Yet another Christmas in El Salvador

Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador

It is hard to believe, but this is the third Christmas we have spent in El Salvador.  The first was way back in 2013, on our way south - the second was just last year, sort of on our way north.  If all goes as planned, it may be our last for the foreseeable future.  Once the new year is here, we really do plan to be on our way towards Mexico again.

The day before Christmas was spent at the home of our friends Lou and Lynn, a few miles up the estuary, where we joined a group of other cruisers for a full-on feast including turkey and roast pork and much cavorting about, in and around the pool.  The usual great time was had by all.

On Christmas Day, we had another full-on Christmas dinner at the home of our friend Jan, an expat Canadian who has lived in her home here on Cordoncillo island for some 17 years, just a short distance from where we are currently moored.  Jan teaches English to some of the children on the island and her dinner guests included her current students.  All in all, this Christmas, we have certainly been well fed and have nothing to complain about.

The weather, after the unseasonably cool week in which we arrived, has returned to its normal winter pattern.  Warm, in the low 30s during the day, and humid, with no threat of rain.  The wind is calm most of the time, only occasionally gusting a bit in the afternoon, no more than 5 or 10 knots as a rule.  The nights are usually very still, with the temperature falling to the mid 20s - not too uncomfortable for sleeping, as long as you have a fan blowing and don’t use any covers.  A couple of times we have had a bit of cloud cover, but it has been bright and sunny for the most part.  As a result, our solar panels have been more than able to keep up with our power demands.

I have almost completed all of the items on my priority to-do list, so the boat is essentially ready to go places as soon as we are.  The mainsail now has all of the reefing lines re-strung and the staysail and its cover are re-installed.  Putting the mainsail up for the first time in almost 3 years was a bit of a learning experience (and quite a shock to the nesting birds ensconced therein).

The nastiest job to-date was a cleanup of our propane locker.  Some oil that I had cleverly stored in there leaked, and was mixed in with about an inch of rainwater that found its way in there during our absence.  On the plus side, I had to use up what oil had not yet been compromised, by performing an oil change on the engine, which was actually one of the items on the aforementioned to-do list.  You see, I really am a glass is half-full kind of guy.

One new issue that has cropped up is a problem with our pressurized fresh-water system - it appears that our good old reliable Shur-flo pump is having difficulty maintaining pressure.  It is fortunate that one of the first jobs that I did upon arriving back on the boat, was to install a new manual foot-pump in the galley, which I am happy to report is functioning perfectly now - so we are not completely reliant in the ailing pump.  I figure the chances of finding a replacement pump here are slim.

Our current plan is to wait until the craziness of New Years is over before contemplating our next move.  Then we will most likely take the boat to the docks at the Bahia del Sol resort for a while before making our exit from the estuary, sometime in January.  As usual, these plans are subject to change for little or no reason.

{GMST}13|18.4|N|88|54.1362|W|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador{GEND}

Readjusting to life on the water

Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador

So far it has been a busy week for us wannabe sailors.

Our trip from Puerto Vallarta to here was relatively routine.  The flight to Houston, on which we were forced to upgrade to business class in order to sit together, was very nice.  Clearing in and out of the USA was, surprisingly, the fastest we have ever experienced, with no line ups at all for immigration or security - maybe all the travel bans are achieving their goal of keeping people away.

On the flight to El Salvador, we were seated in economy plus (they must have run out of room in steerage); the extra leg room was much appreciated.  In fact, if it had not been for the screaming kids seated right behind us, it would have been perfect.  At customs in El Salvador, I had my usual good luck, getting the green light so I did not have to explain all the booty we were carrying for the boat, and in spite of the late arrival, the hotel courtesy van was there to whisk us to our overpriced accommodation for the night.  The included breakfast the next morning was to die for!

Leaving the hotel, we grabbed a taxi and persuaded the driver to take us to the nearby town of San Luis Talpa where we picked up a small amount of essential groceries, then on to the resort at Bahia del Sol.  We were met at the docks by our friend Bill’s worker, who gave us a ride to the boat and took our outboard parts to Bill so he could finish putting our outboard back together.  Later, we had a wonderful meal at Bill and Jean’s place on the island and got our dinghy and reassembled outboard back.  We are mobile again.

The boat looks pretty good.  Bill had opened up all the hatches and portlights for a couple of days prior to our arrival, so it was nicely aired out. The birds had done their usual number on the decks and in the mainsail, but the mess was nowhere near as bad as the summer we left the boat in Ecuador.

