Into the doldrums...literally!

First, the usual disclaimer...sorry about the lack of photos...this post comes via ham radio, and the bandwidth just allows for text....Will post photos when we next get online with a good internet connection.

We're now in Bahia Ballena ("whale bay"), and while we've not seen any whales recently, the hills around us are ringing with the loud moans and groans of howler monkeys. The howlers' calls coupled with daily thunder are our normal lullabies these days. Love the monkeys. Could do without the thunder!!!

We left Playa del Coco (yes, after visiting our friendly Capitania del Puerto to check out of his geographical reign of influence) and headed to a beautiful, undeveloped bay, Bahia Guacamaya. Nicely protected from the prevailing swell, we dropped the hook in some of the clearest water we've yet encountered. We could clearly see the anchor chain, 25' below. Time to go check out the reefs! After first doing a couple of snorkel recons, we assembled our dive gear and headed in the dinghy over to a rocky island nearby. Dropping down to around 50', we saw a huge assortment of fish, and a school of spotted rays swam around to check us out. As we moved up to around 30', we saw a large turtle ahead, chomping on some coral. We approached slowly, as they've been so skittish on the surface, but he was totally focused on his feed, and didn't seem to worry about us at all. I guess if I was munching on a nice meal of algae covered coral, I wouldn't care about much else either!!! At any rate, we stayed and watched him eat for 2 or 3 minutes, then reached out and pet his rear flippers. He looked over his "shoulder" at us, but just blinked and went back to his coral lunch! Really a special encounter, at least for us (I doubt that he even remembers us today!!!). Having our new dive compressor has been terrific, as we are able to jump in with full tanks whenever it looks promising, and don't have to think, "is this spot worthy of a tank of air??".

After Guacamaya, we did a couple of long days, 55-60 miles, as the central Nicoya Peninsula really has little in the way of good anchorages to explore. We spent one night at Bahia Samara, a pretty little bay, but even with a large reef blocking much of the wave action, a VERY ROLLY anchorage indeed! Tough to sleep, even with a flopper stopper deployed.

Arrived yesterday at Bahia Ballena. A nicely protected bay, without too much development, though we can see a couple of resorts along the north shore (we're anchored in the south corner, by a little fishing village), and we've seen private planes landing on an airstrip behind them. We'll give it a miss!!!

But our anchorage is hardly resort fare. The fishing village reminds us of tiny hamlets in Alaska or B.C. With more monkeys! We went ashore today to explore. The "yacht club", a bar catering to yatistas is closed, and we walked up the road to Tambor, the nearest real town (town is here defined as having 1 grocery store, 1 hardware store, a few houses, a smattering of little eateries, and a couple of tiny hotels). The jungle is all around, though we've not yet had the pleasure to see any of the monkeys we hear in the evenings. Perhaps tomorrow...

The weather, too, reminds us of Alaska, though it's around 90 degrees, 75% humidity in the afternoons. We're now at 9 degrees N. latitude, and we've entered the ITCZ. The ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, for those of you who asked!) is a region of squalls, fluky winds, and heavy overcast skies, what is commonly known as "the doldrums". It's always located near the equator, but it's location is a moving target. Moves north with the sun, in spring and summer months (in the northern hemisphere). Usually it's not seen until, say, 6-7 degrees, but, well, I guess we've lucked out!!! The one good thing about working through it before we head offshore is that we can still fill our fuel tanks when we need to, and the ITCZ makes us thankful that we repowered 'Bravo' before leaving Seattle. We've been motoring a lot, in the 3-5 knot winds. The first layer of our patch on the water injection elbow in the exhaust system has worn through, so I HAD to drink another beer to get more patching material....the things we suffer through to keep our ship's systems in tip top shape...

Paperwork Cha-Cha.....legally in Costa Rica at last!!!

Well, this morning we started "deja-vu all over again" (May Day holiday is over)!!! After an hour wait at the side of the road, we hopped bus #1 towards Playa de Coco. It lets us off 3 miles out of town (why???), and we catch a cab (the same friendly one we took yesterday back to Playa Panama!). Meeting with the Capitan del Puerto went well enough, filling out the requisite papers, with multiple carbon copies (this is where carbon paper goes to die!!!) and the usual flurry of stamps. Then the 5 minute walk to Migracion (Immigration) office. We had nearly all of the required paperwork with us in photocopy form for her, except that she wanted the paperwork from our last 5 ports visited. Why in the world would she care where we were over the past several months in Mexico??? No one ever told us about this curve ball! So off to get these copies. Plenty of nice stamps all around, including our passports, which now sport lovely 90 day visas.

