|
|
Here's John taking a little swig before he sends Neptune off with his tribute...
and here's the king of the deep himself, Neptune.
Neptune came aboard NAKIA this morning to supervise the inauguration of three Pollywogs into the ranks of the Shellbacks as we crossed the equator. He was resplendent sitting on his throne of sea foam, in a cape made of blue from the abyss, holding his trident, and wearing a crown of silver made by the denizens of the deep. (The crown was a little crude because the denizens don't have thumbs, but Neptune doesn't mind and wore it at a jaunty angle). He posed for a picture against a backdrop of golden sun. We will post the picture shortly for you land dwellers. He left with tribute from the crew: a bottle of Damiana which he shared with John, some cream cookies that he shared with Linda, and his likeness which he shared with Ziggy.
Shortly after crossing the 'the line' we set sail to make for our land fall at Cabo Pasado. Finally, the wind came aft of the beam and we were reminded how well NAKIA sails. Either the bucket that was tied to the keel fell off some time this morning or the current finally let go of us, and we had our best sail of the passage covering 36 miles in 6 hours an average of 6 knots! Compared to the 3.5 knot averages of the last couple days it felt pretty good to be sailing fast again.
We dropped anchor shortly before sunset and started the water heater to take hot showers in celebration.
(Note: only a 10 hour day)
Distance traveled: 55 nautical miles
Distance made good (towards our destination): 49 nautical miles
3 hours motoring, 7 hours sailing
John and Linda
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?0,21.708,S,80,28.610,W,Cabo%20Pasado,
Well, I guess we're beginning to understand what people mean when they say Ecuador has weather "just like San Diego." Once we hit the Humboldt current we saw a completely new pattern emerge. Most of the time there's a marine layer which might break just enough in the afternoon for a glimpse of the sun. Then you get a day like Sunday when the rising sun just barely kept its head above the clouds until it burned them off entirely and we had a crystal clear blue sky, blue sea day again. Then it started rolling in again in the afternoon until it cleared off later that night. The great thing now is that even when you're standing in the Noon sun, the breeze is nice and cool. John actually broke out his favorite fleece jacket for night watches. It's reminding us very much of the California coast.
We had a great day of sailing, and even put the wind vane on to steer instead of the auto pilot for a change. We weren't able to go straight to our waypoint, but it was nice to be sailing along at a reasonable pace again. The wind shifted against us and then subsided so we put the pedal to the metal in the late afternoon to try to eat up some more miles.
My sister wrote that it's hard to imagine that we're out here so far from land (and home), and the weird thing is that it's often hard for us to grasp that idea too. Nakia has been our home for over 16 years so it's old familiar territory, and it's only our back yard that's constantly changing. Since we're always "home" do we ever really leave home? I think it kind of takes the edge off of visiting new places to have your home travel with you. But it also means never completely getting out of your comfort zone to have a familiar place to return to at the end of each day. This might make us take our adventures a bit for granted, especially when we stay in one place (like Mexico) for so long. And so what may sound exotic to someone else, is just our life. We're not on vacation, we're still doing the dishes, cleaning the toilet, fixing things that break, cooking meals, socializing with friends, and learning new things, just like everyone else. We're just doing all those normal things in foreign countries afloat in a boat.
Funny the things that pop into your head. This morning I came on watch at 0400 and found myself singing (to the tune of "Shenandoah"), "Oh, Ecuador, I long to seeeee you!"
Distance traveled: 96 nautical miles
Distance made good (towards our destination): 87 nautical miles
14.5 hours motoring, 9.5 hours sailing
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?0,06.749,N,81,13.692,W,Day%20Seven,
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading this!
We had a bit of excitement Saturday morning when we started hearing whistles and odd cries. I thought it was birds (which shows you how out of it I am!), but John leapt up and ran on deck to find three guys in an open panga waving at the fishing gear they were frantically pulling in so that we wouldn't run over it. This was the first boat of any kind we've seen since we left on Monday. They were sooo nice, all smiles and waves, as we quickly rolled up the jib and started the motor to avoid the tail end of the long line. John asked how many days they had been out fishing and they told us 15 days! And this is over 200 miles from the nearest land. We passed over some cold Cokes, and decided we'd better quit feeling sorry for ourselves at that moment.
Ziggy had us worried after refusing food and water for over 24 hours, even turning up his nose at tuna water (drinking water with a little water from a tuna can) which he's never passed up before. I finally got him to take some of it in the afternoon, after which he actually got out of bed and ate a few bites of his kibble. He took a cautious walk around the boat, and I know he would like to play, but the motion is too rough and he has nothing to hang on with. We'll keep trying the tuna water and hope that the seas flatten out enough for him to perk up.
