This not apparently a good year to be in the boat insurance business in Central America. I checked in with our friends on 'Le Bateau' to see how their passage from El Salvador to Costa Rica went. Kelvin and Jinny made it all the way to Las Cocos, Playa del Cocos in Bahia Culebra. They went in to spend the day with their local friends. The boat got hit by lightening while they were away and fried all the electrical and electronics. Alternator, regulator, windlass, radar, radios, etc. No fun. They are trying to get the boat together enough to sail her to Punta Arenas, Costa Rica, for a haul-out for complete inspection and repair. Second lightning strike on a boat we know and it's just the beginning of the season. we've had big storms, with plenty of lightening and rain, every night since arriving in Gulf of Fonseca.
We left the anchorage on Meanguera Is. and returned to Tamarindo Bay accompanied by Pam and Henry on 'Rapscullion'. With a very large Pacific swell running, it turned out to be one uncomfortable night there- actually two uncomfortable nights. In Tamarindo, We got Jervis on a local panga to take us through the bar entrance into the estuary. We grabbed Oscar the taxi driver to take us into and around La Union, the big town here. We wanted to do our official check in in La Union and check out at the same time, but it turned out that the port captain in town doesn't do this. It is the officials at nearby Puerto Caraison. So we decided it would be easier to bring he boat in the next day, anchor near the Navy base we'd visited last week, and dinghy in with the folks on 'Libertad' to do the paperwork shuffle. We did -- the port guys are friendly and cooperative. That said, next time I'd just check out at Bahia del Sol and not go into La Union with the boat. There are enough anchorages around here that you can skip La Union and just be 'in transit'- we're learning.
We met up with 'Libertad' and 'Lovely Lady' crew in town at the fast food chicken spot, Pollo Campero. After the Navy lift fell over, Rose decided to take the boat back to Barillas where they had now agreed to haul her for the inspection after her grounding there a couple weeks ago week. On the way up it was stormy and there was this large swell running. The fishing pangas here get hidden behind the swells and are very difficult to see, sometimes even in broad daylight as we can attest. It was 4am when they heard a smash on the bow. They'd center-punched a panga splitting it in two. The pangero ended up with a compound fracture of the femur. Fortunately there were other pangas around to take him in to port immediately- they move mush faster than the sailboats can, even under power- and off to San Miguel for surgery. Another insurance claim. 'Lovely Lady' is really due for some no-more-drama time.
We're back in the little anchorage off Isla Meanguera now. If it works out OK, we will leave early in the morning for a 2 day, 1 night passage to the north end of Cost Rica, making for Bahia Santa Elena. We were going to leave today, but it looks like the rain storms, and hence the lightening, might be a little less tomorrow. We plan to keep an eye out for the fishermen and are making sacrifices to Thor that he will take pity on us poor sailors here in the throes of the Central America rainy season.
Pictures and intelligent commentary when we get to Internet access again.
Paul and Chris
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Thursday, June 2, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Gulf of Fonseca
We made it out of Bahia de Sol across the bar without a lot of drama on Tuesday morning at high tide. It was Rojelio's (the bar pilot) day off, but he came down at 8:30am and jumped on his jetski to guide us out. We had to stop near the outside to let a large set break and then reform so we could ride over it. Then we were free to roam the Pacific. It was a motor boat ride for the first 20 miles down to Barrillas, then the wind picked up and we had good sail for 30 miles or so down the coast. Motor went back on a few hours before dark and we rounded Punta Amapala in the dark. The charts show one good 12 mile light on the point. Of course it was not working, but there were about a dozen other navigation lights that were visible and not on the chart. We turned into Tamarindo Bay and talked to Henry & Pam who had come in the day before on Henry's cat, Rapsculion. They guided us in and we dropped the hook at about 8:45pm. A pretty good run for the day.
Next day we got picked by a panga(called a lancha down here) with Giovani on board. He is putting together a marina inside the estuary here. It is in the planning stages and he has finally received environmental approvals from the government. It is a ways off yet, but when done should be a pretty cool, ecologically sound destination for cruisers. John and Veronica from the old Coast Guard cutter, Sea Quest,also came down from Bahia del Sol by van with Giovani. The plan was to look around his property and the nearby town of La Union, and then in the afternoon to tour the boat lift capabilities at the Salvadoran Naval base in La Union. Pam still needs to haul her boat, Precious Metal, for repairs after her lightening encounter. We'd also heard that Rose and Jani, on Lovely Lady, were also headed down here to haul for an inspection after hitting bottom while crossing the bar in Barrillas (while being guided in by the Barrillas bar pilot!!). The officers at the Naval base were very friendly and toured us all around. Hauling boats brings in some extra money for the base that can be used for maintenance, etc. They are interested in setting up a dry storage area for boats. This John's area of expertise and he wanted to see what was planned.