Then back to the Port Captain to proudly display our new stamps. He was suitably impressed (NOT!), and sent us to the Liberia airport to meet with the Aduana (customs) officer. After another 1 hour wait for the bus, we head out for the 40 minute drive to the airport. Bus drops us at the turnoff, and we hike the 1+ mile to the terminal. When we ask to speak with the office of the Aduana, no one had a clue what we were talking about.....hmmmmm....didn't they get the email that we were coming??? Guess not...
;-( Finally after 30 minutes of waiting and speaking to several folks, all of whom were honestly trying to help, we were told that the Aduana office is not, in fact, IN the airport, as we'd been told, but NEAR the airport.....back out the road we hiked in on, to the main road.

There Mr. Aduana looks through our paperwork, and asks for his copy of our passports (we had left copies with other 2 offices already). No problem...we came prepared with these! We give him his, and he looks confused....it's not stamped!!!! Seems he wants his copy to have the same stamp as is in our passports. He sends us next door to use a copy machine, but it's broken!!! Things were looking a bit bleak for a few minutes, as he realized that we had no car, and he was not going to accept a copy without the official stamp!!! Finally he fired up his scanner, and scanned and printed to his heart's content.....and EUREKA!!! We're legally in Costa Rica at last!!!

While waiting around in Mr. Aduana's office, we met an interesting chap also there on some business. Martin, a Czech diamond dealer immigrant to the US over 30 years ago, and now calling Costa Rica his home, offered us a ride as far as he was going. We jumped in the truck, and enjoyed the miles rolling by as we learned of his fascinating history, and he likewise enjoyed hearing about the sailing life. Along the way, he said he needed to stop at a little Italian store...just take a few minutes. We walked into a most amazing little grocery...in the middle of Nowhere, Costa Rica. Everything in the store was Italian grocery fare...5 types of gnochi, a whole wall of pastas, sauces, prosciuttos, salamis, cheeses, wines, oils, tomatoes...you get the picture!

Like Martin, we bought our share, and when the spree was over, he graciously gave us a ride all the way out to Bravo, still bobbing at anchor at Playa Panama. A perfect finale to the Paperwork Cha Cha!!! Thanks again, Martin!

But wait...this cha cha ain't quite over!!! Tomorrow we're planning on leaving this area, and will have to SIGN OUT with the same Port Captain that we SIGNED IN with today!!! (as the saying goes, "the more things change, the more they remain the same!!!")

After the requisite bus rides from and to the boat, we'll head south again, exploring some promising dive sites that we've been hearing about! Stay tuned...

Beach Vibe in Northern Costa Rica

Now sitting in Beach Bums Bar and Grill in Playa de Coco.  Advertised "coldest beer on the beach" and "free wifi".....got all the major food groups covered, so in we go!!

We spent the past 10 days or so enjoying a couple of isolated parks in the north.  First, Bahia St. Elena, where we spent nearly 1 week waiting out the papagayo winds....they do hang around, bringing gusts over 40 knots day and night, in between several minutes of no wind at all. 

A bit frustrating, but we took the opportunity to do a fun hike on shore, up a stream bed to a beautiful waterfall.  Though this is the end of "dry season", there was still a fine deep pool inviting us in for a swim.....poison frogs and fer de lances be damned!!!  The water felt perfect after the hot jungle hike, and the only biters were a couple of tiny red fire ants....yikes, I can see why staking your enemy out on top of an ant hill is a fate commanding such respect!!!  These lil' bastards pack a wallop!!!

After the winds finally died down, we had a beautiful sail around 20 miles south to Islas Murcielagos...."Bat Islands".  Also a national park, and protected from fishing, the underwater critters have a great reputation here.  And it lived up to it's billing.  Day one we did some snorkel recon, and though the clarity and viz weren't quite as good as hoped, the size and diversity of the critters was exceptional.  So we did a fun dive the following day.  Saw sea turtles, large jack crevalles, and some nurse sharks cruising along the bottom.

Yesterday we headed over to Playa Panama in Bahia Culebra.  We still need to clear into the country, and the northernmost spot to do so is the beach town of Playa de Coco.  The beach dinghy landing there can be a bit challenging in the surf, so we're just north at Playa Panama, a 2 bus - 8 mile trip into town!!  Came in to town this morning to do the "paperwork cha cha" with the port capitan, immigration, and customs office (out at the airport 1 hour away), but found the offices are closed today, due to May 1 holiday!!!  So we're enjoying our first day in a town for a couple of weeks, and will play "groundhog day" tomorrow, when we do it all again!!!   For now, better have another Imperial cerveza.....

Fishing report:  been great, if you like to eat skipjack tuna.  We don't.  We just keep reeling them in, and releasing them just as fast.  Yesterday we caught a very small dorado, but released it as well.  Ready for a keeper!!!

