04/28/2005 - Crossing the Bar (Bahia del Sol, El Salvador)

We arrived at Marina Bahia del Sol in El Salvador on Wednesday, April 13. The following is a description of our journey from Huatulco, Mexico to Costa del Sol, El Salvador direct from the captain's log.

09 Apr 2005,21:41:29,15º 33.068' N,095º 34.840' W
Saturday night at 2230. We departed at 1630 after cleaning the bottom of the boat. We are sailing with Mirage and Paradiso. Both monohulls. So far a real good sail. 5 to 6 knots with a spell at about 7. The weather window is supposed to last until Thursday. A convoy of 7 boats left Marina Chahue all headed southbound. Pressure is at 1008. We have the main sail, the stay sail, and the genoa all up. Speed now is 5.2. GPS is working and hooked up to the computer. very cool, but the computer draws 5 amps, a lot for a three to four day sail. I will need to turn on the Honda generator at some point to recharge the batteries.

10 Apr 2005,02:32:23,15º 24.237' N,095º 09.668' W
0320 the seas and winds have settled. We are sailing about 4-4.5 knots at the present. Letting the others catch up before we turn the engines on again. It's very nice just sailing for a change. Pressure 1007. We have covered about 56 to 60 miles so far. At this pace we will have a 110 to 120 nautical mile day. We have come across 4 fishing boats so far, no wildlife besides a couple of birds. And a phantom dolphin, I never saw it, maybe I only heard something. Temp 79F, nice and comfortable after a blazing hot day getting the boat ready, but very dewy.

10 Apr 2005,09:35:08,15º 12.028' N,094º 36.965' W
1035 Sunday the 10th pressure 1009. No wind, so we had to start the port engine around 0800. Average speed 5 knts under motor/sail. Spectacular show of dolphins. Lots of breaching and riding the bow. Later saw smaller ones, an entire pod feeding. Saw a couple of turtles. Scarey note. I crashed hard with sleep and left Cathy on watch. When I woke up a couple of pangas were right on us and circling our boat. Cathy had dozed off on her watch. My first thought, “Oh f***.” It was scarey for a moment as they circled the boat and then came up fast on both sides of our stern. It appeared they might try to board our boat, and they were yelling something in Spanish. Bimbo, bimbo, comida! It turned out that all they wanted was food. Bimbo is a the local brandname of bread in Mexico. We had some honey & oats (mexican style granola) to offer to the panga. But while transferring it to them, they totally smacked into the Woodduck. A** wipe! No damage done, but it did not make us happy to have the pangas get so dangerously close to us. With that past us I hailed Mirage and Paradiso to give them the heads up. They were prepared and sure enough they scooted over without any mishaps and transferred some treats to the hungry fishermen. In return they were offered a huge Dorado fish, but declined as it was too large and much of it would have gone to waste. Funny that the Dorado was never even offered to us, probably because our honey & oats were a little bit on the stale side. I figure that at this point we are 92 miles into our 500nm trip.

10 Apr 2005,19:07:52,14º 49.455' N,093º 52.330' W
2008 (Mexico time) pressure 1006 light winds less than nothing, grueling hot day. Flat calm with a lot of wild life. The dolphins were unreal. A pod jumping and twisting, maybe 200 dolphins altogether. These are called spinner dolphins. I tried to capture them with the 35mm camera, but not sure if I got them. For the first 24 hours, we covered 126.2 nm. Our average speed was a little slower than usual with no wind and only using one engine. I have one more 3 gallon tank of gas to use on the starboard engine and we will have used all the fuel stored under the seats (about 18 gallons). After that we will start using the 40 gallons of fuel stored in jerry cans on the deck. I can say we have officially crossed the Gulf of Tehuantepec and we are now about 100 nm away from the Mexico/Guatemala border.

11 Apr 2005,03:46:23,14º 27.152' N,093º 09.936' W
Pressure still at 1006 with a couple of spikes to 1008 hours ago. The weather is holding, so far so good, knock on wood. Mirage scooted out to about 60 to 70 nm off shore due to panga activity or to avoid future panga activity. We need to avoid those fishing lines. We are staying about 30 to 45nm off shore. Fuel just went dry in the big tank had to switch over before air got in the fuel lines. This is an awkward and physically tasking chore while underway and no fun. Speed is about 5.0 to 5.6 knts. Paradiso has fallen way behind. They are nowhere in sight. Talking to them on the VHF, we found out they ran over a fishing line and the panga had to cut it off. Maybe 3 to 4 hours back. They aren’t having any fun having to dodge all the fishing lines. Another pretty night. Not a lot of wind, with calm seas.

