06:30 Rounded Cabo Vela with about 35 miles to our next waypoint, Punta Guiones. Not long after we passed Sadko and Vince waved as we went by but still gave no response on the radio. Maybe he just shuts it off when he's running. The coastline along here is what they call steep to, rocky cliffs only occasionally broken with a sand beach. There are also many offshore rocks upon which the sea breaks, throwing spume high in the air. The sailing directions warn vessels not to run closer than three miles off shore. Lots of turtles in the water we had to maneuver several times to avoid hitting one.
11:00 Punta Giones. This is sort of the climax of the offshore rock pile, with hundreds of them scattered off the point. We set up a three mile range on the radar and carefully stay outside as we swing to a due east heading.
11:35 Lois says, "There are sharks ahead!", and sure 'nough, a couple of fins are just off our starboard bow. Something's funny though, one of the fins is long and curved but the other is straight. They move together in a direction which will take them right into our path. Then the picture clears a six foot long, foot and a half high sail appears between the two fins a monster sailfish! Almost in our path, he sees us, swings slowly around with sail still fully extended, and heads back along our starboard beam not more than twenty feet away. For a moment we thought he might take one of our dragging lures but he just keeps cruising, looking for something more inviting.
13:00 Piedro Blanco. We'd heard from Maury that the bay just west of the rock was a good place to anchor even though the Sailing Directions only mention Bahia Carrillo to the east; so we followed his instructions and slid between the two reefs and into the bay next to a long sand beach. Both he and the Costa Rican guide books say the beach is protected by the reef but, unfortunately, not very well! We went as far as we dared into the corner but still had four foot swells rolling under us. Looking at the chart it appeared that the east bay might be a little better so we turned around and ran around Piedro Blanco and another big reef to Carrillo. Not any better. Both of these bays are open to the south and, although the reefs partially across their entrances provide some protection, they don't really stop the big Pacific rollers.
With our only other option being to run on through the night to Bahia Ballena fifty miles away, we decide to make the best of it. We anchored off the beach in about twenty feet of water, let out about 250 feet of chain, got the boat lined up into the surf and dropped our stern hook. Worked like a charm. At high tide we did a bit of pitching but old Sea Raven doesn't mind that, and we had almost no roll and a very comfortable night.
The shoreline at Carrillo is lined with palms and green grass behind a nice sand beach. There is a hotel and, much to our surprize, an airport. We'd just gotten settled when we heard the whine of a turboprop come low over our heads, then settle into the trees on the far side of the bay the runway had been completely hidden in the jungle. It's really a very pretty place with only one drawback that we could see the bay has been trashed with plastic and other junk! We've never seen another place with so much crap in the water, not even Acapulco! It's hard to imagine why because there don't seem to be many people around. I didn't even feel like going swimming amongst the plastic bags, although the beach looked inviting. What a shame!
We'd drug our lines all day with only two hookup, both small bonito one of which we lost. We had the bonito for dinner not bad but it sure can't compare with dorado.
07:00 Hookup! Both lines! And I think I may have picked the wrong one to haul in first. I pulled up a nice little dorado female on the starboard line, and I could see something big and green running with the port line while I was getting her aboard; but when I started to haul it in there was nothing on the 80 lb test braided stainless leader had been broken! I'm quite sure the leader was good. I'd just made it up new yesterday. Later in the day we hooked a couple of bonito, but no more dorado. I also lost another double hook and am down to about two or three remaining. I'm going to have to get some more lures somewhere.
09:30 Almost to Cabo Blanco, we could see a small freighter anchored in the bight just north of the cape. It seemed strange that she should be there (There's nothing on the point but a game preserve.) but it wasn't until I started looking closely at the chart that I realized that she wasn't anchored, she was aground! And the 1984 version of the chart shows her plainly as a wrecked ship. That's an interesting commentary on the non-weather of this region. In the northwest she'd have been broken up by the first winter storm to come along here she's sitting high and dry after at least five years.
10:00 Rounded Isla Blanco about a mile off Cabo Blanco. There's a wide passage between the cape and island but the chart shows only four fathoms, not enough margin for my tastes. We're now running to the northeast, directly in front of the SW swell.
12:00 Into Bahia Ballena (Whale Bay). Ballena is a large, almost round bay, about two miles across and a mile and a half deep. There's a pier and a few buildings at the southwest end, what appears to be a hotel and airstrip near the center, and a small village at the mouth of a river at the northeast end. We parked behind a small reef and in front of a lovely sand beach about a quarter mile from the village. As we entered the cove four small brown colored rays, their fins just showing above the water, welcomed us. Here on a steep, rocky, jungle covered point people have built some very nice homes. One of our guide books says that this place, called Tambor, is a favorite of gringo retirees.
Lois wasn't feeling too great this afternoon, so we didn't do a lot of exploring. I did make a run a little ways up the river. There are more nice homes there on the side across from the village, one with some exceptional landscaping. The village itself doesn't look like much. From the river all I could see was one tavern and what looked like a small store. We'll check it out in the morning.
Unfortunately, this bay has the same problem as Carrillo trash! We are surrounded by bits and bags of floating plastic. I can only conclude that Costa Ricans, at least in these parts, have a very relaxed attitude with regard to garbage. And this bay is advertised as a garden spot I wonder what Puntarenas is like!