We took showers while we were motoring and not heeled over sailing. It was still a little bouncy but that's what the seat and grip rail are for. We are obviously in the Humboldt current now because our tank water is cold again. We are so disappointed not to have been able to watch that temperature transition on the fish finder, and will have to get it fixed before we go back north to Panama this winter.
After consulting our bird guide, "Seabirds" by Peter Harrison, we're fairly certain that the new birds we've seen on this trip are the masked boobie and the swallow-tailed gull. We've had up to 10 of the latter birds follow us at night to fish for squid attracted to the glow of Nakia's running lights. Ziggy sure knows when one of those little squid (only up to about six inches) lands in the cockpit. Last night he managed to sneak by me with one in his mouth and carried it into the cabin. I feel terrible about taking them away from him, but I'm not sure an entire raw squid is good for him, and I really don't want to find out when his stomach decides it isn't...
The past couple of nights have been cloudy with only a few stars visible now and then but last night was clear until 2200 with clouds only low on the horizon. We'd hoped to take one last look at Polaris (the North Star) but it seems we've seen the last of it until we return to the northern hemisphere next year. Polaris is just too close to the horizon for us to see above the clouds. We had some sun in the afternoon yesterday, but it was overcast and grey the rest of the day. This has meant cooler temperatures (79-81) which has been nice for a change. A few more sprinkles but no serious rain, and just some overhead cloud lightning at night.
Distance traveled: 89 nautical miles
Distance made good (towards our destination): 78 nautical miles
12 hours motoring, 12 hours sailing
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?1,08.517,N,83,10.750,W,Day%20Six,
Now I know why those cruisers less delusional than me looked at me doubtfully when I described our plan to "bounce back and forth between Ecuador and Costa Rica/Panama just like we've done with the Sea of Cortez and mainland Mexico." Because once you've done the passage to Ecuador you'd have to be insane to do it again (no offense Iwa and Secret o' Life). It might be more comfortable and less of a strain on a boat and crew in a bigger, more weatherly boat than Nakia, but here we are again, bashing into head winds and seas, going nowhere very slowly. My current knee jerk reaction is to live in Ecuador permanently, sight unseen, or bash back to Mexico next spring. But I sure don't see any more long distance passage making to unknown ports in my future.
How on earth do really old people do this (no offense old people)? It's a huge effort just to move about the boat, hanging on with both hands and still getting slammed into things. I washed my face at the sink with one hand Friday morning so I could brace myself from being thrown across the cabin with the other. Going to the bathroom requires strength of will, let alone doing something more complicated like making a sandwich. It's bad enough just motoring, where you have basically two motions - forward pitching and side to side rolling. But when you add hard on the wind sailing to that equation you get a herky jerky motion in the extreme heel on top of the rest that's enough to knock you off your feet. The bow coming off the top of a big wave slams into the water with a bang as if we've hit one of those logs we saw earlier in the trip.
John anxiously pores over the weather faxes and files in an attempt to figure out what to do to get us out of this mess while lining up the best possible outcome for the final days before landfall. We don't want to go too far east yet in case we get more south winds before we've gone far enough south. And there's a wicked north bound current as we close with the coast that we don't want to be north of either. It's almost like reading tea leaves, you just can't predict what's going to happen.
There are also issues with where we planned to spend the summer once we arrived in Ecuador. We have a reservation for a mooring in Saiananda, which is a couple of miles up river from Bahia de Caraquez. It's a quiet retreat with a smaller community of boaters, lots of animals and birds on the premises, and secure moorings, and we were really looking forward to making this our summer home. If you have a Yahoo account and are interested in reading why we may be forced to stay at Puerto Amistad instead, go to Yahoo Groups and pull up the Southbounders list. Follow the recent thread on "Entry Procedure for Yachts in Bahia de Caraquez." Needless to say we are extremely bummed about this turn of events because we foolishly based most of our decision to go to Ecuador on the premise that we would be staying in Saiananda.
So if we'd had a crystal ball to see the events of the past couple of weeks, would we be where we are now? No, we'd probably be in the Sea of Cortez enjoying another summer in Mexico. However we're hoping Ecuador will turn out to be as fabulous as everyone says it is, making it all worth it.
Ziggy refused his kibble Friday night for the first time in his life. Not sure what the problem is there. He managed to eat half a small squid later that he found in the cockpit. He's become quite the flying fish and squid alarm. He manages to hear the fish hit the side decks and races for the nearest porthole and then out the companionway. He has to be out in the cockpit to see the squid hop in since they are more slippery silent. It's too bad all this action occurs at night when we keep him on a tight leash in the cockpit. But it keeps us on our toes when we hear his little bell jingle.
