Author: Jamie Czetwertynski

Imagine, after 17 days at sea, the wonder of seeing untouched majestic cliffs covered with lush green trees and flora….imagine, just like we had to, because we arrived in the Marquesas in the pitch darkness of night. And, since we didn’t want to anchor in unknown waters, what was one more night of driving in a circle around the islands?

Marquesas are the first of five archipelagos (how the ) making up French Polynesia. They are also the first islands reached when crossing from Panama (most often) or Galapagos (less often due to cost and strict procedures for entering the Galapagos).

We  anchored outside of the break wall at Hiva Oa and were dismayed to find that it was extremely rolly and very intimidating to get in and out of the Fournado. Upon reaching land, we were told that our bond letters (you have to present a letter or return plane ticket to prove you had means to leave French Polynesia) were not ready and we would have to wait until the next day.

We met up with Brian O’Connor, a native of Hiva Oa and descendant of an Irishman, for a tour of the island. I tried to say “Ia Orana”, hello in Tahitian, and was immediately corrected that I should be saying “ca oha”, Marquesan hello. The people of Marquesas are still bitter by the European take-over in the 1700’s, which led to the death of nine-tenths of the Polynesian population due to introduced diseases and forced end of their pagan religious practices (they have now brought back some of their practices). We were even advised to fly the Marquesan flag, not the French Polynesian flag.

Our first stop was past a couple of cows to one of the original tikis and ceremonial sites dating from the 1800s. Unfortunately, as there was no written communication, little is known about the meaning behind the tikis.

On our short, muddy hike to the tiki, barefoot Brian pointed out red chili peppers, which we could pick to spice up our lunch but to be treated with caution. Andrew, the self- proclaimed spice lover, popped an entire chili in his mouth. We saw smoke coming out of his ears, and he began chugging water, half not even making it into his mouth, which likely made the heat worse. Brian tried to ease the burn by cutting up a local fruit but, of course, Andrew doesn’t like fruit and made a horrible face! It was quite the scene.

Our tour included a couple of gorgeous overlooks, a tiki collection site and an amazing lunch of goat in coconut milk, wild pig and breadfruit (fried like fries).

It is impossible to describe the beauty. The mountains are covered with green of every shade and gorgeous flowers of every color overlooking the sharp blue of the Pacific.

And, the best part, is that it is largely untouched. Only a little over 2000 people live in Hiva Oa, a fifth of the Marquesas population. We were greeted by natural beauty, not stores, restaurants and tourists. We felt special, part of the very few that get to experience this wild, beautiful land.

Unfortunately, sleep was futile because we were lunched side to side with the wild roll. Ready to find calmer waters, we checked in, toured the town (there was a clothing store, hardware store and a well-supplied grocery store!) and ate lunch before pulling anchor. We didn’t think we could load the Fournado in the rough seas, so Hannah and I battled 6 foot stormy seas in the Fournado to motor to Tahuata, a blissful beach haven, where we savored the warm, calm, turquoise water and soft beach sand.

There were a bunch of kid boats that we connected with quickly at the beach. It is truly awesome to see the kids connect with other kids. We ended up staying two full days: scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, picking limes from trees, having a picnic lunch with dessert of pamplemousse (grapefruit) offered by natives and enjoying roasted marshmallows over a bonfire with new friends.

From Tahuata, we headed to Fatu Hiva, described by many as the most beautiful island of the Marquesas, and indeed, it was quite awe-striking to pull into the narrow anchorage, surrounded on three sides by intimidating mountainous walls.

Unfortunately, due to early rain, it was too dangerous to do the waterfall hike we had hoped. We hopped back in the Fournado to check out the other “town” (loosely called) and hopefully find dinner.

There is a greater connection with the island, a more real sense of the impending folded walls of the island in the open air of the Fournado, and I felt truly grateful and blessed for this opportunity to visit.

The other town was similar. We disembarked and wondered if we had arrived in an abandoned town until we heard island kids playing in the water by the boat ramp.

We wandered around, and, while we found a grocer with sandwiches, we couldn’t find a place to grab dinner (in general, things seem to be open or closed at will in the Marquesas). There was one “pizza” restaurant but the girl in the street informed us that pizza night was last night and she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to make a meal for us. Oh well, good thing I had thawed chicken…

As Fatu Hiva was another rolly anchorage due to the wind funneling through the narrow passage, we decided to pull anchor and motor overnight to Nuku Hiva, the most populated island of the Marquesas. We anchored late morning, finished school, cleaned the boat amid whines from the kids before heading into town. Once again, there were a few structures, but we didn’t see many people. We walked and met some fellow sailors, and were successful in finding a restaurant, only open with reservations, that allowed our last minute reservation.

The next day, we did a short but fun hike to a gorgeous overlook of Taiohae Bay.

Kathryn and I had fun trying to imitate the goats of the island, climbing the narrow rocks that provided a barrier for the bay.

Shout out to Kathryn for hiking with only one shoe, the second one broke before we reached the trailhead! We headed back to town, visiting the large tiki that overlooked Taiohae Bay.

We had a delicious lunch in the small pop-up restaurant in the marina before heading back to the SeaXII, yet again rolling in the windswept anchorage.

