BACK FROM OUR INLAND TOUR

Well we just returned from a two-plus weeks tour of Ecuador. We began by meeting our oldest daughter, Kirsten, her boyfriend, Fred and our oldest granddaughter, Courtney in Guayaquil, a sea port city in southern Ecuador. All three flew to the Galapagos for four days while Jean and I explored Guayaquil. After they returned we all boarded a bus for Riobamba, located in central Ecuador, wanting to see the open market. Here we saw our first mountain people. They are all very short and all the men wear either one of those small felt hats and the women wear either the same type of hat or a pretty straw hat with a thin brim. We stayed overnight in Riobamba and then took the down bus to Alausi where we wanted to ride the famous mountain train. This is where things started to get adventuresome. We were delayed in getting to Alausi because we had to wait in Riobamba for our laundry to get finished. It wasn’t done by 3:30 because the dryers weren’t working at the laundry shop so, after paying $10, we took our wet laundry with us. We arrived late in Alausi and the hotel we stayed in had the thinnest mattresses I’ve ever seen. The manager said to knock on her door in the morning and she would turn on the hot water. Next morning…. No manager in her room, i.e no hot water. So we go at 6:30 AM down to the train station to buy our tickets so we can take the early train because we have to catch the 2:30 PM bus to Quito, a six hour trip. Well crap!! The early tickets are sold out and the earliest train is, yep, 2:30 PM ! So, we really want to go so we wait. In the meantime we have to check out of our hotel room however, the manager (who now appears) says we can keep our luggage in her room until we return from the train ride. Two-thirty arrives and they have sold more tickets than seats available on the train! We are at the back of the line so….. no train ride and we’ve missed the bus. We go back to the hotel to get our luggage and ….. no manager! We wait for an hour and she shows up. She tells us we can catch the bus coming up from Guayaquil if we go up to the highway so here we are on the side of the road waiting for the busses to come by. Don’t get ahead of me now…. Every bus headed to Quito is full so we decide to catch a local bus to Riobamba then catch a bus at the terminal to Quito. Every bus is full going to Riobamba and it is going to be dark pretty soon. Kirsten happened to flag down a guy in an SUV coming out of a gas station and talked him into giving us a ride to Riobamba for 20 bucks. We finally get to Riobamba and catch the bus to Quito where we arrive at the hotel at 11:00 PM. Now we have to be up early to catch our shuttle to Amazonia and Fred has to catch his flight back to California. So, the next morning Jean, Kirsten, Courtney and I meet our driver and head for a nice 4 days exploring the headwaters of the Amazon, in an area known as Amazonia. Two hours out of Quito we are almost at the top of the Andes, ready to cross over to the jungle when the road is closed by SNOW! Our driver said it is the first time he has ever driven in snow and the first time this road was ever closed due to snow. Darn global warming! So we have to back track two hours and take a southern route which ends up taking three extra hours. We had reservations at a jungle resort named Casa Suizo located on the Napo river and we had to be met by a river panga so they could transport us to the resort and the last one runs at 5PM. We arrived at our pick up point at 5 PM and just made it. We spent four very nice and interesting days at the resort. We took guided tours of the jungle every day with two guides, one who spoke your language and one who was indigenous. We trekked through the jungle, saw lots of wildlife and exotic plants. We were shown how the locals trap animals for food and how they use plants for medicine. The resort was all inclusive so we always returned for 3 meals a day served in a pool-side setting. I normally don’t go for organized setting such as this but I was quite impressed. You would be hard pressed to see and do what we did on your own. After four days we returned to Quito where Kirsten and Courtney caught their flight back to California. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and located right on the equator. We visited Mitad del Mundo which is “ the middle of the world”, an area set aside to celebrate the line going around the middle of the world. The next few days were spent exploring Quito and bussing back home to the boat. We had a great time but, I’m still recovering from “bus butt”.