Distance traveled: 95 nautical miles
Distance made good (towards our destination): 74 nautical miles
9 hours motoring, 14 hours sailing, 1 hour hove to
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?2,08.517,N,83,10.750,W,Day%20Five,
Cloudy, rainy, windy (not terribly windy but enough to make progress uncomfortable)...
So much for our nice motor sail over calm water. We finally made our turn towards Ecuador early Thursday morning and ever since it's been a struggle. Nothing dangerous, but NAKIA is not very good at sailing into the wind. 320 miles to go as of Friday 1200 UTC, hopefully it will get better.
Distance traveled: 86 nautical miles
Distance made good: 73 nautical miles
9 hours motoring, 14 hours sailing, 1 hove-to
John and Linda
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?2,59.222,N,84,04.752,W,Day%20Four,
On Wednesday I woke up at Noon to go on watch and my eyes felt gritty for the first time. They will feel like this for the rest of the passage as my sleep deficit begins to grow. The bad thing is that we haven't had to do anything to tire us out yet since we're not even sailing. But at this point the most important thing becomes the ability to sleep on your off watch. Our watch schedule is our usual:
0700-1200 John
1200-1700 Linda
1700-2100 John
2100-0100 Linda
0100-0400 John
0400-0700 Linda (my favorite because of sunrise)
John checks in to the Panama-Pacific SSB radio net at 0800 and, because our auto pilot goes wacky when we transmit on the radio, I have to steer while he does this. So I don't usually get to bed until 0900 for that off watch. Then John loses about the same amount of time or more during his afternoon off watch from pulling weather faxes off the radio and sail handling or navigating. It seems like there's always something to keep him up. Plus it's usually too hot by then for him to be able to sleep well. Then there are those pesky things like eating and personal hygiene eating up your precious sleep time.
John got about an hour of sleep Wednesday afternoon before I had to get him up to zig-zag around a few rain clouds. That morning we woke to an almost clear sky with just a few small rows of cloud on the horizon. But by mid-afternoon we were into a row of gray clouds, some of them obviously raining. We didn't see any lightning but you never know what kind of wind is underneath them so we chose to avoid them. Afterwards we wondered if we might have missed out on an easy boat wash!
Earlier in the day, when the skies were still clear and the ocean was glassy calm John spotted a large object off in the distance. We usually don't divert for floating junk, but this was too big to pass by without investigating. It turned out to be a huge tree trunk with the root base floating on its side. Two large black and white boobies (a new kind we've only seen on this trip) were sitting up on the top edge of it, and as we drew closer we could see fish and over half a dozen 3' sharks in the water beneath it. The water was crystal clear and it was so amazing to see the fish swimming from the tree over to their new home base, Nakia. We took some pictures and then had to leave them behind as we sped off south again.
It was soon after our diversion that the weather changed so dramatically. Once we were clear of all the rain John decided it was time to change the engine oil. So we rolled out the jib and shut off the engine to enjoy an hour of blessed silence. John toiled over the hot engine while I walked Ziggy on deck as we slowly drifted along at about two knots. When he was finished with that chore we got to take showers!! Man, did it ever feel good to get clean again, even if I'm sweating already as I write this four hours later.
Distance made good:110
23 hours motoring, 1 hours sailing
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?5,42.525,N,85,08.650,W,Day%20Three,
The brilliant blue of the sky overhead fades to a pale baby blue as it brushes the horizon. The ocean is a sparkling blue green with indigo patches of shade from the clouds above. The sky is mostly clear with a ring of raw cotton clouds low on the horizon. We watch in fascination as the puffy white clouds shape shift. They are beautiful in spite of the hint of menace behind each one. Dolphins pay a brief afternoon visit, going airborne directly in front of Nakia's bow, making it the "splash zone" on an E-ticket ride.
This morning we changed jibs from small to large in hopes of eventually sailing. It's hot in the cabin (high 80s) during the day making it hard to nap even with all the fans pointed right at us. We try to stay on deck in the shade of the sails where the breeze is coolest.
Monday we passed three fishing vessels but saw no boats on Tuesday. We went through a patch of water thick with jellies and saw two turtles making a fine meal of them. John saw a few whales, and a booby tried roosting on our solar panel before I tipped him off. We encountered a strange convergence of currents, creating what we call "jumping waters" similar to something we saw north of Bahia de Los Angeles one year. After we were through that we saw a minefield of logs, some of them obviously trees. Fortunately those seemed to disappear before sunset.