I spent a good portion of the afternoon re-installing my old chair pedestal. On the way down the new one Tuck got me had a pretty good test, and failed! I was sitting there wondering why we seemed to be listing to port when I realized that it was only I who was listing. The baseplate had failed just broke up under the loads of rolling. They told Tuck at Doc Freeman's that they'd never had a failure of one of these units. I guess it's true that the Puget Sound sailors never roll. Too bad, I really liked being able to raise and lower my chair at the touch of a button!
Had our dorado for dinner Umm, good!
And it was a tough wintery day today. The rain of last night had dropped the temperature to something like 78 degrees and there were still a few clouds around as we set off to explore Ballena this morning. We ran up the river a ways (against a four or five knot outgoing tidal current) and then pulled the Metz up on the bank while we walked through the village. There's not a whole lot to see. The downtown is one block long and has three bars, a small grocery store with almost nothing in it, and a building which looked like it might be a small hotel although there was no sign saying so. At 9:30 in the morning the only person around was the lady in the tienda. The rest of the village consists of twenty or thirty houses scattered along the river and a road leading to the east, a few of which look like very nice "summer homes". As I mentioned yesterday, across the river are the two modern homes with the beautiful landscaping.
After our village tour, we went back, put on our swimming suits, and went over to check out the beach near where we were anchored. It's a lovely stretch of sand which runs along the shore under a jungle covered, rock cliff about 300 feet high. Tucked back in the jungle, almost hidden from view, is one small "house" on stilts, a platform of wood open on all sides with a corregated plastic roof. It appears to be on the site of a former farm because big coconut and mango trees abound in the forest around. Farther down the beach, beyond an outcropping of rock, a long flight of newly poured concrete steps and a beautifully done rock wall lead up the hillside to a large modern building with a red tile roof. Here the jungle has been cleared down the hillside to the west and planted with fruit trees and palms. The beach itself is soft white sand and quite well protected from the surf. We anchored off and swam in to do our exploring, but could have easily landed the Metz. For some reason the water was lots clearer this morning and we found no trash on the beach. Maybe yesterday was just a trick of wind and current. I did a little snorkling on the reef but didn't see anything big enough to shoot.
About noon we decided to go over to the hotel on the far side of the bay and see if we could get some lunch. There's a fair surf along that side so we anchored out again and I headed in to see what the waves were like. I swam a few feet, found bottom, and waded in with none of the breakers coming above my waist. Seeing how easy it was, Lois got into the water and started to follow me ashore just as a group of good sized waves arrived. I could see what was going to happen and tried to wave her back but she didn't see me. The first one lifted her up about four feet and I guess startled her because she hadn't seen it coming. She looked back, saw the next one, and tried to out swim it. That, of course, didn't work it caught her right at the break and buried her. She's never really played in the surf, just on it, and didn't realize that, if she ducked under it, it would pass over without rolling her around. Afraid to turn around, she kept coming and the next one pulled her suit half off and filled it full of sand. By the time she waded up the beach she was a pretty unhappy lady!
After a rest in a nice palapa conveniently placed on the beach, we crossed a little footbridge onto the beautifully manicured grounds of La Hacienda hotel. The only thing I can think of to say about it is that it is even better than the Acapulco Yacht Club! I've never seen prettier gardens, lawns, pool, and even riding stables. And all deserted! Only an old gardener was anywhere to be seen. We walked up to the main building where all the rooms were open, facing the gardens and beach, big and inviting, and everything neat as a pin. Finally, around on the far side of the building, we found two old duffers sitting on the veranda reading their newspapers. When we asked if there was a restaurant one of them shouted toward the back and a waiter appeared. We had our lunch of a chicken sandwich and cerveza sitting in a palapa in the garden next to the pool and overlooking the beach. It was here that it finally dawned on us that we were in the heart of the winter season!
After her experience in coming ashore, Lois wasn't about to go back through the surf; so, she walked back the mile along the beach to the river mouth where there are no breakers while I ran along side with the Metz. It's really a pretty beach, and almost totally deserted at this time of year. It would be a great place to come for a get-away-from-it-all vacation. You can guess that the rest of the day held few adventures. I fixed Lois up with a screwdriver (vodka and orange juice) and we just fooled around on the boat for the rest of the afternoon. It threatened, but didn't even rain.
The Tortugas are two large and several small islands about a mile off the coast, just at the mouth of the Golfo Nicoya. There's a nice anchorage on the north side of the largest, in front of a beautiful white sand beach with tall coconut palms. It appears there's a small resort behind the beach because during the day two good sized boats from Puntarenas arrived carrying people obviously on an outing. One of these, the "Searcher", was a large, shrimper type vessel equipped with special cranes. It must have had close to fifty people aboard and its dinghy had Universidad del Costa Rica painted on the side. The other, the "Fantasia", was a very nicely set up tour boat carrying about a dozen passengers. Both arrived a bit before noon, anchored and ferried their customers to the beach where they spent a pleasent few hours lunching and swimming, then gathered up their people and departed about five o'clock. Looks like a great place to have a picnic! We'll have to check out the facilities when they aren't so crowded.
I'd gotten the watermaker going and we were sitting here running Gennie, doing a load of laundry, and making water when Margorie Grace came motoring into the anchorage. Bill and Deb had been to Puntarenas, gone to San Jose' to pick up Deb's son Travis, and now plan to do a bit of cruising while he is aboard. As I've mentioned, Bill is a retired navy diver and, when he asked if I'd like to go snorkling with them, I jumped at the chance to learn something. Unfortunately, the wind and waves had picked up a bit in the afternoon and everywhere we went the water was murky, not more than six or eight feet visibility. Bill got one small triggerfish. I never saw anything big enough to eat. He did give me a few pointers on where to look for the fish though.
