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Monthly Archives: March 2016

Bahia del Sol, El Salvador

25 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Cindy in Uncategorized

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Bahia del Sol, cruising to Panama, El Salvador rally

We spent a nice Sunday afternoon at Casa L & L, the home of Lynn and Lou expats from Carmichael California. They own a lovely casa on the estuary and every Sunday invite cruisers and other expats for a barbecue and some pool time. We bring something to grill and something to share. It is a fun way to meet people and relax away from the boat for a few hours. On Easter Sunday we are all bringing deviled eggs to share. I need to do some internet research to see if I can find something a little different with the ingredients we have on board. There is a fine line between creative and yucky.

Casa L&L

Casa L&L

Casa L&L

Casa L&L

Casa L&L

Casa L&L

I guess we’ve been spoiled in Mexico with a market or grocery store within walking distance or a short bus or taxi ride away. We have a few options here but they take much more effort and in this heat I mean effort! After eating all the protein we had in the freezer, we had no choice but to do one of the options. Our first choice was to take the dinghy four miles up the estuary to La Herradura a small village with a grocery store and a open market. The challenge for us is our outboard is only 6 hp so we have to time going upstream and back with the tide. And if you’ve read previous posts you know our outboard has conked out and refused to start a few times. So with that in mind we took a test run and sure enough we got out in the middle of the estuary and it died and would not start. We were smart enough to head out against the tide so we drifted/rowed back to the boat. On to our second choice. A 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Zacatecoluca. Sounds easy but it also involved a transfer at a place called Arco unless we took the ‘direct’ bus that took two hours. So off we went with directions from fellow cruisers on how to transfer busses. Get off at Arco and walk up the right side of the bridge to the road above and catch the 133. I always write on a piece of paper the name of the place we are trying to get to. With the help of the bus driver and his attendant, we got off at Arco and using hand motions they also told us to walk up the side of the bridge. When we got to the bridge it looked like we were walking into someones backyard. But following someone else willing to help, up the steps we went and sure enough there was a bus stop. We then boarded the most crowded bus we have ever been on. I spent the next half hour sitting beside the driver with my back against the rod that opens and closes the door. Gary was standing on the stairs and when others boarded (yes they let more on), he had to sit up on top of the bars in front of the first row of seats to get out of the way. This is no way to travel even for 50 cents! I can’t say much about Zacatecoluca. We shopped and went in search of the bus station and found the ‘direct’ bus back to the marina. This seemed the best option because we had been warned that the busses at Arco may stop running later in the afternoon. Would not want to be stranded there! We scored seats the whole way back and it took only ten minutes longer than the bus there.

This is the ‘193’ direct bus from Zacatecoluca, El Salvador to Bahia del Sol (the Costa del Sol bus).  While we sat at the station and when we pulled in to stops, vendors walk up and down the isle selling everything from food, drinks, and I even saw someone selling toothpaste.  This is an old school bus from the USA.  The seats are made for little kids!

This is the ‘193’ direct bus from Zacatecoluca, El Salvador to Bahia del Sol (the Costa del Sol bus). While we sat at the station and when we pulled in to stops, vendors walk up and down the isle selling everything from food, drinks, and I even saw someone selling toothpaste. This is an old school bus from the USA. The seats are made for little kids!

So we are set food wise for awhile. The outboard is back running. I’m the one who hooks the gas up and I screwed something up. Which was a bummer because we missed out on an invite to happy hour at Bill and Jean’s.

Passage to El Salvador for the Cruisers Rally

18 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Cindy in Uncategorized

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cruising the Pacific coast, cruising to Bahia del Sol, cruising to Panama, El Salvador, El Salvador rally, the bar at Bahia del Sol

We crossed into the waters off Guatemala at 1:05 pm on March 15th. We really love Mexico but it felt great to be moving on to a new country. We have plans to tour Guatemala but since the port on the Pacific side is not friendly to cruisers, we sailed a two night passage directly to Bahia del Sol in El Salvador. We had calm seas and light winds the entire time but we did get in some decent sailing without the motor running. A rare occurrence on the pacific coast.

Volcanos line the coast of Guatemala. We were 10 miles offshore trying to get away from the fishing panga’s (no luck there) so while we couldn’t see the outline of them, we did see the smoke and at night the glow.

Bahia del Sol is in an estuary behind a sand bar that requires a local pilot to help you navigate through safely. The pilot will do this only during high slack tide in daylight hours. We timed it so we would arrive well before the scheduled time of 9:40 am so we wouldn’t be late and miss the window. Missing the window means anchoring off a beach open to the pacific ocean well back of the surf but close enough that you have enough chain to hold. Not my idea of a fun night.

