our boat for fish, pasta and salad. Allan barbequed
the pompanos with their skins on with garlic and olive oil and it were very
good. A very nice evening was had by all.
August 28, 2002
Sitting listening to the net and checking in with our fellow cruisers is how we
started the day. It is nice to hear where everyone is and their plans. Allan
went snorkeling and was very successful. We will move back to Cocos this
afternoon in order to meet Mantra and their rental car tomorrow morning to go
into Liberia for exploring. Should be fun. It is hard to believe that it is
almost September. We had a great fish fry on Moonshadow. Moonshadow is a 43-foot
Young Sun sailboat. They have a lot of room especially being only 5 feet longer
than Slainte. I believe they must have double the room. Their boat sides are
much higher than Slainte and I think this is where some of the extra room comes
from. Moonshadow is very lovely and Jackie and Stephen are great.
August 29, 2002
We were the Pan-Pacific net manager, who controls the flow and information. It
is good to do it as you really learn where all of the cruisers are. We finished
up quickly and rode to the beach and joined Penny and Buzz. They are renting a
car and driving to San Jose, (capital of Costa Rica) to pick up friends. They
will be gone for 3 days and we are watching their boat. Buzz went through all
the needed systems so if we had to re-anchor, or start the engine I could. We
drove to Liberia, about 50 kilometers away from Coco and stopped on the way at a
roadside German bakery. The pastries were tasty and Liz bought two fresh loaves
of bread. When we gone back to the boat later in the afternoon I had to kill a
bug in one of the loaves. The bug was fresh too. The four of us wandered around
in town and eventually they were on their way and we went shopping. It was a bit
cheaper than Cocos and greater selection. The best buy was Iguana hot sauce. It
was about a dollar, which is usually $3+ in Seattle. After reading the label we
see that this sauce is made in Costa Rica.
This afternoon the rain really came. We collected over twenty gallons of fresh
rain. I am concerned that our water tank is leaking because we never seem to get
it full. We had lightning with the rain but it mainly stayed over land and back
in the jungle.
August 30, 2002
We began the day with the Panama Pacific net and heard from our friends, Ceste
Bon, who had transited the Panama Canal. Ernin, another sailboat helped with the
lines. George and his wife were happy to be in the Caribbean.
Liz and I visited the Port Captain and got our in-country zarpe. The procedure
took less than 5 minutes and we don’t need to check into any other Port captains
until we check out of the country in Bahia Gulfio, the southern bay of Costa
Rica. Next we did the Internet and found Moonshadow emailing away. We caught the
vegetable truck, had lunch and braved the surf to our boat. We finished the day
with a couple of boat chores and had a great dinner. Tomorrow we’ll finish
emailing, provision and a nice shore dinner. We have a tropical wave hanging
over us and most of Central America. This is causing a lot of convection
(thunder storms) and unsettled weather. There is a hurricane in the Caribbean
and we are watching it. Most of our weather comes from the east.
August 31, 2002
Liz and I spent the day preparing our boat for our voyage. We provisioned at
Coco’s little store. We bought these foil sealed tamales, very lean hamburger,
smoked pork chops, beer, and a case of wine. The surf was up and we took 5 waves
over the bow. On the way back Liz facing forward told me when to turn to miss
the anchored boats as I faced the stern and bailed. The wine box disintegrated
in the seawater and we were very careful to handle the bottles individually.
Later in the evening we caught a ride with Moonshadow and the four of us had a
wonderful dinner at Papagayo Seafood. I had a ginger steak and Liz had
peppercorn tenderloin. Steven and Jackie had the smoked pork chop. I know you go
to a seafood restaurant and have meat. Well we have been eating a lot of seafood
and expect to catch more in the next 4 days. The meat was wonderful.