Pics: Guayaquil, old woman in Riobamba, hats in Riobamba, woman in Riobamba,jungle monkey, view from our jungle resort, self explanitory

WE'RE "SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR, DOWN ECUADOR WAY

Well, we tried to update our Blog via email and, of course, we had the wrong email address so it didn't happen but, here we are, past the equator and laying comfortably in Bahia Caraquez, Ecuador. Our passage over the equator was interesting. First, the line which marks the equator is a lot wider than we thought, maybe 50 to 75 feet wide and second the color was mostly black and it was kind of wavy rather than a true straight line. We stopped right on the equator and performed a few experiments. When we flushed the toilet we noticed that the water did not swirl clockwise or counter-clock wise and the same with the water in the sink. Our GPS showed 00.00.00 but did not indicate South or North. The most interesting thing was that our compass spun in a circle until we passed over the equator! It was a 12 day sail from El Salvador and all of it hard on the wind. We spent half the time passing through the ITCZ where the wind changed strength often and it rained most of the time. We had one night where it rained hard for 6 hours non-stop. On our fifth day we got our butts kicked and ducked into Isla Cocos. Cocos is 300 miles west of Costa Rica and is a Costa Rican National Park. It usually costs $75/day to stay there but we were exempted because we stopped due to bad weather. The island is a lush green with lots of waterfalls. The park extends twelve miles around the island and is patrolled for illegal fishing. There is a small conservation core that live on the island and they sell polo shirts, jewelry, and other items to raise funds to help support the island. One interesting item we purchased was a necklass made from the hooks of seized long liners caught fishing in the park waters.

We had to motor the last 80 miles directly into 20 knots of wind with six to eight foot seas. It was very slow and uncomfortable. Our friends directed us to a secure anchorage 15 miles north of our destination to wait for the next mornings' tide. Jean and I finally had a chance to toast our crossing of the equator (now we are officially known as "shelbacks") with a bottle of champagne followed by potato soup. Our bar crossing the next morning was smooth and easy, nothing like Bahia del Sol. Our anchorage is located right on the edge of the town of Bahia Caraquez in front of the restaurant Puerto Amistad. The restaurant operates the moorings and dinghy dock plus, the offer a wide variety of cruiser services from water delivery to laundry. And boy, is it cheap here! Diesel fuel is an unbeleiveable $1.03/gallon and a large lunch can be had for $1.50. Puerto Amistad takes care of some of the check-in into the country but, everyone has to go to the coastal city of Manta to check-in with the National Police. It is a 3 hour bus ride or, for $40, you can rent a taxi for all day. We shared a taxi with another couple. Manta has a very large tuna cannery operation, in fact, Ecuador has the largest tuna canning operation in the world. We went down to the beach and purchased a large tuna for $6 and paid another $1 to have it cleaned. Manta also boasts a fairly large tuna boat building industry. They are built right on the beach and most are fabricated from wood. On our return trip we stopped in the town of Monte Cristi to purchase a real hand made, Panama hat. We expect that we will really enjoy Ecuador and, as like most of the places we visit, will have a hard time leaving.

Boats on the Beach in Manta

"Panama" hats in Monte Cristi

WE'RE OUTA' HERE!

Yes, it's time to leave for Ecuador but, as always, we hate to leave all our friends. We expected to stay 3 weeks and now it is almost nine weeks. We were delayed 2 days due to tropical storm Alma (the first of the season). Our trip to Ecuador should take around 10 - 12 days so we will be updating our blog via email. As we always say " The best time to leave is when you don't want to go."

PERSONAL SECURITY IN EL SALVADOR

For all of you who are considering traveling down here to Salvador: There is no need to bring your own security guard!! Well, that's a statement that we thought we'd never make. All of the well-to-do people here have their own personal security guards and most business establishments have at least one armed security guard. Not that it's dangerous here but, people with money are occasionally kidnapped and a guard costs about $10 per day. Jean and I took an overnight trip to San Salvador with our friends Mike & Mary to celebrate our Jean's birthday. One morning we took a taxi down to the central open-air market located right in the center of San Salvador (hence the name). We were stopped by these two city policemen who told us that we should be careful of pick-pockets and that we should be careful where we go. We thanked them and continued to stroll the markets. A little later we met up with the same officers. They called two of their officers over and assigned them to watch over us while we shopped! They also told them to follow us at a discrete distance and not be obvious. There you go...when did that happen last in San Francisco? Anyway, the open market is quite an experience. Jean and I have been down there twice and always enjoyed the sights and sound of the vendors. Name a vegetable and you can find it somewhere in the market. Fresh vegies, housewares, box California wine ($10 for 5 liters of Franzia Burgundy), hardware items, you name it. Of course, there are many places and many kinds of food from which to choose. This fella here, in the video, managed to miss his fingers while frantically chopping his cabbage. He does, however, look pretty nonchalant about it.

