Tour de France Special Commemerative Blog Post

The Bravo crew went bike shopping a few days ago.

You may recall that we took our fancy folding  bikes, custom made "Bike Friday" cuties home from Mexico last year.  They were just too precious to adapt to this cruising lifestyle....frequent trips in the dinghy to shore, common salt spray showers, etc.  Ouchhhh...  As much as we've always loved biking, we figured when we arrived at a spot where we wanted bikes, we'd pick up a couple of, well, "not carbon" beasties.

Here in Bahia, it seems that everyone is on bikes.  So we set out on a mission, one that brought us to a great little streetside recycling "shop".  A guy here takes discarded bikes and mixes and matches parts to put "useable" steeds together.  Even gives them a paint job with the color of your choice.  "New" rubber, and brakes that sort of work, at least when you're not going down a hill !!!   All for about $50 per bike!!!  Perfect!!!  Carbon fiber, highly over rated!!!

Rusty rims get silver paint...."good as new"!!!

The shop itself is a bit primitive by US standards.  Mostly it's called "the sidewalk".  But inside the shop is a pile of raw materials, old rides that have long been abandoned, in a field, on a beach, in the jungle, wherever.  The shop's bike maestro orchestrates the scrounging of a complete bike out of the heap for you.  "Come back in two days".

Cindi admires Adam's original selection in the "showroom".

Bingo.  The bikes are ready (almost).  Had to swap Adam's ride
 for another, as he couldn't find tires that fit.  Too bad, as the original model had a very cool rack WELDED onto the back, made of REBAR!!!  I think the extra weight over the rear wheel must've given great traction!!!

One of the 4 wheels was flat the first morning, will be fixed today.  All good!!!

Great crowd celebrates Team Barcelona's soccer victory.  For el "Idol de Ecuador", the celebration continues!

And we'll have to see about a yellow jersey!!!  Should be a few available after the Team Barcelona festivities die down!!!

Ecuador at last!!!

Well, we arrived at the mouth of the Rio Chone yesterday morning just before high tide as scheduled.  But it wasn't an easy final push to the finish line of this passage!!!  On Thursday, the 5th and last full day underway, the wind built all morning, while heading from the SW more toward the S.  We found ourselves on a tight reach in 20-25 knots, with the seas not too large, perhaps 7-8', but very lumpy.  Moving around the boat became more awkward as we lurched about like drunken sailors (though only wishing we were!!!).  Spray over the boat was continual as it got dark, and it was a long night with sleep for the off watch sailor being hard to come by.

Finally, though, just past midnight, it was all hands on deck.  We were about to cross the equator, an imaginary line in the sea but a big milestone for both of us.  King Neptune was about to allow us into his realm, and see us no longer as pollywogs, but as full fledged shellbacks!!!  We joined him in a wee dram of rum, and after careful deliberation, he allowed the following:

"Whereas by our Royal Consension, Our Trusty, Well Beloved Adam Kerner and Cynthia Brennan have this day entered Our Domain.  We do hereby declare to all whom it may concern that it is Our Royal Will and Pleasure to confer upon them the Freedom of the Seas without undue ceremony.  Should either of them fall overboard, We do command that all Sharks, Dolphins, Whales, Mermaids and other dwellers in the Deep are to abstain from maltreating their persons.  And we further direct all Sailors, Adventurers, and other General Reprobates who have not crossed Our Royal domain, to treat them with the respect due to One of Us.  Given under Our Hand at Our Court on board the sailing vessel 'Bravo' on the Equator in Longitude 80d37.8' on this 29th day of June in the year 2012. 

(Signed)

Neptune  (Rex)

We downed our rum, King Neptune downed his, and we continued to bash our way through the night toward Ecuador, arriving on the coast at dawn.  All in all an excellent passage, rough on day/night 1 when we crossed the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) and the tight beat on day/night 5, delightful in the middle. 'Bravo' performed beautifully, taking a real pounding to weather and pulling through in fine form.  Here are a few shots from the voyage.

Boobie riding on the bow before dark.  He stayed sleeping there for hours, until a rude awakening when a squall hit and we had to furl the headsail and change to the staysail.  Sorry, buddy!

Passing Malpelo Island, about 12 miles away.

There's an old saying among fisherfolk...."When you rest, the fish rests..."  Here we're both taking a bit of a break!!!  Note the regulation fish fighting undies!!!

The beautiful sailfish coming to the boat before release.

Another squall line ahead.....Damn!!!

Squalls all around on radar.  Rings are 2 miles apart.  True wind speed in the lower left corner, boat speed on the right, as we flew along trying keep all under control.

