Panama Posse – Sailing into our next chapter

Heading South – Winter 2023/24

We left New Bern on November 2, 2023, with Savannah, GA as our next destination. Savannah wasn’t our original plan though. We had planned to stop at Lady’s Island Marina, where we had stayed on our way north, but they didn’t have any space for us in late November. After much research, I was able to book a slip at Bull River Marina near Savannah, cementing our plans that Savannah was where we would stop for a couple of weeks. This change was good, as neither of us had ever been to Savannah.

Lynette’s daughter was coming to visit us for five days, arriving on November 25^th, so we took our time slowly working our way to Savannah. With a lot of time on our hands, we kept our passages very short going down the ICW. We anchored in new places we hadn’t anchored on the way north, for the change of scenery.

Our only incident during our trek to Savannah was in Myrtle Beach where we got hung up on a rock and couldn’t get off. I called TowBoatUS to pull us off the rock. I’m glad we have full towing service with BoatUS. It made the process quite simple. They were in the area on their way to another incident, so they did a quick detour to pull us off the rock. It took all of 10 minutes and there was no damage we could detect, a bonus.

Our first marina stop was in Charleston, SC at St John’s Yacht Harbor for two nights. We arrived in the afternoon of the 9^th and settled in for the evening. The marina had a courtesy car we could use for 2 hours, so we took advantage of the car and went to lunch and grocery shopping. We fueled up on the morning of the 11^th and headed for our next anchorage.

We now had way too much time to kill between the 11^th and the 20^th with only 132nm to go, so we stopped and anchored every 10-15nm along the way. It was nice to not be on a fast schedule to anywhere for a change. We relaxed and meandered down the ICW at a very leisurely pace, weighing anchor late in the mornings and anchoring mid-afternoon each day.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Bull River Marina

Of course, the passage didn’t go without incident. Our port engine started overheating, so I spent some time troubleshooting the issue. It appeared that the thermostat was sticking closed and not allowing the engine to cool, even though I had recently tested the thermostat in a pan of hot water on the stove. Normally we alternate engines to maintain consistent hours on them. Due to the overheating problem on the port engine, we went the rest of the way to Savannah only using the starboard engine for power. As soon as I figured out it was the thermostat, I placed an order, and a new thermostat was waiting for us at Bull River Marina. I installed it after we arrived on the 20^th and ran some tests to be sure the new thermostat solved the overheating issue. The port engine was back in business.

Lynette’s daughter rented a car, so we were mobile while she was visiting. We went grocery shopping, out for meals, and explored Savannah. We walked around downtown Savannah, found a famous ice cream parlor (Leopold’s), and watched two canons being fired at Old Fort Jackson. I also needed to get one of our alternators rebuilt and buy a new TV, so we accomplished those as well. It was a fun visit and I felt like we got to explore Savannah a bit.

We left Savannah on the morning of December 1^st and decided to take the outside route along the coast as the weather was favorable and we didn’t want to meander through the Georgia ICW. Much of the ICW through Georgia winds through barren marshlands, a bit on the boring side. Once back inside following the ICW, after a night’s rest at Dog Hammock, we kept hitting fog. It would lift from time to time and then get thick again. On our second day out of Savannah, the fog was very thick. This was a bit unnerving as we couldn’t see more than a boat length ahead, so we slowed down to improve our reaction time if something did appear out of the fog in our way. Many boats were trying to get into the marina in Brunswick, GA. I assume to get out of the fog. We could hear them all hailing the marina on the radio, but we kept going in the fog to our next anchorage at Terrapin Cove. It was just a wide spot in the ICW, but a nice place to drop the hook for the night. The next morning it was beautiful and sunny, but as the day went on, the fog rolled in again.

I have stayed in contact with the new owner of No Regrets, our previous sailboat. We chat from time to time and during a recent chat, I mentioned we would be coming through the Jacksonville area on the ICW. He had hired someone to add air conditioners and a diesel generator to No Regrets, now renamed Sweet Caroline, and they botched up the job. I offered to talk to a surveyor and troubleshoot some of what had been messed up while we were in the area.

We entered Jacksonville on the 4th of December. I had no idea it was about 5 hours west of the ICW, which is a long way when you are going only 5 knots against the current. Sadler Point Marina has a very shallow slip they rarely rent out as it is only about 4′ deep at low tide. We tied up there with no problem and stayed for 3 days. I helped the owner with some wiring issues and talked with the surveyor about the systems on the boat so he could write up a scathing document about how unprofessional the upgrades had been. Many things were not to ABYC specs and when we started one air conditioner unit and the generator a lot of raw cooling water was leaking into the boat. It was a very sad sight to see the boat I had spent so many years putting my all into, just get ruined in such a short time. Lynette wouldn’t even go to the boat, as she didn’t want to see the damage. When we bought No Regrets, we had a similar experience with promises made and damages done and not fixed at our first boatyard in Oregon. Unfortunately, his was much more extensive. Live and learn.