We had an interesting bus trip from Bahi del Sol to San Salvador. Here in Salvador, when it's time for the bus driver to get a drug and alcohol test they just pull the bus over to the side of the road and perform a breath and urine test right there! Our bus was pulled over right at the entrance to the bus terminal. The poor driver was given a little cup and he stood behind a bush and peed right there! Apparently, bus costumers are used to this as they just got off the bus and walked to the terminal from there.

We all stayed at a nice hotel near one of the large European-style malls and went to a nice steak house for Jean's birthday dinner. Four of us, four steaks, two bottles of wine, four top-of-the-line after-dinner drinks, and desert (plus included tip) $105. Ya gotta love it in El Salvador! No wonder we can't seem to get away from here.

SURFING INTO EL SALVADOR

So far twenty-eight boats have come into Bahia Del Sol this season. The other day six boats wanted to come in but the surf across the bar was too large and the wave period was too short so the boats had to anchor out for the night. The next morning we saw that the surf was a little smaller and occassionaly there were some long periods (relatively speaking) so the pilot decided that we could bring the boats over the bar. Sail boats are slow so the technique is to bring them close to the bar behind the breaking waves then, when the set passes, the sailboat goes full speed over the bar before the next wave set comes in. It works most of the time but, as you can see from this sequence of pictures, the 45-foot catamaran, Yachtman's Dream, had an extra exciting entrance. The first picture is from the pilot boat and the remaining were taken by Paradise Bound who was waiting outside to cross the bar. The surf was at least six-feet and moving quickly. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get all six boats safely over the bar. The pilot and I got pretty beat up in the rough surf but we still had a good time.

TESTING OUR EMAIL UPDATE SYSTEM

We just set up our email update system so we can update our blog while we're underway or away from a wireless station.

GREAT TIMES IN EL SALVADOR

The owner of Hotel Bahia del Sol asked us to help him with a print ad so Jean pulled me to the top of the mast and I took a few pictures then, a friend of ours created this ad for the hotel. We all hope this ad will help attract more cruisers to the area. I'm still volunteering to help bring the boats across the bar with the pilot boat. We go out and the pilot decides when we head in and I talk the boat through the maneuvers. It's great fun and so far 23 boats have come across the bar this season. We brought one boat in that had a nine-foot draft with no problems. The local fifty-foot sport fishers go in and out the bar all the time without a pilot but, sail boats have to wait for high tide to ensure that there is plenty of water and they need help locating the channel. We expect 3 to 5 more cruisers to arrive next week.

Eleven of us rented a panga for a day and took a tour of the mangrove estuary. We each paid $6 for the all-day trip. We first visited a small island in the middle of the mangroves that had mango trees all over. We all picked all we could hold. We then took a long site seeing trip in and out of the mangroves. At lunch time we stopped at a shore side palapa restaurant. As you can see from the picture it was very rustic and very Salvadorian. We all ordered the fish lunch. Five dollars for a medium fish and six dollars for a large one. Everything was freshly caught and cleaned then fried in a large pan over an open fire. The fish was served with ice-cold beers, deep-fried shrimps and cooked rice. We had a great view of the estuary and watched the weekend panga traffic cruise by. We saw a funeral procession consisting of 3 panga loads of people and one casket. We were told that they were giving the recently passed his final tour of the estuary.

After lunch we continued on to the Rio Lempa, the longest river in El Salvador. We beached at the mouth of the river and all took a cool, freshwater swim then scavenged the beach for any washed-up treasures. So, for the all-day trip, local guide, panga, and lunch it cost us $26 per couple.

We hadn't planned on staying in El Salvador this long but, it is so pleasant and beautiful we have a hard time pulling ourselves away, however, Ecuador is calling and we can't wait too long to leave due to the weather. Probably and week or two more here then off for a 10 or 12 day sail south of the Equator.