Life is very slow on Nakia during passages. We concentrate on trying to get enough sleep, eating when we feel like it, and watching the world go by (very slowly). Ziggy sleeps and strolls the deck when it's calm enough. The noise of the engine has everyone's ears ringing, and Ziggy actually escaped to the cool and quiet of the sink in our forward head. I didn't think he could still fit, but he curled up tight and managed to squeeze in.
I don't think an hour goes by that we don't see one or more pieces of plastic garbage floating on the surface of the water - a milk crate, a styrofoam cup, plastic wrappers, bottle tops, and mostly bottles in all shapes and sizes.
Last night we heard a couple of small thunks meaning we probably hit two small pieces of wood in the dark.
We had a favorable current most of the night which is still with us this morning. Our top cruising speed is at 2,000 RPMs but in conservation mode we keep it at 1,800. With the help of the current we can cut this back to 1,700 and still make 5-6 knots over the ground. This is nice but a 10-12 knot sailing breeze out of the west would be even better!
Nautical miles covered: 130
Water Temp: 81-85 degrees (our Furuno LS-6000 fish finder, which we use as our depth sounder, went on the fritz this morning; everything but the water temp reading is fine, but we're getting water temps of 99 and 100 degrees now)
24 hours motoring, 0 hours sailing
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?5,42.525,N,85,08.650,W,Day%20Two,
A starlit night so bright that I saw a piece of white plastic trash lit up against the glassy ocean. The southern cross like a beacon off our bow as we finally head due south (after so much easting, southeasting, and even northing). Dolphins making an occasional brief visit (weird how we can hear them so well through the toilet!). No lightning or rain yet, although we saw some of the latter under one or two clouds off in the distance. The rain clouds show up well on radar, but so far they are few and far apart so we're able to skirt them. And we had enough wind yesterday to sail 6.5 hours. Not much but we're anxious to get through the convection as quickly as possible before we relax and take things easy.
Nautical miles covered: 112
Water Temp: 82 degrees
18 hours motoring, 6 hours sailing
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?7,52.554,N,85,02.730,W,Day%20One,
Saturday morning we had a slow sail against the current to our last stop in Costa Rica this year. We're anchored close to the fishing pier in Bahia Ballena right in front of a row of small houses built out on pilings over the beach. They look a little ramshackle from a distance but we took a walk on the road behind them today and they have lovely landscaped yards and gardens. The hibiscus is in bloom and people have planted a wide variety of ti plants in all different vibrant colors.
John dropped me off on shore after we arrived yesterday so that I could walk the short trip to the local grocery store in Tambor. Charlie's Charts (our guidebook) is overstating things by calling it a super mercado, but I guess it's a step above a tienda. Unfortunately we missed an organic produce market that is supposedly run on Saturday mornings. The Tambor mercado (Super Lapa) had a number of surprising items (Nutella, sliced dill pickles, and a healthy liquor section) but was woefully bereft of fresh produce. I bought some tired broccoli and a few green tomatoes (hoping they'll last for the passage), and two big pineapples that haven't started to ferment yet.
Those will last us awhile after we eat the two beautiful mangoes that Carmen, on Isla Jesusita, gave us. Thursday, May 1, we went for dinghy ride around the two islands and stopped in at the house we were anchored off of to see if they wanted a jerry jug we were no longer using because of a small crack it had developed. They were happy to take it off our hands and we made the acquaintance of Angel (the grandfather), Carmen (grandma), Alexander (son), and his son Brandon. Alexander's wife and newborn baby were up at their house on the hill. They kindly invited us back later for fried fish or to walk the roads and trails from their property, but we were getting ready to leave soon. We'll look forward to returning for a longer visit with them next year.
We thanked Carmen again for the mangoes, launched the dinghy, and went around to the south side of the island looking for the howler monkeys we'd seen through binoculars from the boat. Jackpot! We counted 20 monkeys, including babies clinging to their mother's backs, in the trees above our heads. They didn't seem disturbed by our presence so we got a nice long look at them before quietly rowing away.
It's amazing how the weather has changed since we left Puntarenas. The days are consistently cloudy now, with rain every night. Sometimes it's just a sprinkle but there are times like last night when it poured for a short while. So we get up and close all the hatches and portholes and then go back to bed. The flies have been noticeable after all the rain, but we haven't had too much of a problem with no-see-ums or mosquitos yet.
And now a word about garbage. For as progressively "eco" as Costa Rica is touted as being we have come to the conclusion that we've seen more garbage in the water and on the beaches here than anywhere else, including Mexico. I can't recall seeing any educational signs or slogans in Costa Rica asking people not to litter - we saw these everywhere in Mexico. We have been dismayed to find that a literate, eco-friendly, tourist oriented country could have such a huge problem with trash on its beaches and in its waters, and not appear to be doing anything to correct it.
