Bahía del Sol

May and June -  2002

Tuesday May 14, 2002

We are again back in the swing of things here. Our first night back, Sunday, we ate at the hotel restaurant, but last night I fired up to stove and made dinner.  It has gotten much more humid since we left but not any warmer!  Last night we got the first indication of the coming rainy season when a few drops of rain fell, causing Bill to close up the boat only to open it up again a short time later when the rain never really materialized.

Thursday May 16, 2002

Yesterday I went off to the town of Zacatecoluca with Jutta and Ferdy for a grocery shopping run.  The town is about an hour's bus ride away and has two good grocery stores, the nearest that we have found.  The town was a dusty hot place but the shopping was great, both at the grocery stores and at the central market where we picked up some nice fresh vegetables. 

We arrived back at Bahía with just enough time to stow our purchases and return for a short swim before the cruiser's Wednesday get-together at 5:00 PM.  The hotel provides us with lots of yummy nibblies, Happy hour priced drinks and, usually a presentation.  Last nights presentation was from the office of tourism.  We were provided with lots of great information on side trips from here, some nearby and some further off.

Friday May 17, 2002

Bill and I went out in the Navy boat (to translate instructions via the radio) with Santana to guide the five boats that wanted to leave today.  All five boats got out and I took some interesting photos as they crossed out over the bar.  We were scheduled to leave with Santana in a Bahía del Sol boat at 6:00 this morning but Santana could not get the motor started. So after much futzing around they gave up.  Santana then asked the Navy if they would take us onboard and guide the sailboats across the bar.  We had an interesting ride.  The Navy crossed out, then waited just beyond the bar for the sailboats.  Since we were a little late on the crossing, the tidal currents were changing from flood (best time to cross) to ebb.  Breakers started to pop up across the opening just after the Navy boat crossed, so the sailboats had some dancing to do to get out; but all 5 got across.  Our ride back in was much more interesting, as the waves and breakers had continued to build; but the boat had lots of power and we returned without mishap.  

Sunday May 19, 2002

Three more boats left this morning heading south.  The number of boats here is thinning out some but there are still a few late comers on their way down.

We had an interesting day today.  One of the local folks that works in San Salvador during the week and spends his weekends at a small rancho on the estero just across from Bahía Del Sol resort, stopped by the boat in his panga and invited us to stop by for a visit.  He had driven around our boat Saturday morning and talked to me, probably checking out who of the cruisers spoke some Spanish.  We decided to take him up on his offer and asked Jutta and Ferdy to go with us.  That was a fortuitous move as Roberto, the local, had spent some time in Germany and spoke it rather well!  Jutta and Roberto had some great reminiscing about Germany.  We also had some interesting conversations about El Salvador and the people here.  Ricardo’s caretaker’s wife fixed up a delicious soup, local to the area, with pork, crab and beans.  It was quite yummy!!  We did not return to our boats until after 4:00 PM after a most interesting afternoon.

Wednesday May 22, 2002

Bill has had a cold the last few days so we sort of have been “hanging low”.  Elsewhere made it in on Monday evening and Bill went out in the panga with Santana to help lead them in.  Last evening we took Matt and Judy ashore and showed them around the resort, then enjoyed our usual dusk dip in the pool.  The cruisers all meet in the pool around sunset to hide from the bugs and visit.  Much information gets passes in those few hours! 

Sunday night we got a great downpour and several of the boaters were smart enough to catch enough rain to fill their water tanks.  Since then we have had cloudy days but only a few occasional sprinkles. 

Friday May 24, 2002

Yesterday we made another run into San Salvador.  Judy and Matt went along for their first exploratory run.  We did some shopping near the city center.  Bill tried to use the ATM that had worked before for him with no success.  Then early afternoon we finally made it to the National Museum.  We did spend two hours checking out the exhibits but Bill was too tired by this time to really enjoy it.  We then walked the three blocks to Zona Rosa where we found a nice Italian restaurant.  There we enjoyed a wonderful meal in air-conditioning before continuing on to the tourism office and a hurried trip to the bus station to catch one of the last bus back to the coast.

Tuesday May 28, 2002

Sunday was another interesting day.  Our friend Roberto stopped by in the morning to drop off some tamales and invite us again to his rancho at noon to visit with him and meet his wife.  Saturday we had taken the few pieces of clothing left here by granddaughter Emily to Juan’s family, (the caretaker at Roberto’s rancho).  The oldest daughter was only slightly smaller than Emily so we decided that the clothes would go to good use.

At noon we dinghied over to the rancho and met Roberto’s wife, Amanda.  We visited for several hours over nibblies and drinks including some fresh coconuts which Juan cut out of a tree for us.  The coconut drink was clear and wonderfully sweet.  The meat was soft and delicious.  Juan cut my coconut open for me so that I could spoon out the soft meat.  We then were served a conch soup and Juan was sent out to purchase some large shrimp.  His wife butterflied the shrimp, cooking them with lots of garlic.  We all then climbed into Roberto’s panga, taking the shrimp with us, and went across the boca to visit Anabel’s ramada.  She has a small restaurant there that is open only on the weekends.  Her husband works with Roberto during the week and had invited us over.  There we received a yummy shrimp cocktail while we waited for a fish to be grilled.  We all then filled up on shrimp, tortillas, rice and fish before returning to Roberto’s.  On the way back we visited a small island where birds from Canada were just arriving to nest.  They come south in the summer and return to Canada for the winter.  Roberto says that in another few weeks the island will be white with the numerous birds nesting there.

An hour's rest in hammocks at Roberto’s and it was time for them to return to San Salvador for the week and we returned to Lanikai.  It was then off to The Wet Bar  (Greg and Meg) to enjoy an evening with our cruising friends and to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend. 

