06/01/2008, Bahia Jiquilisco (he-kee-LEE-skoh), El Salvator
I told you those 5 days were going to fly. The rain only cooperated the last day, as we have had rain on and off for the past 5 days and nights! The humidity has been pretty high and we could only really work in the mornings on cleaning, washing the walls inside with bleach and water one room at a time, pickling the watermaker, lashing down anything on deck that could fly or be blown and finally stowing the dinghy on deck. We never knew we could sweat so much! Of course while it's raining all the windows and hatches have to be closed, so that only added to the "hot box" below deck. (Oh Jan stop your whining) The good news is we could at least go and cool off in the pool most every afternoon AND everything got done, or at least we hope so. We will find out when we return if the toxic vinegar/bleach solution kept out the mold! We had a great last evening with Terri & Lyman of sans cles and will miss them, but they will also be leaving to head to the states in 2 weeks. Since our flight is at 7am on Tuesday, June 4th we stayed in one of the Marina's bungalows the night before ..WITH AIR CONDITIONING! Our van driver, Francisco, picked us up at 4am and of course it was pitch dark and raining, but after only 1 hour and 20 minutes we arrived at the airport with out a hitch! The flight was an hour late in leaving (something about union flight crew needing proper time between flights) so fortunately customs went very smoothly in Miami and with only 25 minutes to spare, made it to our connecting flight to Chicago! (Thank goodness for flying 1st class as we were able to go to the head of the security checkpoint line). We had a great flight and made it Dorota's by 6pm. A great little reunion with my "sister" Dorota and Aunt Shirl and ordered Chinese food for dinner which is something we hadn't had in 7 months! We are off to Omaha, Nebraska for a family memorial for our dear Aunt Rose then back to Illinois to visit many friends and more family! Gee the Midwest doesn't feel that humid anymore and the threat of rain and thunderstorms seems to have followed us! Ahhh tis the season everywhere it seems. Our plan is to also go to our Maine island home for a few weeks and then off to San Francisco to visit our daughter and many friends. Adios to Triple Stars for 6 weeks, may the storm gods behave and leave her and sans cles rest peacefully until we all return!
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05/29/2008, Bahia Jiquilisco (he-kee-LEE-skoh), El Salvator
This was our final sail of the "season" before we give Triple Stars a rest and head back to the states for visiting... The day was pretty hazy sunny most of the day, but not alot of wind. We were only able to sail for about an hour, with all 3 sail doing their thing at about 4 - 4.5 knots! We needed to head more East around a point and with a pre-arranged time of about 2pm to meet the panga pilot at the mouth of the next estuary to guide us in, we couldn't just keep heading out to sail, so the sails came down and motoring the other 4 1/2 hours was the plan. We arrived just before 2 at the way points, sans cles was there waiting for us so we just bobbed like a cork in a washing machine in the choppy waters for another 45 minutes waiting for the pilot to arrive. The waves were not nearly as high as 2 weeks ago down at the other estuary, but still not knowing the lay of the sand bar and this time we would be traveling parallel to the breakers once we got over the bar for about 40 minutes! What a rockin' time we had!!!! We had been for warned that it would be uncomfortable and we sure did alot of side to side rolling for a good 45 minutes! but once we entered the river it took another hour to get to the marina of flat, calm hardly a ripple in the water motoring! The area reminded us alot of Lake of the Ozarks. Various off shoots from the main river with green mangroves right down to the water line. Many buoys marking nets or traps of some sort and a few fisherman in their pangas not looking like they were catching anything however... We arrived at the Marina to the sounds of nature, Katydids, tiny birds chirping, doves coooing and a few flies and no see-ums around! Welcome to 9 miles up the river! Fortunately the biting bugs seem to come out around 5pm and last till around 7pm! The Immigration officers and customs officers came out to meet us once we got settled on the mooring ball, took our paperwork and passports and welcomed us to El Salvador. They even did a pretty thorough search of the downstairs! Not exactly sure what they were really looking for, but they didn't say anything about the machete hanging on the wall! We had dinner on the boat and were in bed early! We spent the next morning starting our cleaning and in the afternoon went for a swim and a 30 minute walk in the woods to go see the ..... Spider Monkeys! They are so cute!!!! There is a family that live right in the woods who apparently have been watching over the monkeys and "protected" them during the war in El Salvador from being killed and eaten. There were at least 10 or 15 of them and one of them had a tiny baby on her back! The "Elder" of the family came out to greet us and brought bananas to feed right to the monkeys. We even got to feed them bananas... They swing and jump from tree to tree and come right down to the ground to get the bananas! We also found out they do not like green bananas! We gave one of them a pretty green one, he took it from Rob's hand, went up into the tree, took a bite or two and threw it back down to us! They like the yellow ones! That's one more thing I can scratch off my list of wild life to see!!! Next will be the howling monkeys and wild toucans and parrots, we understand are in Costa Rica! Our walk returning about 5pm was prime time for mosquitos, so a quick dip in the pool and back to the boat! A very fun day. We are also getting used to rain and a little thunder and lightening every night now! The next 5 days will go by in a flash with alot to do...so hopefully the rain will only happen at night!
