It is Sunday morning and we are sitting on anchor in port waiting for a Papagayo to blow itself out since Tuesday afternoon. The winds have been gale force and higher since Wednesday, but we cannot tell actual wind speeds, since on Wednesday morning the paddlewheel for our anemometer blew off the instrument from its mounting on the mast. Our friend on his boat said he was seeing steady 50's and gusts in excess of 80 knots. This is in the harbor. The spray has been lifting off the waves and we have had hits over the top of the dodger. The boat is covered with a thick layer of sand, since Papagayos are gap winds and blow from the land.
We finally left Bahia del Sol on Wednesday, January 28th on the afternoon high tide with a pilot boat leading us and our buddy boat, Paradise Bound, over the bar. We motorsailed all night to the Gulf of Fonseca where we landed the next day at the El Salvadorian island named Conghaguita. We almost immediately were visited by some local boys who paddled out in dugouts. We got to practice our Spanish (it is easier with kids) and gave them some packs of chewing gum. Over the next 2 days, we had many other kids visiting to say hello, see the boat (they are fascinated by all the things on the yachts) and receive handouts of gum and candy. The Gulf of Fonseca is a large bay which borders on 3 countries, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. We decided to weekend in Honduras at Isla El Tigre and visit the little town on Amapala where we had a good lunch and took a 3 wheeled taxi back to the beach. Since we were not checked into Honduras, both boats decided to weigh anchor early on Monday morning and head south.
After a few hours of motoring, Zephyra had a pleasant spinnaker run until sunset when we took it down and had to motorsail again. At the 1am shift change, the wind had picked up enough to set sail again and Debbie had a good watch close reaching at 5 to 6 knots boat speed. At sunrise the wind died, but picked up quickly as the morning progressed to 20 plus knots and the seas became very sloppy. This was the start of the Papagayo. We motored for a couple of miles to get closer to shore, and then sailed down the coast under main and staysail with water pouring over our bow. Our buddy boat who was now many miles behind us, called and said they were hearing noises from their engine and wanted to stop at San Juan del Sur. We looked at our cruising guide and decided why not, let's see a little of Nicaragua. We anchored at 3:30pm and the Port Captain was on our boat before we even got the engine turned off. We told them there was another boat coming and he said we all need to check in with immigration the next day. The other boat arrived about 9pm and Russ talked them into the harbor and they set anchor.
The next morning, six of us took a wet panga ride in sloppy seas to have our passports stamped and see the town of San Juan del Sur. This is the last port in Nicaragua (about 15 miles to the Costa Rica border) and was a pleasant surprise to visit. There is a large community of ex-pats and the town is a nice mix of gringos and Nicaraguans. Surfing and diving are a big attraction here, also a couple of Spanish schools and a funky little beach town with many bars and restaurants and hostels. The cost of food and beer is reasonable and the only place we feel we are being ripped off is by the panga driver who has been shuttling us back and forth at US$5 per boat per trip. It has been so windy that we haven't daring launch a dingy, maybe today as it seems to be easing. On Thursday morning, our friends on the buddy boat thought they were dragging to the rocks and decided to abandon ship and stay on shore. This was in the worse part of the Papagayo and after a long time hailing, they got the panga to go pick them up in the 50-60 knot winds.
It turned out their boat was not dragging and is fine and Russ in currently looking at their engine issues. Joel, the captain, had just paid to have a lot of work done at the boatyard at Bahia del Sol and Russ is very unhappy with the quality to their work. We wouldn't know until later or tomorrow how bad the problem is. Anyway, we are not going anywhere until there is a weather windo