Another squall on the way....

So, what are our first impressions of Ecuador??  Great!  We were met by our pilot, Pedro at the appointed spot, "the waiting room".  He came aboard to guide us over the shallow shifting sand bar at the mouth of the river.  Other than the shallows, it was a piece of cake...no breakers like we'd had in El Salvador.  Came in with a French catamaran, Zephyr, arriving from the Galapagos.

The entrance to the city of Bahia de Caraquez was an interesting juxtaposition, with Mayan Indians in dugout canoes fishing for shrimp in front of high rise apartment buildings. 

Bravo moored in Ecuador (center of photo)

We came around the corner and saw the mooring field in front of Puerto Amistad, which will be 'Bravo's home for the next 6 months or so.  Looks great to us.  The weather:  it's THE DRY SEASON here.  NO lightning, NO rain, NO winds to speak of!!!  And mid 70's at night for easy sleeping!!!  As much as we loved cruising in Central America, it became obvious to us that exploring the region in the rainy season was just, well, WRONG!!!  And we just learned that one of the boats we were with in Costa Rica, Espiritu, was just hit by lightning, making 2 of the boats we've shared anchorages with in the country being hit over the past few weeks.  It's just not worth the risk.  So we're excited to be here, with an entire continent of adventures awaiting exploration.  Yeee-hah!!!

Went for a walk around the city today.  Bahia de Caraquez, with around 28,000 folks, seems a peaceful typical small city.  Not at all touristy, it's clean and friendly and genuine, we liked it right away.  We think it will provide us with a great home base for a while. 

Walk along the malecon

 Transportation rules here seem a bit........... ummmmmm......casual!!!

A family takes their golden retriever to the beach.  How else, the scooter!!!

Room for one more little guy????

"All aboard!  Vamanos!!!"

Butterfly landed on the sidewalk at our feet.

I think we're going to like this town!!!!!

Passage to Ecuador, days 3-5

Thursday afternoon. What an amazing past 3 days of sailing these have been. Except for a quick tack to avoid an 8 mile long (at least) fishing long line marked by empty plastic bottles, we've been close reaching on a starboard tack the entire time. The wind velocity (8-20 kn) and direction (SW) have been rock steady, allowing us to sail a straight line directly to Ecuador. Not at all what was predicted. Seas have been moderate for the most part, though this afternoon the wind has increased to 15-20, and we're sailing closehauled to make our destination....a bit of a rough ride. But no rain or lightning for 3 days!!! We feel a real difference in the weather on leaving central America behind.

You may recall on our approach to cross the bar in El Salvador that we needed to slow down to arrive at high tide. Well, the Rio Chone estuary that we'll be entering in Ecuador is much the same. We will have a pilot come aboard to guide us in, and high tide is at around 11am tomorrow. We're now (3pm) about 90 miles out. Since we don't want to hang out at the mouth of the river in the dark, it means arriving in the window between dawn at 5am and 10am to be there to meet the pilot. So yesterday we began to slow the boat down, flying our staysail instead of the big genoa. Even so, our 24 hour noon/noon run was 110 miles. Now we're boogeying along at around 5 knots, perfect for our morning arrival.

Had a weird encounter yesterday afternoon. We were sailing along, about 130 miles off the Columbian coast, when we saw an open panga boat approaching at high speed. Cindi called me up on deck, "ummmm...Adam....we've got company...." This after not seeing any boat traffic even on radar for 3 days! It was a pretty jazzy panga, with twin 115 engines and a snazzy paint job. Not your typical run-o-the-mill coastal boat. No fishing gear evident. 2 guys aboard, with fishing foul weather gear on. Came alongside us. We were thinking, "this can't be good!!!". As they were motoring alongside, the guy in the bow does a smoking motion, evidently asking for cigarettes. When I said "no tengo", we don't have any, they goosed their engines and disappeared into the 6 foot seas leaving a huge roostertail behind. Like I say.....pretty weird!!!

We're getting pretty excited to cross the equator. We're now at 0 degrees 47 minutes N. latitude, and we should cross sometime a bit after midnight. King Neptune awaits to welcome his newest "shellbacks", leaving our "pollywog" status behind!!!

Assuming the passage continues to go well, we'll make landfall in the morning, and check in with the authorities tomorrow. South America awaits!!!

