Bahia del Sol to Cleveland?

Well we were inside and across the bar to the estuary at Bahia Del Sol. This isn’t the name of the estuary but it is what everyone calls it – after the resort that goes by the same name and caters to cruisers. We tied up at the dock of the resort where we were met by immigration and the navy. In about 15 minutes we were checked into the country and ready for a drink at the resort’s waterside bar. For cruisers only, the resort sells beer and Smirnoff Ice at $1, and gives 30% off all other items on their full menu. The burgers are usually $8 so we got them for $5.60. Not cheap but just the same the natives at the resort have to pay full bill. We ate out a few times but had drinks daily.

For $2/day we got full use of the their two pools, showers, two restaurants and ocean front property. For another $1/day we got full wireless Internet access. It was ideal – do a little boat work in the mornings and lounge in the pool in the afternoon!

The pride of the country’s cuisine are “pupusas”. They are sort of a tortilla that is layered with a bit of meat, beans and rice and then folded over on itself and grilled. They are totally full of starch and somewhat tasteless but they only cost $.30 and three of them fill you up for the night. We ate these for dinner twice in the month we were there. They also sell by the bulk: purple crabs. Mike found one in a soup he ordered – there was no meat and a straw flavor – ugh.

The resort had a “special” buffet one night of specialty Salvadorian food and hardly anybody ate any of the food it was so bland. The chef was really disappointed. So the next week the special was “Norte Americano” food. It was all you can eat burgers, pizza, sandwiches, etc. People kept going back for more until 10 pm.

The temperature was only in the high 80’s but so was the humidity; so life in the afternoons was very sticky. Therefore, it was almost mandatory in the afternoons to dingy into the bar, have a drink and then lounge in the pool for three hours or so. All the cruisers would meet at the pool and eventually decide what to do and where to go for dinner.

Well known among cruisers is the grapevine of recommendations, e.g. where to go for any known service, etc. We got a good recommendation for a great dentist for teeth cleaning in San Salvador (the capital). With another couple, we boarded the local bus and took the 90-minute bus ride. But the police stopped our bus 100 meters from the bus terminal for no apparent reason. After waiting onboard for 10 minutes while lots of natives piled off, we finally go off ourselves and found out that all buses were being pulled over and the drivers were being tested for alcohol and drugs. They had to do a urine test and a breath test right there. These folks are serious about preventing bus accidents. A young Salvadorian took us under his wing, negotiated a taxi ride to our hotel for us and came along just to make sure we made it OK. There is such a negative worldwide opinion of El Salvador that they go out of their way to show that the country is now safe and friendly.

The dentist was great and we got the best teeth cleaning yet (better than Mexico) for $52 USD. She took photos via a miniature camera and found three cavities in Mike and two in Mary. (We came back a week later and had them all fixed - $50 for large cavity and $35 for small ones.) The four of us went out for dinner at an Argentinean restaurant and had great Nicaraguan steaks for $12 each. The next day we went to the “poor peoples” farmers market (they have three separate markets). We saw one man making coleslaw right in his hand. The police were so concerned about us in this “dangerous” market that they stopped us, told us they were concerned and then assigned two more cops to follow us around at a discrete distance to make sure we were not robbed and able to return home and say what a great country is was; i.e. safe, friendly, etc.

We caught a taxi ride all the way back to Bahia del Sol for $30 (split four ways) and got back much quicker and less tired. BUT, it had gotten very dark and overcast on the way back and that night we had our first heavy downpour, with lightning and thunder all around. And then for the next 10 days it was rain, rain, rain. The rainy season had started and now won’t stop until mid-October. It got even worse when Tropical Storm Alma passed 90 miles to the east of us and brought even heavier rain. While we had been having lightning storms almost every night, it was now the full story every night and just a lot of rain in the daytime. The normal rainy season is just lightning and rain from 4pm to 9pm every day; even the locals were wondering what was going on – they’d never seen anything like it. Aboard CarpeVita, we found leak after leak after leak. We’d use the hour or so of non-rain to patch and fix leaks. We are 90% sure we got them all before we left.

El Salvador is very much tied to the USA and so they have their own TSA and go through your bags more than is done in the U.S. It is like night and day compared to Mexico. We got on our non-stop to Atlanta just fine but upon arriving had to be searched all over again (shoes off and everything) just to get out of the airport. That is what we call going overboard.

