1) Marina Papagayo, Costa Rica

After we crossed the bar at Bahia del Sol, El Salvador we encountered some fishing vessels, so we decided to motor past them before we unfurled the main. We needed to get out further for a better coarse to sail. We unfurled the main and it looked like we needed to tighten the halyard, but no matter what we did, nada. Dennis went forward to touch the tack, and the main started to drop. (Expletive – deleted). So we brought it down, flaked it on the boom, looked down on the deck, and there was the very narrow, long shackle without the pin. It appeared that the pin on the shackle stripped out and the head was no longer attached to the top furler mechanism. It would have been a much better problem to solve if the halyard had broken. Anyway, what ever sailing we did, it was head-sail only.

We continued to Bahia St Elena, Costa Rica. The Papagayos were kicking up, so we did have some interesting winds and swells, especially since we couldnโ€™t use the main. We anchored away from the winds that came along the mountain edge, around 10ยฐ54’41.7″N 85ยฐ47’29.6″W. We still had some 20 kt winds during the night. The Rocna 25 anchor and 140โ€™ of chain was very comfortable.

We spent two nights there to rest, did not go ashore, but there was a young couple that went exploring each day for about a week.

We left to go to Marina Papagaya, planned to get a shackle and handle all of the other โ€œshow stopping issuesโ€. We rented a car (cheapest way to get around in the area) to provision and handle repairs. We couldnโ€™t find the shackle, but we found a machine shop and for $8.11 there were four people working on re-tapping and aligning the old one for a new larger pin that we commandeered from an oversize shackle.

There is a Walmart in Liberia Costa Rica, but there are many other places to provision that you would definitely enjoy. There is a Do-It center (Home Depot style) at the corner of the road from the peninsula (where the marina is located) and the main road. Turn left to go to the International Airport and Liberia, turn right to go to Hermosa and Coco. Dennis and Geri have some friends that live near Hermosa so we went out to dinner with them for Dennisโ€™ birthday (donโ€™t tell him I told you).

Except for the marina, the peninsula is a gated community with a half dozen resorts and a dozen restaurants (we didn’t bother, we’re cruisers).

Weโ€™ve been staying at the marina because we need the wifi access to try in get replacement parts ordered. Most of these parts will be spares for parts that we have seen some wear and tear (anybody have a Volvo Penta PC-740 top mount single lever throttle control, not having much luck finding or getting it sent to Panama). The marina has great security, fuel dock, a cable TV room, coin operated laundry, showers with some warm water, a small ships store open seven days a week, with a very helpful staff that even handle the rental car. The โ€œDive Barโ€ is a little steep in price, but the food is good. The coffee shop is REALLY expensive. The resort pool is available to marina quests. The docks have better than usual wifi, high pressure potable water, 250 amp, head pump at the slip. Almost all of the staff will speak english and Dan Eaffaldano is the manager who can help with most of your needs. Marina is +506 2690 3600  email:  dan.eaffaldano@marinapapagayo.com  or VHF 16 maybe 23A.

So our plan is to leave the marina on Friday 12/21, go to Bahia Hermosa (5 nm)
until Sunday 12/23, then probably to Bahia Ballena, Tambor Costa Rica. 

Walt & Jeariene

Knot Right

2) Mexico – Picture(s) of the week


Night over Maruata Bay

Manzanillo at night, from Carrizal Cove

Sierra Madre
Huibert & Maaike

MADELEINE





3) Marina Ixtapa, Mexico

COQUETTE ! 90 US cents per foot plus tax is the daily rate
Simple Life is parked there for Christmas. .70c +tax for 35 days.
Crocs included. Dry storage more expensive.

4) WEEKLY 2018-2019 PANAMA POSSE FLEET CHECK IN and MORNING NET on MONDAY’S at 16:00 UTC via LINE
We have been testing a new “LINE” tool for weekly vessel check ins and GROUP calls –
last years SSB check-ins had several draw backs due to propagation -so we have done some testing and came up with something pretty nifty …

It’s a new way of doing things – please download and install LINE  https://line.me/en-US/ 
Works on Android / ios / Windows / MAC OS

– Register using your VESSEL name as the USERNAME ie    SV SEAGLUB

– Next
search for panamaposse or SV Carinthia or Seaglub and befriend us –

– wait and accept your PANAMAPOSSE GROUP INVITE

Connect every Monday at 16:00 UTC and send us your position via the message system and listen to the vessel check ins

(all free as long you have IP connectivity which we now know is pretty much all along the coast)
The LINE system allows for up to 200 live conference call participants.

Check in tomorrow at Monday Dec 24th, 2018 at 16:00 UTC
with your vessel location and holiday updates 







5) Panama – getting parts from the US

Getting parts / mail into Panama. ( they do also have offices in Costa Rica, and operate in Belize, Honduras and Guatemala )

There are several ways to get parts delivered in Panama – but one of the more innovative ways is
via Mailboxes Etc.

a)  Register for a free unique ID online at www.mbe-ca.com
(top right corner change language to English and select a city near you depending on your Marina / etc )

b) verify your email with a picture of your passport and agree to their terms.

c) Purchase anything in the US and have it shipped to your unique ID and Miami, Florida Address (you pay regular US shipping charges or free if you use Amazon Prime)

d) As soon as your package arrives in Florida you get an email and it is forwarded to the Mailboxes etc store (you chose from the cities above) in Panama
e) 3- 4 days later you get an email and go to the local store and pick up your package for a nominal fee (example a 8x5x7 inch box with a pound of generator parts
was $ 11.95) 

6) Vista Mar Marina – Panama

Holiday and Christmas Celebration setup – Panama Posse meets first time Puddle Jumpers

The north winds are blowing and the local dogs are lined up for Christmas goodies …

The “cold” full moon


Happy Holidays

Dietmar & Suzanne

CARINTHIA




7) Good Nautical is an official 501(c)3 and holds the detailed Panama Posse  info
https://panamaposse.com/route

Scroll down for stops – and  there is also the link to all the Sponsor Marinas and services at
https://panamaposse.com/sponsors

just follow the link (icons) enter your membership credentials which have been emailed to you

if you need help login in or how to use the site  just send an email to dietmar@goodnautical.com

8) Please reply to this email with any  updates – contenders for picture of the week
and we’ll include it in the next Fleet Updates – happy happy !

Dietmar & Suzanne
SV Carinthia


9) opt-out from the Fleet Updates ( especially if you are not in central America anymore ) simply reply with “REMOVE