Sailing Trance

Monday March 2

Dan spent most of the day trying to check out of the marina. It’s amazing all the papers as “red tape”. Tomorrow morning we have to wait for the military and their dog to inspect our boat again before we get our Zarpe.

I’ve been using this APP called Paprika 3. It’s a recipe APP, while browsing for recipes you can upload them from websites directly without copy/pasting. I spent the morning searching for boat friendly meals.

I have tried making breads, the heat here is not good for yeast, been storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator to help. Last time I went through 5 packets to find one that was alive. I proofed them first. So using beer sounds intriguing, the yeast in the beer does the work.

The afternoon I went shopping with boats Ankyrios, and De Novo, Brandi, Dennis and Naomi, It was a long day! We went to Walmart, Home Depot, Sams Club back to Walmart.

After returning to the marina, several boats gathered for happy hour on Saltair3. It was a fun evening.

Sunday March 1

8:30 am, we are on our way back to Ciudad Hidalgo at the Guatemala border. The Banjercito or office of the army is where you pay the import tax (TIP) on boats and cars coming into Mexico. Lesson learned, if going to Mexico by boat or car, get a TIP ahead of time, this document is good for 10 years, can be done via mail.

This are, most of the land in Chiapas is owned by Chiquita, banana groves cover the land.

The blue bags are placed over the bananas to help them ripen. Every 3-4 months a new bunches are produced. Banana, Mangos and coffee are the main exports.

Dan and I along with Brad and Krista took the bus late afternoon to Walmart to buy food. We saw Brandi and Dennis (Ankyrios), with their kids, there too. The four of us got a taxi to take back to the marina, the others had a rented car, but first we stopped for tacos, with our taxi driver. We each had 6 mini tacos and a coke, it was a little over $3.00 per person.

Saturday February 29

I had a dental issue that flared up 4 weeks ago. I self treated, then visited a dentist in Costa Rica. She took an X-ray but offered no treatment that fit our time frame. Needless to say what I felt, it flared up again.

Another cruiser here, Terry, from Washington State, was in the marina office when I inquired about getting a taxi. He offered to share it as he wanted to go to Tapachula anyway. (The dentist was recommended by Dan Boater travel insurance, that we have.) They dropped me off, the dentist office had barred windows and door which is always locked. He did his errands with the taxi, Terry offered to come back and wait for me, which he did. All is good.

Dan went to immigration to receive our receipt, the port captain and finalized customs. Still need to get our TIP, temporary import permit, we’ll leave soon to the Guatemala border by car to get that.

6 hours later and our driver never showed up. After several phone calls with the marina manager, who arranged transportation, now at 6:20pm with John, we are off to Ciudad, at the border to get our TIP.

We were misinformed regarding the hours of the government office at the border, the first guy said they are open till. 11pm. He was wrong. Will need to go back tomorrow, can’t leave the marina or Mexico without it.

Friday February 28

We arrived at Marina Chiapas, Mexico just before 11am.

Upon arrival we were boarded by customs, the Port Captain and the military at the marina for inspections. 5 men in fatigues, two automatic machine guns and a dog.

Passports stamped!

Thursday February 27

Good morning Guatemala! 157 miles to go to Marina Chiapas Mexico. Low rolling waves with 2 knots true wind speed.

Dolphins and sea turtles abundant today!

Dan caught another tuna! Anyone have a great tuna recipe?

Wednesday February 26

Ash Wednesday. Good morning El Salvador! 54 hours left to Marina Chiapas in Mexico. Not much wind this morning, calm seas, seeing less than 6 knots true wind speed, so we are motor sailing. Wind on the horizon is off shore, thats the direction the Papagayos Winds come from hopefully we’re far enough north to just catch the edge and not the brunt of the winds, if the come.

Update: the winds remained under 8 knots all day

It’s a pancake for breakfast kind of morning.

I used the other tuna filet, using the same recipe as yesterday, made “meatballs” for pasta with tomato sauce, dinner.

Tuesday February 25

We sailed through the night and are now somewhere off the coast of northern Nicaragua. We are still traveling with our buddy boat Saltair3 and a third Panama Posse boat Ankyrios is a few miles behind us.

Dan dropped two fishing lines out this morning, caught a big one that got away and took most of the 300 meters of new line with it.

He did manage to catch a 22” Tuna, it’s all filleted and chillin in the fridge.

First time flying the spinnaker in the Pacific Ocean. Cruising at 6 knots with 9.2 knots apparent wind.

Craziest sight, a seagull standing a sea turtles back as it swam by. Too far for a photo unfortunately. In the late afternoon there were at least two dozen dolphins of all sizes swimming around our bow, several jumping in the air with hang time.

I made tuna burgers from one filet, they were pretty good! 1 filet of tuna 1/2 cup bread crumbs 1 egg 1 tbs dried parsley salt and pepper I cut the fish into small pieces to make sure there were no bones, tuna have some side bones in addition to the spine. Place all ingredients in a blender, pulse till thoroughly blended. Made two patties from this mixture, sautéed in pan with a little bit of oil. Cook until internal temp is 145F.

Day is done, gone the sun, and you guessed it, the Milky Way and a sky full of stars! Tonight we are still cruising the coast of Nicaragua.

Monday February 24

The plan is to leave Potrero Grande Bay in the mid afternoon, set sail for Mexico roughly 450 nautical miles, 4-5 day passage.

Dan and I went on this deserted beach, it’s actually part of Santa Rosa National Park. Dan ran and I walked about 3 miles.

We saw a whale!

Saturday February 22

Pulled up anchor at 9am, only to drop it 20 nautical miles later at Punta Huevos, with plans of leaving here around 5am, this gives us a two hour head start on tomorrow’s weather window.

Dan and I snorkeled for about 3 hours near the beach this afternoon.

Friday February 21

On our way into town, Dan spotted this boat moored, the owner shot off on those cannons this morning.

Our exit paperwork is all completed, technically we have 12-24 hours to leave Costa Rica. We backtracked to the edge of the town where we found this fishing store a few days ago. Dan brought his reel and had the store add 300 meters of 30 lb. line. They also added a leader and oiled it free of charge. Total cost was 6600 colon which about $11.57 US, we left a nice tip.

Our buddy boat invited us for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 6. This is twice that this has happened where I randomly made an appetizer that coordinates with theirs. The other day it was taco pie and I brought black bean corn salsa. Today I made buffalo chicken dip the made buffalo wings!

Krista and I swapped baked goods for our passage, I made them a batch of peanut butter cookies she made us banana bread!