1) Palenque, MX

Five day trip to Palenque and San Cristobal with Luis Sanchez

Day 1


10 hour drive to Palenque. Beautiful trip, partly through the mountains.
Luis is a very good driver. No difficulties on the road. Spend the evening in Palenque


Day 2
In the morning visit the museum and the Mayan ruins in Palenque, very impressive.
Heard howler monkeys. Nice lunch with grilled mojarra.
Lots of rain in the afternoon during our visit to Misol-Ha waterfall. Spend the night in Palenque.

Day 3
Visit Centro Ecoturistico Cascadas de Aqua Azul with huge waterfalls. Because of the rain aqua is not azul but café. Drive to San Cristobal through Sierra Madre, beautiful trip. Visit Jade Museum and Chocolate Museum. Nice evening with life music in San Cristobal.

Day 4
Visit the indigenous Mayan villages of San Juan Chamula and Zinacantan. In the church we watch Mayan people having their rituals with sjamaans. We visit a woman who shows us how to make tablecloths and embroideries on clothing. Very special. Visit Parque Ecoturistico Grutas de Rancho Nuevo and Amber Museum. Spend the evening in  former Zapatista headquarters with life Latin American music.

Day 5
Make a tour by panga through the Canyon de Sumidero. Saw crocodile and spider monkeys.
On our way back to Marina Chiapas we have a nice lunch in Palapa Quetzal.



Luis is a very pleasant guy. Because we were only the two of us, he joined us for all meals. He was very informative about everything and liked to explain about the culture, the food, the politics in Mexico. We knew nothing of this country, so we appreciated this very much. He took us to nice places which were very affordable (hotels, restaurants). Everywhere he met people he knew and we noticed he is very popular. He always checked if we liked what we were doing. As said, he is an excellent driver, which is important because we traveled a lot since distances are long. We really felt safe. It was obvious he was enjoying the tour too.
We can fully recommend this tour. It is worth every penny.


Luis Sanchez
+529622166611luis86same@gmail.com

Huibert & Maikee

MADELEINE

2) PICTURE OF THE WEEK

Slow Dancer showing off the burgee in warm water

Kenneth & Dale

SLOW DANCER

3) Ports of entry & exit info in Costa Rica

These Good Nautical links below will provide you detailed Check-in and Check-out procedures for Costa Rica including exact LAT and LONG for all required offices and past commentary.

If you follow these instructions your total entry and exit fees for Costa Rica will be $ 25-50  and 1/2 days time for each to check in and out
but if you use an agent or marina – expect to pay $500 – 800 for them to do it for you. You can stay up to 90 days following these instructions.

http://www.goodnautical.com/costa-rica/port-of-entry/playas-del-coco


http://www.goodnautical.com/costa-rica/port-of-entry/golfito

4) Watertaxi @ Playa Cocos, Costa Rica – and ALWAYS LOCK YOU VESSEL Water taxi in Playa de Cocos fisherman, Henry and his son, to provide water taxi services,
delivery of water fuel and laundry.  He charges 2,000 colones
(His number is +506 8849 1607 Spanish only but his son speaks English and it takes about 30 minutes 
if he is not around for him to pick you up.

Always lock your dinghy – especially if you go on shore.
Tie it to a sturdy pole or tree and remove any valuables.

Thieves are opportunists may swim out to cut your dinghy’s painter and
then use rocks on the beach to break off locks.
Please use a (PAD) lock with a difficult point of attack and a heavy chain

or re-in-forced stainless steel  wire – see a sample lock below.

5) “Get out of the Papagayos” Anchorage – Costa Rica
After the howling Papagayo winds and whipping gusts of Nicaragua and Northern Costa Rica here is a very nice and calm anchorage.

Your first remedy is:  Isla Cedros – WAnchorage ⌖ 09° 50.5418´ N,  084° 53.0998´ W ~ 14 feet

A few miles down is a cruiser friendly resort is heaven on earth …

Droneshot by Apape @ Punta Naranjo Anchorage @ 09° 56.3297 N 084° 57.9058 W

with a dock a nice pool and cold beers  –

Brenda & Dietmar in the Pool at Oasis Resort (3,000 colones access fee x day)

Rick & Brenda

DAD’S DREAM

6) The2018-2019 Panama Posse has surpassed last season’s posse.
We just hit the 84 vessels milestone !
Thank you to everyone for signing up and participation in this journey.
What a good looking group !

(note: If you do not see yourself in the gorgeous panama posse mosaic please email us your picture)

7) Marina Puerto de la Navidad, Barra de Navidad, MX

Renovations are underway !
We are pleased to inform you that mayor improvements are taking place throughout the resort.

