Got to be moving on...

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

 

We have been in Bahia for almost two weeks now, hard as that is to believe. Every day is much the same as the last. We wake up, I make coffee, we catch up on the latest Internet gossip, we take the dinghy into town to get enough groceries to last us a day or two. We may stop for breakfast or lunch somewhere but more often it is tuna sandwiches on the boat. I scrub the decks until I get discouraged, then spend the rest of the day reading or just walking around town. In the evening we watch a movie or TV show from our vast collection, then get lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the boat as the tide sweeps into the estuary. It is definitely time for us get going.

 

 

 

Most of our days have been less than productive but there have been some positives too. We have had a chance to catch up with some new and old cruising friends and hear about their exciting plans - our plans seem very lame in comparison. The weather has been perfect, with some sun and generally benign temperatures considering we are sitting right on the equator. There are quite a few ex-pat "snow birds" staying in town - a lot more than we saw back in May and June.

 

November 27th was American thanksgiving and Tripp (the owner of the marina) put on a big spread to celebrate. It was basically a pot luck affair except for the turkeys which were provided by the marina. I guess this is an annual event here and everybody in town seems to show up. They are not shy about rushing for the food either; fortunately there was plenty to go around.

 

 

Outside of the ongoing task of cleaning the boat, the only things I have managed to accomplish in the last couple.of days is to, hopefually, solve my engine temperature monitoring situation. I have installed a new temperature overheating alarm switch and a new matched temperature sender and gauge (all acquired at the Isuzu dealer in Edmonton). The new gauge looks quite different from the old one although it is the same brand. I ran the engine for a half an hour to get it good and hot and, as you can see from the accompanying photo, it shows the expected 180 degrees dead on. I really cannot test the overheating alarm but cannot see any reason why it shouldn't work fine too.

 

My other major effort has been on the anti-pelican front. After getting the majority of the bird crap off the boat (not all but a lot better than when we arrived), Susanne came up with a battle plan. The idea is to make our pulpit a less inviting perch. I call it the plastic tie defence. So far it appears to be working.

 

 

Today two of our friend's boats left on the morning high tide, one heading for Panama and the other for the Galápagos Islands. A couple of the other boats are getting ready to leave as well. Soon it could get very lonely here. Thus, we have finally made some plans for getting out of here ourselves. Next Tuesday we will take a bus to the city of Guayaquil where we will catch a late afternoon flight to Santiago in Chile. We booked a cheap hotel for a week and will decide later where we go from there. We are getting a little excited at the thought of being on the move again - let the adventure continue...

 

 

 

{GMST}00|36.367|S|080|25.383|W|Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador|Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador{GEND}

 

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Back in Bahia

Bahia de Caraquez, Equador

On a rainy Wednesday in Quito, we got out of town.

 

Before, when we took the bus to Bahia, we were able to leave from the Riena del Camino bus terminal, located just a short distance from our hotel. This time however, although we could still buy our tickets there, all of their buses now leave from the main terminal, way off in the south end of the city. So, on Wednesday, we had to take an hour long taxi ride from the hotel to the terminal before we could actually start our journey to the coast. Fortunately, while it was raining at the hotel, it was clear at the bus terminal, so waiting outside with all of our bags was no problem.

Our bus left Quito at 1 PM. We were treated to the usual spectacular scenery as we wound our way down through the mountainous terrain, arriving in Bahia at 8:30PM. We grabbed a taxi for the short ride to the Puerto Amistad marina, where we met our good friends, David and Gitte, at the restaurant. We had some supper at the restaurant, and then they gave us a ride to our boat. It was too dark to see what state the boat was in, so we just crashed for the night.

In the morning, we started to discover just how well Sine Timore had weathered our 5-month absence. There was some good news and some bad news.

On the exterior, everything seems to be intact. However, the pelicans have wreaked havoc with the pulpit and the decks. It is hard to believe a few birds can cause this much of a mess. I spent half the day just getting some of the thicker encrustations off - it is going to take a lot more work to make it look presentable again.

Our batteries have taken a bit of a beating. My great plan of just leaving a single solar panel alive to keep a trickle charge on the house bank was apparently not enough. The house bank, made up of our brand new batteries, acquired in Panama, were down to 11.2 volts, with the battery monitor tellling us they were at 4% charge - basically dead. Upon investigation, it appears that the windlass battery, with which we had some charging issues back in Panama, is completely dead (3 volts). This was causing a huge drain, via the duo-charge unit that should have kept the batteries isolated, on the main bank, which accounts for why they were also so low. The only bright spot was the starter battery which had a full charge and was quite happy to start the engine for us. I ran the engine for an hour, then ran the Honda generator off and on for the next two days, to try and get the house bank out of the red. Those new batteries seem to be recovering fine, but the windlass battery is probably toast. It is a good thing we are on a mooring and not relying on the anchor windlass to retrieve the anchor right now.