Our first 4 days in the estuary were unusually windy, which made the water a bit choppy.  Twice we actually bummed rides with Bill in his Panga, to participate in a whirlwind of social engagements.  There are not a lot of cruisers around this time of year, but they seem eager for company.  In the last week, we have only had a meal on our own boat on 2 or 3 occasions.  The breeze did have the benefit of cooling everything off - we actually had to use a sheet at night to keep warm.  Overall, even without the wind, it is much cooler than we expected - very comfortable for us.

We did manage to get into San Salvador for a day, courtesy of Greg, a new cruising friend, who had access to a huge van.  We were able to do a major provisioning run to hardware and grocery stores, and even PriceSmart (think Costco).  Susanne also did a solo run into the town of Zacate by bus, for a few items we forgot, and to get a new chip for our phone (which is not really working 100% as yet).

We have started on the list of things we need to do to the boat before we can consider leaving.  Each time I finish one project, it seems that 2 more pop up in its place.  So far the only unexpected issues have been with a flaky fresh water pump and the failure of both the port and starboard runnung lights.  I think I have those items pretty much in hand now.

Today, I started rigging the reefing lines on the mainsail and took delivery of 100 gallons of fresh water, supplied by Deny, who lives in a brand new 2-storey house on the island, just a stone’s throw from our boat.  The bottom of the boat also got its monthly bottom cleaning - it takes 3 guys over an hour now as the barnacles are growing like crazy since we have not had anti fouling paint applied since we were in Panama, three years ago.

Who knows, we may actually make it out of here this season.

{GMST}13|18.4|N|88|54.1362|W|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador{GEND}

Onward and downward

Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

For the last week we have not gone far, mostly just hanging around one beach or another.

We did take a bus to Sayulita one day, to soak up the surfer vibe, and a shorter trip another day to Bucerias, to visit one of our favourite beaches (and beach bars) from last year - other than that it has been pretty uneventful.

This morning we are packed up and ready to fly to El Salvador, via Houston for some reason.  We are not looking forward to clearing in and out of the US!

{GMST}20|41.32332|N|105|17.44488|W|Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico|Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico{GEND}

Life is a beach

Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico

We have been in the Puerto Vallarta area for over a week now and life is good.

Our first week was spent at the Mayan Palace Hotel, in the marina district of Puerto Vallarta. This is an area that we had not previously really thought about spending time, but it turned out to be pretty nice, especially for us, as we were able to check out the marina and haul out facilities, just in case we get this far with the boat in the new year.

The resort was modest in size and had an excellent beach and pool, which we made great use of, only venturing into town a couple times for a change of scenery.

This week, we have moved to a quaint little boutique hotel in Nuevo Vallarta.  This is a very quiet, laid-back spot that will no doubt have us stir crazy in a couple of days.  The hotel does not have a pool and is not on the beach, but they did supply us with all kinds of beach-going stuff and we walked only a couple of blocks to get to a very nice beach.  A little more surf here which is more fun.

And the best part is that the hotel is right next to another marina!

{GMST}20|41.32332|N|105|17.44488|W|Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico|Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico{GEND}

We’re back!

Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada

It may have appeared that we fell off the end of the earth since last June.

In fact, we did not actually fall of the end, but we can see it from here.  Following is a quick summary of our summer...

Immediately upon arriving back in Canada, I got my IPad updated with all the latest updates, which effectively obsoleted all of the blogging tools I had been using up till then.  That is one of my excuses for not posting since.

Most of our summer was tied up with finding a place to live.

For the first few months, we lived by the kindness of friends.  In particular, our good friends, Barb and Jeff, provided us with a house sitting opportunity that we took great advantage of.  This gave us a base of operations for the ensuing house hunt.

We found and purchased a small apartment-style condominium in Sherwood Park, just on the outskirts of Edmonton.  This is an ideal low-maintenance solution for us at this time, giving us a comfortable place to call home, with the added benefit of being able to lock the door and leave it for the winter.

The condo did come with some furniture, so we were spared some of the pains of setting up a new home from scratch.

Much of the rest of the summer went by while we collected our meagrely possessions from storage and set about making the condo into an actual livable home.

Suddenly, in October, winter arrived with a vengeance and our attention turned to our escape plan for this year.

Like last year, we are heading for Puerto Vallarta in Mexico for a two week vacation with friends, following which we will fly to El Salvador, where we will find out just what havoc has been wreaked on our poor, abandoned boat over the summer.  This all begins in 2 days - we fly south this Friday, November 24th.  This is a little later than last year so we will not be in El Salvador until early December.

As a bonus, If this post works, it means I now have a new, working blogging solution again.  If so, more will follow.