There's a large brand new container ship base here that is currently a white elephant. It was supposed to be connected to the Caribbean side via a new railway. This would have been a land route for containers across Central America instead of the canal. The port was built by the Japanese. The story has it that the railway was to use the old right-of-way from the existing but decrepit United Fruit narrow gauge railway and be built and funded by the French. The down turn in the world economy and perhaps a few other nefarious factors conspired to have the French pull out. Now the completed container port, with its dredged channel and markers are still awaiting their first ship. This has put a lot of stress on the town, as locals have invested their life savings into businesses to support this as yet unopened port.
When we looked at the naval lift it was in use by a large navy vessel. This boat looked like it had been there for awhile and still had a ton of work to to be done on it. The commander mentioned that he planned to drop the boat in the water and make room for the two private vessels to haul out (Lovely Lady and Precious Metal)to haul, as soon as they could. He said he needed to do some maintenance work on the lift first. When we went into the officers club to get more details on hauling Precious Metal, it became clear that no one had setup an appointment to haul Lovely Lady. Setting up an appointment includes getting a formal quote from the Navy, then going to San Salvador with a certified check to pay for 50% up front... none had been done.
The next day Lovely Lady showed up in front of the Navy base. The following morning they tried to lower the navy ship back into the water, but part of the lift gave in. Pictures to follow when we get an Internet connection I'm not sure what Love Lady's plans are now. Precious Metal will still probably haul here, just not real soon.
We headed over to Meanguera Island for a 3 night stay. Nice little anchorage in a bay on the backside near the La Joya de Golfo hotel. This is a beautiful 4 room boutique place ($79 per night) run by a Los Angelino (as in California)and his Salvadoran wife. They are cruiser friendly, offer delicious fancy meals, along with the use of their deck built out over the water for enjoying afternoon cocktails. Their 10 year old daughter, Rachel, seemed to really enjoy the English speaking company.
We are back in Tamarindo Bay now. This time there's a big ground swell running from south of the equator that is rolling in here and making the anchorage pretty rolly and uncomfortable today. We plan to get a lancha ride into shore tomorrow and taxi to La Union. We need to get some R-134a refrigerant to try to get our refrigerator running again. We also need to go to see the port captain and immigration to check out of the country. Then, if we can get a few jerry jugs of fuel, we'll head back out, southeast, with probable plans to make Costa Rica in a day or 3.
No pictures til we get internet again.
Paul
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Next day we got picked by a panga(called a lancha down here) with Giovani on board. He is putting together a marina inside the estuary here. It is in the planning stages and he has finally received environmental approvals from the government. It is a ways off yet, but when done should be a pretty cool, ecologically sound destination for cruisers. John and Veronica from the old Coast Guard cutter, Sea Quest,also came down from Bahia del Sol by van with Giovani. The plan was to look around his property and the nearby town of La Union, and then in the afternoon to tour the boat lift capabilities at the Salvadoran Naval base in La Union. Pam still needs to haul her boat, Precious Metal, for repairs after her lightening encounter. We'd also heard that Rose and Jani, on Lovely Lady, were also headed down here to haul for an inspection after hitting bottom while crossing the bar in Barrillas (while being guided in by the Barrillas bar pilot!!). The officers at the Naval base were very friendly and toured us all around. Hauling boats brings in some extra money for the base that can be used for maintenance, etc. They are interested in setting up a dry storage area for boats. This John's area of expertise and he wanted to see what was planned.
There's a large brand new container ship base here that is currently a white elephant. It was supposed to be connected to the Caribbean side via a new railway. This would have been a land route for containers across Central America instead of the canal. The port was built by the Japanese. The story has it that the railway was to use the old right-of-way from the existing but decrepit United Fruit narrow gauge railway and be built and funded by the French. The down turn in the world economy and perhaps a few other nefarious factors conspired to have the French pull out. Now the completed container port, with its dredged channel and markers are still awaiting their first ship. This has put a lot of stress on the town, as locals have invested their life savings into businesses to support this as yet unopened port.
When we looked at the naval lift it was in use by a large navy vessel. This boat looked like it had been there for awhile and still had a ton of work to to be done on it. The commander mentioned that he planned to drop the boat in the water and make room for the two private vessels to haul out (Lovely Lady and Precious Metal)to haul, as soon as they could. He said he needed to do some maintenance work on the lift first. When we went into the officers club to get more details on hauling Precious Metal, it became clear that no one had setup an appointment to haul Lovely Lady. Setting up an appointment includes getting a formal quote from the Navy, then going to San Salvador with a certified check to pay for 50% up front... none had been done.
The next day Lovely Lady showed up in front of the Navy base. The following morning they tried to lower the navy ship back into the water, but part of the lift gave in. Pictures to follow when we get an Internet connection I'm not sure what Love Lady's plans are now. Precious Metal will still probably haul here, just not real soon.