In Atlanta, we rented a car and drove to Charlotte, NC to see our daughter Jenny. We spent four days there and went to the US Olympics whitewater training facility where we spent two hours running the same rapids and getting as wet as the real guys and gals do. Then it was back to Atlanta for a family reunion (the Winkles clan – mike’s great-grandmother), which was really fun and interesting. Next was two days of driving a rental car to Michigan to buy a small motor home; then to Chicago to return the rental car and then finally on to Cleveland to see our son David. We had met many people along the way who had been from Cleveland and could not understand why anyone would choose to go there at all. David went because his girlfriend was from there and as Paul Harvey would say “and that’s the rest of the story”.

It truly is an old steel town – part of the rust belt – but seems to be trying to climb out of the mess. Unfortunately it got hit the worst of all US cities in the foreclosure mess with some blocks having 30% empty, abandoned homes (and some even stripped of copper tubing, copper wiring, etc.). But offsetting this is a wonderful botanical garden, a new modern art museum, and a great natural history museum. It also boasts a pretty good rail system for commuters that should see more business as the price of gas continues to go higher.

The last of Mexico and beginning of El Salvador

We started the month fresh back from Oaxaca and started planning our next moves. Mike did the 500 hour engine service – first on the starboard engine and then two days later on the port engine. All went just fine on the first one, but on the second one the fresh water flush came out with a lot of grit from within the engine. A lot of gnashing of teeth trying to figure out how a brand new engine could have gotten so messed up so fast. The only solution had to be a leaking heat exchanger. So, off came the alternator, the fan belt, the exhaust elbow, then move a bunch of wires. That gets one to the six allen screws holding the heat exchanger in place. Of course, the parts manual sold to us with the new engine is incorrect when showing the construction of the heat exchanger so getting it out took about two hours longer than it should have.

Once out, the problem was how to diagnose a leak. The best we could do was a simple gravity test of each one of the 24 tubes and we found no leaks. It was pretty gunky (is that a word?) so a day long soak in vinegar and an old toothbrush got it looking like it would pass and exchange water again. We almost ordered a replacement but luckily could email a great mechanic in Mazatlan and phone call the original installing mechanic in Seattle to get their opinions. Both matched: “the heat exchanger is not the problem”. That was good but where, then, did all the gunk come from. The best answer seems to be the original Bainbridge Island water that was first put in the engine. So, from now on, only good "water-maker" water will go into the engine and we’ll see if we get more gunk at the next 500 hour checkup.

During this time of mass worrying, Mike had tools spread out all across the port side of the boat. Also during this time, Mary decided to shift weight around to better balance the boat. During one of many trips stepping over all the tools on the floor, her foot landed on some extra wedding tule (used for mosquito screening) and she did a HUGE splits – resulting in a torn hamstring muscle. Luckily, one of the cruisers next to us was a critical care nurse and immediately diagnosed Mary and got ice on the injury. The bad news continued as she said that it would take six weeks to heal and she’d be in pain for the first three of those. Then there was the bruising – lots of it from crotch to knee – one big long bad looking bruise. But by taking various homeopathic meds, nattokinase, and wobenzyme the bruising went away faster than any of her previous little bruises that just naturally happen on a sail boat.

One week after the accident, the local “people for culture” put on a string quartet concert, and as luck would have it, it was right at the marina. So we could just walk up and listen to a great evening of music. The moon was almost full, the stars were out, it was 78 degrees with a very light breeze and the music was fantastic. Three Russians and a Mexican composed the group and were all from Mexico City and with various orchestras there. The cost of just $6 was amazing and we sipped some nice white wine while the music played.

The next big event was the arrival of a 167’ mega yacht with its own helicopter. Unfortunately it also meant that we had to move to make room for it. This meant squeezing our 28’ wide boat into a 31’ slip. No small feat – but we did do it with the help of at least 10 other cruisers (virtually everyone in the marina). The owner, not wanting to be seen, arrived at the local airport (probably in his/her private plane) and then had the helicopter pick him up – rather than take the 15 minute car ride. We have no idea who it belongs to. The crew was made up of Americans and it flew a Cayman Island flag. It was huge.

Another week went by and a bunch of us decided to “get out of Dodge” for a day. So we rented two jeeps and six of us and a dog went up into the mountains to a coffee plantation that had some awesome water falls and swimming hole on the property. Mike did the rope swing thing out over the water while Mary watched and took pictures and wished her leg was healed. After about 4 hours of cool refreshing water, we went back to the plantation where half the group took a tour of a butterfly sanctuary and the rest of us got a guided tour of the grounds. Then at 4pm we sat down to a typical dinner at the plantation for the owner and his guests. The house was at least 100 years old and you had the feeling of being on a movie set the feeling was so authentic.