*Sunset the first night out on the way to West Palm Beach*

The weather looked reasonable for a passage outside to Lake Worth Inlet at West Palm Beach, FL, so we left Sadler Point Marina for West Palm Beach mid-morning on December 7th. This was a 48-hour passage of 261nm, our first 2-day passage on Cerca Trova. We motored the whole way as most of the time the wind was on our nose. The seas were reasonable for about ¾ of the trip, but the last 12 hours were brutal. Catamarans don’t have a pleasant motion in seas forward of the beam, and this was one of those times. The seas weren’t huge, but the ride was rough and uncomfortable. We made it to Lake Worth and anchored mid-morning on the 9^th, near our friends’ boat and almost in the same spot we anchored on the way north.

When we anchored in Lake Worth, we got hit by front after front with sustained winds in the 30-knot range and gusts up to 50 knots. Lake Worth is not a protected anchorage. It’s a wide area in the ICW in the West Palm Beach area, and when the winds pick up from the north or south, there is a lot of fetch. Add 3′ tides to this and you can wind up with whitecaps in the anchorage. Very unpleasant. During this time our outboard motor decided to stop running and then our watermaker stopped working. We were fortunate that our friends were close by. They took us to shore for groceries and we were able to get packages delivered to his work.

This was when Lynette decided she was done with the sailing life. It had been building for a time, with the lightning near hit, the tropical storm hit, and all the repairs. We were both discouraged with the money going out for repairs and the time I was taking doing those repairs. It seemed like all I had been doing was fixing things that broke on Cerca Trova, and as I was losing confidence in the boat, that lack of confidence was affecting Lynette.

The watermaker issue appeared to be several things breaking at the same time. The feed pump was making an awful sound, so we decided to replace the head of the pump. We were also getting an error message that we weren’t getting any water flow, so I needed to replace the flow meter that counts the gallons of water produced. When I opened the electrical panel on the watermaker I found several wires that were burnt, so I made up some new wires with crimp connectors to replace the burned ones. I was able to buy a new feed pump head and I had all the other parts needed for the watermaker. After two days, the watermaker was making water again.

I spent quite a bit of time diagnosing the outboard problem, with some help from the diver who cleaned our bottom. I had suspected the issue was fuel, but after rebuilding the carburetor the engine still wouldn’t run. Not even a cough. I turned my attention to the issue being an electrical problem. That didn’t pan out, so I replaced the gas with fresh gas with no luck. I then purchased a new carburetor and finally, the engine started running. I’m not sure why cleaning the carburetor and replacing parts with a rebuild kit didn’t work, but it didn’t. After 4 weeks at anchor in Lake Worth, we finally had no more urgent issues.

We left Lake Worth on January 17^th in the morning for Coconut Grove, FL, a suburb just south of Miami. This was a 2-day passage with one stop in Ft Lauderdale to anchor overnight. We arrived at Dinner Key Marina on the afternoon of the 18^th. No slips or mooring balls were available, so we found a spot to anchor. I went exploring in the dinghy to find the dinghy dock, as my daughter and her husband were coming on the 20^th for a week, and I needed a place to pick them up. I found the dinghy dock near the park, so we were all set for the 20^th.

*My daughter and her husband enjoying the sail to the Keys*

We originally planned to meet my daughter and her husband in Puerto Rico and take them to the Virgin Islands for a week. With all the problems we were having with Cerca Trova, I didn’t have confidence in her to make it to Puerto Rico without something major breaking down, so we decided to have them fly to the Bahamas instead. That also didn’t pan out as there were no timely weather windows to cross the Gulf Stream for the Bahamas. The final decision was to have them fly to Miami and we would sail to the northeastern Florida Keys. They say cruising plans are made in the sand at low tide. That couldn’t be a truer statement.

*Enjoying time with a fellow Panama Posse boat, Queso Grande, at Key Largo*

We had a wonderful time with my daughter and her husband. The weather wasn’t that good, but we did get some good sailing in while they were aboard. Plus, there were no major breakdowns while they were here. We made it as far as Key Largo with a couple of anchorages along the way. We didn’t find any clear water, so we didn’t do any snorkeling. They were disappointed in that, but we did go out for dinner a couple of times and played cards in the evenings. They left on the 27^th and we started to prepare the boat and get provisions for the next weather window to cross over to the Bahamas.

Next up, unexpected breakdowns take us back to Lake Worth for repairs.

New Bern, NC – Summer/Fall 2023

New Bern, NC is a great little town with a very nice marina right downtown within easy walking distance of many shops and restaurants. On Saturdays, there is a small farmers market that mostly has crafts, but there are some stalls with fruits and vegetables. We planned to spend about a month doing repairs and then head to the Chesapeake Bay. We had committed to working the Annapolis Boat Show Panama Posse booth in October, so we figured it would be nice to explore the ICW and Chesapeake Bay on the way to Annapolis, MD.

*Walking to dinner on our first day in New Bern, NC*

I received a text message from some Panama Posse friends we had met in San Diego. They were visiting friends in New Bern, NC and wanted to get together while they were in town. After a couple of tries, our schedules finally matched up for the 24^th of August and we met them for lunch and a tour of our new boat. It was fun catching up on the adventures we all were having living and cruising on our boats.

*Our first sunrise at New Bern Grand Marina*

It was a month of visits, as Lynette’s sister and brother-in-law came to visit us on the 29^th of August. They drove down from Grand Island, NY, and stayed in an Airbnb as she gets seasick easily. They came to the boat for about 1 hour just to get a tour and that was enough for her. They were here when Hurricane Idalia came close to the North Carolina coast, so they got to witness plenty of rain and some flooding. We enjoyed driving around the area with them in their car as our only transportation had been Uber, which we only used to go grocery shopping. It was a great visit, but way too short as they left on the 31^st.