After dinner we had Bill, Deb, and Travis over to watch our movie on the development of the Voyager, the airplane that flew around the world, non-stop, without refueling.
Bill gave us half the meat and once we'd gotten that stowed in the freezer we hauled anchor and headed out for the next stop, Isla Itaba, Isla Muertos, or Isla Pajaros depending on who you talk to or which chart you choose to look at. It sure can get confusing! I'll call it Itaba because that seems to be what the locals call it, although none of the charts we have use that name. Itaba is almost directly across from Puntarenas, seven miles away. It's far enough into the gulf to get the silting from the two big rivers which flow into its head, so the water is murky. The anchorage is between the mainland and the island in quite shallow water which is totally protected from the ocean swell. It looks like it could be a good "hurricane hole" good holding, slowly shoaling bottom with not more than a mile reach in any direction. As we came in there were eleven cruising boats in the anchorage, most of which we've seen before Sailorr, Halcyon, Felix, Seabiscuit, Shawandasee, Murelle, Checkmate, Donna Jean, .
We anchored, and then re-anchored when I decided I'd gotten a little too close to Halcyon. Marjorie Grace then came alongside and we ran an extension cord over to his boat so he could retrieve a video tape he'd borrowed from his VCR his 115 volt generator gave up the ghost a month ago and our tape has been in his machine ever since. We then went ashore to see what Isla Itaba is all about. It is an interesting place! Run by a gringo ex sailor named Carl and his family, it's kind of a little recreation park. Carl's boat, the Galaxy an 80 foot ketch, stands leaning against a small pier, high and dry at low tide. As you walk ashore the first thing you see is a large, round tepee shaped palapa bar, several large tables, and a small building housing the kitchen. Just behind is a swimming pool. Wandering around the grounds are all kinds of animals. A tiny spotted fawn, an animal, the name of which has escaped me, which looks like a cross between an anteater and a racoon, several dogs and cats, and monkeys! Yes, we finally got to see our howler monkeys! They were all though the trees doing their loud growling. The surprizing thing to me was how small they are. From their voices I had pictured an animal near great ape size. None we saw would have gone more than thirty pounds but they sure do have the voices!
The cruisers had organized a potluck for tonight and Carl had arranged for a marimba band. It was quite a party! The band was good, the beer flowed freely, and even the food was better than your average potluck. Lois potato salad was still the best dish I found. A fun evening, and it was nice for a change to have a night in a completely quiet anchorage, the first since Culebra.
The channel between the island and mainland is only a quarter of a mile wide. We ran across, anchored the Metz in front of a small pier, and walked up a dirt road to a very nice hotel hidden in the valley. Not as fancy or in as good a location as the Hacienda at Ballena, it still sports a nice swimming pool, large clean rooms, and a huge conical palapa which houses the dining room, bar, and hotel office. And, it again was open but as far as we could tell was completely empty. The owners must find it cheaper to keep a staff and have it open than to shut down during the off season. The rest of the day was just fooling around, reading and loafing. We'll go into Puntarenas in the morning.
The Puntarenas waterfront is a very busy place. Hundreds of fishing boats of every description are constantly coming and going. We anchored with a couple of dozen sailboats just off the center of town in front of a place called Puntarenas Yacht Services, a place highly recommended by other boaters. We'd hardly gotten anchored when Ivan from Tortuga came by so we invited him aboard and started pumping him for all the scoop on the town. While we were talking another dinghy approached with a handsome young man in uniform and Ivan introduced us to Walter, the local sanitation inspector. I'm not really sure what he was looking for; but he came aboard, took a quick look through the boat, then, while sipping a Sprite, filled out a certificate which said we passed the inspection. Very friendly, smiling young man.
Once our visitors left, we ran the Metz over to Yacht Services dock and met Eggart and Anna, the propietors of that establishment. They run a rather unique business for the benefit of the yachties. The have a small dock in front of a large, open, metal roofed building where they have showers, a washing machine, a television and VCR where they show movies in the evening, and coolers full of pop and beer. You put your boat name in a page of their register, record the number of drinks you take or uses of the washing machine, and then settle up when you leave. Eggert is a blond Scandanavian, Anna is a tiny Spanish looking lady. Both are quite young, maybe in their thirties, and both speak good English and are very friendly and helpful.
We had a beer with Ivan and Katie and then headed off to town to do our check-in bit. It's much simpler here than in Mexico. Since we are already checked into the country, the Port Captain just took our Zarpe, recorded the time we arrived, and wished us a pleasent stay. We called Nan (They have pay telephones here that really work) and found that Tuck had gotten home with no problems, then a man named Pedro who arranges for boat haulouts. He was very nice and said he'd check on a date and get back to us this afternoon. Walking through town, we found the central market where we bought a few fresh vegetables and lots and lots of stores where Lois can go shopping. When we got back to Yacht Services, Jim and Anna from Ikimasho were there and we bought them a cerveza while we heard their sad tale of woe. They are leaving tomorrow heading north for the States. Jim had sold his small, high tech, laser business and had taken stock in payment. The new owners failed, and he just got word that their retirement and cruising fund had disappeared. He and Anna were really enjoying the cruising scene and now they have to go back to work. What a bummer!