Besides the adorable stray dogs, a few distant goats, cows and chickens, horses are another animal commonly seen tied up with a rope around their necks. Horses are the main transportation for the locals; so cool! The kids and I did a legit, beautiful horseback ride in the gorgeous mountains. We rode past herds of cows (we even found the Chick-fil-A cow!) and horses, and loved pointing out the young calves and foals.

Hannah, Kathryn and I left the following morning to fly back to the United States (so many birthday celebrations and a wedding!) I left schoolwork for Claire and Andrew, but they were all delighted when a dinghy pulled up ro the SeaXII and informed them that a lot of kid boats were headed to the beach to play and hang out. It is such a cool experience to see people come together, all different nationalities but the shared experience of being voyageurs!

Sorry for the way past due update! The blog serves as our journal, and, as I tell the kids when they are rolling their eyes at having to write in their journals on a daily basis, memories and the emotions tied to our adventures get lost quickly if we don’t stay on top of our updates. So now I am reliant on our photos to reminisce all of the amazing things and conjure the emotions tied to all those awesome experiences….

As I write this, we are on night number one of a 15-20 day crossing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. The plan is to check into the Marquesas in Hiva Oa, where we will spend about a week, before moving to Nuku Hiva. So long to our Spanish-speaking countries; crunch time to learn some French basics!

Time to rewind to the last blog post and bring you up to date. We left San Cristobal to head back to Santa Cruz, where we originally checked in, to get some boat repairs started (anchors and more!) and check off more sites.

Our first excursion was to Isla Seymour, where we were treated to seeing massive land iguanas and frigate birds doing their best to attract mates using their blown up throat pouches, dances and songs.

Our next excursion was a dive/snorkel in Floreana. We loaded onto our boat and Gabriel immediately noticed that there was water in the fuel filter. The crew shrugged off his concern; however, the boat was definitely not running well for the two hour journey to Floreana. We had two beautiful dives, and Bella and Luna were able to try out an introductory scuba dive!

We set off to return to Santa Cruz and quickly realized that the journey was going to be… inefficient. With the contaminated fuel, the return trip took an extra hour (at least).

Our last excursion in Santa Cruz was a dive in Isla Bartolome and Cousins Rock. This was my second favorite dive after Kicker Rock. The topography was beautiful: colorful fish and coral filled the tiers of rock and the ocean was filled with highlighted by sharks, turtles and rays.

Bella and Luna did a second exploratory dive with lots of sharks and sea lions.

Not only did we have great dives, but we finally saw the famous blue-footed boobies (Paul then could finally buy one of the hundreds of “I love boobies” souvenirs 😆).

And we saw our first penguin! On our return trip, we were escorted by a pod of dolphins the good part of the way back! What a great day!

After the long boat ride for the Floreana scuba dive, we decided it would be easier if we moved the Sea XII to Floreanna as a pit stop on our way to Isabella. We left at 4a.m. and arrived at Floreana at 8a.m. for an island tour, food and some snorkeling.

Floreana is the smallest of the four inhabited islands, boasting a population of 160 people. We enjoyed our tour of the highlands, visiting tortoises that were cared for by park officials as the tortoises had been kept as pets by a family 50+ years ago and could not fully fend for themselves due to their high nutrient expectations.

We learned the history of the island to include the three inhabiting families, one of which was an extremely disliked baroness who was accompanied by her two lovers. My favorite thing about the island were the elaborate pirate caves and labyrinths cut into the stone.

After our walk, we were treated to a delicious local lunch and were given postcards. Floreana is known as the post office bay due to a mail system started in the late 1700s with a barrel that carried letters for passing sailors to deliver. We all filled out our postcards and deposited them in the barrel, hoping for a future visitor to send on to our family and friends (yes; we took cards to mail also, although not sure when we will be at a place that has a post office!) Realizing that it may be months or years before our cards are sent, I purchased more postcards to send to family, but upon inquiry, found out that the Galapagos Islands no longer have a post service; the barrel on Floreana is indeed the only post office!

We left Floreana after our day tour to head to Isabela, the last of our islands to visit on our boat. We arrived late, and it was intimidating dropping an anchor in the obscureness of the night, knowing dangers surrounded us on three sides. The next morning, I swam into the beach for a run (loving my dry bag swim buoy!). I found Isabela very different compared to the other islands. Unpaved roads, beachfront shops and restaurants. One of the unique characteristics is that the town runs along a 5km stretch of beach, leading this island to seem like the party island, full of spring breakers ready to both explore nature and party.

The port is about a half mile walk from town, and we headed into town in the afternoon to rent bikes to visit the Wall of Tears. The Wall of Tears was built from 1945 to 1959 by prisoners when Isabela was used by a penal colony, resulting in the deaths of thousands.

The next day we took a shuttle to the highlands, where we mounted horses to ride to the Sierra Negra volcano. It was Paul’s first and very painful time riding a horse, due to the horse stepping hard on his toe after a failed first attempt at mounting – muy oucho!

It was incredible to ride along the large shield volcano with a crater over 13 km in diameter and last active in 2018!

Butts sore from the saddle-not-saddle, we dismounted the horses to walk around Volcan Chico, an incredibly beautiful landscape filled with lots of small volcanos and hot spots. This was our last excursion with Gabriel, to whom we bid “adieu!” the next morning – the two weeks he was with us flew right by! We wonder……….. who will visit us next?

While Paul worked, the kids (yep, Bella and Luna are now just bunched in with “the kids”) and I took a tour to the sulphur mines in the caldera (crater) of the Sierra Negra volcano.