On passage to Ecuador, days 1 & 2

We fueled up and left Golfito on Sunday morning. After motoring for a couple of hours, the breeze filled out of the SW, and we had a fantastic 6 hours of beam reaching in the 12-18 knot wind. We even had good current, to keep our average speed over the ground at a tasty (by 'Bravo' standards!!) 7.5-8.5 knots. But as evening came on, the squalls began. Wow, what a nasty night. Up until about 2 a.m. we were continually trying to evade the rascals, often without success. With winds up to about 40 knots, intense lightning, ear splitting thunder cracks, and rain so hard we couldn't see the sails, the 'Bravo' crew were busy campers indeed!!

Eventually we passed through this area of squalls, and motor sailed in a 5-7 knot breeze for the remainder of the night. No harm, no foul, at least not to us. The 6 flying fish that we found on deck in the morning may have told a different story before heading to the happy lagoon in the sky!!! One hit our windscreen so hard that it sounded like a pebble hitting the car windshield on the freeway! Those critters can FLY!!

Fishing report: Big event yesterday was the 'catch of the day'. After trolling our favorite 'magic' lure all day without a bite, all of a sudden the reel was screaming!!! Looking aft while grabbing the rod, we saw an amazing sight as a 6' sailfish was tail walking and leaping high in the air. Like a scene from "Old Man and the Sea", Papa Hemingway would have been thrilled. I know we were. Adam fought the beautiful fish for nearly 30 minutes before bringing it alongside the boat. What a spectacular creature!!! Happily, unlike the big fish in Papa's famous missive, a quick slip of the knife cut the line, and off swam the sailfish to make more little sailfishes. The hook of the magic lure will rust out quickly, and he/she will just have a good fish story to tell his buddies about his ill fated lunch.

We continue to work our way south, mixing motoring with sailing when the winds die. Although we're motoring slower than normal to conserve fuel, we still managed 140 miles on our first 24 hour noon/noon day. Day 2 is slightly less, at about 135 miles. So far, anyway, the sailing has been better than predicted for this 600 mile passage.

Getting into the passage rhythm, we'll pass Columbia-owned Malpelo Island this afternoon, and should arrive in Ecuador on Friday or Saturday.

This post is via radio link, so no photos, sorry.

Adios, Central America

We'll start this post off with one of our "Mystery Photo Quizzes".  Identify it, and claim the prize!!!  (answer at the end of the post)

Well, we've completed our paperwork cha-cha with the authorities to clear out of Costa Rica, and with exit "zarpe" in hand, are preparing 'Bravo' to head to Ecuador later today.

The past couple of weeks have been most enjoyable, hanging out in the little towns of Puerto Jimenez and Golfito, both located on the calm shores of the Golfo Dulce (sweet gulf).

Daily storm clouds gathering

Here at Golfito, we've been anchored in front of Land and Sea Services, a funky club house hosted by Tim and Kate, former cruisers themselves.  With a great exchange library, an honor system beer fridge, comfortable chairs on the shaded deck, and 5 friendly dogs (well, actually 4 friendly, 1 not so!!!   sorry little guy, we call 'em like we see 'em), we really enjoyed our stay here.

Golfito itself is a unique spot.  The town, once a United Fruit banana company town, was abandoned in the 80's when UF pulled out.  Now subsisting mostly on exporting palm oil, fishing, and a tiny bit of tourism, it has a real local small town flavor in a spectacular setting, with the jungle coming down the steep side of a ridge behind, right to the waters edge.  The town is shoehorned in between, somehow.




 

Another load of palm oil pumped to the holding tank farm above.

Yup, it's HOT hiking in the jungle!!!

One morning, a great hike behind the town took us to the top of the ridge for spectacular views out to the bay and gulf beyond, and yet new opportunities to spot monkeys (squirrel monkeys this time) and amazing flowers.  Some felt like a visit to the set of "Little Shop of Horrors"!!!   But especially it felt great to stretch our atrophying legs on the 8 mile hike.

"FEED ME SEYMOUR"

Wild orchid along the trail

Another morning we hired a panga, and along with crews from 'Camelot', 'Shellback', and 'Sabin', headed up the gulf to visit with Trudy at her beautiful botanical gardens, "Casa Orquieda" (Orchid House).  She gave us a great tour of the incredible spot that she and her husband have carved into the jungle.  The diversity of plants was unbelievable, and we enjoyed munching on fruits that we'd never seen or heard of.  The 70 acre property is home to 100's of species of plants, birds, and other animals, and WELL worth the $8 price of admission!!!  That even included our first toucan spotting in Costa Rica!!!

Wild pineapple, not quite as big as the hybrids we know.