The crowd was really starting to gather there are a bunch of boaters here when Pedro showed up. He's not at all what I expected. He's a little, chubby, blond man who speaks very good English but with a strong Spanish accent. He said that there was a possiblity that we might be able to haul this Friday if an expected cancellation at the yard comes through, otherwize it might be several weeks. So, I guess we'll just cross our fingers and take it as it comes. I ran up the river at low tide to see the yard he was talking about, but couldn't identify it. There are about four railroad facilities, one with four tracks, up near the yacht club - we ought to be able to get a date at one of them.
We went to town for dinner with Dick and Penny from Pendrea at a Chinese place called Chung Sans. Not bad food, but very different from the "Chinese" food we are use to. Even the soy sauce tastes different, milder and less salty. We got home just as the rain started, the first for a couple of days.
We hit the town this morning, doing a lot of exploring and a little buying. I got some shackles, a new backpack, and some fishing lures. Lois splurged and bought a sweat band. She does a lot of shopping but very little buying. Puntarenas has almost anything you might need. We went into a fishery supply store here that was better stocked than any place we'd seen since Seattle. All of the stores seem well stocked, something quite rare in Mexico, and the prices seem quite reasonable. The little backpack I bought seems quite well made and cost 1,100 colones, or about $14.00. I think I'd have paid at least $20.00 at REI, maybe more. We found a Marine Electronics repair place and talked to a guy about our Satnav. He thinks it might just be a bad battery. I might take it in to let him have a look at it.
We wandered up and down the streets for two or three hours, found the post office and mailed a letter, and had a cerveza at Eggert's where we met the owner of the Voluntary Compliance, the boat we rescued in Playas de Coco. What a smuck! I can see why the people there hate him. He's a loud mouth bigot, very impressed with his own importance. When I was introduced as the guy who saved his boat he didn't even say thanks, let alone buy us a beer. He just gave me a lecture on how you couldn't trust any Costa Rican black.
We had lunch at a little Tico joint which was packed with local businessmen good filets of a tasty white fish called cervina. We've seen it on the menus often but have no idea what it looks like when alive. We'd intended to do some shopping in the super market for staples but forgot about siesta. They were closed, so we settled for a trip through the open market for a few more vegies, then went to the Panaderia where we bought bread and Lois sprung for a goody for each of four little boys who were hassling the bakers. She's a sucker for a six year old!
On the way home we of course had to stop for another cerveza at Eggert's while we chatted with he and Anna. Incidentally, the correct address there, and this is certainly the best place to send mail unless you are staying at the yacht club, is:
Puntarenas Yacht & Marine Services
A.P.D.O. 271
Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America
Phone 61-2139
By the time we got back to the boat it was 3:00 o'clock. We just loafed the rest of the afternoon, eating our last two steaks for dinner. We're down to one chicken and a package of fish in the freezer. We can shut it down most any time now.
Today was another exploring day, although we are beginning to get the town pretty well sorted out. We managed to find the super market when it was open, and the office of the dentist recommended by the boaters. He wasn't open today, but I may try to catch him next week for a cleaning it's been nine months. We went to the fishery supply store where I bought some hooks, lures, and swivels to replace those we've lost. It would be a lot cheaper to throw away all my fishing stuff and buy fish from the pros, but not as much fun. On the recommendation of Anna, we had lunch at a tico place called Soda International. It was very good beans, rice, potatos, lettuce, tomato, and a good sized piece of bistec (thin beef steak) for 110 colones ($1.30).
I talked to Doran and Donna on the phone today. They are doing great in San Jose' where they have rented an apartment. Donna is working for an outfit called Costa Rica Expeditions running river trips two or three times a week. Both are going to Spanish classes. Hopefully, we can join them for a jungle tour one of these days. We had Ivan and Kate from Tortuga over for dinner tonight. They are a couple of stock brokers from Southern California who made enough to bail out at an early age. Ivan is 52, Katie a bit younger and lots prettier. We shared our last chicken, and Lois made a super Costa Rican version of Mom's cheesecake recipe. She has to improvise a bit down here because the normal ingredients just aren't available.
Other than for that hiccup, things just went along beautifully today. I got out the cart and bicycle and rode up to the battery factory to buy a couple of batteries for the ONAN. The ones we got in Mexico a little over a year ago are starting to turn her a little slower and this time I'm not going to fool around trying to make them last. The engine room environment is hell on batteries the temperature when we are running must average near 140 degrees. I got a couple of Costa Rica made batteries for less than a hundred bucks and hauled them back in the cart. I also loaded up with fourteen gallons of lubricating oil. They have Chevron 400 here at the main fuel dock. i could have taken the ding for it but since I was going by with an empty cart, I brought it home that way. The natives were properly impressed with my trailer system.
While I was doing the heavy buying Lois went shopping for baby things. Shan with twins and two on the way in Eleanor's family give her lots of excuse to shop for the things she loves. We had lunch at the "fish place" with Richard, Dee, Ivan, & Katie, and dinner on board eating up our leftovers. If we don't haul out we'll have to do some shopping for the freezer.
After I finally got Gennie running, I ran the Metz up the estuary to Sammy Manley's yard for more bad news. He took one look at the pictures of our boat and said he didn't work on that kind of vessel he likes the big, ugly, steel or wood hulled fishing boats. I might have been able to talk him into it, but I could see that I would have probably paid to do it, so decided to wait to see what Pedro had to say. He was certainly right about the boat that is on the co-op ways now it's a real monster. If they can haul it, they can certainly haul us.
