Passports? We don't need no stinking passports!

Estero Jaltepeque, El Salvador

The 2nd deadline for the return of our passports, with the tourist visa extensions, has come and gone.  This time we got smart.  Instead of travelling into San Salvador to the immigration office, at great trouble and expense, we had the manger of the Bahia del Sol resort check on their status via phone.  Sure enough, in spite of the hope of getting them last week, and the worst-case delivery date promised as of today (Jan 21, 2014), they are not yet ready.  They are really busy, so they say, and they might be ready this week.  You have really got to love governments in action!

Meanwhile, we have been watching an increasing number of boats coming and going from the estuary.  The marina has been very busy - unusual for this time of year I think.  Most of our friends have now moved on to points further south, leaving us to hope that someday we will catch up with them again.

Our friends David and Caroline on Aztec leaving us behind

That boat on the left is a Mason 44, sort of a big brother to Sine Timore

In spite of the fact that we really like it here, we are really ready to make our exit.  With that in mind, we have been slowly getting the boat ready as well.  One of the biggest challenges seems to be in finding safe places to stow everything where it will not all end up on the floor as soon as we hit the open water again.

On the weekend, we had a bit of break from the monotony of endless perfect summer days.  All of the cruisers currently here in the estuary gathered at Lou and Lynn's house for some NFL playoff games on Sunday.  American football is not really a passion of ours, but any excuse for a party is always welcome.

On the boat maintenance front, most things appear to be under control.  The batteries are working well and the little bit that I have run the engine, the new water pump appears to be happy.  I did an oil and filter change and lubricated and adjusted the throttle and gearshift connections - it is as ready as it will ever be. The outboard motor started acting up this week, stalling and sputtering a lot, so I did my standard service routine on it.  With my 50/50 record of success with this motor, it was a bit of a risk, but everything worked OK this time.

One of the problems with delaying our exit is our provisioning.  When we were in town to supposedly pick up our visas, we took the opportunity to buy most everything we thought we would need for the upcoming passages.  Of course, now that we have sat here for a couple more weeks, we have been using up our supplies and will have to do it all over again before we leave.  Not the end of the world - just an observation.

As you can tell from these random thoughts, not much exciting is happening for us right now.  Maybe next week?