Costa Rica has a beautiful coastline with friendly people, and we hope to return for another visit next year.
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?9,42.957,N,85,00.557,W,Bahia%20Ballena,
John completed the checkout process Monday morning. It was probably the most difficult one yet because it was split between offices in Puntarenas and the nearby commercial port of Caldera. For anyone who is interested, John wrote a detailed description of each step required to checkout of Costa Rica from Puntarenas and posted it to the Southbounders group on Yahoo yesterday.
We enjoyed our stay at the CRYC very much, and got a huge internet fix there. Laundry was still expensive at $1/pound but using the hose on our float I was able to do a small amount of bucket laundry. It was nice to have the opportunity to rinse out salty shoes and hats, but the water pressure was very low so we skipped doing a full boat wash.
Ziggy loved having the extra "real estate" of the float and an unoccupied boat tied up on the opposite side to explore. He became quite adept at catching the small crabs that climbed the mooring lines. We didn't mind him playing with them on deck and then eating them, but we drew the line at him bringing them down below to run around on the cabin sole. He also did the neighbor boat a favor by knocking down an old bird nest which had been tucked under their main sail cover.
Buses to Puntarenas (heading west towards the end of the spit) were inexpensive, frequent, and stopped right outside the CRYC gate. We found decent shopping at the Super Mega and Pali grocery stores, though neither is as nice as the Luperon store in Playas del Coco. John bought a new lightning protection system in the form of jumper cables from a great little auto parts store we found by asking around (who knew "jumper cables" translates to "cawbless de yumper" in Spanish?). There's a very complete pet supply store/vet just down from the Pali, and I bought another 20 lb. bag of Tidy Cat litter because it was almost the same price as in the States. With over 80 lbs. of cat litter now stowed aboard Nakia, I don't think John will let me buy any more - but who wants to run out of cat litter in the middle of nowhere!? I'll feel better about using it all up once we find some in Ecuador.
The only form of street food we saw were takeout empanadas - fried pocket breads with fillings of beans, cheese, potatoes, or meat. We ate too many of the flaky fruit pastries at Musani, PPK (Pan Per Kilo), and another panaderia, and we stocked up on high quality Zaragoza sandwich meats at a nice meat store on the same street. Terry, on Secret o' Life, was in the mood for pizza so we joined him at La Terrazza one night. The Fantasia pizza (bacon, garlic, onion, sweet chilies) was so good that we all returned a few nights later along with Shared Dreams (Frank and Gisela) and Caravan (Gene, Vici, and Fiona). John and Terry had calzones (a small is too small but a large is big enough to have leftovers) which were tasty but needed some marinara sauce on the side. Eight year old Fiona had a huge plate of spaghetti with butter (hold the garlic) and Parmesan cheese. Frank also had a generous plate of spaghetti de carne and I had "lasana de carne" in which I actually detected the nutmeg flavor of a bechamel sauce! It was very cheesy but I was thrilled. La Terrazza was a great find and we would definitely return for more. We also ate at the CRYC where the best deal on the menu is their fish sandwich with fries. Terry says their steaks are excellent but we didn't have time to get to those during this visit.
After topping up our water and fuel tanks we're ready to go, but from the satellite photos it looks like rainy season hasn't ended yet in Ecuador. We've had a little rain (and lightning off in the distance) for the past two nights but we're in no hurry to leave here while the weather is still decent. And although we don't make a practice of buddy boating we may wait for Terry's boat to get out of the yard and back in the water before we start our passage. John estimates it will take us about eight days to get to Ecuador so it wouldn't hurt to have another boat out there in the general vicinity for company.
A big Happy Birthday to one of our loyal readers in Santiago Bay! You know we wish we could be there to help you celebrate!
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?9,50.644,N,84,53.104,W,Isla%20Jesusita,
There's no longer any room to anchor, nor would you probably want to in the swift current which changes direction with the tides. CRYC has moorings for shallow draft boats and "docks" for deeper draft boats. The docks are wooden floats anchored fore and aft, and are just long enough to tie two boats up on either side. Nakia is 42' overall and we're hanging over at both ends. We were told that the reason for docks is so that when the tide goes out the boat will be tied in place and won't heel over as much when its keel is resting in the mud! At low tide this morning the top of our rudder was exposed by about eight inches and we were listing a bit to starboard (we're tied up on our port side). Hopefully that's as bad as it will get since the moon is past full now.