Bill and Jean organize the cruisers rally that we will be participating in. For every cruiser entering the bar during the year, Bill comes out with the pilot and relays his instructions to us over the VHF radio. While 99.9% make it safely, the day before an underpowered sailboat sunk (the sole occupant is okay). So when the surf is up as it was on this day, there are risks. At 9:40 with Sereno just a few yards from the surf and the pilot boat right in front of us we put the peddle to the metal and proceed full steam ahead.

I think pictures speak a thousand words so here is our bar adventure.

Sereno II surfing the waves.

Sereno II surfing the waves.

A wave caught our stern pushing our bow to port and Gary temporarily lost steering.

A wave caught our stern pushing our bow to port and Gary temporarily lost steering.

Here we are in a short lull but we had gone way too far to the left heading for shallows.  The pilot had us make a sharp turn to starboard to avoid going aground.  We got hit broadside by a wave knocking us over about 40 degrees.  But Sereno knew what to do and she bobbed back up and Gary quickly brought us around perpendicular to the waves again in time for the next set.  All was good and we motored into the estuary.

Here we are in a short lull but we had gone way too far to the left heading for shallows. The pilot had us make a sharp turn to starboard to avoid going aground. We got hit broadside by a wave knocking us over about 40 degrees. But Sereno knew what to do and she bobbed back up and Gary quickly brought us around perpendicular to the waves again in time for the next set. All was good and we motored into the estuary.

I can’t say enough about Bill and the pilot for their directions in getting us safely over.  They are in a panga riding through the surf with a boat coming at them. Yikes! And of course a big thank you to my Captain for piloting us through and keeping us safe.

After a two night passage and a drama filled entry, we decided to relax in the cockpit taking in the scenery.  That is until Gary said ‘Now I know how Tom Hanks felt in Cast Away’.  Oh yea, we have to go back over the bar to leave!

Chiapas, Mexico

14 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by Cindy in Uncategorized

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El Salvador rally, Marina Chiapas, Puerto Chiapas, sailing to El Salvador, Sailing to Panama

We’ve been laying low in Marina Chiapas preparing for our exit out of North America and Mexico. Since we’ve done quite a bit of inland travel in Mexico the last two years and plan to do a lot in Central America, we decided to forgo any traveling here. As luck would have it, the sailboat Yonder arrived yesterday heading north and we have been picking their brains on all things El Salvador and further south. What a wealth of information and they were very willing to give us the ins and outs.

Marina Chiapas is a bit remote requiring either an expensive taxi ride or an adventure in a collectivo, which is basically a van filled to the max with people. The collectivo’s cost about 1.50 USD, have no air conditioning, stop often and are ‘personalized’ by the drivers.

The front seat of the collectivo all decked out by the driver.  Lucky for us there was no music blasting out of the speakers.  For 20 pesos each, we got a ride to town.

The front seat of the collectivo all decked out by the driver. Lucky for us there was no music blasting out of the speakers. For 20 pesos each, we got a ride to town.

Puerto Chiapas is home to a fishing fleet with a fish processing plant as well as a coffee roasting facility that makes instant coffee. All that combines for some interesting smells and the water is actually the color of coffee. There are plans to build a hotel near the marina but I’m not sure what the draw would be for vacationers here. The restaurant on site is quite good and from what we observed locals are what is keeping that and the small convenience store open.

The marina staff here are awesome and provide a great service checking into and out of Mexico. They completed all our paperwork and drove us to four different places so we could check out of the country. It took three hours but without their help we would still be running around instead of working on this blog. Oh and they took Gary and our jerry cans to get fuel.

We are excited to be moving on to El Salvador and the rally. We have our ‘appointment’ all lined up to cross the bar. Thank you Jeff on Third Wish for the good conversation on our last evening in Mexico.

Gulf of Tehuantepec 

10 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by Cindy in Uncategorized

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Marina Chiapas, sailing the pacific of Mexico, sailing to El Salvador, Sailing to Panama, Tehuantepec

So happy to have the Gulf of Tehuantepec behind us.  We watched it blowing gale force for weeks with hardly any break and then we got the three day window we were waiting for to cross the nearly 250 nm.   We had some wind to fill the sails our first day but on our second day the bay was as calm as a lake.  Apparently the sea turtles were tired from weeks of big seas because we saw hundreds of them on the surface sleeping that day.  Instead of going around long lines we were steering around turtles, which was a lot more fun.  We also saw for the first time shrimp swimming on the surface.  I was thinking dinner but as Gary pointed out, we don’t have a net on board to catch them.  Ugh, they would have been so tasty with a nice cold one.

The only issue we had with this crossing was we were going too fast.  Even though we slowed the boat down and Gary had to dodge shrimping boats for two hours we still reached the marina around midnight the second night.  We never enter an unknown harbor in the dark so we spent the next six hours hanging outside.We are currently in our last Mexican port in Marina Chiapas, fifteen miles from Guatamala.  It is hot and we are so happy we stayed in San Diego a little longer to install the air conditioner.

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