Adios, Puntarenas

Well, the past 2-1/2 weeks have indeed been a marathon of boat projects.  Remember that refrigeration hassle???   We never heard back from literally the one source of parts for the system in THE WORLD, who's now traveling in Portugal.  After waiting for several days, we decided to vacuum out the brand new R22 refrigerant we'd just put in, and order and replace with the original refrigerant, HFC 404a.  Didn't know if it would help, but we thought at least it would have us back to factory spec, so that we could decide whether or not to replace the entire system.  (Even though an ex-factory tech told us that the R22 would work fine as a replacement)  Several days had been spent speculating, deliberating, and navel gazing across 3 continents.  You ask 10 techs what the problem is, and it's a guarantee you'll get at least 11 opinions!!!

Refer unit icing up at the suction valve.....not good!!!

Turned out that this new refrigerant did the trick!!!  Our original thought, that the system was just low on refrigerant, was spot on.  Put back the specified amount of the specified gas, and bingo, bango, the system is running as well as the day it was installed.....no icing up, no 3 hour run times to cool the plates.....life is good, as I sip a coldie this evening!!!  It had been low on refrigerant to begin with, and adding the wrong stuff was not the answer!!!


It's now time for us to leave Puntarenas.  Kind of a strange place, really, with it's gritty fishing port atmosphere interspersed with a fairly minor recreational boat population.  Great spot to get boat work done, though.  With the large commercial fishing fleet, it's easy to find parts and technicians to help with mechanical systems and equipment.  (Don't look for a sailmaker here, though!!)  While here we fixed the refrigeration, welded our exhaust system, replaced the hoses on our propane system, and (hopefully) fixed the controls on a finicky diesel generator.  Not bad.  The people at the Costa Rica Yacht Club have been a terrific help, lending assistance whenever possible to make our stay here as pleasant as possible.  Tomorrow we'll be on our way, continuing south to explore more of this interesting country.

Typical chemical barge passing by our mooring in the estuary.....These guys run day and night.

The biggest outboard motors in the world, with their fuel tank sitting between them!

Puntarenas Blues

We're still here in Puntarenas after 10 days...quite a bit longer than expected.  We got the engine exhaust welded in just a day or so...turned out very well...though I thought the beer can patch was kind of classy. 

But we've noticed our refrigeration system has been working much harder than ever to keep our freezer frozen and our fridge cold.  Much longer run times than normal to freeze the holding plates, and even then, we can't get them as low as before....it just runs and runs trying to get colder without effect...translates to enormous battery drain (the system runs 35 amps / hour) AND shorter hold over time before the system needs to run again.  A bad combination.  Coupled with the cloudy days (lower solar output from our panels), we're now running our generator twice/day, for a total of perhaps 3+ hours.  Not good.  And it means we cannot leave the boat unattended for more than the day, as we need the morning and evening genset run.  This is a major issue for us.

So we've been working with our Seattle refrigeration guru, Mark McBride, who installed the system 8 years ago.  He's a whiz, but it's very difficult to troubleshoot a complex system like this remotely, with many variables affecting the performance.  The first thought was low refrigerant level.  We found a local refrigeration mechanic here in Puntarenas to help, but he didn't have the identical refrigerant as the original (HFC-404a), so we needed to vacuum the system, then introduce a new refrigerant, R-22.

That didn't help, the system is still not working well.  The local mechanic thinks it's the compressor.  Unfortunately the company who made this "state of the art" (note the quotation marks!!!), Glacier Bay, got out of the business a few years ago, and the compressors are proprietary.  And the one person in the world who has the compressors available is traveling in Portugal now!!!  And our Seattle mechanic doesn't think it's the compressor anyway, but at this point, is not sure what the problem is.....   Ughhhhhhhhh.......

It's an old cliche that the definition of "cruising" is "getting to fix your boat in exotic places".  Knock on wood, 'Bravo' has been pretty trouble free for the past 2 years, at least for major problems.  This is the first real stumper we've faced.  Will see what today brings.  If we can't at least come up with the cause of the problem, we may need to limp the system along until we get to Ecuador, with the time to work on it some more.  Might mean......(shudder)......shutting down the freezer.  Hard to enjoy a margueritta without ice!!!!!

As we said, we're now firmly in the Central American rainy season.  And with the rains come the bugs.  We're moored not 15 feet from the mangroves on shore, so the "no-see-ums", or "jejenes" in Spanish have been enjoying 'Bravo's crew for breakfast every morning.  Nasty little buggers, they really are so tiny that you can barely see them.  We have screens on all of our ports and hatches, but they laugh their little bug laughs as they fly right through the screens!  Tried repellent sprays at first.  Sort of worked, but we hate being cooped up in the cabin breathing the stuff all the time.

Adam the mummy, reading his Kindle in bed

So we tried head nets with super fine mesh, and had to wrap up in a sheet to protect all the other parts.  (Note that it's been so HOT that we never even think of covering up w/ a sheet, it blocks the air from our fans...but the jejenes took priority).  Also made it kind of tough to sleep, or whatever, with the stupid head nets on!!!