We're getting WiFi at the boat, there are nice showers on shore, we don't have electricity but there's a hose on our float, and we have a free lightning show off in the distance almost every night (but so far no more rain since Playas del Coco). This morning John struggled in the small space of the lazarette to fix our salt water pump, and now he's in the process of jerry jugging diesel so we don't have to mess with tides and currents to get Nakia to the fuel dock and then back to our float again. We dropped our laundry off at the office this morning (still at $1/pound), and maybe we'll hop a bus into town tomorrow. We plan to be here until the end of the week.
Oh, I forgot to write that on the 17th I let Ziggy out of the Pullman porthole at 3:30 AM. A little later I heard a scuffle on deck and he bounded back through the porthole, and then I must have fallen back asleep. John heard him playing wildly with something and got up to investigate. He had cornered a large turtle dove under the saloon table which John caught and released (hopefully it made it to a safe tree back on shore). Later that same morning I was making banana bread which called for six tablespoons of melted butter. Said melted butter was in a measuring cup on the galley counter and, when my attention was elsewhere, Ziggy jumped up and started lapping away at it. In my hasty "NO, Ziggy!" I managed to knock over the cup and Ziggy had two very buttery paws for the rest of the day. Maybe we should have named him Butters...
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?9,58.918,N,84,47.690,W,Puntarenas,
We decided to bypass Bahia Ballena which is open to the SSE. There was heavy wind chop blowing straight into the anchorage, and we didn't feel like spending another rolly night. It was only another 10 miles to the Islas Tortugas where we set the hook at 5 PM and jumped in for a much needed sunset swim.
According to our guide book the island is private property so we didn't go ashore the next morning. There is a large beach concession with canvas chaise lounges, umbrellas, volleyball, kayak and paddle boat rentals, a banana boat, and a Welcome sign mentioning "Eco Tours." Promptly at 9 AM the first tour panga disgorged happy tourists, followed by a stream of various craft including a charter sail boat and a huge power catamaran that looked like a sailing catamaran topped off with a sport fisher bridge deck. The latter was actually very cool (M/V Manta Raya). Fortunately we left Nakia at 9 AM to snorkel a few spots around the island, and we were back in the dinghy after our last snorkel just before three pangas pulled up to the same spot. It was so nice to be in clear, warm waters again (wait, how often have we had that combination?!), and we enjoyed seeing all the friendly fish (who were obviously used to being fed since they followed us like puppies).
This was a lovely spot, perfect for the weather conditions we had, and we hope to return to it again on our way out of the Gulf.
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?9,46.444,N,84,53.562,W,Islas%20Tortugas,
We were underway before sunrise on Friday for the 12 hour trip to Bahia Samara. The day was a mix of sailing and motoring with everything from flat calms to reefed sails, and 180 degree wind shifts. There were scores of mobula rays popping out of the waters around Isla Eyre at Punta Salinas, and we saw several black and yellow sea snakes, dolphins, and a few turtles. We had originally intended to go to Carrillo, which is the preferred anchorage, but we wanted to check out Samara along the way. Since we arrived at the latter late in the day, and it seemed fine, we decided to set the anchor for one night there.
Bahia Samara is a spectacular and scary anchorage to enter. It has one of the biggest reefs we've ever seen up close on its NW end, a smaller reef inside the bay to the NE, and an island with off lying rocks to the SE. Huge swells were breaking over the big reef creating a lot of wave chop in the anchorage off the village, so we chose to anchor between the island and the smaller reef where several pangas and small fishing boats were moored. We had a brief visit from Carlos and Enrique on the panga, Roca Bruja, on their way out for a night of fishing. They suggested we might be safer anchoring a bit closer in and away from the "window" between Isla Chora and Punta Indio if the north wind came up. It was rolly enough to use the rocker stopper but it was only very bad for an hour or two at the highest part of the tide. We had plenty of room and the bay was lovely.
The Roca Bruja stopped by Saturday morning to exchange a fish (sierra) for two liters of water and I threw in cold cans of soda and juice for each of the crew. Then we dinghied in through the small surf for a walk on shore, though we didn't go all the way to the village itself. This part of the coast is much greener and there are lots of beautiful new homes. We heard and saw several howler monkeys both in the trees along side the paved road and from the beach. After our walk we put the dinghy up on deck, hoisted the anchor, and headed a couple miles up the road to the next small bay, Bahia Carrillo. We had been warned that the best anchoring spot was full of moorings for small boats, but we were still very disappointed to see that there is next to no room left to anchor in the tiny protected cove in the SW corner of the bay. We started to head over to the opposite side of the bay, carefully skirting the underwater rocks noted on the chart (which were visible only by the glassy slick covering them), but it was quickly apparent that we were better off returning to Samara.
