Our two day passage was mostly motoring except for one most excellent hour of sailing during my night watch, and then the lightening started.

Our first night, as we were transiting the waters from Mexico to Guatamala, we had a few squalls some accompanied by thunder and lightening. We were able to dodge them by watching the radar and estimating which way they were moving. Have I mentioned how happy we are to see stars?

The second night, as we were passing Acajutla, Guatemala and rounding Puente Remedios, there was a HUGE lightening storm on shore. It was about 12 miles away but we both went inside. I had my head popped out of the companionway as I kept watching this lightening bolt hit the same place over and over again as we turned off and hauled butt (as fast as a sailboat can) away from it. It was a very impressive storm. Brian asked if I was going to stand there all night and told me I should be resting so I had a shot of brandy and hit the sack. Luckily the storm stayed over the land and we were able to scoot by without incident. I was relieved when Brian came down about 10 minutes later and said the show was over and we were past the storm. Again, no photo of the lightening. Dang it!

Our last chore of this passage is the entrance into the estuary where Marina del Sol is located. There is a sandbar at the narrow entrance, which moves from day to day. Local knowledge is required to successfully transit the channel, which is 10 to 12 feet deep in high tide. This 'pilot', who is either on a jet ski or in a panga boat, lines you up, watches the swells or waves which are sometimes breaking, and instructs you when to 'gun it' in order to ride the wave over the bar and into the channel. Sounds exciting doesn't it? I'll let you know how that goes...

We are flying the yellow flag. When we left Chiapas, Mexico, we checked out of the country of Mexico. When you arrive at a new country, you must check in with the Port Captain. A yellow flag means you have not yet checked into a country.