We awoke at 3:00am to get the boat ready to leave at 4:00am. Three sailboats were leaving Barillas Marina together to head down the coast of El Salvador to a small island called Isla Meanguera. The passage started out slow because we were supposed to follow the panga out of the channel over the barra first. Well I checked the engine over in the morning (before I was fully awake) and had closed the raw water intake valve to check the engine zincs. Guess what? I forgot to reopen the valve and when we started to lead the pack our engine started over heating from no cooling water. I quickly shut down the engine as soon as I saw the temperature gauge climbing but I just was dumb founded what was wrong. Captain Dave on the vessel "Andante" asked me on the radio if I had closed the raw water valve (I guess he has also forgotten before). I jumped down below and opened the closed valve, turned over the engine, and watched the temperature gauge drop to the normal level. That was a close call....
We were on our way, following close behind a young El Salvadoran in a panga leading us through the shallows and waves to the open sea. Barillas Marina was a beautiful and fun place to moor but we were ready to get moving and be at anchor for a while. The wind started building to 15 knots throughout the day directly on our nose so we had to motor the fifty miles to Isla Meanguera.
The next 250 miles for Central America is known for the Papagallos winds during January and February. These winds blow from the north east through the various low points in land along Central America. The winds are offshore similar to Southern California's Santa Ana winds. Our weather reports showed some of these winds showing up in a couple of days which we thought would be enough time to get to our next Marina in Nicaragua. During our passage one of the boats got a weather update which stated the winds would be coming sooner (the night we arrived at the island).
We made it to Isla Meanguera which is in the Golfo de Fonseca to a little anchorage called Guerrero cove. We got together on one of the boats for sundowners (great appetizers & drinks on "Andante"). While we enjoyed the sunset we noticed the wind increasing quickly. We hurriedly headed back to our boats and let out more anchor chain. Well, the wind came on in 40 knot gusts for four days with some breaks in the morning. Arctic Vixen, a 68 foot schooner started dragging anchor on the second day so the captains got together and helped re-set the anchor. This was very exciting in 30-40 knot gusting winds. To put it mildly, we were very ready to get going once the wind dropped on the fifth day. On the last day before we set sail we did get to explore the island further. We hiked 3 miles to the nearest village (Islote Meanguerita) and met a great family who own the only hotel around. We ate a great lobster lunch overlooking a beautiful small bay ($15). Nancy stayed on "Four Points" to work on a paper for the class she is taking for her Doctorate but before I left on our hike she said to bring her "something" back. I had the restaurant pack up a full lobster diner including desert. For three dollars they took us back around the island in their panga for a quick return to the boats. Nancy was happy to see us and also enjoyed the great food.
After a long unplanned stay at Isla Meanguera we went to bed early for a next day 4:00am departure to Nicaragua.