We then headed to Volcan Trillizo, where we descended 150 meters inside a crater, filled with lush layers of fern. Once at the bottom, we unhooked our gear and walked around, squeezing into a cave filled with minerals. What a fun and challenging adventure!

Our driver stopped st we could check off our last animal of the Galapagos – the flamingo!

Our last excursion of Isabela was a water tour to Los Tuneles, tunnels formed from collapsed lava fields. The clear water and maze formed by lava flows were stunning, unable to be captured by camera. The captain showed impressive skills, navigating in between the various lava structures!

We had a blast snorkeling through the underwater tunnels before snorkeling amongst mangroves to find seahorses and an abundance of sea turtles.

Our visit to Isabella complete, we headed back to Santa Cruz for a third time to finalize boat projects and provision for the big crossing. Paul fought his continued foot pain to do one last dive with me at Gordon Rocks, where we battled underwater currents to see several hammerheads.

Once again, a lot of boat work was done in the Galapagos; my favorite being our new flopper stoppers! (How fun of word is that?!) Thank you to Paul’s cousin, Gabriel, who visited us for two weeks and Viko, a local skilled in all the things – he managed a work crew for boat repairs, provisioned for us, and helped us organize when I stared at all the food, not knowing where to start.

Life is the good and the bad and we had to test out the Galapagos healthcare twice. Early during our second visit to Santa Cruz, we discovered that Hannah had what we thought was swimmer’s ear, but was really a ruptured ear drum (thus ending all diving and underwater fun).

Paul made the second trip to the emergency due to a high fever and bad case of The Mad Tortoise’s revenge. Paul and I likely ate dirty fruit, leading to Paul getting IV fluids (I am tougher and didn’t need medical treatment, lol). We also went to a fabulous dentist to get our teeth checked and cleaned; thankfully nothing unique about the dentist with exception of it being in the Galapagos!

We enjoyed sharing Easter traditions with Bella and Luna, dying Easter eggs, hunting for baskets and eggs, egg wars, playing team Easter games and enjoying a nice dinner out.

No pictures were captured, but again, as usual and probably for always… Paul won the day for Smigus Dyngus. Just like every year…. I forget, and then he ever so nicely just douses me as I try to enjoy my morning coffee… Even though their last name is Polish, this was Luna and Bella’s first experience of this awesome tradition! One can only hope they bring it home and incorporate it into their family traditions on SV BellaLuna!

Our last hooray were my handsome lunch date with Andrew and manicure date with Claire.

We sadly had to say goodbye to Luna and Bella. They were a special addition to out family for Panama and the Galapagos, and we will miss them greatly! We put them on a plane to intercept the SV BellaLuna in Costa Rica. They have plans to keep heading south towards Panama. Until our paths cross again!

A day late, we headed to the north to the island of Baltra. Baltra, just north of Santa Cruz island, is where the fuel dock for boats and airport are.

So here we are, fuel tanks and bladders full and fully provisioned, fingers crossed for fair winds and following seas.

The sea lions run the town in San Cristobal and they are oh so cute – until they use the swim platform as their home and bathroom!

They are adorable creatures; especially the babies, and it was so hard not to pet them or try to smuggle one onboard as a pet. They are everywhere – they climb up on random benches throughout town, they make homes in all the boats in the anchorage and every beach is covered.

I found that I have a lot in common with sea lions – super playful, energetic and engaging one moment and then grumpy and sometimes fiesty when they are tired and want to be left alone (we have fought it out for who the SeaXII belongs to, but we usually win once we squirt them with the water hose).

We had a blast swimming with them while snorkeling or swimming by our boat and we would challenge each other to barrel rolls and dives (they usually won).

We had one grumpy old man who liked our boat in particular; we named him Big Chungus, and he would pop up in front of us while swimming, scaring the dickens out of us.

While Paul returned back east for work, we tried surfing, mostly unsuccessfully, at all the beaches: Playa Carola, Tonga Reef, La Loberia. One of my favorite discoveries was a fun and challenging hike over lava rocks, Tijeretas Hill to Playa Baquerizo, stopping at Playa Tijeretas to swim with the sea lions and tropical fish(one of the few things you can do without a guide)!

I also did a night dive in Darwin Bay where we saw slipper lobsters, an octupus, a ray and turtle. I forgot how creepy the black darkness can be; I did not venture far from the guide!

Sadly, Paul’s flight was delayed out of Colombia and he missed his connection in Ecuador and the kids and I did the 360 tour (boating fully around Isla San Cristobal) without him. We stopped at gorgeous Rosa Blanca, a white sand beach with gorgeous turquoise water where we snorkeled with a hundred sea turtles, a lobster and even found some black tip sharks hiding under a cave.

Our next stop was Punta Pitt, where we saw several species of birds, my favorite being the red-footed boobies (only two places in the Galapagos where they can be found).

Our last stop was Kicker Rock, where we hoped to see hammerhead sharks. Despite our best free-diving efforts, we only found black tip and white tip sharks and eagle rays.