Meanwhile, between visits from family and friends, I attacked the project list with zest. The list was as long as the Beaufort, SC one and included some critical fixes like getting the generator working again and replacing the rotting port shower ceiling. I had also done some research on refrigerator organizers and installed two that have kept the refrigerator more organized. Chest refrigerators aren’t that easy to keep organized. Everything seems to be on top of what you are looking for.

We were originally going to sail/motor up to Annapolis but decided that it made more sense to rent a car, drive up, and stay in a hotel, so that became the new plan. I’m glad we had changed our plans because tropical storm Ophelia was a direct hit on New Bern before we left for Annapolis, and Cerca Trova got badly beaten up at the dock. This left our boat unable to go anywhere as we had extensive damage along the port hull. Sigh, one more thing to repair.

It had been years since we attended the Annapolis Boat Show, so it was fun to drive up and spend a few days working the show for the Panama Posse. There were way more catamarans on display than monohulls, and I did go on a few, but why tempt myself with things I couldn’t have, so I spent most of my time visiting with people at booths that had products of interest to me for our boat. It was also great to get off the boat and stay in a hotel for a few nights. Long, hot showers and a big bed were welcome benefits.

Back on our boat, I was faced with the storm damage and still way too many other projects to complete. Based on multiple recommendations, I contacted the best fiberglass repair person in the area. His name was Bruce as well. Unfortunately, he splits his time between New Jersey and New Bern, NC, and he was currently in New Jersey working on his boat. He came into town two weeks later and started on our boat right away. My job was to prep the damaged areas and purchase supplies. Manta catamaran owners are a tight-knit group with multiple channels of communication. We have a very active user group, so I reached out to see who had extra rub rail material, as about 6’ of ours had been damaged. Someone got back to me quickly with two 8’ sections, so I purchased them and had them shipped to us at the marina.

Bruce did a fantastic job of repairing the fiberglass and gelcoat. He was done in a week, and we gladly paid him the $3200 he requested. It was a big dent in our budget though. I still had some projects that needed attention before we could leave, so I focused on crossing the remaining tasks off the list.

With the fix and repair list completed, we were finally ready to head south at the beginning of November 2023. We were sad to leave New Bern, but it was getting colder, and we needed to seek warmer weather. We left New Bern on the 2^nd heading south in no real hurry.

*Bridge opening for us to leave New Bern*

Up next, our trek down to Florida to prepare for our winter adventures, or not.

Chiapas, Mexico to Quepos, Costa Rica – Spring 2022

It is now Monday the 28^th of February, and we’d been in Chiapas long enough. El Salvador was beckoning us. Checking out of Mexico was handled through Memo, the harbormaster, for a reasonable fee. He took a group of us around to the various offices and handled the entire process for us. Even so, it took about 3 hours to complete the checkout. The final step was to have the military clear us out. Once the military had finished with their paperwork, we were instructed to leave immediately while they watched us leave.

As it worked out, we were the last of three boats to leave that day, which put us about 2 hours behind our scheduled departure. We had wanted to leave around 1:30 pm but didn’t leave until about 2:45 pm. I know, cruisers shouldn’t have schedules, but we had a day and time we were to meet the bar pilot outside the El Salvador bar, so the schedule was important for this passage.

This was our first time outside Mexico since mid-November of 2021. Friends told us we would be leaving excellent dining behind. According to many cruisers, Mexico has the best food in all of Latin America. Food, both in restaurants and grocery stores, had been very inexpensive in Mexico. Not so, as we moved further south.

Next stop, Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. This was a 2-day passage of about 238nm. It was quite a rough start leaving the bay. We were pinching tight to the wind with a choppy sea, and motor sailing to try and catch up to our buddy boat, Lola. They were another Panama Posse couple we met in Chiapas on a catamaran. Their catamaran was a bit faster than our boat, so they stayed ahead of us the entire passage. We didn’t catch up to them until we got to the meeting point outside the bar.

When we are on a passage, we normally don’t fix food. We snack and eat things we prepare a day or so before the passage. That first evening we ate carrots and celery with the hummus I had made the day before. I commented in the log that the hummus had just a bit too much lemon, but it was really good.

The first night we rolled a lot, so neither of us got any sleep. The next day was not much better, but we both catnapped throughout the day, motor sailing with just the mainsail. The seas calmed down sometime during the next day and stayed that way for the rest of the passage. We did motor sail most of the way to keep our speed up, as we had that schedule to meet the bar pilot for a high tide crossing of the bar. We were scheduled to cross the bar at approximately 2:55 pm on Wednesday the 2^nd of March. This bar crossing is somewhat dangerous, so you must hire a bar pilot to guide you across the bar both coming and going. It was $25 each way. Not expensive at all.

The engine stopped around 6 pm that first evening. I thought it was probably a clogged fuel filter as the vacuum gauge on the Racor indicated the filter needed to be changed. The wind was about 10 knots, so we sailed for a while at 4.5 knots. That gave me time to change the filter. I was surprised when I took the filter out as it didn’t look very dirty. I tossed it anyway as I had quite a few spares. I restarted the engine and we continued to motor sail to try and keep pace with Lola.