Engine report:  We've developed a small hole in our exhaust water injection elbow...a custom welded fitting where cooling water mixes with hot exhaust gases, creating a highly corrosive elixer.  Sure enough, after around 900 hours on the "new" engine, it's developed a hole, leaking a bit of this noxious slurry out onto the hose below.  Yesterday's fix involved gooping a blob of gasket cement around the hole, then wrapping the shebang with a beer can and 3 hose clamps.  Hopefully it'll hold until we can get to a welding shop, perhaps in southern Costa Rica in a month or so.  Not to worry....we've got plenty of beer aboard for raw materials!!!

You might recall our description in the last post of the squalls appearing like moles on the radar screen.....Here's what it looked like from that vantage.  We've just altered course to port, to try to shoot between the two rascals about 10 miles dead ahead.  We were heading to the right, to the right of the upper big blogs, when the one started to appear to it's right....causing us to "reevaluate our options".   Below was a view toward land, about 25 miles away, with a look at the storm cells brewing over Nicaragua, before they came our way.....

High Stakes Game of "Whack-a-Mole"

We arrived yesterday in Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica, after sailing for the past 2 days and nights down the Nicaraguan coast. We left Bahia del Sol at high tide on Friday afternoon, escorted again through the surf by the dynamic jet-ski pilot duo of Rogelio at the helm and Bill on the radio. This crossing was more boisterous than our inbound crossing of the bar. The pilots read the wave sets well, though, telling us when to hold our position while waiting for another wave to break before applying full throttle to get through before the next set began. A bit tense, but not to worry, it all worked out fine. Hopefully will have some pictures to post when we are next connected to the internet (this post comes via Winlink on ham radio).

The first night was relatively uneventful. We had light winds for the entire passage, never seeing more than 10 knots of breeze, and more often winds were in the 4-8 knot range. We saw a fair bit of lightning on the first night, but it was far in the distance, seemingly over land (we were typically 20-30 miles off shore). A couple of squalls appeared on radar, but also far off, and not in our path.

While on watch on the second night, though, things got interesting! Several convection cells appeared on the radar, some ahead of us, and some behind. As we altered course to avoid the cell blobs, with their major lightning activity, some would begin to dissolve, while others appeared, as if intentionally trying to block our path!! No matter which way we turned, we'd soon see a new cell starting to grow in our way. Left....right....more right....left.....Finally after around 4 hours we were through the area, and all of the lightning was behind us. Yeee-hah.....dodged another bullet!!!

The lightning was intense, some of the brightest we've seen yet, in what has become a nightly display. While in El Salvador, we made up a readily deployable mast ground wire. Using heavy gauge 1/0 welding cable with a big lug on one end, we have it bolted to the mast near the deck. When we see lightning, we throw the 15' long cable into the water, trailing it alongside the boat. The hope is that, should we be hit, this will provide an easy path for the jolt to get to ground, rather than arcing through the hull with possible unsavory consequences. Hopefully we'll never see it tested, but at least we feel that it may provide a bit of protection. Of course, we also put all of our portable electronics in the oven when entering "the zone" for extra precaution. Does it work????? Who knows, but it can't hurt (unless we fire up the oven and fry 3 laptops!!!)

So we arrived in this beautiful bay, Santa Elena, yesterday morning. It's a large bay, but deep, and completely protected from any swells or waves. We were escorted in by a huge pod of spotted dolphins, and more turtles (olive ridleys) than we've ever seen. One other boat in the bay, but a long way off. The jungle sounds are fantastic, as the area is known for it's parrots, sea birds, and others. We also heard numerous howler monkeys in the evening. Yesterday remained calm, and we lounged about, reading and catching up on needed sleep after the previous night's game of "Whack-a-Mole".

During the night, as forecast, the weather changed. We now have a "papagayo", a gap wind coming across from the Caribbean, similar to the "T-pecker" which we described a few weeks ago. It will likely keep blowing for the next several days, with typical gusts so far around 20-25 knots. No waves, though, so we're comfortable, and using the time to catch up with boat chores, reading, games and videos. Perhaps launch the dinghy tomorrow in the lulls, to explore some of the hikes on shore that we've heard about. The diving and snorkeling are supposed to be great around here as well, but we'll need to let the winds die down a bit before heading out of the bay.

Exploring Suchitoto

Along with crews from a few other boats staying at Bahia del Sol, we hired a van for a trip to Suchitoto, a pretty, colonial treasure of a town about 2-1/2 hours north of us.  The town is known for it's vibrant art community, with numerous small galleries and cooperatives scattered about. 
We stayed at an amazing little hotel, the Los Almendros de San Lorenzo.   Owned by Joaquin, the former El Salvadoran ambassador to France and his partner, the renovated hacienda was a like an intimate museum displaying the owners diverse and extremely high quality art collection in every nook and cranny.

Stencil seen on doorways of homes throughout Suchitoto

The town itself was in an area which served as a stronghold of the guerilla movement, the FMLN, fighting the U.S. backed military junta government during the bloody 12 year El Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992).  