Paul made it safely on Monday followed by his cousin Gabriel on Tuesday. Gabriel brought the fun and up’ed the challenges on the swing off the davit.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1RFZ17MH5H/

After getting a taste of Kicker Rock and seeing how many species I might miss as a snorkeler, I was so excited to return to dive Kicker Rock with Hannah, Kathryn, Paul and Gabriel (Claire and Andrew snorkeled with Bella and Luna). We had a completely different and amazing experience with the great visibility and currents and we were all treated to seeing 40-50 hammerhead sharks and Galapagos sharks, as well as thousands of fish, turtles and rays. Due to the currents, the sharks use Kicker Rock as a cleaning station. They glide through the currents while small fish feed off of/clean the parasites and dead tissue off of the sharks. What an amazing display of mutualistic interaction!

After an amazing first dive, we doubted it could get better, but it low and behold, we were amazed to dive amongst a bait ball of black striped salema fish. I can’t begin to describe the sensation of diving amongst what appeared to be a solid, but moving wall of fish. It was quite disorienting; I did not know what way was what. Before swimming through the fish, we watched Galapagos sharks and a seal blast through the ball, the seal securing a fish for lunch.

It was by far the most incredible dive we have ever done (including for Gabriel, who has hundreds of dives under his belt). We were all giddy with excitement leaving Kicker Rock!

The following day, we took a boat trip to Isla Espinola, where we had a snorkled twice, the best being at Tortuga rock with sea lions, sharks, and a multitude of beautiful fish and underwater rocks and coral. We also were treated to being eaten alive by mosquitoes while doing a short hike to a breeding ground for birds, where we mostly saw Nazca boobies and were treated to a couple of albatross. One of our favorite things was playing with the young and curious sea lions.

One of life’s goals is to always seek to learn something new, right? New languages ✔️, new cultures ✔️, how to deal with a boat that is bucking like a bull at a rodeo and successfully tossing dishes and people across the room while at anchor? ✔️

Wait – can we check that off at the expense of a broken anchor and broken davit? Paul’s and Bella’s MacGyver’ing skills (and a math lesson in physics!) – was a positive thought, but the human connection proved the most valuable (a lesson learned over and over again!)

What the heck am I talking about? Hopefully you won’t just surmise that I wrote this after drinking a couple capirinhas at happy hour and will continue reading while I back up to explain.

We pulled into the Santa Cruz anchorage in Galapagos (a smooth 5.5 day passage complete with the time-honored tradition of King Neptune ingratiating our pollywogs to become shellbacks upon crossing the equator!)

Around 11:30p.m. it is so hard to get your bearings in the dark, so we went with Paul’s usual SOP, anchor far away from all other boats. We called in our coordinates to immigration, but upon shutting down (and, thus, losing stabilizers; we don’t have modern stabilizers at rest), we began rocking violently. Our full diesel tanks threatened to spill out of the vents and, not wanting a spillage, we decided to pull anchor and spin donuts for the night while we transferred fuel from the fuller tanks to the emptier tanks. Thank you to Bella, who stepped up and helped Paul drive throughout the night! We anchored just before our 10a.m. appointment with immigration before meeting with our yacht agent to help us efficiently fill up our days in the Galapagos with the best activities. We headed to shore for lunner and a tour of the Darwin Institute, breeding center for Galapagos tortoises which live until the ripe age of 200!

After ice cream, we head back to the boat by water taxi (we are not allowed to use our dinghy, kayaks, paddleboards or row boat here) and wonder how we jump onto that bucking bronco (I wish I had gotten footage; it was scary!) We made it, but sleep was futile with the crazy swinging. Luna and Bella opted to sleep on the bean bags in the salon (living room) because they were afraid of being tossed like rag dolls from their bunks.

Uncomfortable with the tight anchorage and seas, we tried to pull anchor but realized that the roller was gone and rod was bent. Thank goodness we have a port anchor! We anchored far out and Paul set out on trying to figure out how we could mitigate the roll. A couple of YouTube videos later and he tried to move the anchor bridle (reduces the shock of the anchor chain against the boat), to the port side and stern, to create a rear pivot point. Paul then had the brilliant idea to use the crane (davit) to move the anchor chain back and the wire on the crane anticlimatically popped (no crazy snapping noise). So no starboard anchor and no davit.

Throwing up our hands, the kiddos and I headed to Tortuga Beach to try out our new surf boards.

The quiet beach was one of the most beautiful I have seen, white sand, and perfect temperature, every shade of blue water, all to ourselves. Unfortunately, the waves weren’t ripe for surfing, although I used the board and got a couple of great boogie board rides in!

Paul met us onshore for dinner, declaring success, only for us to determine he was trying to make himself feel better and he was not so successful when we returned to the bucking bronco.

Night 2 was just as rough. Thankfully the guy Paul had called to see if he could repair all our brokenness (his quote, “The only thing better than a Galapaguenos mechanic is one from Cuba”), found a stern anchor for us, half the price of the quote that Paul got when he called! The next day, while the kids and I went back for a quick beach visit (via a 2 mile one-way beautiful paved walk through cacti, flauna, birds, insects and lizards).

There are a lot of marine iguanas, endemic to the Galapagos, everywhere, including prime beachfront homes.

Paul stayed behind to be the responsible captain and move the boat closer to town and meet with the mechanics. We all headed to the highlands to walk among the natural land inhabited by the Galapago tortoises. Such amazing, huge animals!

It was easy to see how Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was built upon seeing the Galapagos islands! From the tortoises, we rode rented bikes 20 km from Santa Rosa back to Puerto Ayora.

