Our rudder bearing can only be accessed from below, so we will haul out in Mexico before our departure across to the Pacific. It isn’t causing any immediate problems at the moment so we will wait.
Thursday morning we left for Bahia Santa Elena - a large bay some 50 miles north of Playa de Coco. We had to cross the notorious Golfo De Papagayo known for its high winds & sharp waves. The Papagayo wind is a north to northeasterly wind which periodically blows through the gap in the mountain ranges of Costa Rica near Lake Nicaragua. We experienced 35 knot winds with 50 knot gusts & got completely hammered. While we were battling against the wind our winch which holds the headsail furling line gave way & we had a full headsail flapping around in this wind! Not fun with the huge gusts bashing us every minute or so. We managed to get it in & tie off to the stern cleat with no damage to the sail or to us. We also lost our auto pilot at the same time! We had a slow 3 knot bash into the wind & waves as we made our way up Cabo Santa Elena & into the bay. We had it all to ourselves apart from 2 fishing boats that whizzed past at one stage. Spent the afternoon trying to fix the auto pilot with not much luck. In the end Steve took out the flux compass & turned it 180 degrees to get the correct reading on the instrument panel. The auto pilot worked fine after that – not exactly to fix we were looking for though.
Friday we headed off to El Salvador in the same 30 knot winds but going in a much more comfortable direction. Had a great sail that day doing 7 – 8 knots. The wind died down however & we spent most of Saturday & Saturday night motor sailing.
Arrived at Bahia del Sol around 7.30am yesterday morning. The anchorage is in an estuary which is accessible over the river bar at high tide. We called & waited for the bar pilot & his American interpreter, Bill, to arrive then had a quick & thankfully uneventful motor over the bar & down the marina next to Hotel Bahia del Sol. Bill & his partner jean have been living here in El Salvador full time for the past 4 years. Bill organises the El Salvador Rally for Cruisers from La Paz in Mexico each year. It’s a really lovely spot here & checking into El Salvador was no hassle. Immigration was painless, but a US$10 charge per person. We will see the Port Captain on Tuesday. The Hotel Bahia del Sol has a ‘Cruiser’s Club’ – a boat pays US$14 per week to use the hotel’s swimming pools, showers, $1 local beers, 30% discount on food & beverage in the restaurants, cheap laundry service, wifi & rubbish disposal. Pretty good deal we thought! After a 2 hour sleep we joined some other cruisers here at the dock, Nancy & Sven, Bill, Jean & another Bill from Oregon at a get together for drinks & a swim at Lyn & Lou’s place. They have retired here in Bahia de Sol in a beautiful house on the estuary & open their home each Sunday to visiting cruisers. We had a great time chatting & getting information for our trip up Mexico.
On our return to PANNIKIN it was a quick dinner then bed. Buggered!
Today has been spent cleaning up PANNIKIN & still trying to repair the auto pilot. At this stage Steve reckons the electrics are fried! Oh well... off to the pool for a swim...better try one of those $1 local beers as well!