The engine stopped again a while later and Lynette asked me if our other tank used the same fuel line into the filter. What a great question! I hadn’t thought about the axillary tank, so I switched to that tank, and the engine kept running with no further issues. With Lynette’s brilliant question, we determined we had a fouled main fuel tank, and when the seas were rough it stirred up the gunk in the bottom and starved the engine of fuel. Sometimes it takes another person’s perspective to solve problems.

The axillary tank only holds about 10 gallons of fuel, which wasn’t enough to get us to our destination. After a while, I switched back to the main tank when the seas calmed down and we were able to continue using the main tank. That would change in a few hours, and we were back on the axillary tank. Another item added to our fix list. Note: this issue haunted us for some time until we got to the boatyard in Quepos where they could polish the fuel and clean the tank.

We continued switching back and forth between the main and axillary tanks depending on the sea state. If it calmed down, we would motor using the main tank until the engine quit when it became choppy. Then we’d switch to the axillary tank. We did have to add 5 gallons of fuel to the axillary tank from one of our jerry cans at one point, as we had used up the 10 gallons in that tank.

There wasn’t much in the way of sea life. We did spot some dolphins a couple of times, but that was about it. Marine traffic was sparse as well, except when we passed a commercial port in Guatemala. There were also some fishermen along the way, but we saw no long lines, thankfully.

With all the motor sailing, we were able to reach the rendezvous spot for the pilot about an hour early. Lola was already there and had been waiting about an hour. The pilot, via VHF, said we should anchor NW of the rendezvous spot, so we anchored near the shore with quite a strong onshore breeze. This was not a fun anchorage as waves were crashing right behind us. We felt good that our Spade anchor has always set quickly and held well. After about 30 minutes, the pilot radioed us to move to the rendezvous spot, so we hoisted the anchor and motored for about 30 minutes to the spot where the pilot boat was waiting. Lola went first across the bar with no issues. The pilot then came back for us and off we went. The bar crossing was uneventful. No worse than crossing the Columbia Bar on a good day.

We were met at the dock by line handlers and Bill and Jean, an ex-pat couple who helped the boating community in the area. Jean handed each of us a cold cocktail and took me to check in. Lynette stayed with Bill and a couple from the boat next to us (we had met them in Barra along with their 3 kids). Lynette tried to clean up the boat while I was checking in, but she was just too tired. She waited a while for me, and when I didn’t return, she walked up to the pool. There I was, sitting with Lori and Doug from Lola having a $1 beer. She decided to order a margarita.

We knew we were no longer in Mexico when we ate dinner at the resort buffet. It was more expensive than dinners in Mexico and definitely in the category of cafeteria food (think cafeteria lunch in grade school). It did fill the void and satisfied our hunger, though.

We had been using Mexican Pesos for so long that we no longer had any US dollars. El Salvador uses the US dollar as its currency, and without any dollars, we were fortunate that everything we bought at the marina was put on our tab. We didn’t need any money while at the marina.

San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, is a good-sized city inland from the marina and the only place with large grocery stores to provision. There are several small stores closer to the marina, but we wanted to go to a well-stocked store. We rented a car with our boat buddies and took a day trip to San Salvador. None of us had local cell phone SIM cards, so using our phones to navigate was unpredictable and often nonexistent. What a helpless feeling without Waze to guide us. Our first stop was an ATM. I had left my ATM card in a machine in Chiapas, so we had to use Lynette’s ATM card. She hadn’t used it for many years, so had forgotten her PIN. We finally figured it out and were able to withdraw some cash. I was now feeling a bit less stressed over not having cash.

Doug, from Lola, wanted to find a local cellular store so he could buy a phone to use in El Salvador but first, we were all hungry. We found an Olive Garden at one of the malls, so we ate there. It was a little odd to sail all the way to El Salvador and eat at an Olive Garden, but it was good and satisfied everyone’s hunger. Back to the cell phone issue. Doug found a cell phone store near the restaurant and purchased a local phone. He was finally able to use Waze reliably so we could explore the city and find our way back to the marina. Lynette and I had decided not to purchase SIMs until we got to Panama, as we weren’t going to spend much time in any country before Panama.

We heard from others at the marina that the best grocery store was across the street from the US Embassy, so with Waze guiding us, we found the store. I must say, this store was very well stocked and because of its location across the street from the US Embassy, had many items you would see in US stores. Groceries were noticeably more expensive than in Mexico, but not as expensive as in the US. Speaking of the US Embassy, it is a very large and nice-looking complex of many buildings with very well-manicured landscaping.

On Saturday we went to a gathering at Bill and Jean’s home, with other Panama Posse members, for cocktails and a traditional El Salvadorian food called Pulpusas (stuffed tortillas). This is a weekly event they put on for visiting cruisers when they are available. They sent a panga to pick us up and take us back to our boat, as we didn’t want to launch our dinghy for just one event. We had an enjoyable evening with great food and conversations.

*Leaving El Salvador and crossing the bar*

We stayed at the marina in El Salvador until Wednesday, March 9^th, and left with Lola and Brisa heading south at 6:30 am. Lola being one of them. The bar crossing went smoothly with no issues for any of us crossing that morning. I could see storm clouds on the horizon, so I used the radar to seek a path with the least amount of rain. We still got a drenching, which gave us time to clean the cockpit.

