Hola! From Kievit, sailing in the warm waters of the Central Pacific. Two weeks ago, we left Bahia del Sol, San Salvador at 7am for Costa Rica. We planned to anchor in a small bay in Nicaragua on the second night, and anchor in a northern bay in Costa Rica the next day.
The decision was made to turn around at 1300 on the second day as the wind was blowing 25 knots on the nose and we were traveling at almost 2 nm per hours with 15 miles to go. With the wind behind us, we could return to the port, Puesta del Sol that we had bypassed at 6 am. In fact, we made perfect time, with the sunset behind us giving enough light to find the channel markers for the narrow jungle inlet, and we reached the docks just as the light was gone.
January 26, we left Puesta del Sol at 6am, in the company of two other boats, Aztec and Fey Yen, a single-hander, Bill, who had left Puesta del Sol twice and turned around. He was really happy to travel with others this time. We now knew we were dealing with PAPAGAYOS - these wind gusts that move from the Caribbean across the narrow land mass of Central American, particularly southern Nicaragua. Called "gap" winds by locals, they funnel through the low spaces between the volcanoes - blowing like crazy against sailboats traversing south. And they also build huge wind waves that grow from the Pacific shore to wham against those same southern steaming sailboats. Gusts from 15 - 45 miles per hour, hitting the nose of boat like a brick wall and accompanying waves pummeling over the boat, is probably not what you first think of Marj & Dave Cruising to Cost Rica!
January and February are peak months for Papagayos, so we quickly decided a strategy. First, checking weather forecasts so we could lay low in expected big blows. Then, by leaving very early morning we could make better time against winds & waves that start to build by 9am and howl until 3am. The first day out we pulled into a good anchorage in mid afternoon and left in the dark next morning. By the way, it is light from 5:30 am to 6 pm, so it is pretty easy to go to sleep early, as it seems late by 7pm! The second day out, the Papagayos started blowing hard at 9 am as we passed the stretch of Nicaragua where Lake Nicaragua sits right over the horizon line behind the volcanoes. This is real Papagayo territory! We pulled into a sheltered anchorage, La Flor, with Aztec and later got a radio report from Bill that he had several boat problems that caused him to take shelter in San Juan de Sur about 15 miles back.
Leaving again in the dark of morning, we motor sailed to the Bahia Santa Elena, just across the Nicaragua border, in Costa Rica. This beautiful spot of protected Dry Temperate Rainforest was our shelter for 6 days and nights while that Papagayos continued to howl just outside the bay and blow 15-20 kn for 18 hours a day, into our anchorage.