We had an awesome dinner and crawled back to the dock to catch the water taxi back to the…. NON-BUCKING Sea XII! Hooray for our new stern anchor!!!

We are learning that the animals rule here; humans must navigate around the animals without disturbing them. Especially the sea lions, which are everywhere! You are lucky to find a seat on a bench and shouldn’t be surprised to find your dinghy taken over when you return.

It is 3a.m., the middle of night-shift #2 of 5 until we reach the incredible Galapagos Islands! This journey is a mini-rollercoaster, one of the many bumps in the roller coaster of life. We get excited to reach our destination, to pull into a marina and have access to cute towns filled with restaurants, stores and tourism possibilities. A week later, we start missing the water and wondering when we get to sail towards our next destination. Two weeks later, the boat is working as well as possible for the moment, and we are enjoying town but eager for the next adventure, and we finally leave port. We then have to reacclimate ourselves to the gentle rocking of the boat that makes us all feel sleepy as well as feeling tipsy in our uncoordinated gait . We fan ourselves from the oppressive heat (we run the AC at night so we can sleep) while trying to do schoolwork, clean the boat and cook meals. And this will be our life for the next….five or six months? We likely will not tie up in another marina until we reach Australia!

This next destination will be the destination of dreams, an archipelago formed of 19 islands and home to 9,000 species of plants and animals, a large majority of such species are endemic to the islands. We were granted a 30 day stay in the Galapagos, which can possibly be extended. For the first two weeks, we will visit the main islands and immerse ourselves in the traditional excursions known to the area: surfing, hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving. We then can hire a live-aboard guide, who will accompany us to explore the quieter, less-visited islands of the Galapagos. Their effort to protect their diverse environment prohibit us from paddleboarding, kayaking, anchoring our dinghy, which are amongst a list of rules two meters long that we have 3 days to read.

Now backing up…I wrote the last post in the insane immigration line to get into Argentina, where I met my friends for an incredible trip to Patagonia. It was amazing to catch up with friends while exploring breathtaking landscapes. Since this blog isn’t about me, I will only share one picture:)

Paul took over adventure planning with a flourish, starting with ziplining from a skyscraper in Panama City.

The next day, they said a temporary goodbye to Bella and Luna, who went to visit sailing friends, SV Agora, on the Caribbean side of Panama for a week. Paul took the kids to a nature reserve, home to sloths and toucans, and they explored the charming historic district of town.

The following Saturday, Paul met SV Agora at a ropes course, where the kids had a blast. Happy to have Bella and Luna back, the big girls geared up for a game of Airsoft, with few bruises left to commemorate the fun.

Their last big adventure, sin mama bear, was an ATV excursion, where years were taken off of Paul’s life when he allowed Kathryn to take the wheel, not realizing the unadmitted fact that she could not fully see over the wheel.

I couldn’t miss out on all the last minute fun, and we headed to an escape room when I returned to Panama. Bella, Hannah, Kathryn and Luna successfully heisted $250,000 but, unfortunately, Claire, Andrew and I failed to save the pirate trapped in a chest and secure the treasure.

The following day, while Paul took a few of the kids surf gear shopping, I geared up at what was likely our last big grocery store for 6 months with the help of taxi driver, Luis, who pushed my three carts, shut down a checkout lane and unloaded my carts and organized the baggers to bag the groceries as requested and load his taxi.

Exhausted but with no time to spare, we headed out to do a Panama Canal tour. It was awesome to learn more about this incredible engineering feat! After the canal tour, we boarded a small boat on Gatun Lake to head to monkey island, where we interacted with three species of monkeys, feeding two of the species!

We left the following morning for a 6a.m. fuel-up via a boat! We only had to turn around and re-tie three times to get to all of the fuel tanks….!

Las Perlas, last stop before the Galapagos and a much-needed beach and water day! We tried out the new surfboards, played on the seabobs, jumped off the boat and played on the island. The last fun adventure was to a hut, where two guys were sitting at a table; we had heard there was a restaurant? We asked, and sure enough, we were told they had pescado; pescado it is! We took the last two beers in a refrigerator that looked like it was from the 1940’s and were served a delicious fish and rice lunch. What a cool experience!

Asterick to Costa Rica: in Golfito (such a cute port town!), Paul was told (or what he believes he was told, the language barrier is real) that we were fine to depart Costa Rica as long as we submitted our exit paperwork for customs before we left Costa Rican waters. He did submit it, around 10p.m., an hour after pulling out of the marina. He called in the morning and was told to call back, and again, and again… finally, 4 hours into Panama, was instructed to make a U turn. He had misunderstood- our boat could not leave Costa Rican waters until the paperwork was received, reviewed and we were granted permission. We had to turn back and drive 4 hours back to Costa Rica (night shift for nothing!) They tracked us on Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Paul had to turn on location sharing on his phone while he was on the phone with the officials once we were back in Costa Rican waters. A half-hour later, we were given the go ahead, and we turned back around towards Panama, missing the best weather window and having to navigate through nasty chop. Good grief. At least we know we won’t be lost at sea; we have been closely monitored each step of the way!

We pulled into Panama City around 5p.m. and while testing the thrusters, realized we lost our bow thruster. No fun, especially in winds that could knock over a small human. Paul is an amazing captain and safely backed his way into the first slip he thought was doable. The next morning, Paul took a taxi to go to the port captain’s office. Unfortunately, the port captain was out and the next port captain was an hour away. Our taxi driver called his friend, who came out of his local office to complete our paperwork on the hood of the taxi! It’s all who you know!