Because of rough seas and then calm repeating almost the entire trip to Costa Rica, we had to keep switching from the main tank to the axillary tank. We were able to do some sailing. There were some periods of strong winds up to 30 knots on the nose, where we furled the sails, but otherwise mostly motor sailing.

I was worried that we were spending too much time on the 10-gallon axillary tank and that we would eventually run out of fuel. We had 15 gallons of fuel in jerry cans and by the time we got to our anchorage in Costa Rica, we had put all of that in the axillary tank. Every chance I got, I switched back to the main tank for as long as it would keep the engine running, but the engine was continuing to run less and less using the main tank.

Sea life was reasonably abundant. Some turtles and quite a few dolphins passed by. We were usually in the presence of some fishermen with their long lines stretched across our path. We never encountered any but thought we saw some close one night, as there were lights on the water that might have been long-line float lights.

The seas never really calmed down, so we were both a bit seasick. I decided to move closer to shore to see if the seas were a bit calmer and the wind a bit less. We were in luck as we found a smoother patch of water with a bit less wind. Because of our slow headway, often under 3 knots due to the current, we were not going to make it to Marina Papagayo on Friday before dark. I started looking for a good anchorage to overnight, so we could arrive at the marina in the daylight the following day.

I picked what looked to be an easy anchorage very close to the marina, Playa Nacascolo. We arrived at the anchorage around midnight on our third day out. We slowly motored toward shore until we got to about 20’ and dropped the anchor. We were all alone and only about an hour from the marina. We were dead tired. The anchorage was calm, which allowed us to get a good night’s sleep. It was very quiet in the morning as the sun rose until 10 wave runners came roaring by at full speed. A little while later a catamaran arrived and anchored close by. We ate breakfast and leisurely set out for Marina Papagayo around 11 am on Saturday, the 12^th of March. We got there in an hour and were tied up within minutes.

Because of COVID, Costa Rica required arriving and leaving boaters to use an agent to check in and check out (this has now changed, and an agent is no longer required). The check-in cost was $450 and the check-out was $200. Quite expensive, and to top it off we were charged an extra $100 for overtime to check in on Saturday. In the many text conversations we had with the agent, he did not mention an overtime fee. If he had told us there would be an overtime fee of $100, we would have stayed on the anchor until Monday and gone to the marina then. We weren’t told, so we suffered the consequences, and he picked up an easy $100.

Marina Papagayo is probably the nicest marina south of San Diego. Everything was in top shape. Excellent pool, showers, and laundry. There was even a very nice restaurant/bar right there. On the downside, the marina was extremely expensive, and it was a $50 taxi ride each way to the nearest grocery store in Playas del Coco. We weren’t in Mexico anymore!

We had dinner that night at the restaurant and the bill came to almost $100! We only had a drink each, two salads, and we split 3 tacos. That was the most expensive meal we had since leaving San Diego by at least double, if not more. Oh well, at least the food was very good.

The next day we discovered we had indeed gotten tangled up in some long lines along the way, but never knew it. We were dragging about 100´ of line behind us. The prop and shaft were heavily tangled with line. Doug, from Lola, came over and we both spent over 2 hours with knives cutting the tangled mess from the prop and shaft. When we were done, the dock was littered with line, swivels, and hooks. What a mess. We also discovered that the Spurs line cutter stationary cutter was missing, so somehow it got broken off.

Sunday night there was a Panama Posse potluck as there were quite a few Panama Posse boats at the marina, including the leader and founder of the Panama Posse, Dietmar. We had a wonderful time with lots to eat and many great conversations. It seems that most Sundays the group of Panama Posse cruisers in the marina do something together. The following Sunday was pizza night. Again, another great night of conversations, pizza, and beer.

We stayed longer than we wanted to at Marina Papagayo waiting for a package to arrive. It kept getting delayed in Costa Rican Customs and the shipping company kept asking for more paperwork from us. The package was supposed to be arriving at a friend’s house in Playas del Coco, with the plan that he was to deliver it to us at the marina. With the cost of staying at the marina adding up and still no package, we decide to move to an anchorage near Playas del Coco, Playa Hermosa. The new plan was to have our friend drive the package to Playa Hermosa instead of Marina Papagayo.

We stayed at Playa Hermosa on the hook for about a week waiting for the package. It never arrived. This beach has a shore break that made it difficult to land our dinghy ashore, so we made a test run with our dinghy to shore. If it hadn’t been for some nice people on the beach helping us land the dinghy, we would have swamped the dinghy. We thanked them and took a much-needed walk along the beach. It was nice to be off the boat and on land for a change, getting some exercise. We also had help getting the dinghy back in the water. Lesson learned; without dinghy wheels, we could not go to shore while at anchor.

After the umpteenth time, the shipping company asked for more paperwork, we finally found someone at the company who could help us with options. The shipping company had an office at our next port of call, Quepos, and we were able to change the ship-to address from our friend’s house to the shipper’s office in Quepos. We were now free to finally move on and not worry about missing our package.

We weighed anchor on March 29^th, 2022, in the evening and motored out of Playa Hermosa to Bahia Samara, about 62nm further south. The passage was a mixed bag of motor sailing and sailing on a close reach while fighting a 1.5-knot current much of the way. When our speed dropped to 3 knots, we would fire up the engine. When we could maintain over 3 knots, we cut the engine.