ALWAYS LIKE COMING HOME

One nice thing about cruising is that when you return to a place where you've spent some time and made some friends it's like coming home all over again. We no longer have one place that we call home. If home is where the heart is then our hearts are spread along the Pacific. We just returned to Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador for the second time. We were previously here in 2005 when we spent six months hear. We gently surfed over the bar guarding the entrance guided by the hotel pilot, Roger. Since arriving I have accompanied the pilot for 10 bar crossings, talking the boats over the bar and taking pictures. This is a picture of the Canadian boat, Rogla, surfing smoothly over the bar. There have been rumors of this bar being dangerous but, they are grossly overstated. We've witnessed over 30 bar crossings all without incident. The anchorage here is free and for about $60/month you can use the hotels' pools (2), bar, restaurant, dinghy dock,and other facilities plus a 30% discount on your food and bar tab! We call it cruisers vacation.

While here in BDS we had our bottom repainted in the same yard we used in 2005. We paid $7/ft for haul-out, $20/day for each laborer, and $120 for a gallon of local paint (60% - 68% copper depending on color). We had the same paint applied in 2005 and it was still in good shape. We also replaced our cutlass bearing along with having the engine re-aligned. We had a good experience with the yard folks just as in 2005. There are some minor downsides to this yard: they are limited as to draft, 6 -7 feet is the maximum and the haul-out is tidal dependent with haul-out during the 7 or 8 spring tides per month. While staying aboard during the haul-out we were allowed all the free mangos and coconuts we could eat! A bathroom and shower is avaliable to those staying aboard.

We held off doing any inland travel until we finished the bottom. A few days ago we took the bus to the capitol city of San Salvador and stayed overnight. We got hopelessly lost in the central market area, got an American food fix at Tony Roma's (of course RIBS!) and watched too much CNN in the hotel room. Room prices have risen since 2005 by $10 - $15/ night. We also visited the Guzman archeological muesum . We were going to only stay one night but decided to take the next day's bus to the little town of Suchitoto. The morning bus cost 80 cents and took a little over an hour. Our main reason for going there was to visit the French restaurant that we discovered in 2005. It was still open and the owner remembered us. We had a very memorable meal and lots of great wine. Our return trip to BDS took 5 hours by bus and taxi.

BEEN IN LA CRUZ SINCE NOVEMBER

Well, it's been a long time since our last update. I played music four night a week in the area, two nights blues guitar and two nights blues harp so it's been like a job for 5 months. We finally departed La Cruz and sailed almost directly to Hualtaco, in southern Mexico. We are spending a few days here waiting for the weather before crossing over to El Salvador where we spent 6 months in 2005. We'll get our bottom painted there and then sail directly to Ecuador where we will spend 6 months. After that, who knows? Internet access has been spotty so it's difficult updating our blog. Hopefully, we can do another, longer update when we reach El Salvador.

IF YOU AIN'T BEEN AGROUND, YOU AIN'T BEEN AROUND

So.....we motored all but 15 of the 400 miles from Santa Rosalia to Mazatlan. That's the way it is here in Mexico. We took a slip at the old Marina Mazatlan so we could visit friends and do some serious provisioning. We ran across quite a few boaters we hadn't seen since 2005. Anyway, our friend, Lynn on Wildfire, took us to Sam's club where we were giddy with all that Sam had to offer! Like kids in the candy store, we over bought on all our favorite items. We stayed for a week before heading out for an overnighter to La Cruz but, we needed fuel after that 400 mile trip so Jean called the local fuel dock to make sure they were open. The fuel dock has only been open 2 weeks but they said that they "were ready for us and that, don't worry, we have 10 feet of water along side the fuel dock." That much was true however, the channel to the dock had much less than that. We ran aground in the mud 100 feet from the dock. So, Jean called them and they sent a boat over to sound the channel and sure enough, there wasn't enough water! They were very apologetic (even brought out a few cold colas for us) and offered us a free night at their docks. We had to wait 3 hours for the tide to change and we easily backed off the mud bar and waited until there was enough water to get to the dock. By that time it was too late to head out so we took them up on the free night. A couple of days later we arrived at a much changed La Cruz. Our little town now has a 300-plus, slip marina under serious construction (offering slips at a bargain rate of $1000/month) and many, many condos being built. The beach palapa where we play music, (as seen here), is no longer on the beach. The little row houses outside of town that were selling for $25,000 USD in 2005 are now going for $80,000 USD! So many changes that we think this may be the last time we will stay here for any length of time. But, this time we are staying until late February. Jean is showing her beaded jewlery twice a month at a local artwalk and I play classical guitar next to her stand to attract customers. Geez, the Baja was so low key compared to this...