Yesterday Bill replaced the belts on the small battery charger engine.  One had broken earlier in the week when we had tried to charge the batteries with it and both were quite old and cracked.  Of course, the morning was the hottest time of the day as soon after he finished, the clouds came in with a cooling breeze.  We had rain most of the night and woke up to about 8 inches of water in the dinghy and a full water bucket. 

Thursday May 30, 2002

Yesterday we got a ride in friend's dinghies to the town of Herradura.  Wednesday is market day in this little town and we went to replenish our fresh vegetables at the market.  Since we waited until after low tide so that we could have the current with us as well as hoping that the rains would stop, we arrived early afternoon at the town and much of the market day activities were over.  When we arrived the landing area was still full of pangas and canoes that the locals use for transportation, but many stalls in the market were already closed down.  We did find some nice produce to replenish ours and then walked further up the street to find flour at the “large mercado” as directed by one of the vendors at the market.  The store was small in size but stuffed full of packaged products.  We purchased flour from a large 90 pound sack.  As we were leaving we noticed a shoe repair stand just outside the door.  Since Matt’s sandal was failing we asked about a repair which was accomplished right there while they waited.  A walk back through town to the landing area where there was a large ramada with tables and food stalls.  We all enjoyed drinks and a light lunch before climbing back in the dinghies for the long ride back to our anchored boats.

Saturday June 1, 2002

The last three days have been cloudy and rainy.  Our water tanks are full!  Bill spent time at his computer making progress on his photo album program.  It seems that after much floundering around he is finally making real progress with the program.  Yesterday in the early morning we dug out our plastic curtains that enclose the cockpit.  That gave me a much appreciated dry spot to read and watch the rain pour down.

Today we walked down the beach to our favorite ramada for lunch.  There were very few people around and the lunch was pretty poor. 

Thursday June 6, 2002

The last week has been mostly sunny until yesterday when the clouds returned.  We then got a little rain overnight last night.  Our time has mostly been spent on Lanikai with Bill working on his phota album program and me reading, sewing or cooking.  Tuesday we took the bus into Zacatecoluca for groceries and a lunch out.  We had a great lunch at the chicken restaurant after loading both our packs with food at the new supermarket.  The bus ride home was hot and crowded. 

We continue to enjoy the late afternoons in the pool.  The sunny days after the rain last week has brought out the mosquitoes in force even though the hotel has sprayed against them.  We are even getting them on the boat, so the screens were put in place last night.

Monday June 10, 2002

Saturday, The Wet Bar (Greg and Meg) crossed the boca for a day of fishing.  It is a powerboat and a real fishing machine.  Many of the men, including Bill, from among the cruisers went; Meg stayed on Lanikai with me and we spent the day sewing and reading.  They returned with 5 smallish dorado.  Last night Meg and Greg cooked the fish.  The rest of us brought salads and rolls and we all had a nice feast on The Wet Bar.  A powerboat does have more room than most of our sailboats; there were about 20 on board The Wet Bar for the feast.

The mosquitoes have continued to be a problem.  We spent Thursday and Saturday evenings trapped in the pool until well after sunset and even then they were buzzing all around our faces.  The hotel continues to fog each evening but sitting in the restaurant for a meal is definitely "out" in the evening hours.  This afternoon we all plan on hitting the pool earlier so that we can leave for home before the bugs arrive in force with the sunset.

Bill and I have put off our Guatemala trip until next week as this last weekend I have been bothered by a bad ear.  We want to make sure that it is cleared up before we head out traveling.

Friday June 14, 2002

Another uneventful week has passed.  The little outboard refused to start yesterday and Bill had to clean out the float bowl again.  Now it again runs great.  Poor thing is always stuck with old fuel as it uses so little; the 5 gallons we purchased in Mazatlán last June is still not all used up.  We discovered early in the week that the Lanikai's main batteries seemed to be not holding a charge as long as in the past.  This week each morning we have run the genset to charge them up to full and it seems to be helping.  We had not been paying close enough attention and with the cloudy weather and the boat pointing in the east-west direction (the worst direction for sun on the solar panels) and both of us using our computers more, the batteries had gotten way down. 

We set up the rain catcher for two nights, playing with it so that it now works well at gathering the rain water.  We then filled up the water tanks and gathered enough more for doing the washing.  Last night was the first in over a week that there was no rain falling form the sky.  The night before, Wednesday, we got caught in a downpour as we were returning to Lanikai after the evenings activities ashore.  It was like standing under a shower and we both arrived dripping wet.  Expecting rain, we had the boat somewhat buttoned up before we went ashore and although the cockpit was wet no rain had made it below.  With the warmth and humidity we are reluctant to totally close up the boat, but we have discovered that putting up some of the plastic cockpit curtains keeps most of the water from going below and allows us to leave hatches in the open position.  We also never go ashore without having bug screens over any openings as about sunset the mosquitoes come out and are quite ferocious.  “Happy hour” ashore, and thus our pool time, has been changed to 3-5PM so that we can return to our boats before the “bug hour”.

Tuesday June 18, 2002

No more than a few sprinkles since the downpour last Wednesday.  Most days have been sunny and nice with just enough afternoon clouds to keep the temperature down.  Sunday we again enjoyed the afternoon with Roberto and Amanda in the cool shade of their casita on the island.  We made plans to visit them in San Salvador tomorrow as we pass thru the city on our way to Guatemala. 

Last night, after our late afternoon time in the pool, we were invited over to Pipe Dream for a delicious pasta dinner.  We visited until late in the cockpit and since there was a nice breeze blowing we were not bothered by the mosquitoes.  Ferdy and Jutta are leaving for about 3 months tomorrow to visit their families in the US and Germany and have asked us to keep an eye on their boat.