Panama City has exceeded my expectations, which is ironic because I didn’t know what to expect. It is a clean and safe city bustling with activity and the comforts we are used to in the U.S. (except Cheese-its!) Other ports have left me desperate for Amazon and a full grocery store with more than the mass produced white Bimbo bread. While walking miles in Allbrook mall, with 800 stores and a bowling alley, I had to remind myself that I cannot compare a capital city of a country, largely formed from U.S. influence and defended, if necessary, by U.S. military, to the small port towns that we normally cruise to. Not quite apples to apples.

We have added (happily but temporarily) to our family. Two fantastic girls, Bella and Luna, that we met and connected with in La Cruz, flew into Panama and will join us as we head to Galapagos. Hannah and Kathryn have best friends with them, and they are great with Claire and Andrew. As they have been cruising for 11 years with their parents on SV Bellaluna and have spent many months in Panama (even getting the chance to jump on the bed of the former Panamanian President), they are a great source of knowledge for us too.

The highlight of our first week in Panama was a visit to the Embera Village. We arrived to the Chagres riverbank and were greeted by heavily tattooed tribesman sporting colorful beaded wraps. They took us up river by canoe and we hiked the rest of the way to a beautiful waterfall.

After a refreshing swim, we loaded back into the canoes, which took us to the village. The Embera are one of 7 tribes in Panama and this village was composed of of 25 families, 108 individuals. Panama made their land a national preservation, prohibiting them from farming or hunting. Thus, they turned to tourism, performing for up to hundreds of tourists 7 days a week. They performed traditional dances for us and then invited us to join them for a samba, before placing flower crowns on the women.

We then moved to a different hut, where we were served delicious fried Tilapia and plantains in a palm leaf adorned with a flower before indulging in fresh, juicy fruit for dessert.

They do not have electricity; therefore, the food was super fresh, likely caught that morning and cooked over plantain leaves. After lunch and an interesting and informative talk about their culture and traditions, we had the opportunity to get temporary (still here after 3 showers and scrubbing!) traditional tattoos. The tattoos are important to their culture and honors their tribe in design, as well as to provide sunblock and repel mosquitoes.

We had a short time to shop their beautifully handcrafted weavings and wood carvings before loading back into the canoes to return home. Our guide gave us fascinating information on the history of Panama and the canal and I have enjoyed my daily jogs up the causeway to the Bridge of America’s, the Pacific entrance to the canal. I look forward to doing a full canal tour when I return from my trip to Patagonia with friends (yes!). I am a bit sad we aren’t traversing the canal yet, but we will someday!

How long will we be in Panama before our possibly 1st big venture into the Pacific on route to the Galapagos? Aka, how long until we fix our boat issues du jour? While in DC for work, Paul tirelessly called around to locate parts for the thruster, which was an arduous task given that our boat is a one-off, unsuccessful attempt at creating a diesel-electric hybrid Nordhavn. Paul finally located the parts but now has to figure out the logistics of how and when we can get them. We are also flying in a mechanic to work on our known issues: replacing the bilge pumps (thanks to Hannah and Bella for pumping out several buckets full of water and oil residue in the bilge!), fixing the hydraulic alternator (again), major service on the engine & large generators, maybe getting some flopper stopper arms, replacing the failed FLIR camera, installing fuel gauges for the hidden tanks…. the list is neverending!

We are also putting a film on the windows that will help prevent the sun’s heat from assaulting us (and reduce our need to run the air conditioner). And so, can we get out on time? Fingers crossed!

Before we could check out of the port in Chiapas, Mexico to continue south, we had to fix our hydraulic leak issue. We were able to determine that it was not leaking from the same place as before, and as Paul and the mechanic started taking off panels in the engine room, they found that the leak was in a 5000psi pressure gauge. The mechanic and Paul set off on an impossible journey to find a replacement gauge. Unsuccessful in traditional stores and searching a scrapped truck cab, the mechanic’s buddy welded the gauge (safety gear is to be worn on top of your head, right?) and it was able to hold pressure! Another one of the mechanic’s buddies then called, saying he had found a gauge, so now we have a spare! Gracias to the mechanic, and his friends, for putting in a full day adventure with us!

We arranged immigration to come the next morning at 8a.m. to check out. Immigration brought a search dog, which was fun, especially since he only seemed to want to sniff Andrew! After a debate about our unreported underwater scooters (they told us in Ensanada we only needed to report a motor over 15 feet), they gave us permission to leave and we pulled out of the marina under their watchful eye to make way for Costa Rica!

Three days later we flew a Costa Rican courtesy flag and a yellow flag showing that we had not been cleared by immigration as we pulled into Marina Papagayo in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica. Our agent and immigration official cleared us, we took down the yellow flag, and we headed on shore for lunch. Unfortunately, Kathryn was day 6 of a stomach flu, unable to eat or drink, so I took her to the local clinic and was thankful when they gave her an IV. He told her to come back the next day, so we headed back and determined that since she still had stomach pain, that we should take her to the hospital in Liberia. They did bloodwork, which was fine, thankfully, and they gave her another IV. Part of the reason that I was concerned that it was bacterial was because no one else in the family had gotten it. I worried too soon about that one…

Feeling mostly good, the kids and I headed to the Guachipelin Volcano Adventure. It was an epic day! We started the day horseback riding; I love horses but my horse was rude! Next, we went river tubing; the scenery was beautiful and the white water was awesome! Next, we ziplined through the lush forest and waterfalls covering the volcano. After a delicious lunch, we ended the day with mud baths and relaxing in 9 natural hot spring pools.