11 Apr 2005,09:50:54,14º 09.240' N,092º 43.113' W
Day three or two and half. 220nm from Huatulco. Pressure 1008. and it is a hot day. Trying to relax with the fishing pole in the water. Hoping for some fish tacos for lunch. Hell, I would settle for dinner! Not out of Mexico yet but getting very close 30 nm or so. Speed 4.9 to 5.4 with one engine and the main, motor sailing. I will be putting up the Genoa just for the shade and any wind it may be able to capture.

11 Apr 2005,18:44:14,13º 49.621' N,091º 53.516' W
1845 (Central America) time. Wind is behind us and with the current we are scooting along at about 6.5 to 7 knts. pressure is at 1005 . We have about 30 more hours or so to go. Tomorrow we will adjust our speed to arrive the following day or maybe anchor at night??? We had fish tacos fresh from the sea. Bonita. Red meat tacos. Very tasty. One fish is not enough though. We caught two and it was more than enough. 178.4 nm to go

12 Apr 2005,09:57:27,13º 23.008' N,090º 22.108' W
0954 wind from the north and light sailing again at about 3.5 to 4.0 knts pressure has been rising to 1008. Last night stb engine would not start. Yeah. Nothing I could do last night so I waited until this morning to see what’s up. We had a petro leak. It ended up being the float valve or something that was stuck. But I did not find this out until I took it all apart, stripped a nut, and said f*** it, put it back together, and low and behold the “Charlie Effect“. It worked!!!!
We have slowed the pace down because we have to time our entrance into Marina Bahia del Sol. It has a sand bar entrance which can only be crossed at high tide and that will be at 1800 tomorrow. The dolphins are still with us on and off. They love to show off. I think we are in El Salvador waters. If not, very close.

12 Apr 2005,16:49:35,13º 16.031' N,089º 54.293' W
Another roaster of a day. Since we are trying to get there in the am We have had a real nice casual sail today. Pressure 1004. We should be arriving around 6 in the morning. We are 60 or so miles away. Mirage called ahead and told them that a convoy of boats will be here. I think they do the check in right there for 10 US Dollars??? Our small beach umbrella, a last minute purchase in Chahue, is great. Cathy and I figured out we need more shade. Maybe a shade tree and a cooler/freezer that draws low amps is needed.

13 Apr 2005,08:19:04,13º 18.221' N,088º 53.710' W
We are now at anchor and secure though my legs are still shaking from the adrenaline rush crossing the bar. It was our first bar crossing (Bahia del Sol is located on an estuary which necessitates crossing a narrow and shallow shoal that divides the Pacific Ocean from the river entrance). A bar crossing such as this is marked by breaking waves, and those breakers mark the spot where we need to enter the bay. All instinct tells you to navigate away from land, but this crossing not only forced us to navigate toward the beach but also into the roaring breakers. Our local guides, Colette and Murray, were standing by in their panga. Colette was on the VHF talking us in, as they timed the sets of waves and gave us the go ahead. We caught the 8 foot wave at its peak and surfed over the bar entrance. We came in too fast though and the story goes down hill from there. The wave took us and pushed us to about 17.4 knts. I don't know if that was the first wave or the second. We got so twisted to the stb that I thought we were going to flip. Then for a heart-stopping moment, both engines died on us. The wooden brace broke on the port engine and it almost twisted off its engine mount and the stb engine just seized up. I would say for about 2 very long minutes we were at the mercy of Neptune himself. Colette’s voice was very reassuring up until I told her that I had no engines. Then just for a brief moment in time her voice cracked and repeated what I said, " You have no engines?" But at last, the twisted port engine--we'll call it Old Faithful--kicked over and pushed us forward with its blades barely in the water. Check-in procedure is very easy here. Immigration came to our boat, instead of us having to go to them. Unheard of in Mexico. Bahia del Sol Beach Resort is gorgeous, for pictures of where we are anchored, see website: http://www.rci.com/RCIW_index/0,8781,,00.html?resort_id=5243&pageTitle=+Resort&body=RCIW_resortItemBody

*** end captain's log***

After a being here now for a couple of weeks in El Salvador, we are finally getting into the swing of things. Everything takes a little bit longer to get things accomplished. It is a gorgeous country and we are excited to explore more of the interior. This will be our home base for the summer. We do not plan on setting sail again until October or November. In the meantime we will take a trip up to the states during June, July and August. This is a good time for inland travel, as this way we will avoid the rainy season. We also plan to haul the boat out and do some upkeep and repairs before October.