Pedro showed up at eleven o'clock as promised, but didn't have much in the way of good news. We can't get a date until after the 10th of July, and the first high enough tide after that is the 18th. That's a month away, and only three weeks before our 90 day import permit on the boat runs out. There's a $150.00 fine if we let it expire, and we hear that renewing it is a real hassle.
With that piece of bad news we decided to get out of the dirty water and city noise for a while to think out a schedule, so we stowed all the junk that had been creeping out of it's proper places, hauled the hook, and headed out for Islas Tortugas. It's a couple of hours out there and the water is clean so we can fill our water tank and swim.
16:00 Anchored next to Margorie Grace off the beach at Tortugas. Lois was feeling a bit low with a headache so we just stayed on the boat and relaxed. By dinner time she was feeling a bit better and fixed up some super chili rellenos, but the headache came back again so she went to bed early. I was sitting here admiring the moonlit night when something about the way we were swinging told me to check the depth sounder. When I turned him on old Charley said, "Eleven, nine, eight, six, -". About then I started hearing a grinding sound from the stern - we were aground! No problem, I started Gimmy, put him in gear, and in seconds we were in thirty feet of water. The bottom here is quite steep and we had a peculiar wind, tide and current condition which had caused us to drift over and scrape some old coral heads. We hauled and moved out a ways, although we probably could have gotten away with just shortening our scope a bit. the rest of the evening was quiet and peaceful.
We had a productive morning at Isla Tortugas. I was in the water before breakfast cleaning out the through hull fittings and scrubbing the waterline. Since we're going back into the estuary I didn't try to get all the oil and crud off, but just trimmed the lawn of green growth. It looks like Tuck and I pretty much eliminated the thick wormy growths that appeared in central Mexico - the hull is still clean except for the normal mossy film. It probably wouldn't be a catastrophy if we didn't get hauled this year, but we'll see how it goes. We got the decks washed down and Lois polished the stainless.
We made water all morning and by noon had our tanks filled, so we hauled up and headed back for Puntarenas to catch the afternoon high tide. We caught it just right and had almost slack water as we anchored in the same spot we'd left yesterday. I wanted to call Dad on this Father's Day so, when it threatened to rain we ran ashore, got in our call to him, then went looking for a place to have an early Sunday dinner. Katie had recommended a little french restaurant on the beach side of the point which we found after quite a hike. Fortunately, the squall, the edges of which had been sprinkling on us, passed by and we had a pleasent walk. The dinner was very good. We had the filet minon which was served in a very french manner with a delicious mushroom and port sauce. Since it was Father's Day Lois paid the tab which wasn't cheap. In fairness, it did include a $15.00 bottle of wine which wasn't all that good - the guide books are right when they say that, unless you bring your own cellar, you'd better forget wine in Costa Rica. The local wine is awful, and the imported stuff very expensive.
The total cost for the air fare was 67,599 colones and, rather than charge it to VISA or pay in U.S. dollars at the bank rate of 81 colones per dollar, we bought colones from Eggert who gives 85, saving about $35 dollars. I now understand where the rumor we'd heard that VISA was no good in Costa Rica came from it's not that it's not accepted, many places display the VISA sign, it's not economical to accept the official rate when so many business people are willing to buy dollars at a better rate. Here the greenback is still king.
When I started Gennie this morning the new batteries would barely turn her over; so, after we got Lois all squared away, I pulled them out and put the old ones back in. We got out the cart again, and the bike, hitched up my trailer, loaded the batteries, and I went off to do battle with the battery shop. I was arguing with the boys on the floor when the owner, Carlos Alfredo, came in. Fortunately, he speaks a little English and, after he heard my sad story, said he would accompany me to the boat to see what was wrong. I thought it was probably hopeless, but we loaded the batteries, cart, and bike in his pickup, went back to Yacht Services, and out to the boat. He obviously knows ONAN engines and it took him only a moment to make a quick check with his meter and tell me that the batteries were not my problem our old ones are as good or better than the ones we'd bought from him. He thinks we've got a worn starter. Since he offered to take back the new batteries and return our money, I think he's probably giving me the straight scoop. Now all I have to do is figure out how to get the starter fixed when we are using Gennie every day. Carlos has an electrical equipment repair shop so if I make an appointment maybe he can do the job in one day.
By the time we took the batteries back to his shop, got our money, and rode the bike back home I was pooped. I don't feel particularly uncomfortable with the temperatures down here until I put out a lot of effort, then I get to feeling whoozey. I think I overdid a bit today.
Along about three in the afternoon it started to rain, and rain it did, heavy and steady for several hours. At Lois urging, I adjusted the awning so that water came pouring off the corners into buckets and in an hour we had filled the washing machine tub and had fifteen gallons in buckets. Once the dust has been washed off the awning, the water would also be OK to put in our tank but we don't have a convenient way of doing that. We could saved a lot of wear and tear on Gennie and the HRO if we could collect all that rain water.
There was a guy at Yacht Services selling good sized shrimp for 550 colones per kilo, so I bought a kilo and we ate them all for dinner. That's a pound a piece and Lois didn't do her share I really porked out. Do love those camarones!!!!
Once she was on her way I just frittered the day away. Went up town, bought a little gasoline filter and installed it in the fuel line for the outboard. We've never had any trouble, but Ivan on Tortuga has one on his and it looked like a good idea. The little plastic, see-through filter cost me the grand sum of 125 colones. I also fussed a bit, though that's about all, about Gennie's starter. The manual, in it's usual obscure presentation, makes it look almost impossible to remove. I poked around with a mirror and flashlight in the dark corners behind Gennie and concluded that it would either be quite easy, or very, very hard. In any case, I'll not take it off until I'm sure how it's going to get fixed and how I'm going to get it back in. Gennie's our only practical source of power when we are at anchor.