One of my first jobs was to get our outboard motor working, with some of the parts we brought back from Canada. It was a quick job to replace the intake manifold with the new one, then re-connect the carburetor, etc.. It took longer to just get all the bird crap off of it. I re-inflated the dinghy and we launched it and put the motor on. The motor works, although it still won't idle for me. At least we are mobile again.

 

The inside of the boat fared pretty well. We have a little mildew in some new places as a result of having everything shut up for so long, but Susanne is making short work of that. Overall, not too bad at all.

Yesterday, we took time off from our cleaning to pay a visit to the nearby town of Canoa, about 20km north of here. Some good friends, Jeff and Judy, who we met back in El Salvador, were in town on a road-trip. We met them for breakfast, then they drove us to Canoa for the day. This place boasts the best beach in Ecuador and is a popular vacation spot for people from the big cities. It is a little rustic but has some newer houses and condos spread out along the beach as well. This place would probably be an extremely popular international destination if it was not for the limited number of sunny days. Like Bahia, Canoa is overcast much of the time - that is what gives it such nice temperatures, but it also seems a little dreary to us. Note: Since we have been back, we have had only a few hours of sunshine, usually in late afternoon - the rest of the time it is overcast and looks like threatening rain, although as yet we have not seen a drop. The temperature during the day is in the high 20s, falling to around 20 at night. With the light breezes we are getting, it has been pretty comfortable for sleepting.

 

Today, we spent the whole day on the boat, doing some further cleaning and trying to figure out just where to put everything - both are seeming like impossible tasks right now. The batteries are almost up to a full charge now, so maybe we can watch a movie tonight.



Very cool VW Food Truck

{GMST}00|36.367|S|080|25.383|W|Puerto Amistad Marina, Ecuador|Puerto Amistad Marina, Ecuador{GEND}

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Quito for a day

Quito, Ecuador

 In spite of our worst fears, of missing luggage due to an incredibly tight connection in Atlanta, and concerns about how to convince the authorities that all that equipment In our bags should not be subject to import duties, etc., our trip from Edmonton to Quito could not have been easier.

 Hotel Casa Joaquin

We arrived in Quito right on schedule at 11:30PM, all of our bags were waiting for us almost immediately, customs gave us a "green" light and we were whisked through without a glance at our booty, and our taxi driver (sent by the hotel) greeted us with a big welcoming sign with our names on it. A very stress-free arrival!

Today, we walked to the bus depot to buy tickets for our trip to Bahia de Caraquez tomorrow, then spent the rest of the day revisiting some of our favorite spots in Quito. At Parque de Carolinas we watched some futbol practice, then saw some energetic tightrope walking over the paddle boat canal.

Working out in the park

The weather here, as usual, is perfect.  Lots of sunshine but not too hot - just right for long walks.
Tonight we plan to have a meal out in the trendy Mariscal area. Unlike last time we spent time in Quito, this time our hotel is right in the center of the action, so no long walk home in the dark tonight.

 {GMST}00|11.5|S|078|29.5|W|Quito, Ecuador|Quito, Ecuador{GEND}

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Where has summer gone?

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

In answer to the question "What did you do last summer?", here is a quick recap of our last 4 months...

Usually, when we are back in Canada for such an extended time, we would spend at least some of our time on the road, visiting the mountains, or BC, or some such.  However, this year we stayed pretty much within the confines of Edmonton.  While part of the blame is the fact that this year we had no access to a vehicle of our own, most of it was actually my fault.

Immediately upon arriving in Edmonton, I paid a visit to my Optometrist to try and get a new prescription, as my vision had not been too good for the last 6 months or so.  Unfortunately, I was informed that my cataracts had progressed to the point where something had to be done if I ever wanted to have good eyesight again.  Thus, much of the summer was spent with various appointments with doctors, for evaluations, surgeries and follow-ups, spread out conveniently at about 2-week intervals.  For most of the time, my vision was compromised for one reason or another which made travelling less than appealing.

On the plus side, the summer weather was really terrific.  We got to spend some time with friends, hanging around the pool, etc.  And we took in many of the summer activities that Edmonton offers, most of which we had not done for many years.

Later, after my eyes started to see the light at the end of the tunnel, we did take a short mini-break vacation to Jasper for a few days, where we were able to do some serious hiking and general communing with nature.

Edmonton K-days

 

A Taste of Edmonton

Triathlon

 

Victoria harbour

A couple of weeks ago, Susanne's brother lent us one of their vehicles and I was able to take a more extended drive to the west coast (Susanne elected to stay behind in Alberta).  I got to see some good friends in Victoria and Nanaimo and snagged a couple of much-needed boat parts at my favorite marine chandler.  All in all, a very welcome break from Edmonton and, as it turns out, very well timed.  Just a couple of days after I got back, winter finally arrived.


Our old home-port marina (Stones) and the new pub

Looking outside, it appears that we may have overstayed our welcome - I hardly remember how to deal with snow anymore.  Fortunately for us, it won't be for long.  We depart for Ecuador on the 17th of November, just a short week away now.

{GMST}53|35.3868|N|113|32.3568|W|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada|Edmonton, Alberta, Canada{GEND}