OUR EIGHT YEAR ANNIVERSARY CRUISING

Today marks our eighth year of cruising. We can still remember like it was yesterday all the people waving us a good-bye from our dock in Richmond, California, 1999. Our granddaughter was only two weeks old and our friends thought we were nuts. We'd planned, worked and saved for 10 years to realize our goal. We said we were not going to squander our youth on saving money. I was just short of 53, had a great job that I loved and Jean was 55 and also had a great job. We sold our comfortable home, gave a bunch of useless materialistic things away, kissed our family and friends good-bye and sailed off into the proverbial sunset. One of our most memorable moments was crossing the breaking bar at Bahia Del Sol in El Salvador. We anchored outside the bar entrance for three days waiting for the surf to subside along with 3 other boats. You have to have a pilot guide you over the bar and through the surf so when our turn came they called us on the radio and talked us through the whole process. We were picked up by I don't know how big surf, three times. Let me tell you that it is very exciting to surf a 23,000 pound, 37-foot boat for the first time. It was over so quick we never had a chance to be scared. We've had so many unforgettable experiences that it is hard to decide which ones to highlight. We've made the passage from Hawaii to the mainland three times. We always spent at least few days totally becalmed. The sea is like Saran wrap and the sun is brilliant in the sky. One time we watched a Mahi swim circles around the boat for a whole day while we just drifted with the current. Another time we jumped off the boat and went for a swim, and once we caught a 20-foot, 4-inch diameter line in the prop and spent an hour cutting it away. Of course, we made a lot of friends and especially enjoyed all the children we've met. Kids are the same everywhere, fun loving and curious. Not only the local children but, also the kids aboard cruising boats. We tend to make all the kids our temporary grandkids. So, do we regret anything? Only that we should have done this 5 years earlier. We have yet to met anyone who said that they wished they would have worked a little longer before setting out cruising. So, after eight years, tens of thousands of miles sailing, uncountable anchorages and having more friends than any normal person is allowed, we are happy and have never given a thought as to how long we will be doing this. We hope all of you take this as some inspiration to get out and enjoy life now because, life is truely.....SHORT.

YES, WE HAVE SEAFOOD!

Oh yes! We've caught a lot of seafood in what will be our eight years of cruising on October 26. There is nothing like eating minutes-from-the-ocean fresh tuna or mahi-mahi. On one of our five trips down the Baja we hooked a 50 pound albacore tuna on our boat pole. It took and hour and a half to land it on the side deck. The girth was 26 inches. Boy, we had enough tuna to last for months however, we only have a two cubic foot refrigerator. Luckily, that day we arrived in Bahia Santa Maria and there were 4 power boats anchored there. These guys always have big freezers so we distributed most of the fish to these folks. We usually eat our tuna sashami style and the flavor cannot be met by even the best sushi restaurant. We will also quickly sear a nice chunk in a super hot pan so it remains raw in the middle then, slice it and serve it on a bed of cabbage (which all cruisers have) and top it with onions and sesame seeds followed by a drizzle of sesame oil and soy sauce. Man, I'm getting hungry now!!

We always catch Mahi-Mahi, (called Dorado in Mexico) on our crossings. We caught a four-footer along the inside of the Baja one time and it feed ten people some pretty hefty portions with plenty left over. When we catch fish I fillet them right away on the side deck then Jean washes the fillets in fresh water, dries them with paper towels and leaves them out on the counter to air dry. Then, she puts them in a ziploc bag with more paper towels and into the refrigerator they go. It's important to keep the fish dry because moisture will accelerate deterioration.

We've had Mahi many different ways, fried, bbq'ed, chowder, raw, steamed, you name it. One thing that adds a small measure of taste is we catch all of our fish on home-made lures. For Mahi I take a 3/4 inch diameter wood dowel about 5 inches long and drill a hole through the center. Then I taper the ends and paint it blue and yellow, the color of a Mahi. The I put a good size double hook on a strong leader and thread it through the hole in the center of the painted dowel. Costs about 75 cents and catches a fortune in Mahi. For tuna I take a couple of 2 inch squid skirts that you can buy at any Kmart, shove one inside the other and just run a line through them with a hook attached. We caught our 50 pound tuna on just such a lure. There is no need for one of those expensive squid skirt/lead head combinations or any need for anything larger than say, 4 inches.