{GMST}53|33.42366|N|113|17.85798|W|Sherwood Park, AB, Canada|Sherwood Park, AB, Canada{GEND}

Last Hurrah!

Estero Jaltepeque, El Salvador

 

Well, the tickets are booked and we are on our way back to Canada in about 10 days, June 2nd to be specific - back to basement living courtesy of the kindness of friends.

 

 

Meanwhile, we are trying to take full advantage of the facilities here at the resort, frequently taking the dinghy over to Bahia to use the WiFi and pool and partaking of the odd meal at the restaurant. As usual, there are a few guests around on the weekends but we mostly have the place to ourselves during the rest of the week. There are a handful of other cruisers still hanging around but most, like us, are planning to leave for the summer. The rainy season has definitely started, with rain, sometimes quite heavy, during the night. The days are mainly dry and mostly sunny. Generally it is hot and humid all of the time.

 

 

We have been slowly working on a few last-minute boat projects and trying to use up all of the perishable foods onboard. I found a nasty leak in yet another cockpit drain, which has only shown up now due to the arrival of rainy season - for now, I have just plugged it up so we don't have so much water accumulating in the bilge. We still have 3 other drains than can easily handle the rainwater in the cockpit. Just another item to put on the to-do list for if and when we return to the boat.

 

 

Yesterday, a few of us decided to go for lunch at one of the stilt restaurants in the estuary, which somehow turned into a full-on pub crawl to various other drinking establishments along the beaches. As far as I can remember, it was a lot of fun - just the sort of last memory of El Salvador that we needed before heading to the frozen north.

 

 

 

 

 

Just another typical day in the cruising life...

 

 

{GMST}13|18.4|N|88|54.1362|W|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador{GEND}

 

Posted with Blogsy

How long have we been here?

Estero Jaltepeque, El Salvador

 

OMG, we are still here!

Returning from Colombia, after getting settled back on the boat, we were just in time for most of this year's "Rally to El Salvador" activities. Although there were a lot less boats this year compared to what we saw back in 2013, we still had a great time, meeting new friends and reconnecting with some old ones as well.

 

In addition to the usual dinghy raft-ups and such, one of the highlights this year was a day-trip to the viewpoint at Puerta del Diablo (which we had seen a few years ago) and a fascinating visit to the town of Panchimalco, a bit of an artist's retreat, just a short distance outside of San Salvador.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a new "party boat" plying the waters of the estuary, so of course our group hired it for a sunset booze cruise - this became a sort of opening and closing party for the rally.

 

 

We survived the madness of another Samana Santa (Easter) week in April, taking the opportunity to have a picnic on the beach on one of the other islands, courtesy of our friends Bill and Jean. We have never seen the beaches so crowded!

 

 

 

 

 

Other than that, we have filled our time with various boat projects, a few trips to the towns of La Harradura and Zacatecaluca, as well as one trip for a couple of days into San Salvador, enjoying a bit of a break from the warm weather in the estuary (an air conditioned hotel room helped a lot).

 

This last couple of weeks have seen the start of rainy season, not every night but certainly more moisture than we have seen here for a long time. The bar, which we would have to cross to get out of here, is very treacherous right now and we have been watching a predicted tropical storm approaching from Costa Rica. At this time, it now appears that it may not actually get here at all - the forecasts change their minds almost hourly. Currently there are only 6 sailboats in the estuary with anyone onboard.

 

Regardless, we can see little point in heading for Mexico now. Hurricane season is not far off, and we have been able to address a lot of the concerns we had for the boat. The bottom is clean and all of the sacrificial zinc anodes have been replaced. For the last week, we have had a crew of 4 young men scrubbing every inch of the boat, de-oxidizing and waxing the hull, and getting all of the stainless steel gleaming like new. Labour is very inexpensive here.

 

We now plan to leave the boat on the mooring until at least next November. It will cost a lot less here than moving back to Paradise Marina or going to Chiapas and we are confident that Bill and his guys will look after it well. Susanne is pretty anxious to get back to Edmonton, so we will probably be out of here around the start of June.

 

{GMST}13|18.4|N|88|54.1362|W|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador{GEND}

 

Posted with Blogsy

We're Back!

Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador

 

Yes, we are safely back on Sine Timore. The boat looks none the worse for our absence. In fact, due to a big rainstorm while we were away (almost 5" in one day), the boat almost looks clean.

 

 

Now we just have to adjust to the slower pace of life, and the much warmer climate.

 

{GMST}13|18.4|N|88|54.1362|W|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador|Jaltepeque Estuary, El Salvador{GEND}

 

Posted with Blogsy