Three weeks of the six passed and Mary was ready to travel but still not able to do any “heavy lifting”. We left at 8pm and headed across the dreaded Golfo de Tehuantepec which most people say can be more hazardous that Cape Horn (on a pure wind and wave basis over a 48 hour period). But May is the most tranquil month for crossing and thus we sailed and motored the 440 miles to Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. There we had to cross the bar to the lagoon and it required a guide service since the bar is also notorious for breaking waves and in general not boat friendly. Once inside we were greeted with a our first true sense of tropical settings – palm trees, green everywhere, and of course humidity.

Huatulco and Oaxaca March/April 2008

We left Zihutenajo with mixed feelings. It was a great place to visit, and very cruiser friendly. And yet with huge swells coming in from the south making the anchorage uncomfortable and just about all our friends leaving for points north, it was time for us move south and follow our plan to see the much talked about but little visited Huatulco.



Our first stop was Acapulco and we anchored in about 12 meters on Isla Rocetta just across from the City. The tidal surge made us feel uneasy about leaving the boat, so after one night of worrying, we upped anchor and took of south again. We stopped and anchored in Puerto Escondido – a renowned surf spot. We don’t surf but it still has a great reputation as a really easygoing place to be and really laid back. Unfortunately, it also has a reputation (well earned we found out) for a terrible place to anchor. The water is really deep (over 50’) to within about 200’ of shore- and the wave break at about 50 from shore. So by the time you drop the anchor and let out rode, the back end of your boat is almost on top of breaking waves. We were within about 20 feet of 6-foot breakers. It was a creepy feeling. We had to swim into shore for dinner and then swim back of course because we could not launch our dinghy so close to breaking waves. Needless to say, we there after just one night. The next day was a one-day affair to Bahia Huatulco.

There is actually no Bahia Huatulco; its true name is Bahia Santa Cruz. Huatulco is a name given to a series of bays – none of which is even named Huatulco. So it can get pretty confusing. The official name is Bahias de Huatulco and officially there are nine of them but you can count 11 if you try hard. The next day we motored into Bahia Chahue where the marina is and moored up; went exploring and found we loved the place just like everyone said we would.

The temperature has not exceeded 90 and the humidity hasn’t either – mostly staying in the 80’s but on a couple of occasions dropping to the 30’s. It is almost like being in Arizona or Texas. The wind comes up every afternoon to keep things from getting too hot and the nights cool down enough, so that by 3am, you need to pull a sheet or blanket over you.

The town of Crucelita is a planned community that officially opened in 1986 and so it comes with underground utilities (mostly until you get into the residential neighborhoods), potable water and a sewer system that actually treats the wastewater and doesn’t just dump it into the bays. That way the bays stay looking great, attract tourists and generate revenue. The whole area has gotten a green globe award from somebody. Thus it appears that Fonatur did its homework after botching Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, etc. It is truly wonderful here. But it is not cheap like other, bigger cities like Mazatlan.

The town appears to be the favored vacation spot for the wealthy of Mexico. We met many pure Spanish descendants and were dumbfounded that they looked just like us but spoke Spanish and English. It was a first for us. We spent a few days on the boat visiting about half the bays, doing snorkeling, swimming and just kicking back. The week of Semana Santa (the week before Easter and a national holiday week) we stayed by the boat because of all the parties and people going out to all the bahias. The town population grew astronomically. Monday of that week was also St. Patrick’s Day and we found Café Dublin in the morning with a walk around town. Mary asked if they had any live music planned, they said “No”, and then she asked if they wanted some. They said “sure”, so she and Bill from Mita Kulu showed up at 7pm and played Irish music for about three hours. The bar has room for about 20 folks but at one point 50 were inside with wild “sort of Irish dancing” going on. They played again 3 nights later but this time the crowd was only about 8 people.

The minute Semana Santa was over, we boarded a bus for a trip to Oaxaca; one of the oldest colonial cities in Mexico and Central America. The Cathedral there is virtually lined with gold; an amazing site. The zocalo (town square) is almost magical as there are people there all the time, musicians stroll the area playing for whatever anyone wants to pay. We saw a stand alone opera singer, four different mariachi bands, two different pan pipe bands, one amplified marimba band, one marimba solo, a children’s band, a full John Souza band, and whole bunches of live entertainment provided by the various restaurants that line the square. We spent time there every night – watching people, listening to music and enjoying the weather – with an average temperature of about 74 until about midnight.