So we found some mesh netting used for bridal veils at a fabric store, and Cindi sewed up a "tent" for our bunk.  Unfortunately, although its really a fine mesh, these bad boys of the insect world can get through it pretty much as their appetites demand, and the battle ain't over!!!!!

Stay for updates on this continuing saga!!!

In the meantime, must be time to head to the pool and noodle the refrigeration problem some more...holding a coldie.......

Exploring the Gulf of Nicoya

Bravo has been on the move lately, exploring many of the anchorages and little bays and islands in this great cruising area.  Several have been one night stands, others a couple of nights, as we've been enjoying hiking, snorkeling, and kayaking at 'em all.  Here's a brief update of what we've been up to for the past couple of weeks.....

When we last posted, we were in Bahia Ballena, enjoying the quiet, peaceful fishing village.  Everywhere we walked, we'd get a friendly "Buenos" or "Pura Vida" from folks we'd meet.  (typical Costa Rican greetings, we like the "Pura Vida" as a casual "hey dude, how's it going???"  Literally means "a pure life", and is a national expression in this country.  Nice.

Looking out at the village, Bravo in the center

Fresh smoked bacon omelets....a favorite Bravo breakfast!!!

 After breakfast it was time to head out for a jungle hike.  We'd been hearing howler monkeys every evening and morning, for the past several anchorages, but hadn't spotted any yet.  Time for hiking on a mission !!!

Gotta be getting close

Is that a monkey or a swarm of bees?????

 Finally, after an hour or so of hiking, we came upon a family of 6 howlers.  We hung out and watched them for 15 minutes, while they enjoyed breaking off sticks and throwing them at us.  Great fun! 

Since this hike, we've been seeing other monkeys on several hikes.  Never get tired of it!!!

This little guy kept trying to sell us insurance!

 The amount of wildlife of all types in the jungle is amazing.  Seems that everywhere we look on these hikes we see critters of one flavor or another

In places the ground seemed alive with hundreds of these little land crabs scurrying for cover all around us.

Your basic 6 inch spider

The whole community fishes for a living.  Here you can see our nemesis...These are "buoys" and marker "flags" that they use to mark the longlines and nets.  Hard to see at night???  You bet!  (and not much better during the day !!!)  

Building a new net, a big job.

Leaving Bahia Ballena, we headed over to Islas Tortugas, named for the populations of sea turtles that used to frequent the islands.  Now their populations are largely gone, but the islands remain a beautiful, tranquil place to drop the hook, especially after the tour boats out of Puntarenas have left.  That's when we get it to ourselves.  The snorkeling was pretty good, and we enjoyed kayaking around the bay to explore.

Starry moray eel, the first we've seen.

"Dream Boat"......I guess so.....

As we head into little isolated bays, nooks, and crannies, we never know what we'll find.  Here was someone's dream.....judging by the number of surfboards in his quiver, it was obvious that his summer is indeed "Endless" in Costa Rica!!!  Hang ten, dude!

Stopped for a night at Isla San Lucas, the site of an old prison, abandoned in 1992 after over 100 years of notoriety.  It was said that being sentenced here was the equivalent of a death sentence.  The prison was the setting for a book by inmate Jose Leon Sanchez "Island of Lonely Men", later made into a movie.  Declared a cultural heritage site several years ago, we went ashore to explore.  It was an eery walk about, as we checked out the abandoned cells, dorms, and other buildings and spaces.....if walls could talk.

Bats were the only residents we met in the abandoned cells

The jungle quickly reclaims the abandoned buildings

Graffiti from lonely nights in the prison

Telephone booth next to the church....guess you could call collect from either one

Partially restored administration building.

We're now in Puntarenas.  The narrow peninsula is the capital of the Golfo de Nicoya region, and a gritty hub of fishing and some tourism.  Coming in here is a bit of a challenge, as the channel between the peninsula and the mainland varies down to around 10 feet deep at high tide!!!!  (Bravo draws nearly 7 feet).  So we came in yesterday at the morning high tide, and called for a pilot boat to lead us into the yacht club, where we'll be moored for a few days as we try to get the water injection of our exhaust repaired.  The beer can jury rig is working, but it's time we get it properly welded up.

Time for a coldie between rain storms!!!

Hub of fishing and shrimping for the region

Fishing is over for these guys

And this one...right across from our mooring!

The town itself has lots of fishing related industry, so we should be able to get the exhaust welded, no problem.  But other than the moorage area, it's a pretty hardscrabble town, though apparently they are trying to rebuild the tourism infrastructure.  Lots of derelict old fish boats rotting in the shallows, but we're comfortably settled in, tied fore and aft to moorings in the shallow mangroves.  

View over our transom.  Some boats share a short floating dock.  We're just between two moorings.

When the tide is out, we're certainly digging our keel into the mud bottom, but aren't leaning over TOO much!!!  The facilities ashore are nice, and our $22/night fee gets us full use of everything including the pool and internet.  Not bad, and it will work well for our hopefully short stay to get the work done this week.  With luck we'll be heading south in a couple of days.  Plenty more of Costa Rica to explore before we head to Ecuador.

Happy cats in the open fish market!!

The clouds and sunsets in Costa Rica have been spectacular, indeed, especially now that we're firmly in the rainy season.  Cheers!