Paul returned from a quick trip back to Virginia for work and we were lucky enough to share more Costa Rican adventures as a family when we swam in the cascading Llanos del Cortez falls. We then visited a sloth sanctuary, where we saw a tapir, two very poisonous eyelash vipers (dead within 40 minutes of a bite!), and several sloths. After the sloth sanctuary, we headed to a cacao and coffee farm, where we learned about the process of picking beans and making coffee and chocolate. We ended the day with a great lunch, before heading back to the boat.

Paul changed the oil and filters, a job better suited for a person the size of a 100lb female so we could leave the following day. We fueled up and headed out Monday. We originally planned to stop at Isla Tortuga to snorkel and swim the next day, but since we are not feeling 100%, we decided to continue to Golfito, where we will spend a day before checking out of Costa Rica to continue on to Panama.

As no blog entry will be complete without some kind of boating issue, Kathryn came upstairs this morning reporting that water was leaking out of her ceiling. I went downstairs and the casual drip she reported was more like a deluge! (okay, exaggerating a bit, but her bedding and floor were soaked). Paul, my super handy husband, found the source of the air conditioning leak and now we have to pump the water out of the hatch, along with continuing to hand pump out the bilge (still working on finding a replacement part for that too!). Paul has add repairman of all kinds of sorts to his resume!

As all good fishing stories go, it was huge, epically huge! And is pretty on par with the rest of our fishing adventures. Significantly more lost than brought in. Thank goodness so far we aren’t dependent on fish for nourishment!

We often leave a long line out (about 250 feet of line) and listen for the line spooling out or watch the rod on the stern camera from the pilot house. Claire, Andrew and I were on the rainbow couch out back and see a marlin jumping through the air (if you read the last blog, this time it really was a marlin). It continues to jump and I see a bright lure trailing behind it; we caught a fish! (Okay; I have mixed emotions – I eat it, but don’t want to be the one killing it…). Paul slows the boat and then goes to reel the sucker in. He announces it will take about an hour to pull in. 10 minutes later, he comes back up announcing Mr. Fishy got away. We don’t really like marlin anyhow. At least he didn’t take our line or lure…

Paul was drifting off in the pilot house and began to dream that our fishing rod was spooling out. Oh crap! Too late, he realized that it wasn’t a dream; our fishing rod was spooling out. He was heading downstairs when he heard a loud pop; our 800 feet of line had snapped off the rod. Our fish and our line got away.

And the time before that, we caught a pelican, and the sucker was not cooperative when Paul tried to remove the hook and line. Ouch! He was successfully freed and flew off though. And we were redeemed when we got an actual fish on the line!

Not our fish…but theirs. While underway, a panga (small boat driven by locals) maneuvered in front of us and would not let us continue forward. Paul slowed down the boat, and I went to check what was going on. I see the two guys in the panga, and Paul told me that they were blocking our path. We had no idea what was going on and were a bit scared. We locked all of the doors and Andrew crawled under the table, lol. Paul stepped out of the pilot house and they pulled to the port side and informed us that they had a long line out for fishing (in Spanish but meaning was conveyed). There were black buoys that blend in with the water, but we could have easily missed them and become tangled in the line – no bueno- if they hadn’t stopped us. We actually got another fishing line caught under the bottom and in the anchor that day; however, we were able to remove that line easily. Since the first time, we have encountered more pangas, long lines, and blocked routes. Both sea state and the large number of fishing boats often lead us to cruise at least 12 miles offshore.

I think we are at a total of 2 fish that we have caught and eaten; two since June! Here’s to hoping our fishing luck turns around!

We left Acapulco so we could enter the Gulf of Tehuantepec during the predicted low winds Wednesday at 2:00p.m.; however, when we checked again, the weather had changed and 40 knot winds were expected on Wednesday. Thursday looked better, so we decided to spend a day in Huatulco. I was excited for the detour; it was a recommended destination, and it did not disappoint. We anchored at Playa Organo, a national park and beautiful beach.

We were the only boat when we pulled, in and the beach was empty. We paddled into the beach and the kids had a blast boogie boarding. Motivation to do school work the following day was nil; there was a gorgeous beach calling our name! From the beach, there was a 1.8 kilometer round trip nature walk filled with lizards, butterflies, flora and beautiful birds. The turquoise water was inviting and refreshing with the 90 degree heat of the day and coral along the cove resulted in great snorkeling. Playa Organo became my number 2 of places we have been so far. I was disappointed that we couldn’t stay longer; Huatulco hosts some of the top beaches of Mexico.