Letting no grass grow under our feet, the first day was devoted to “church touring” within the City. The second day we went to the great ruins of Zapotec culture called Monte Alblan. Here, on the very top of a mountain, 20,000 people lived while lots more lived down below and did all the work, etc. These folks were gone by about 900 AD. The Mixtecs, who lived there until the Spanish came and conquered them, then occupied the City. Some of the findings are 3000 years old. It is amazing to think of these advanced cultures and what they were accomplishing when virtually nothing was happening in Europe.

Next day found us on a “tour” (for $20 – not bad actually) that included stops at a weaving demonstration, anther ruin – called Mitla, a mescal factory, the world’s largest living biomass, and some pools that drain spring water over the edge of a mountain. We had an English speaking guide until he discovered that he could attach us to another tour guide and then he split without a word. It was an interesting day but one we’d do differently next time. Mitla was the official final resting place for all the great ones from Monte Alblan. The one unique thing about it is that the Spanish did not totally destroy it and so it is very well preserved with stone stories that no one has been able to decipher yet.



Thursday we did museums, art galleries (where a giant statue decided she liked Mike), coffee shops, etc. and of course a trip to the zocalo. Friday, we took the local bus to the town of Ocotlan; about 30 kilometers from town with all the locals. The town is famous for its market on Fridays. We’d been to probably 30 or so Mexican flee markets but we decided to try one more and we were glad we did. This was the first one we’d been to where we found livestock for sale with lots of Turkeys! Apparently, the people in this particular area just love raising turkeys while the whole rest of the country eats chicken. We were the only gringos there and had a great time.
We returned to Oaxaca and took in a free concert in the restored 1850 operahouse. Saturday we shopped for stuff and Sunday did the return trip back to “Huatulco”.

We’ve been working on the boat getting ready for the next adventure – wherever that is. The weather has been warming up – May here is the hottest month of the year – and we’re sure we’ll be gone by then.

Zihuatenajo and the Mexican coast

It has been a long time since our last big update. We’ve had a few smaller ones to a few folks but it is now time to bring everyone up to date. We last updated two days before leaving Nicaragua for Mazatlan and, to say the least, much has happened since then.

Starting at the beginning, the next day we were visiting the famous surfing beach in Bahia del Sur, Nicaragua and the rainy season had begun in full force. Every afternoon, the sky would cloud up and about 3pm there would be a heavy downpour of warm rain. Well, we were in a small beach side café along with a whole bunch of surfers. They had seen the storm coming and most were out of the water up with us. We saw that we could be trapped in the café for hours and might miss the bus back to the town. It was a two kilometer walk back to the pick-up point along a very beautiful and very remote beach. So we decided to hightail it back while we could. About half way back, Mary heard the words “dinero, dinero” and turned around to see a guy with a 10” knife, basically robbing us from behind. So, after a few moments of conversation, we came to realize that we were really being robbed, that he only wanted cash, and that he was new at this (cause he was trembling so bad). He got $60 worth of Nigcaraguan currency – a small fortune in this very poor country. He only got that much because we’d tried to pay in advance for a ride to the airport for the next day, only to be told that we’d have to pay for four people and then find two more to reimburse us. So, we didn’t buy the tickets and instead gave the money to our robber. If that wasn’t bad enough, the robbery took so long that two minutes after it, we got clobbered with a drenching downpour.

However, all was well, we were alive and made it not only back to our hotel but on to the airport and, via Los Angeles , back to Mazatlan where the boat was. We spent about two weeks putting the boat to bed and getting it ready for hurricane season. Then took one of the luxury buses from Mazatlan to Guaymas where our car was waiting for us – cloaked in about two inches of dust and dirt. As we got some lunch in Guaymas, Mike complained of a pulled muscle in his right calf – an odd occurrence since we had been doing nothing for 12 straight hours during the bus ride. Well six days later the ache turned out to be another Deep Vein Thrombosis and Mike was in the hospital in Lubbock , Texas for five days. He had great care but it was a shock nonetheless.

After the hospital stay, all our plans changed. Gone were visits to cruising friends and other relatives. Hello to getting back to San Luis Obispo where we could be with our daughter and grandson (Kristin and Aidan) and recuperate mentally and physically. This could have been the end of cruising and this was a lot to digest. But the pain was not to stop.