"In this house, we want a life free from violence against women"

To this day the town shows a left leaning spirit, with women's rights issues, Catholic sisters working for the rights of the poor, and other indicators that the movement, while no longer violent in El Salvador, remains a watchdog for human rights and land reform.  

The Bravo crew spent one evening enjoying a few beers at the El Necio bar, a funky pub owned by Jerry, a former guerilla, with leftist posters on all walls, and flags of communist countries hanging from the ceiling.  Reminded Adam of coffee houses in Greenwich Village in the 60's and 70's.  Given the recent history, though, this had a much more real feel to it.


 

Monument to the FMLN in a local park.  Check out the little hollow on the ground below the sculpture.  (see detail below)

 Cindi enjoyed an afternoon at a women's cooperative, where they raise money making a variety of crafts with indigo, a natural dye from plants harvested in the region.  
Together with a few of the other women we traveled with, they learned to make tie dyed indigo scarves.

  

 
 

The town of Suchitoto is very well preserved, as both sides during the war agreed to spare the buildings from destruction.  We enjoyed our walks around, exploring the little side streets as we made our way down toward the lake below.  

Cindi, with the weight of the world on her shoulders!

A delightful mix of old and new technologies!!!

 All in all, this was a great excursion, where we learned more about El Salvador, her people, and history, within the context of a pretty, unique little town.

'Bravo' Stars in a "BEE" Movie!!!

Over the past 4 or 5 days, Bravo has been involved in a seemingly insurmountable battle against a swarm of honey bees.  One morning, a few scouts came aboard, and evidently liked what they found.  The next morning there were a few more, and then more, and more still.  Now, your trusty 'Bravo' team has nothing against bees, per se.  In fact, Adam used to have a few hives of his own.

Adam zaps a few of the early scouts.

But when we're waking up to 10-20 in the cabin, things have gone too far!!!

"Houston, we've got a problem!!!"

We borrowed a pail of shredded coconuts from the marina, and lit it with a torch to smoke the lil demons out.  This seemed to have the desired effect.  Success!!!   Ummmmm.....not so fast!!!

We looked outside, and they had swarmed to the aft rail, around a fender and the GPS antennas.  Their queen must have been there, and the gang was rallying to her defense!  There were hundreds if not thousands of the little buggers.

Things were looking pretty grim aboard the good ship, until Dena, a "bee whisperer" and fellow cruiser from the boat Talaria heard of our plight.  It seems Dena's family used to be commercial bee keepers, and as a girl, she put in many an hour dealing with swarms.  She jumped into the fray like a real trooper, trying to sweep the rascals into a bucket.  Bare handed, I might add.  This girl has cajones!!!

Well, 'plan A' didn't work out too well.  Several bee stings later, it was time to bring out the big guns.  After dark, when the bees were catching a few zzzzz's, we fired up 'Bravo's' shop vacuum, and went deep!!!  Sucked literally a couple of pounds of bees into the vac, and bundled the whole thing into a garbage bag.




The next day, they were back.  We vacuumed up more with a friends vac, and added a bit of Raid to the garbage sacks, to hasten the passage of the pesky beasts to the happy hive in the sky.

Took a few more days till they got the message, but happily, for today, 'Bravo' is a bee free zone!!!  Hopefully this story will need no update!!!   Case closed!!!

El Salvador rambles

El Salvador navy.....a Vietnam relic.....Apocalypse Now, 2012 edition!!!

We've been really enjoying our explorations of nearby towns around Bahia del Sol.  As we reported a few days ago, we took the dinghy up the estuary to Herradura, a little fishing village on the water.  Just got a few photos back from the lab...

Food court at the market...served in baggies w/ a fork.....tasty business!!!

Internet cafe

Herradura recycling center

Two days ago we took the bus to visit the small city of Zacatecoluca.  About 2 hours away, this bustling city gave us a good taste of the local landscape.  The bus ride itself is quite a scene.  Much like the Tokyo subways, they have a guy who's job it is to pack as many aboard as possible.  We stood for about 1-1/4 hours before we could grab a seat.  Counted about 120 people total on the old school bus!!!  Vendors come aboard often, pushing their way down the aisle through the crowd, selling water in baggies, papusas (a local delicacy...a thick corn tortilla filled with bean paste), vegetables, and other treats.  Then the conductor climbs over people, both sitting and standing, continually shaking his change bag to collect fares.  You know how in the US you see women putting on makeup in their rear view mirror as they drive???  Here we had a woman on the bus putting on deodorant in the 90 degree heat.  How considerate of her fellow travelers!!!  Great stuff!!!

Mass transit, Zacatecoluca style

Typical Zacatecoluca street scene

Cindi especially liked the pharmacy at the central market!  "Que necesita???  Tenemos!!!"  (what do you need??...we have it!!!)