It was an especially hot day again with humidity in the mid-60s, and water back up to the low 80s. We were slamming down cold water as fast as the refrigerator could chill it, and John was especially overheated by all the sail handling. The trip could have been a waste of an afternoon, but the day was saved by a giant manta ray (8' wing span) which came gliding down the side of the boat just under the water's surface. It was absolutely magnificent, and is the only one we've seen since our first winter in Banderas Bay. Those are the kinds of things that really lift your spirits when you're hot and sweaty!
We're currently underway for Bahia Ballena in the Gulf of Nicoya.
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,26.972,N,85,46.674,W,Playa%20Potrero,
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?9,52.120,N,85,30.694,W,Bahia%20Samara,
I'm not really sure if that's the real name of the place where we're currently anchored, but it seems to fit seeing how there's a fancy hotel above the beach with a big sign saying 'Cristal'.
We ducked in here since the wind is blasting from the east and we hoped hills backing the beach and hotel would provide us some protection. It's working out ok, except the wind is very gusty and I know as soon as it shuts off tonight we'll be rolling terribly from the swell coming in from the south west. Oh well, there's good days and bad days...
But that's not why I'm writing this blog. Today is our Zenith day! So I thought I'd wish everyone else whose Latitude also happens to be around 10o 28'N "Happy Zenith Day" too. I'm sure you're wondering, what is Zenith Day. Well it's sort of complicated, but I'll try to explain.
Everyone who lives in the temperate zones of the world are familiar with the seasons of the year. In Winter the days are short and in Summer the days are long. This, of course, is caused by the tilt of the Earth on its axis. This tilt is about 23 degrees. The Sun, on the day of the Spring Equinox, is directly over the Equator and the length of the days all over the world is basically 12 hours (a little longer really, but we won't go into why now). As the year progresses, the Sun continues to climb higher in the Northern Hemisphere sky until the Summer Solstice at which point it will be over the Latitude of 23o 27'N. Northern Hemisphere days will be long and the Summer will be in full bloom. Of course it's all 'down hill' from there. After the Summer Solstice the Sun begins to recede to the South until the Winter Solstice, when it pauses over 23o 27'S before climbing back to the North.
Now, if you can picture the trek of the Sun as it makes it's way North and South, you may be able to picture NAKIA directly underneath it. Today. At about 12:42 local time. The Sun went directly over our heads, or passed through our Zenith (at least as close as it's going to get this year). Thankfully, as I said before, it's all down hill from here! While our days will not be getting shorter (we are, barely, still in the Northern Hemisphere where days are getting longer), we'll at least get a little break from having the blazing Sun DIRECTLY over our heads!
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,28.396,N,85,46.980,W,Playa%20Cristal,
Sunday we left Bahia del Coco for Bahia Huevos which had been highly recommended to us. At first we were delighted because it felt like a smaller version of Bahia Santa Elena, but after discovering that the road on the southern shore is private property guarded by men wearing Papagayo Peninsula T-shirts we weren't interested in staying more than one night. We anchored right in the middle of the bay and had no bugs come out to the boat at night. We heard many howler monkeys (yes, that's what the growling noise turned out to be) calling from all sides of the bay in the morning, and we finally saw four in the trees just inside the entrance to the mangrove river trip. Which was a good thing because we were immediately swarmed by a cloud of flies around our heads, cutting the river trip short. There were several interesting birds, but we couldn't stand to slow down for long to watch them. We visited a couple of the beaches but overall the water was green and murky so we didn't snorkel.
Yesterday we moved to Playa Panama to visit the Caravaners. We had them all over to Nakia last night (sans Clipper, the schipperke), and Fiona gave Ziggy a good play workout. This afternoon we're all going to the huge beach in spite of the gusty wind blasting away today.
Tomorrow morning John and I will depart for Bahia Brasilito to meet up with Robert and Virginia on Harmony so they can hand off our mail packet as they head north back to Mexico.
Then we'll be on the move to the Gulf of Nicoya, our last stopover in Costa Rica before sailing to Ecuador.
Linda and John
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,38.324,N,85,40.724,W,Bahia%20Huevos,
http://www.geocities.com/svnakia/map_app.htm?10,35.518,N,85,39.486,W,Playa%20Panama,
TIPS
We've heard that if you're not checked into or have already checked out of Costa Rica, the navy may kick you out of Bahia Santa Elena. This didn't seem to be the case as we saw only panga fishermen and a Guardia Costa (Coast Guard) boat which made a brief pass by both boats in the anchorage solely to ask us if everything was okay. Friends saw a park ranger on shore but were not asked to pay a fee.