On this passage, we saw some fish doing flips out of the water. We were never able to catch them on camera, so only have the story to tell. We have no idea what kind of fish they were and why they were doing flips out of the water. Some were jumping quite high, 6 to 8 feet out of the water.

We encountered a float off our port side, and we assumed it was part of a long line so took some evasive action to avoid it. It eventually fell off to our stern and disappeared in the night. Hopefully, we hadn’t snagged a line.

We arrived at Bahia Samara in the early morning after a 12-hour passage and dropped the hook. We were tired so slept much of the day. There was some activity on the beach and fishing boats tied up to mooring balls in the bay. Some of the boats were coming and going all day long. We had read that there were a few good restaurants on the beach, but we didn’t want to chance the surf with the dinghy. We left around 8 am the next day in very calm conditions, heading for Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rica. This was a 95nm passage, which took about 24 hours.

We had some decent sailing and motor sailing. It rained a bit and we saw our first cargo ship in a very long time. The ship crossed our bow and anchored ahead of us. I assume it was waiting for its turn to go into a nearby port. Our closest point of approach after they had anchored was about 1/4nm. The ship was big and brightly lit up. We also saw some fishermen with long lines off in the distance. Their floats were lit, so it was easy to see where they were. We had read there were fish pens in the area, so these lights could have been the fish pens.

We arrived at Marina Pez Vela before they were open, so we just drifted outside the marina until someone answered our hail. We docked around 6:30 on April 1^st, 2022. Check-in was quick and easy. The marina is very nice with restaurants and a small store nearby.

We hauled out the next morning and rented a car along with an Airbnb for the next 10 days. Best 10 days we’ve had since leaving Mexico. We hiked at Manuel Antonio Nature Reserve, ate several dinners at an excellent nearby restaurant, Restaurante El Arado, and swam in the pool at the Airbnb. The Airbnb even had a washer and dryer and air conditioning! It was nice to be off the boat for a while.

During our haul out we had hull damage repaired, the bottom painted, a new depth transducer installed, some voids in the Gelcoat topsides patched, and the fuel polished. They did an excellent job for a fair price that was below their quote. I would highly recommend the Marina Pez Vela Boatyard to anyone needing repairs while traveling in the region.

It was now April 13^th, 2022, and we splashed with no issues. That evening we went out for drinks with a Panama Posse couple we had met up with several times in the past, Last Arrow. They had been getting free yellowfin tuna from a fishing boat they were docked next to. They came over after dinner and gave us about 10 pounds of fresh sashimi-grade tuna. Wow! We were in heaven. I immediately cut it into meal-sized pieces and froze the lot for future dinners.

The next afternoon we fueled up and motored out with Bahia Drake as our destination.

San Diego to Chiapas, Mexico – Winter 2021-2022

We cut the lines on November 18, 2021, around 4 pm from Chula Vista on our way to Ensenada, just a month and a half late. We were finally on our way! We pulled into Cruiseport Village Marina in Ensenada at around 8 am the following day and were not allowed off the boat until the medical person checked our oxygen levels and temperature. We had to show her our vaccination cards as well. We next paid a visit to the harbormaster office to check into the marina and country. One of the people at the office drove us to immigration, the Port Captain, and the other places where we needed to fill out paperwork and pay the fees to enter Mexican waters. It was nice that all these places were in one building, making it very easy to get everything done promptly. All in all, it took only a couple of hours. We went back to the boat and slept until the next morning. We were quite tired after the all-nighter.

The next morning, we departed Ensenada with a mission to be in Barra de Navidad by December 3^rdfor the Panama Posse launch party. We were on a fast track. We got fuel at Marina Coral and then motored in circles in the bay to reset our autopilot calibration as it seemed to not be tracking correctly. Off to a great morning start. Our destination was Turtle Bay for an overnight rest.

We sailed for two days to arrive at Turtle Bay on the evening of November 22^nd. This was a great passage, as we had enough wind to sail instead of just motor. We set the spinnaker for the first time on the second day. What a great day of sailing! We arrived at Turtle Bay and spent the afternoon refueling. There is a Panga that comes to your boat to fill your tanks for a price. It is well known that the fuel prices at Turtle Bay are a rip-off, so I haggled with them to get the price down a bit and was slightly successful. After our tank was full, we rested for the remainder of the day.

We then motored (mostly) on for another two nights and stopped at Bahia Santa Maria, a nice big bay. We spent that day just hanging out on the boat, resting. It was Thanksgiving and we didn’t have a turkey, so we improvised and had turkey sandwiches as we had some turkey lunch meat. Not fancy, but we gave thanks regardless. The next day we left in the late afternoon, on the 26^th of November. We had a slightly eventful sail/motor to San Jose del Cabo. There was a boat a bit too close on our tail. It was a bit unnerving to have them so close, so we hailed them to back off nicely. It is a big ocean, no need to be so close to another boat.

Out of nowhere, the winds picked up on the second night out. We had not been prepared for this as none of PredictWind’s weather models had predicted wind. I had set up for a nice night passage and got knocked around quite a bit as I wasn’t prepared for the wind and rough seas. It was about this time that we ran out of fuel in our main tank, so switched to the secondary tank to finish the passage to our San Jose del Cabo. A nice feature of our new Beta Marine engine is that it auto-primes the fuel, so we didn’t have to bleed the fuel lines after we ran out of fuel and sucked air.