Bromeliads everywhere

Mangostine on the right, and a ???? on the left (tastes like lychee nut)

NOT a stuffed animal!!!

Cindi at the duty free checkout....A happy customer!!!

But it's now time to head to South America.  We've made our requisite trip to the duty free shopping mall to stock up on, well, "sundowner fixings" for the next year or so (alcohol in Ecuador is taxed 100% duty!!!  and French Polynesia is no better)

The upcoming 600 mile passage to Ecuador is known as being rather unpleasant, with fluky or non existent winds, squalls, and a contrary Humbolt current often running up to 2 knots on our nose after we cross the equator.  We've even picked up an extra 18 gallon plastic diesel tank as we expect to motor much of the way, according to the weather forecasts.

We've thoroughly enjoyed our nearly 3 month visit to Central America.  The people that we've met have been wonderful, and eager to share their lives with us.  Their pride in their countries is evident everywhere, and they wanted to pass that on to us.  While they were often poor by US or even Mexican standards, they enjoy a peaceful, content existence that we can all learn from.  "Pura vida", indeed.  Thanks for sharing.

(answer to "mystery quiz"......This is a sprout growing in our cockpit from under the teak.  Yeah, it's rainy, hot and humid here.....and yeah, it's time to boogie south!!!)

Costa Rica......continues to deliver the goods!!!

We've spent the past several days working our way south from Quepos/Manuel Antonio Park to explore the wonderful Osa Peninsula.  Home of the Corcovado National Park, National Geographic describes this place as "the most biologically intense place on Earth in terms of biodiversity".   From what we saw anchored in our base of operations, Bahia Drake (pronounced "Drah-kay"), we'd be the first to agree!

Our stay at Bahia Drake proved to be one of our favorites.  The bay is remote from any major population centers, and is home to several "eco-lodge" resorts catering to folks from all over the world who come to explore the park.  As we are here in "low" (read "RAINIEST") season, the lodges are nearly deserted, and along with other cruising boats Espiritu and Swift Current, we feel as though we have the bay to ourselves.




There's a beautiful trail that wraps around the entire peninsula and park.  Better traveled in the "dry"  (read "not as rainy") season, we nonetheless spent a few hours hiking the jungle.  Cindi and I came upon a troop of white faced capuchin monkeys, sitting in a mango tree enjoying lunch.  

 

Cindi was sure she saw this guy extending a little middle monkey digit.....time to move on!!!

After about ten minutes of hanging with the little guys, a couple of them started acting a bit aggressively, and we figured it was time to move on before things got ugly!!

 

The jungle itself is surreal, it is so GREEN!!!  Receiving over 220" of rain annually, this peninsula is the wettest spot in Costa Rica.....and that says a lot!  (For perspective, Seattle receives 37" per year!!) 

Typically, we have an afternoon rain, with dramatic lightning storm.  The rain can be intense.  We're started collecting rain water in our tanks, using soft dive weights to create a dam to divert the water into the deck fillers.  The other day we got 30 gallons in less than 10 minutes!!!

These pangas strap empty barrels to their sides so that they don't sink from rain!!

Scarlet macaws are a common sight in the trees around the bay.

Isla Cano, about 15 miles west of Bahia Drake, is a biologic reserve, famous for it's abundant marine life.  We've been looking forward to scuba diving on the island for some time, and planned to head out to the island with Bravo.  However, there's no good anchorage at the island, the best dive sites can be hard to identify, and the more we asked around, the better it sounded to hire a dive guide and a small panga to run us out there.  

So together with the Swift Current and Espiritu crews and our fantastic dive master Kike (pronounced "Kee-kay"), we headed out to Cano for two exceptional dives.  While the visibility was only so-so, at around 35-40 feet, the quantity and diversity of fish species was great.  

On our second dive, we had the magical experience and good luck to be joined by 3 giant manta rays.  These beautiful fish with their 15 foot wing spans swam around us, gliding gracefully through our bubble streams as we watched in awe.  Kike said we were indeed lucky, as the mantas are only at Cano for around 3 months each year before heading to the open sea, and he said they'd be gone in the next day or two.  Wow, what an amazing dive!!!

 

Jungle living agrees with Cindi!!!!

Employee parking lot in a surf town.....this was behind a little street restaurant in Manuel Antonio.

We're now in Puerto Jimenez in the Golfo Dulce.  The former gold mining town is now a hub for backpackers and biologists exploring Corcovado.  We'll explore the shores of the Golfo Dulce for a few days, before heading into Golfito, the capitol of the region, where we'll get ready to leave Central America and sail to Ecuador.