Paul went into town to check in with the port captain (we are required to check in and out of every port, and they all seem to have their own rules). This port captain informed Paul that there was a port fee…so Paul pulled out cash from his wallet. Immediately there was a lot of yelling, and the only word Paul could understand amongst the rapid fire Spanish was “corruption”. The security guard with the M-16 rifle was not easing Paul’s anxiety. Paul was trying to use Google translate as fast as possible and came to understand that he was required to go to the bank to pay the fee. Sure enough, there was a poster at the bank showing a big red circle with a slash through it over a picture depicting a person handing over cash. Paul also found out that we had illegally anchored overnight at Playa Organo, and we would have to move our boat. Several hours later, Paul finally got his entrance and exit pass for the port and headed back to the boat. We packed up the boat, secured all loose items, headed to the anchorage and went to a great dinner in town. At 3:00a.m., Paul and I woke to the sound of grinding anchor chain. We looked at the screen in the room that showed that we only had 1.5 feet of water under the hull. Suddenly wired, Paul decided that we should edge forward, pull up the anchor and get an early start to the dreaded t-peckers.

So…Tehuantepec was bad for the wrong reasons. Waves sprayed over the bow of the boat, but, all-in-all, the wind and water were easy-peasy. But….we got low hydraulic oil alerts. Apparently not the same issue that we had when lost stabilizers in October on route to San Diego. Paul hasn’t yet found the source of the leak. We have gone through 2 5 gallon drums of oil, and Paul centered and pinned one of the fins to reduce the pressure on the system.

To further complicate the matter, we got a high water bilge alert. The bilge pump was clogged. This seemed to me to be the same exact issues that we had back in October. I don’t understand; why does this keep happening? While Paul explained that it was the a different bilge pump this time – in the engine room, not the lazarette, I continued to be perplexed.

Was it the waves causing things to go loose? They were nothing compared to what we will face on this journey. Did we just stick a bandaid on the issue in San Diego instead of addressing the underlying problem? Or is it a new problem?

Paul discovered that the hydraulic oil is leaking into the bilge and likely the source of the clog due to its high viscosity. And so, Paul, aka Mr. Gadget, attached the kids sand bucket to the hook on the dock stick, and we use it to scoop the oil from the bilge. We dump the used oil into a bucket and then refill the used oil tanks with the used oil.

10 hours until Chiapas; how long will this jerry-rigging hold out?

From Manzanillo, we continued south to the town of Zihuatanejo, which wins the prize for my favorite city name (I have a weird fondness for the letter Z!). We had a stressful entrance through the narrow, shallow channel into the marina, which we timed with high tide as we draft 7 feet and the channel is 15 feet at high tide. We tied up, hooked up power – goodness gracious, air conditioning has become a necessity if we are to peel ourselves off of the couches – and were immediately told NOT to swim due to the abundance of crocodiles in the water! Eek – better get that AC on; we aren’t swimming to cool off! The town itself, while not our favorite, was a cute town to visit.

It was filled with a bustling market, all mainly selling cheap trinkets (“no gracias” has become so common a phrase that I now say it in my dreams), but also boasted good food (we finally found churros again!), musical performers and fun swings on the beach.

They were holding a fishing tournament, and it was fun to see the biggest fish hauled in each day.

The kids and I decided to visit Los Gatos beach and had to take a panga (small boat/water taxi) from the town pier to get to the beach. That doesn’t mean it was a quiet beach; restaurants and shops lined the shoreline. The sun was out; the water was warm; the food was good. The next day we did an archeological and cultural tour in the Xihuacan village.

Remains indicate that the site was founded over 3,000 years ago and was inhabited by three cultures with influence from other cultures in Mexico. The guide took us to a local restaurant, where we tried a typical Guerrero (Mexican state) specialties, aporreado (steak and eggs) and braised pork (I can’t find the name…) – delicious! We returned to the boat and after shopping and a nap, mustered the energy to head to Zihuatanejo (the marina was in Ixtapa) for one last night out. We had a delicious dinner on the beach and found crepes for dessert on our walk back into the city center, which we enjoyed while watching the local basketball leagues duel it out on the colorful oceanfront court.

Being brave or stupid, we decided to leave that night, so we could have time to explore Acapulco the next day. 16 hours later, we pulled up to a mooring ball in Acapulco and a panga came out to help tie us up and take us into town. We discovered that Acapulco is no longer the dreamy destination that it was a decade ago; it has degenerated greatly with crime and the destruction brought by a hurricane a year ago. In fact, Paul did feel a hand try to slip into his pocket in the market. We walked to La Quebrada, where we watched brave cliff divers plunge from heights up to 135 feet.

The next day, I swam to shore in search of the store that held a package of boat parts that Paul had ordered. Unfortunately, we discovered that it was a Mexican holiday and the store was closed. And we didn’t have the time to wait. We are heading south on a tight schedule and cannot miss a weather window to enter a harrowing passage through the Gulf of Tehuantepec (aka, T-peckers). Extreme winds form along the isthmus separating the Gulf of Mexico from the Pacific and gain speed across the Sierra Madres and then funnel out onto the Pacific, creating huge waves that can extend out hundreds of miles. And the high winds/waves are more frequent than not, sometimes only allowing passage a couple of times a month. One of our favorite apps, Windy, showed waves would be down to 5 feet every 12 seconds Wednesday at 2pm, so onward we had to go. In the early evening, Paul was on a call and looked out of the window and shouted about jumping marlins. The jumping marlins were actually dolphins, and they were so excited to see a boat that they could come play with. The group started as a small group of four but we continued to see dolphins farther out leap and swim over, so they could join in the fun. Like the whales, it is a sight that will never get old.