We arrived at San Jose del Cabo on the 28^th of November. The marina was nice but only the fuel dock was open, so we filled up and went to our slip. We are required to check in with the Harbor Master and the Port Captain, but it was a Saturday, and they were both closed, so we had to go without a check-in. At the shower building, there was a self-pay station where we used our credit card to pay for the slip. Kind of convenient. We took showers and went for lunch with my sister, who lives part-time in the area. She took us to provision at La Comer after our wonderful lunch. What a nice big grocery store. They had lots of food choices, so we stocked up quite well.

The next morning, we left for Puerto Vallarta. The winds were favorable, so we sailed on a beam reach for a bit over 24 hours. It is so nice to turn the engine off and the only thing you hear is the creak of the boat and the ocean-going by. As with all things, the wind left us and we had to motor for the last few hours. When we arrived at Marina Vallarta we went to check in, get a shower and have dinner ashore. After a 3-day passage we were dead tired, so went to bed early for a good night’s sleep.

*Panama Posse Party, December 2021 at Barra de Navidad, Mexico*

It is now the 1^st of December, and we have a two-day passage ahead to reach our destination of Barra de Navidad. The Panama Posse event started on the evening of the 2^nd, so we were going to miss the meet and greet scheduled for that evening. We did make it in time for the party on the 3rd. There were seminars on navigation, provisioning, etc., and a big potluck on the 4^th. After the 4^th many Posse members left for parts unknown, we stayed a month as we still had projects to complete.

I finished installing the watermaker and commissioning it (finally). We couldn’t test it in the marina, so we took the boat out in the ocean to test it and then dump our holding tank. In that order, of course. We found out later that since there are not many dumping stations in Mexico the Marinas are not safe to swim in if you get my drift. At high tide, many just dump their tanks in the marina. Luckily there was a nice pool at the resort we could swim in.

On our way out to make water and dump our tanks, we had a mishap. I hit an immovable object. We had a big gash in the side of our boat. We had just gotten the bottom cleaned by a crew that works at the marina, and the crew put a temporary patch on the damaged area to keep the water out until we get to a boat yard to haul it out and fix it properly (Costa Rica possibly).

The Barra marina is very nice. The showers were good when there was hot water, and the laundry service (no one does their own laundry) was great and inexpensive. The best was the French baker who came to the marina in his boat ringing his bell to announce his arrival. He would come right to your dock with pastries, bread, and other tasty items.

We spent Christmas and New Year in Barra. Both were uneventful days for us. We stayed on the boat and relaxed. We left on the 11th of January and headed south for just a day trip to Carrizal, a small, secluded bay. We met some other Panama Posse boaters there. One of them, Bob, came to our boat in his dingy and introduced himself. He was heading south also, so we decided to buddy boat. Early the next day we headed out. We motored overnight to Cabeza Negra. A nice bay with very nice private homes on its shore. That night was rocky making it difficult to sleep, but the next morning the seas were calm, and the day was quite nice. We stayed in the bay and were visited by a whale. It was swimming around our boats with curiosity. It hung around quite a while, then took a dive right under our boat and was gone. The only picture taken showed the whale way too far away.

The next day after a nice rest we sailed/motored to Caleta de Campos. Palapas lined the beach with food stands everywhere. We needed to provision a bit, so we asked a person in a car about the grocery shopping, and he offered to take us up the hill to the town. Thank goodness we got a ride as the hill was quite steep. It would have been a very tiring walk up the hill. He dropped us off at a nice small grocery store where we bought some fresh food, eggs, and a few other items we were low on. The town was very nice and clean, and everyone was very friendly.

We did meet up with another Panama Posse couple and decided to rendezvous at one of the beach eateries, so we all took our dinghies in for dinner. They paddled and we motored in with Bob. The dinner was cheap and excellent! We each had a whole fish with a spicy sauce along with cocktails. When we left the other couple got out and paddled right to their boat. Bob decided to try to go right out, and we hit a wave, then another wave right in our faces. The boat was swamped, and we were drenched. We got out of the boat in the water and pulled the boat ashore to bail it out. A woman with her child came over with a bucket to help. She did not speak any English but smiled the whole time. We finally got the boat bailed and we moved the dinghy over to where we were supposed to depart. That exit was successful, and we made it back to the boat, although we were quite drenched from the incident, so we took another shower to get the salt off and wash out the clothes we had been wearing. It’s a funny story now, but it was not so funny then.

The next morning the tsunami was announced, and it was hitting the bays up and down the west coast. We were advised by our Panama Posse colleagues to get out of the bay and head at least 4 miles out to sea to not be affected. So off we went, out to sea on our way to Ixtapa. This was an overnight passage. We took our time so we would arrive at first light as we left 5 hours earlier than we had planned, to be safely out to sea when the surge hit.

We entered the channel to Marina Ixtapa at what was supposed to be high tide. A panga came out to guide us in. Well, the tsunami surge decided to hit exactly when we were trying to go in. When we entered the channel, the seas were running out very fast. We grounded for a short period, but I was able to twist and turn the boat with the strong current and shortly freed it. The current was running so fast that at full throttle we were only making 1.5 knots. It was a little scary. After we arrived the marina closed the channel for all boats.