I finished cleaning up my mess about 13:00, went over to Yacht Services to take a shower I'm conserving water and ran into Doran doing a wash. He had come down from San Jose' when Mandy, the girl staying on his boat, told him that his batteries were dead and that his alternator wasn't working. When he got here he also found that his little Honda generator wasn't working never rains but what it pours. We went to lunch at the fish place, then walked up to the battery shop where Doran ordered a new battery and I talked to Carlos Acosta about Gennie's starter. He says he can fix it in a few hours if I can bring it in. I may make a stab at getting it out tomorrow.
When we got back I got out my meter and hydrometer and went over to Panache to see if I could give Doran a hand. He'd managed to get the little generator going so we started in on the alternator. He had a troubleshooting checklist which had come with his fancy regulator and we faithfully went through it twice, step by step. We found that if we manually applied voltage to the field winding the alternator put out 60 amps which would say that it was good. Naturally, the one symptom that the checklist didn't explain was the lack of voltage on the field wire. We concluded that the regulator must have failed so Doran put in a call to Seattle where he bought it. Sure enough, they agreed that it was a regulator problem and said they'd replace it at no cost. The guy he talked to also said he could operate the alternator by shorting to the field winding if he was careful not to overcharge his batteries.
By the time we got all that sorted out it was martini time and John, a young New Zealander who lives in the apartment where Doran and Donna are staying, had come back. He and Doran came over for a drink and chat. Sounds like things have been going pretty well in San Jose', although Doran says they've been going through a lot of money. They only paid a $100 dollars for a month in the apartment but have been doing a lot of traveling and touring.
GMC.
After talking with Lois I rode the bike to town and did a little shopping. I got a chunk of chain to use for the dinghe and some of the fuel and oil filters I had on the want list. The guy at Repuestos Moreno thinks he can get all of the filters we need. If so it would save Lois some bulk coming back. On the way back I stopped by Panache and found Doran having trouble with his batteries discharging. He had a 3.5 amp draw even when everything was shut off. After an hour of tracing we discovered that it was the field winding on the alternator. When he bypassed the faulty regulator to make the alternator work we failed to recognize that it would continue to drain when he shut the engine off. Once we understood what was wrong it was easy to fix. We just shunted the field wire to the ignition switch so that it's only connected when the key is on and the engine running.
It rained again this afternoon so I just stayed on the boat and read a book, collecting almost enough water for another load of wash. At this rate our tank of water will last quite a while.
With that job done I took the rest of the day off. Since I've got a month to kill, there's no use trying to get everything done at once, and besides, I was feeling lazy. I showered, put on clean clothes, and rode my bike around town just sightseeing. Had lunch at Chung San's, a huge platter of sweet and sour pork plus another of rice which I had to go home and sleep off. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel more ambitious.
After breakfast I let Gennie run for a couple of hours to get the freezer down and the batteries up, then shut her down and started in on the last overdue item on my maintenance list, the lazarette. Every ninety days I pull all the stuff out of the lazarette, check the hydraulic lines to the rudder and autopilot, and empty and clean out the blind sump which always collects a little water. Today as I started pulling things out of the hole the snakes started appearing, one by one. I had stored two five gallon buckets of SAE 40 engine oil in the lazarette and, as I lifted them out, I noticed that one seemed lighter than the other. Sure 'nough, they hadn't been sitting on a flat surface and where the weight had been carried on an edge of the plastic bucket it had developed a crack. About two of the five gallons had leaked into the sump. Well, I hunted around and found some clean gallon containers and managed to transfer the remaining oil to them without too much of a mess. I then started pulling the rest of my junk out five gallons of bottom paint, a gallon of penatrol, dive equipment, charcoal, tarps, air mattresses, etc, etc most of it stored in large Rubbermaid "Roughneck" containers. As I got toward the bottom I could see that my troubles were not ended. There was water on top of the container sitting directly under Jimmy's exhaust pipe, and a small but steady stream of clear water was coming from behind Gennie's Aqualift muffler.
The sump didn't seem to have more than the usual amount of liquid in it, although this time there was of course a lot of oil. I got a bucket and using an old measuring cup dipped about four gallons out of the hole. Once I got it clean and dry, however, a nice steady little stream of clear water came seeping down from Gennie's muffler. I thought it might be a loose hose connection I had replaced the exhaust hose about a month ago but when I got the flashlight and mirror I could see no water around the hose. I could hardly believe that I had been fortunate enough to find the leak just as it started, so I figured I'd run Gennie a while longer to peak the freezer and batteries, then shut down and pull out the muffler for a look. I went down the the engine room and started Gennie and immediately heard a spitting sound from the lazarette a heavy spray of water and exhaust spurted from a hole in the muffler against the wall and ran down into the sump. Before I could get her shut down it was almost full again!
It's extremely fortunate that I happened to find it when I did because at the rate it was flowing the whole lazarette would have been full in an hour or two, ruining not only all of the stuff we have stored there but also the autopilot power unit which is not designed to be immersed in salt water.