We headed over to Meanguera Island for a 3 night stay. Nice little anchorage in a bay on the backside near the La Joya de Golfo hotel. This is a beautiful 4 room boutique place ($79 per night) run by a Los Angelino (as in California)and his Salvadoran wife. They are cruiser friendly, offer delicious fancy meals, along with the use of their deck built out over the water for enjoying afternoon cocktails. Their 10 year old daughter, Rachel, seemed to really enjoy the English speaking company.
We are back in Tamarindo Bay now. This time there's a big ground swell running from south of the equator that is rolling in here and making the anchorage pretty rolly and uncomfortable today. We plan to get a lancha ride into shore tomorrow and taxi to La Union. We need to get some R-134a refrigerant to try to get our refrigerator running again. We also need to go to see the port captain and immigration to check out of the country. Then, if we can get a few jerry jugs of fuel, we'll head back out, southeast, with probable plans to make Costa Rica in a day or 3.
No pictures til we get internet again.
Paul
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Monday, May 23, 2011
Hanging with the elite in San Salvador
We got invited to go to a meeting in San Salvador with various government officials to discuss nautical tourism in El Salvador. There were representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, a number of development agencies, and even the Navy. That’s Commander Sanchez on the right enjoying a great lunch at a French restaurant that they took us all to. El Salvador is going after more grass roots tourism rather than chasing mega-projects. The governments main focus is small projects that create jobs for locals. Believe it or not, surfing has brought in jobs for the country. Surfers are cheap, like sailors, but the infrastructure to support their lifestyle requires minimum cash up-front and the jobs this small industry creates makes a difference here. Some graying surfer shows up, sees a cheap house near the break. He buys it, hires locals to remodel it into a surfer lodge. Hires caretakers, a guard, maids, etc. Taxi stand shows up out front, the local pupuseria grows and a surf shop opens. All pretty low-key, but still job creating.
Cruising sailors are a relatively new market opportunity in El Salvador. The whole cruising scene here is currently centered around the place we’re hanging out at, Bahia del Sol. This is a medium sized hotel. The place does a good business on holiday weeks and on weekends. During the week it is just dead of guests. The cruisers spending their $1 on a beer and eating at the restaurant with a 30% discount keeps the staff working and earning tips. So the meeting in San Salvador was to discuss what needs to be done to encourage more ‘nautical tourism’. Some of the suggestions we discussed were: supplying low-cost dry storage for boats, making it easier to visit multi-ports without excessive official paperwork, making import of boat parts easier, and creating multiple boating destinations. All in all the officials were very supportive. This is a young country just getting its act together after years of civil war. A democracy with lots of opportunity.
There’s been an unusual string of boat incidents around here recently. Three boats, each with an experienced woman skipper, got into trouble in the last few weeks. First Pam on Precious Metal got hit by lightening 35 miles off of Nicaragua and ten miles from the closest storm cell, starting a fire in the engine room. She was pretty shaken by the experience. She’s in Bahia del Sol now working out what sounds like a sweet deal with her insure company to put the boat back right. That’s good for us as we have the same insurance.
Next up was Vicki, on Inspiration at Sea. Her boat was in El Salvador for the last 18 month or so. She got it fixed up and ready to head back north. Somewhere between Huatulco and Acapulco her EPIRB went off. This sends a satellite signal to a rescue center that gets forwarded to US authorities. They called her contact person who is down here in El Salvador and then contacted the Mexican Navy. She’d lost her engine, got caught up in a storm, and the rest of the story isn’t quite clear yet. The Navy ended up towing her 60 miles into Acapulco.
Yesterday, Rose and Jani left on their Halberg Rassey 46, Lovely Lady, heading just a few miles south. They crossed the Jaultepec bar at the early morning high tide. They were headed to Barrillas to put the boat up for 3 months while they headed back to the Pacific NW. They traveled the 20 miles or so down the coast and arrived at the entry waypoint. They waited for a pilot to come out guide them in. The bar at Barrillas is longer but not as dangerous as in Bahia del Sol. Well, the pilot lead them smack into a 4 foot sand bar. The boat went up sideways, heeled over 45 degrees and got pounded by the high surf. Ugly. A Mayday went out and a second pilot came out and helped get them off the bar and back into the channel. They are now in Barrillas deciding if they need to haul to the boat for inspection.
We’re working on a few typical boat problems. Right now it is getting the refrigeration to refrigerate. Cold is good. When we get this straightened out we are ready to get back on the road, or the seas as the case may be. Looks like the plan is taking us South and East to Costa Rica and then on to Panama. Chris is trying to setup some work sometime in July, but the dates are pretty soft.
Paul
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