1) Marina Bahia del Sol in El Salvador
Gustavo Argueta – GM of the property and Marina has extended a special discount rates
for the marina to the Panama Posse – going forward

0.80 USD x foot for 1 – 6 days  (check in rate)
0.70 USD  x foot day for 1 week
0.60 USD x foot x day for 2 weeks
0.50 x foot x day for 1 month

Weekly resort access pass for 15 USD with discounts on F&B and pool / dinghy dock access (if anchored out or on Bill’s Moorings)
The Hotel also has a minivan w/AC for shopping or excursions to San Salvador and beyond.

2) VITESSE – Panama
I hit the reef going into Shelter Bay too.Bart Goodell  “Vitesse”
( note Bart – can you email us the lat and long ? )



3) Welcome to the Panama Posse
Winds of the World – Dan & Fernando currently in Manzanillo


4) VOLANTE  III
is still waiting in Huatulco for a weather window to cross the Tehuantepec. I was hoping Thursday would be the day but that window closed. Fred Again arrived last night so that makes four Panama Posse boats waiting to do the crossing. I was talking with one of the long term boats here in the marina and their weather window going north ended early. They had 15 foot 6 sec seas. The sea state was so bad they lost their engine and had to be rescued by the Mexican Navy.


5) RESPITE
Question for all of you further south of Mexico. Are there any specific things we should stock up on before leaving? Are things pretty available and reasonably price in El Salvador?
We may be leaving soon! Autopilot is installed and we are doing a sea trial today. Hope to see you soon

(answer – Tequila is much more expensive – think at least double )

Respite and Dads Dream are leaving Chiapas this morning planning Bahia de lSol 12:23 high tide

Dad’s Dream & Respite just crossed the Bar and are now in Bahia! ( Sea Glass )

6) JULIA MAX – Cost Rica

Julia Max, Marina Papagayos Costa Rica. We could not check into the country here unless we paid $580 for an agent and waited 48 hours. So we took a panga into Playas del Coco and checked in along with Crossroads who shared the taxi into the airport. Took 5 hours due to waiting at Liberia and with Port Captain and Immigration. Misunderstandings with the National Zarpe led us to believe we had to detail every stop along our way sourth. That is NOT the case. Dan, the Harbormaster at Papagayos Marina will e-mail the port captain in Playas del Coco with a national zarpe from here to Golfito and ALL PORTS IN BETWEEN. This will make your cruising much easier. You still have to check in with the port captains along the way, but no worries about going ashore wherever it looks enticing or you want to anchor for the night.
Marina Papagos has many slips available with special for Posse participants, fuel @4.75/gal, electricity, potable water on the dock, trash, laundry, swimming pool, restaurant, marine store and a concierge for car rental and excursions. We took 2 excursions from the nature center in the peninsula resort attached to the marina.
This is a 5 star+ resort and community. Dan, the Operations Manager, from Florida, will take you on a property tour to see the lovely environment with all the amenities available to you for a price.

We have rented a car and are presently on a personal tour of the national parks in the north country. No guide yet.



7) CARINTHIA – Nicaragua –  3 day Land trip to Leon – Managua – GRANADA

4 hour drive to Lake Nicaragua via Leon and Managua ( GREAT PROVISIONING ) to the fabled city and Unesco world heritage site of GRANADA.
Absolutely “must see” and lots of global explorers and expats in town – we stayed at a local condo Hotel Xalteva and walked around all day – Stunning

Multiple Spanish colonial landmarks that have survived repeated pirate invasions.
The city’s main plaza, Central Park, is dominated by the colorful, neoclassical facade of the
Cathedral of Granada, originally dating to 1583.  All of this of course set to a Sandinista backdrop.

Heading to San Juan del Sur Nicaragua on Tue/Wed.
The Marina owner and former cruiser Robert at Marina Puesta del Sol is working on making cruising in Nicaragua easier.
Stay tuned for updates – We need to check in and out of every port ( and pay a nominal fee) and even some port anchorages are subject to a fee.

Suzanne & Dietmar



8 ) MY CROSSROADS

Some days cruising are perfect….,others not so much! Two nights ago we were at Bahia Portrero, CR. The next day was one of those cruising days where not much of anything went per plan. The plan was to leave Portrero at 4:30am to be able to get into Bahia Ballena, CR before dark so as to avoid the numerous long liners we have been warned about as you come around the point into Gulfo de Nicoya. It started unraveling almost immediately when I spotted several pangas in the darkness with their little white lights in my intended path. Having seen their long lines in the daylight I give those things a 3 mile berth in the dark and I’m not sure that’s enough. So I detoured around them but because of the small islands and the rock gardens around Portrero it was a big detour! We still would have made the plan but before too long we ran into the TWO KNOT adverse currents mentioned in Charlie’s Charts. The current stayed with us most of the day and killed our chances of getting in before dark. To add to our less than perfect day we had wind up to 30 knots on the beam for a couple of hours. Oh and let me not forget that our stabilizers decided to take the day off. So we ended up in Bahia Carrillo which is uncrowded and wide open. A little rolly but I deployed the flipper stopper which seemed taking care of it pretty well…….for a while. We rolled our eyeballs out all night only to discover in the morning that the flopper stopper had become detached and was held on to the boat only by the retrieval line. An imperfect end to an imperfect day.
I almost forgot, I spent three hours on the phone with Tmobile and Square Trade trying to get my phone unlocked so that I can use the new SIM card in it. How very entertaining that was!
On the plus side it only took me about 1-1/2 hrs to get the stabilizer problem sorted and I took a nice swim off the back of the boat.
Yesterday we moved the 54 nm from Carrillo to Ballena in a perfect powerboat day…..no wind. Ballena is a large uncrowded Bay and we’re looking to do some exploring over the next few days. We miss the Posse!
Cheers,
Stan & Diane
M/V CrossRoads


9 ) BERTIE is heading southwards tomorrow ~ on to Acapulco!   See you there!
We’re in Acapulco. On Vincent’s mooring. ‭+52 (744) 439 8184‬ $10.00 a day.
We’ve been sick and might leave tomorrow to anchorage area. Very nice here.


10)  SV EASY
currently at  http://map.iridium.com/m?lat=13.303258&lon=-88.892855


11) PANAMA POSSE NET 
SSB Net 8294 USB @ 15:15 UTC ( 9:15 local time ) fallback 8297 USB
Please confirm your net control and time with ROB with an email rap84040@gmail.com ( cc’ed above )
If you can please volunteer for one weekly slot as a fallback


Monday – VOLANTE III
Tuesday  – ANNAPURNA   – Confirmed
Wednesday – EASY
Thursday – CARINTHIA – Confirmed
Friday – INTERLUDE
Saturday – CROSSROADS
Sunday – RESPITE


here is the script
https://panamaposse.com/ssb-radio-net



12) PANAMA POSSE PARTICIPANT INFO

to access each other please visit https://panamaposse.com/2017-vessel-contact-sheet
 – THIS IS CONFIDENTIAL
– check off the captcha
– login with your username and password
– document password “posse2017”


Keep these reports  coming

PANAMA POSSE