Well, I pulled the muffler and it appears to be in good shape except for a small hole near the weld where the inlet pipe fitting was installed. Since it was Sunday I couldn't do anything about it today, so I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and sorting. I cleaned up all the copper hydraulic lines which tend to get a green coating, and put some of my good teflon pipe joint compound on the tiny leak in Jimmy's exhaust. I think that may do the trick. Tomorrow I'll go hunting for a good shop to weld up the hole in the ONAN muffler.
While Harrison was working on the muffler I was back in the engine room having another try at removing Gennie's starter. This time, with a little blood, lots of sweat, and a few tears, I was successful. My friend Carlos had been exactly right. It's a wonder that the starter worked at all because the bearing on the Bendix end was almost gone and the armature was just flopping around with about an eighth of an inch of play. It had been scraping the stator but, fortunately, had not done any permanent damage as yet. Carlos said that he could clean it up, put new bearings in it, and have it ready for me at three pretty good service. Unfortunately, when I went back at that time he had run into another problem, the solenoid, which had been working fine before, was now hanging up. He said he could fix it but not until tomorrow morning. Oh well, I can't run Gennie until I get the muffler back anyway.
I went back to the boat and ran Jimmy for a couple of hours charging batteries and running the freezer. Once he warms up, and if I don't put on any varying loads like the water heater, the cruise generator does a fair job, although the big engine is lots noisier than the ONAN and puts more heat into the engine room. Lois hasn't yet been gone for a week, but I sure miss having her to hold my hand when I have one of these kind of days. Maybe tomorrow will go better.
Deciding I probably done enough procrastinating, I went back to the boat and went to work on installing the starter. It went about as I'd expected. I managed to get the first bolt started without too much difficulty, but had to backtrack a couple of times until I figured out the proper sequence for the rear mounting bracket. Then it was a matter of lying on my chest on top of the engine while sweating buckets of water and turning the bolts home a sixteenth of a turn at a time. By three o'clock it was in, so I showered, put on some clothes, and went down to Manley's to pick up Gennie's muffler. This time it was done right and I was happy to pay the 2,500 colones for a job that looked like it might last for a couple of years. I took it back home, painted it, then went for dinner at Chung San's while I waited for it to dry - it looked like it was going to pour and I didn't want to count on Gennie to cook dinner. When I got back it was starting to rain, but I buttoned everything up, the muffler went in easily, and when I hit the start button the like new starter turned Gennie over so fast that I probably wouldn't have had to use the pre-heat. She started instantly!
And, the muffler didn't leak, a good end to a long day. My chest is sore from lying on the engine, my hands are cut and skinned, and, as usual, I have at least one new scar on the top of my head about par for a day of fixing things. Tomorrow I might just put things away and run out to the islands for a day or so. I'll see how I feel in the morning.
While I let Gennie and the engine room cool down I installed a float switch in in the lazarette sump and hooked it up to the central alarm system. At least with that we'll know that something is wrong if the sump gets full of water. The rest of the day was spent on the frustrating task of trying to figure out where the problems are in Gennie's start and stop circuits. As with most intermittant problems, these refuse to occur while I'm watching and ready to find them. I thought that surely the problem with the starter solenoid which refused to work this morning would be easy to find, but in well over a hundred tries it never failed once; and the fuel solenoid, which has been only working occasionally, also worked every one of those hundred tries. I spent several hours pouring over the control box circuit diagrams attempting to identify the potential trouble spots. The trouble is that there are so many places where they could exist. For example, the start switch activates the start relay through the contacts of the start disconnect relay which in turn causes fuel solenoid to open and also the start solenoid to close sending power to the starter solenoid which engages the starter clutch and applies power to the starter motor. An intermittant failure could occur at any one of the connections or relay contacts in that path. The most discouraging thing was that, after all my testing and tightening of connections and my concluding that it must have been connections because I couldn't make anything fail, I tried starting Gennie from the remote panel where I can't see what's happening and, while the starter turned her over very well, she wouldn't start immediately, acting like the fuel solenoid had failed again.
I had decided to run her again this evening to get our batteries and freezer peaked before pulling the muffler again in the morning and was sitting dozing in my chair when the alarm went off. I thought at first it was my new hookup but no, it was Gennie's sea water flow alarm the impeller has gone again I'm sure. Great way to end a lovely day!
I got the muffler back to Sammy Manley early this morning and he suggested brazing teh whole inlet fitting. OK, I'm not sure what electrolysis will do but at least that ought to stop the leaks for a while. I'll be calling Lois in the morning and I'll ask her to bring back a new one. That should make a nice bulge in her suitcase.
Afer I got that going, I went ashore and rode my bike to the Cayuca Hotel for breakfast the out along the estuary to Pacific Marine. Margorie Grace is out of the water there and I wanted to see how they were faring. It's kind of a nice ride. After about the first mile a side road bears off along the waterfront and you can get ouyt of the heavy traffic. There are a couple of fiberglass shops along the way; I might possibly get a muffler built in one of them. I might see if Pedro could arrange that for me.
Today is a holiday in Costa Rica, something to do with Saints Peter and Paul, so the banks and a lot of the stores were closed. Stands have been set up in the plaza and by five o'clock when I went in for dinner they were busy dispensing cerveza and a high school band was playing loudly if not well. I didn't stay for the festivities because I wanted to get the muffler, which I'd just picked up again, painted and installed. And, it also looked like rain which it did, by the bucketful. I suspect the whole weekend will be one of celebration.