High tides can go right up under the tree line at the beaches so be sure to lock/tie your dinghy to a tree. Conversely low tides expose the shore so you'll need your dinghy wheels.
The deer/horse flies and other bugs can be a nuisance so you might want to take/wear insect repellant.
There are lots of thorn trees so watch where you step especially in the dry brush on the beaches. Flip-flops are not recommended (I found out the hard way)!
Take plenty of drinking water, especially for the longer hikes. It was very hot and dry when we visited.
HIKE #1 (Falls and pools)
Wear shoes suitable for walking on dirt roads, rocks and boulders, and wading through water.
10 54.543'N 085 47.599'W Beach landing (at the SW end of the bay)
10 54.481'N 085 47.588'W Beach road T's at the main road (take a Left)
Cross two small (probably dry) stream beds.
10 54.339'N 085 47.167'W Road crosses third (and larger) stream bed (there's a palm tree on the right side of the road); turn Right to walk up the dry stream bed; we found water in the stream bed before we reached the fallen tree visible from the road.
10 54.032'N 085 47.159'W Falls and first swimming pool; there are a few smaller swimming pools up and over the falls if you feel like going farther.
HIKE #2 ("Monkey" road)
10 55.115'N 085 47.235'W Beach landing (at the SE end of the bay north of the mangrove rivers; it looks like a single lane launch ramp cut into the mangroves).
From where you've pulled your dinghy up high into the mangroves take a Right and follow the back of the mangroves around a rocky ledge to the dirt road. The rocky ledge may be under water at high tide. It might be possible to leave your dinghy tied off to the mangroves there (a stern anchor would help), although this is where tour pangas unload their bird-watching passengers so be sure to keep out of the way of their landing.
10 54.604'N 085 46.635'W Road crosses a large stream bed (it was before this point on two separate walks that we saw three spider monkeys in trees off to the right of the road; you will hear them first, if they're there).
10 54.360'N 085 46.515'W Road intersects the main road to the falls and Playa Blanca (to the right); we took a Left.
10 54.346'N 085 46.415'W Road crosses stream bed again (probably leading to one of the two mangrove "river" rides at the head of the bay, both of which are navigable in a dinghy at high tide).
There was another road forking off to the right which we didn't explore. This road is not on the chart.
10 54.310'N 085 46.074'W Top of the rise in the road (this is as far as we went; this road continues on towards Bahia Cuajiniquil and beyond).
HIKE #3 (Playa Blanca)
We recommend timing this hike to arrive at Playa Blanca during a low tide. The high water mark came right up to the tree line, and it would be very disappointing to have walked all that way and then not be able to walk the beach. We arrived to find sand flats, an estuary system walled off by the beach, no birds, and no shells. However the hike itself was interesting in that it passed through several varieties of vegetation, and crossed dry, rocky, river beds (which would be amazing to see during the rainy season).
10 55.338'N 085 49.116'W Beach landing (this beach is to the south of the rock islet, and the road is at the north end of the beach).
10 55.298'N 085 49.273'W Right turn at main road
10 56.272'N 085 51.701'W Road ends at Playa Blanca
SIDE TRIP FROM HIKE #1 OR #3
For a nice photo opportunity of the bay either turn towards Playa Blanca from the beach landing for the Falls hike, or turn towards the Falls from the Playa Blanca beach landing. The overlook is a little closer to the former.
10 54.833'N 085 48.261'W Scenic overlook to anchorage
We hope you enjoy your visit to the Bahia Santa Elena area of the Santa Rosa National Park as much as we did!
Linda and John
There are interesting noises at dawn and dusk that sound like a cross between a very loud bullfrog and a large cat growling repetitiously, as well as a long one tone hoooooot followed by the same thing in a different pitch. Perhaps these are the unseen howler monkeys? They are the first sounds of the morning followed by a jumble of bird song, and finally the sleepyhead parrots join the chorus before flying off to wherever they go for the day.
All in all it's been disappointing not to have been treated to an appearance by the mysterious howler monkeys, but we'll just have to console ourselves with the everyday sort of wildlife that has come our way so far...
Linda and John
For us (U.S. passports) the entry to El Salvador was only $10 per person to Migracion. All officials come to your boat immediately upon arrival and then you go to the office to check in with the club and to pay Migracion in their office on club property.
I can't answer your question about renewing your "permit" since I don't know what kind of a permit you need. We did not require an agent in El Salvador or Honduras for checking in/out of those countries. I understand Guatemala is a much more expensive process, as is Nicaragua.
Please include your email address, if you need additional information.
Thanks for contacting us,
Linda and John