During 2019 we plan to continue with much needed improvements and we will keep you updated as soon as they are completed.

Harbormaster Secundino Alvarez

Marina Puerto de la Navidad   https://panamaposse.com/start

8) WEEKLY 2018-2019 PANAMA POSSE FLEET CHECK IN and MORNING NET on MONDAY’S at 16:00 UTC via LINE

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

Next call on Monday January 21th, 2018 at 16:00 UTC

We have over 59 vessels in LINE and the calls are great and very efficient and SEAGLUB does a full route weather summary !

TIP Use your status to indicate your current location and drop a pin to share your actual location (+) menu in the chat room

9) CROSSROADS ( from last season )
SAFETY/SECURITY TELEPHONE NUMBERS (Diane last season actually called every number)

U.S. COAST GUARD RESCUE COORDINATION CENTER
    Rescue Coordination Center:  (510) 437-3701.  This is the number for group receiving EPIRB emergency beacon distress signals.  They will coordinate with local country Coast Guards if boater is outside of the U.S. and they have translators, as the numbers at the local country Coast Guards in Central America will speak Spanish.  They said it would be ok to call them in emergency.

CENTRAL AMERICA COUNTRY COAST GUARD CONTACT NUMBERS
    These numbers were given to me by the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center.  The individuals from these local Coast Guards will speak Spanish when you call them.  If you cannot communicate with them, the Rescue Coordination Center can call them, but that will take more time.
 
  El Salvadore Coast Guard:  (505) 22500210,   Extension 5103
    Nicaragua Coast Guard:      (504)22342507
    Costa Rica Coast Guard:      (506) 22314924
    Panama Coast Guard:           (507) 60451197

CALIFORNIA COAST GUARD OFFICES WHO COULD BE  called if you cannot reach rescue coordination center, however the local coast guards will likely just go through the Rescue Center:
    Coast Guard Sector LA/Long Beach:  310 521-3815
    Channel Islands office:  805 985-9822

VHF EMERGENCY CHANNEL FOR MAYDAY: 16

U.S. COAST GUARD EMERGENCY SSB CHANNELS
MHZ                     UTC time
4.125        2300-11
6.125        24 hr.
8.290        24 hr.
12.290        1100-2300


HAM SSB NETS

World wide emergency Ham net:  14.313    24 hr.
Pacific Seafares Net 14300 @ 0300 UTC 
Central America Ham net:  7.083   UTC time 1300

CENTRAL AMERICA EMBASSY CONTACT INFORMATION.  Go to www.usembassy.gov/ for further information.  For Central America embassies, emergency number is +1-202-501-4444, and press “0”,  from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. EST.  When dialing embassy numbers below probably start with “ +” depending on phone service.   

    COSTA RICA
    +506 2519 2000
    Calle 98 Via 104, Pavas,     San Jose, Costa Rico

    EL SALVADOR
    +503 2501 2999
    Final Blvd. Santa Elena,     Antiguo Cuseatlan, La Libertad,     San Salvador   

    GUATEMALA
    +502 2326 4000
    Avenida Reforma 7-01, Zona 10, Guatemala Cuidad, Guatemala

    HONDURAS
    +504 2238 5114 (after hours X4100)
    +504 2236 9320 (per embassy website, but not communications received:  011-504 2236 9320)
    Avenida La Paz,     Tegucigalpa MDC, Honduras

    MEXICO
    +52 55 5080-2000
    Paseo de la Reforma 305, Colonia Cuauhtenoc,     06500 Mexico, DF

    NICARGUA
    +505 2252-7100
    Kilometer 5.5 Carreter Sur, Managua, Nicagagua

    PANAMA
    +507 317 5000
    Bldg 783, Demetrio Basilio Lakas Ave, Clayton, Panama

REPORT U.S. CITIZEN MISSING ABROAD:  1-888-407-4747

GLOBAL MARINE DISTRESS SAFETY SYSTEM:      1-888-407-4747, press “0” for overseas citizen emergency services.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MARITIME ADMINISTATION, OFFICE OF MARITIME SECURITY. 

They provide information on piracy and safety and security, and you can sign up for alerts by going online.
    Emergency:  1-202-501-4444 (8-8 EST, M-F)

Stan & Diane

10) HAPPY SAILING Please reply to this email with any 
updates and we’ll include it in the next Fleet Updates.
Please take pictures of your celebrations and excursions

Dietmar & Suzanne
SV Carinthia

11) Opt-out from Fleet Updates simply reply with “REMOVE“