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 couldnโt 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 โshow stopping issuesโ. We rented a car (cheapest way to get around in the area) to provision and handle repairs. We couldnโt 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 (donโt 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).
Weโve 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 โDive 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“