We checked in with the Harbor Master and needed to go to the Port Captain in Zihuatanejo to check in there as well. Zihuatanejo is a 15-minute taxi ride away. There have been issues with checking in at Zihuatanejo by other cruisers so we were aware that this check-in would be a bit more involved. They were right. Not only was this the only port where we had to pay to check in and check out. It also was the only port where none of the paperwork was in English. After waiting for a bit and then filling out the 3 pages of forms, we were told to come back the next day to get our stamped paperwork. What should have been a free 1-hour process took about 3 hours and two separate trips to the Port Captain’s office.

Our friends from Barra, Terry and Nancy came in two days after us. They are on a catamaran, so we hung out on their boat as it has way more room than ours. We stayed in the marina for 10 days and then anchored in Zihuatanejo bay for two nights. Bob stayed in Ixtapa waiting for his wife to join him from the states.

We left Zihuatanejo on January 29^th for Acapulco, and are now buddy-boating with Terry and Nancy. This was an uneventful overnight motor trip. We met up with another Panama Posse couple Nicole and JP who were in Acapulco waiting for their windlass to be fixed. We were all side tied on the outermost dock of the marina so got to know them. We all went to dinner at a place that was like a Beni Hana if you are familiar with that style of Japanese restaurant. If not, it is where they have a grill, and you sit around it watching your food being prepared. The cook puts on a show as he cooks that is entertaining. The next day we took a hike to where the famous Acapulco cliff divers do their dives. Unfortunately, it was too early for them to be diving, so we missed the show.

We left the next day for Bahia Chahué. Another overnight motoring trip. Terry and Nancy decided to chance the channel and went in at low tide. They ended up in the mud but were able to get free and dock. Since our draft is a foot deeper, we opted to anchor outside in the bay until high tide. We had no issues with the bottom and were safely tied up at the dock.

Marina Chahué is a holding spot for boaters to wait out the strong Tehuantepec winds that blow quite frequently across the narrowest part of Mexico. The Gulf of Tehuantepec is very dangerous for all boats. These winds can blow more than 50 knots. No one, not even large ships, cross it until the winds subside.

Since the winds had just started blowing and PredictWind indicated the next weather window would be about a week out, we decided to take a road trip to Oaxaca to explore the city and cultural sites. We drove about 5 hours on a winding road that was sometimes dirt and often had areas that were caving in or had fallen rocks scattered around. We rented an Airbnb for three nights right in downtown Oaxaca.

Be careful when renting an Airbnb in Mexico. This place was advertised as a great place, but it was not so great. The floors were dirty. It was advertised as a two-bedroom, but it was one bedroom and an open area. In the kitchen, you had to unplug one appliance to use another. Hot water was only in the shower and the water pressure was so low that the water just dribbled out of the shower head. When someone turned on the water elsewhere or flushed the toilet you got scalded in the shower.

On the flip side, Oaxaca is an amazing city and area. The public market was just down the street with lots of activity and many stalls selling many items and food. Oaxaca is known for its Mezcal, chocolate, and mole. We sampled all three and went to two Mezcal distilleries outside the city. Oaxaca is also known for its archeological sites. Just outside the city is the ancient city of Monte Albán. What a great cultural site.

We went a different route back to our boats to stop at another archeological site, Mitla, another ancient city in ruins. This one wasn’t as well preserved as Monte Albán.

We got back to the boat just in time to go check out and leave for Chiapas across the Gulf of Tehuantepec as there was a 3-day weather window approaching. The port captain turned us away to come back the day we were leaving so that he would be assured we wouldn’t leave early. They are very concerned about the safety of boats making the crossing.

It was an almost uneventful 2-day crossing of the Gulf. I say almost uneventful because we ran across two long line fishing lines. These are illegal in Mexico, but the fishermen still fish with long lines far enough out to sea so they don’t get caught. Long lines are very long lines with floats and fishing hooks attached to them. They string them out for miles in the open ocean and every boat that comes by gets caught in them or at least must deal with crossing them. The usual course of action is to cut the line to free the boat. We ran across one in the middle of the night and had to cut the line to get free. The second one was during daylight, and we spotted the floats that were spaced about 100 yards apart quite easily. After following the line (it was right across our path) for about 30 minutes I decided I wasn’t going to find the end, so picked a spot midway between two floats and set a course to cross the line. When I reached the line, I put the boat in neutral and drifted across. Watching the floats on either side I could see by their wakes that I had snagged the line. I stopped the boat and with the boat hook was able to push the line off our rudder and free ourselves. Quite an experience I must say.

We are now at Marina Chiapas, which is the last port in Mexico. There are about 8 Panama Posse boats here, all crossing the Tehuantepec at the same time as us. Some are leaving today or soon. We haven’t decided what we are going to do yet. We want to explore the area as there are Mayan ruins to the east that would be great to see.

Two days ago, on February 22^nd, we took a tour of a small Mayan ruin, coffee plantation, and artisan chocolate maker. We had a nice road trip and a very nice tamale meal at the end. The chocolate maker was the highlight of the trip for sure. On our way back to the boat the tour guide stopped at Walmart so we could do some shopping. Very nice.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for our next chapter.