Back at the boat, I got the muffler installed and went below to start Gennie. I thought I'd check once more to see if I'd tightened all the hose fittings after replacing the impeller and, when I put the wrench on it, one of them gave a little. I gave it another little twist, and immediately knew that something was wrong the Aeroquip fitting had split! And I didn't think I had another! I just gave up and went top bed. It wasn't until about midnight that I remembered that the male side of another fitting had given up a month ago and it just happened to leave me with the part I need. We may be able to get going without a battle after all.
Talking to Lois and Dick calmed me down a little. Dick has found both a generator to replace the one I fried and also a 60 amp alternator which would do the job. I told him just to send the alternator. Lois will have enough to carry without both. I told her to try to get a new muffler, fiberglass this time if possible. She said the Satnav is in the shop and Nan is following up. It sounds like things are coming together pretty well in Puyallup. Now if I can just get them under control down here! After my call I went to the grocery store and got some things, then went back to the boat and started stowing stuff for departure. I figured that the only thing left to check was the thru hull intake and I wasn't about to go over the side and try to do it in the estuary with the oil, filth, and dead cats floating by.
11:30 Hauled up a moss covered anchor and headed down the channel toward what I hoped would be cleaner waters. By the time I got to Islas Negritos it was clean enough to start the watermaker, although there was still an occasional line of floating trash with waht must have been millions of pieces of plastic bags enough to make the potential for blocking a water intake high. In Alaska there is a major educational effort to let the fishermen know the cost to their industry of such plastic trash. The fishermen here don't seem to know, or care. I've seen them dump bags full into the estuary.
15:30 Anchored in Ballena, this time in the southwest corner of the big bay near the pier. We never came over here when we came in on the way to Puntarenas. I got out the fins and snorkle and went over the side into the water which was clean, even though a bit murky. Evidently the rains of the past few weeks have muddied the waters a bit I had only about two feet of visibility. I managed to find Gennie's thru hull though and, while it had a bit of growth around it, it didn't look like enough to block the inlet significantly. Because the engine room was so hot I didn't even try to get Gennie going tonight, but ate a cold dinner of cheese and fruit. There'll be time enough in the morning to fight with her some more.
I just lazied around on the 4th, resting up from my finally successful efforts with Gennie. I changed her oil, then went to town, bought a few groceries, in the evening had a drink with Dick and Penny on Pendria, then fixed a chicken for dinner. I tried to do it like Lois does but it didn't come out very good. Didn't even have a firecracker to shoot!
Wednesday the crews of Amobelle and Peregrina, Simon & Penny and Rafael & Marsha, showed up and I spent a good part of the day with them. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Aloa pretty good I'll have to take Lois there.
I hadn't been able to bring myself to follow my doctor friend Casper's advice and cut into my finger to let the splinter of bronze out and it was still bothering me; so on Thursday I went to San Jose' to see a doctor there that he had recommended. The bus ride in from here is only about two hours and I caught the 6:30 bus, so by 9:00 I was there. I started out to walk to the clinic but, after walking about two miles and finding only a warehouse at the place where the clinic should be, I gave up and took a taxi I'd misread the address in the phone book, an easy thing to do in San Jose'. The Calles (Streets) and Avenidas (Avenues) are laid out quite logically once you understand the system. Calles run north and south, Avenidas east and west. Even numbered Calles are to the west, even numbered Avenidas to the south; odd numbers are, of course, to the east and north. Calle Central and Avenida Central divide the town into quadrants. The address of the Clinica Orlich in the phone book read some-thing like, "c 14 y 16 a Cent" which I read as the corner of Calle 14 and Avenida 16. Not true! I'd ignored the "cent". What it meant was, "On Avendia Central between Calle 14 and Calle 16." No matter, I was at the doctor's office at 10:00 anyway. I didn't have to wait long. I explained my problem to Dr. Randall Ferris Iglesias who has been practicing in San Jose' since 1952 and who, judging from the name, is married to a Costa Rican lady. He had me go downstairs to the lab and get an x-ray of my finger and asked me to come back at 2:00. I got the x-ray and then went off for to look around the big city. I went to the Theater Nacional and took the tour through the building. The story goes that in the late 1800's a European opera company refused to come to Costa Rica for the lack of an adaquate facility, so a group of coffee barons put up the money to build a theater as good as any in the world. They did a very nice job. It's a huge domed building with lots of paraputs and cornices on the outside and fancy gold chandliers and decorations on the interior. The murals on the walls and ceilings are particularly beautiful. I also went to the central market which, although smaller than some of the ones we saw in Mexico, smelled much better. I think Lois would like this one she had a bit of trouble with some of the Mexican markets.
When I got back to the doctor's office he had bad news for me the splinter that I'd thought was in my finger wasn't there! He speculates that when it went in it damaged a tiny nerve which formed what he had a fancy name for but which I'll call scar tissue, and that's what's causing the soreness. It's just as well that I didn't go slicing into my finger! He gave me some stuff to put on it which he thought might do some good, but I suspect that in time it will take care of itself. Little aches and pains usually do. As it is I'm out about $50.00 for the x-ray, his fee, and the day in San Jose' but it was a nice change from the boat.
Today was another quiet day in Puntarenas. I called Lois who said she was going over to Spokane later in the day. Tried to get Nan but missed her. She was probably out shopping for me. Spent most of the day doing little things on the boat and trying to get it cleaned up, a hard thing to do when I can't use the sea water. It's so dirty and greasy I hate to even use it for the toilet! I think I'll go out again tomorrow and find some cleaner water. Click here for MORE.