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05/12/2008, Bahia Jaltepeque, El Salvador
Well, it was Monday morning, both Rob and I were up early! At 6am we were watching the surf that seemed to have significantly settled down from the night before giving us a tiny bit of peace of mind. As the next 60 minutes went ticking by, the waves seemed to increase with every set. By 7:15am we hadn't heard from the pilot yet, but had all but talked ourselves out of making the attempt. The other 3 boats had arrived during the night, making 6 of us just hanging out waiting for the official word. Bill from s/v"Mitakuuluu" came on the radio and we watched the panga come crashing out of the surf and come towards us. "It's a go!!! The swells are much further apart and while we will experience some "pushing" just listen to our instructions and follow us...NO PROBLEMO!!!" One of the other boats that had just arrived that night was sort of volunteered...armystyle...he happened to be the closest to the way point and the panga was now ready for the 1st boat. Listening to his instructions... We heard the pilot guy in his little 20 foot panga with his 75 hrs pwr outboard say to Terry (the 1st boat captain).... " Okay, you're doing really good...keep coming....now you're going to feel a little push...but it's okay... okay here comes another little bigger push....now give it full trottle...." My very first vision was..OH GOD...it's just like child birth!!!!! It was pretty tense watching a 38 ft boat ride a wave up to the crest then back down into the trough where now all you could see was the top half of his mast! All along we heard the pilot boat say...You're doing great, keep her straight...now you're going to feel a little bigger push...there you go, now that's not so bad" We were 3rd in line and it took only about 10 minutes of following the panga per boat, talking us thru every step along the way on the radio, then after one of the swells, he just said "WELCOME TO EL SALVADOR"... switch your radios to channel 22 and Mary & Mike in the dinghy will guide you down the estuary to the marina!" What a sigh of relief! While intense for a few minutes, it really was no worse than some of the big swells we have experienced coming back from Half Moon Bay in California, or the swells heading down the Mexican coast around Cabo Corrientes! The swells were at our stern, just pushing us along. Never did we feel afraid just a little tense and lots of adrenaline flowing through our veins!!! Once the 1st swell went under us, it really wasn't as bad as it looked!!!! Bill, in the panga got some incredible photos, so be sure to check out our photo gallery. Once at the marina, Immigration and the El Salvador Navy personnel were there at the docks waiting to check us all into their country, check out our paperwork and stamp our passports! Needless to say we broke out the Korbel Champagne and the 12 of all had to celebrate our BIRTHING DAY right there on the docks!!!! The rest of the day was spent having a great breakfast at the marina water side cantina, then taking a 3 hr nap! The people here are all very welcoming and very cruiser friendly! We stayed in a slip for 2 days, enjoying the pool every afternoon, talking, making new friends and learning alittle lay of the land. On Thursday we have a tour guide coming to tell us just what kind of things El Salvator has to offer us... Terri & Lyman and Rob & I are really looking to do an tour, to a real archeological site and visit some ruins in Honduras on our 1st 2 or 3 day inland tour. We plan to be here for at least a week before we have to cross back over the sandbar (altho "they" say it's easier going out, than in...we shall see) and head to Barillas Marina about 30 miles south of here where we plan to get Triple Stars ready for it's 1st real rest from cruising. We are very glad to to have stopped in Bahia del Sol...Good food, new friends, pool and internet...what more could we ask for!
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