Two weeks after getting back to SLO, Mary complained of chest pains and trouble breathing. We thought it was a relapse of Dengue Fever and so treated with Tylenol and rest. When that did not work, it was another trip to a hospital where Mary was diagnosed with Pneumonia. In four weeks, she was back to strength while Mike played nurse and chief grandson sitter and entertainer. All the while, Mike was trying to find out the best source of treatment for the DVT and an answer to the cruising question. Ha! It still wasn’t over. In late August, we both went in for our annual skin exam and the doctor found an “in-site melanoma” in the middle of Mike’s back. Two weeks later he had a 3inch scar and mandatory two week recovery period. Then the bad news stopped – for a while.

We found a doctor in the USC Medical clinic who is nationwide known for his DVT knowledge. Got an appointment and got the go-ahead to keep cruising. He’s the doc to a couple of movie directors, big corporate hot-shots, etc. so we felt safe regarding his recommendations. It is a field that very few know about. And since there is so little promise of financial returns, there is little “big medicine” companies doing research into new products. In the USA , the standard treatment is simply to keep your blood from clotting in the future. There is no effort made to treat the clot in the leg and make it disappear, nor any effort to find out what caused the clot and try to remedy it. Thus, “treat the sympton, not the cause” standard medicine continues. So, Mike now takes Warfarin daily, for the rest of his life. It is an anti-coagulant and is often, and mistakingly, called a blood thinner. It is fairly dangerous but not dangerous enough to prohibit sailing.

Finally, with the go-ahead, we headed back to Mazatlan to get the boat ready to head to Equador. But the new solar panels and structure to hold them took 10 weeks to build and wire. By December 11th we were three days away from pulling away form the dock and a month behind schedule. Then on the 12th, Mary got a call from her sister, that their mom was dying and to fly home immediately. She did and Mike followed three days later. This was indeed the case, but Mom made a miraculous recovery and within another three days was sitting up, talking, more lucid than for the last 12 months. It was amazing. So, with things now going well, we spent Christmas with Kristin, Aidan, Jenny (our daughter from Dallas had flown out as well) and had a great time.

With Christmas over, it was time to head back to San Diego , see Mom again, and get ready for the January 3rd return flight to Mazatlan . Everything was great, but then on December 31st Mom took a turn for the worse, was rushed to the hospital from the nursing home. Three days later, on January 3rd she passed away at about 2 am. The funeral was on the 8th and we finally returned to the boat on the 11th. Mary’s back seized up on the 4th and would not relax until about a week ago! Funny what stress can do to you.

Within a week the boat was ready and on the 20th we shoved off, though now plans for Equador were on hold as we only had six weeks to meet the March 1st deadline we’d made for ourselves. We decided to just have fun in 2008 and that would mean cruising the coast of Mexico and going where we wanted, when we wanted and stay as long as we wanted. One of the great things about this lifestyle is the ability to change plans constantly and still enjoy life.

We made a straight shot sail from Mazatlan to Tentacatita – the isolated anchorage that is a cruisers favorite. There we found clean water, warmer weather (it had been really cold in Mazatlan – down into the forties at night) and easy living. After a week there, we sailed again straight to Manzanillo ( Santiago Bay – at the north end of Manzanillo). A short sail but fun never-the-less. Another 10 days went by. We went with Kathy and Hal from Airborne to visit a Turtle preserve that also serves as a refuge for iguanas, crocodiles, and various birds. They’ve put over 100,000 baby turtles into the ocean this year. We found great food buys in the town of Santiago, got our VHF fixed for $10, found a bar right out of Casablanca where for $2 you could get a beer and all your could eat of cevechi and guacamole.

We next sailed down to our current favorite – Zihuatenajo (Z wha tay nay ho). A very nice tourist town with lots of Mexican, American and Canadian tourist, it is still a great town. Like the rest of Mexico , it full of wonderfully friendly Mexican who are always willing to listen to your Spanish and talk to you until you can’t say anything more and then they start talking in English. The bay is not as pretty as it used to be as the town has grown and the sewage is still dumped into the bay. So, we sail out of the bay to make water and then come back and anchor in a new spot. We went to the movies last night and saw “Love in the time of Cholera” for a total of $4.

Thus life is good, we’re having fun, this is the Mexican Riviera where it is hitting 88 every day and cooling off to 70 each night. No clouds, light winds, warm water and good times.