By far, the best of the seafood are the lobsters along the Baja. You can usually buy them pretty cheap from the local trappers or trade something for them. We once traded 2 gallons of diesel fuel for 4 lobsters and one other time we gave a fisherman a couple dozen fishing hooks and he returned later with 6 lobsters! We've searched for lobster now and then but, they are hard to find and it's really hard to judge their size under water. My first lobster was like, 6 inches long! So, it's easier to just trade for them. We've also purchased large shrimp from fishermen for $12 a kilo and many cruisers tell stories about getting buckets full of shrimp for next to nothing. Yes, there is a lot of seafood in the Pacific and we've had a lot of it and looking forward to catching much more. I hope my brother Richard, whom I've fished with most of my life, is just a little bit jealous.

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE ANCHORAGES

Last month we sailed north out of Santa Rosalia with an ultimate destination of Gonzaga Bay. We managed to harbor-hop with long day sails and enjoyed a lot of private anchorages. Private because the "fleet" of cruising boats were two to three weeks ahead of us so we never saw any other boats until we arrived in Bahia Los Angeles, commonly referred to as "BLA". BLA is a little dusty town that has a few small stores and minimal services. The town caters to trailer-boating sport fishermen. We spent a few days there visiting our friends on other boats and doing a little provisioning. We did manage to get our laundry done for $12. From BLA we day sailed the 80 or so miles to the north end of of the uninhabited Isla Angel de la Guarda where the pictured anchorage of Refuigo lies. If you look real close at the picture you will see two blue dots near left of center. We anchored for a week on the lower dot. The reef fishing was fantastic! We caught all the Trigger fish we could eat and dived for rock scallops. This is the first time I've seen rock scallops. They look just like rocks stuck on the side of larger rocks and they are most tasty! You dive down 15 to 20 feet and stick a knife blade into the opening and cut the abductor muscle(the part that you eat) from the lower shell then, you bring up the top half with everything and clean it in the dinghy.

The island in the upper middle of the photo is Isla Granita which is home to a sea lion colony. We motored the two miles over and anchored there for the day. We launched the dinghy and as we motored around a group of the sea lions followed us jumping and barking. We spent the whole day fishing and watching the antics of the sea lions. Refugio is one of those anchorages that typifies the perfect Baja anchorage. We could easily spend a month there and eat fresh seafood the entire time. We met some other cruising folks one the boat Lightheart who invited us ashore for a game of Bacchi ball. We played amongst the sand dunes so it was like motocross Bacchi ball! Anyway, we had a great time and played until sunset. We had forgotten about the 12 foot tides there and had to carry our dinghy a long way back to the water. We spent a lovely eight days in the area before departing for Gonzaga Bay, 50 miles farther north and our northern most destination.

FRONT ROW SEAT FOR EXCITEMENT

A few months ago we were at the new Singlar Marina in Santa Rosalia. Santa Rosalia is home to hundreds of squid fishing boats and one Mexican Navy boat. Moored at the ferry dock about 100 feet behind where we were docked sat a big old Navy launch which the pelicans used as a roosting place. It was obvious that the launch hadn't been used in a long time however, it had three 225 horsepower Yamaha outboards attached to the back that looked fairly new. One day we saw a few navy folks cleaning the launch and working on the engines. After a couple of days they had it pretty well cleaned up and they got the motors running. One fine morning the navy folks came down to take the launch on a little run around the harbor. I was down below and Jean was in the cockpit reading. Jean yelled "fire!!" and I jumped up into the cockpit and saw smoke and orange flames leaping out of the launch. A bunch of folks came running down with those little red fire extinguishers, you know like the ones we all have on our boats. They were pretty much useless. A few buckets of water were tossed with no affect. Finally, a guy wheeled down what looked like a 25 gallon dry fire extinguisher and that did the trick. There was this big WOOSH and the fire went out. Surprisingly, the engines were not harmed and they had them running the next day however, the burned portions of the boat haven't been fixed since so the launch still sits there with the pelicans very happy to have their roost back.