Sorry about disappearing for a couple of months. I must have been too busy having fun to do any journaling.
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So the only excitement other than the usual dolphins and turtles on this 3-day sail was a thunderstorm that just appeared off to the west and started heading our way. When the CAPE (a scale of how much energy is in the atmosphere) is high, a storm can just appear. Being that it was night you could see how violent the lightning was, but not the wind. So we did our heavy weather/lightning drill. Secure everything, reduce sail, and try and protect the electronics on board. We disconnected the antenna wires, turned off the circuit breakers, and crammed as much of our electronics into Faraday bags and crammed the microwave full(this is to protect them if we have a lightning strike. Most boats I know that have gone through a strike have had to do $50-100K in repairs after a strike. Although we had a Strike 100 yards from the boat, the wind never got above 40 kts. We did have a torrential downpour for a couple of hours, but the boat and crew needed a rinse anyway. After the squall passed things went calm and so as to not arrive in Nicaragua in the dark, we shut everything down and drifted for a few hours. In the morning we motored up the river channel to Puesta del Sol Marina. There were no markers in the channel, but
Juanita, the Puesta harbor master, gave us waypoints that kept us right in the channel.
Puesta hadn’t changed too much in the 21 years since our last visit. The old docks were closed due to damage but there were newer docks with 14 slips and only 8 boats. During fishing tournaments it’s busy but other than 2 other cruising boats and a few guests at the hotel we had the place to ourselves.
Juanita was great. She gave us the lay of the land and arranged for our check-in to the country—as good as hiring an agent but for free. The owner Robert had built this place a few years before our visit in 2005. He was an expat who returned to Nicaragua after the fall of the Sandinistas. It was very remote back then with just a small village of about 6 fishermen’s houses and no electricity. He planted the seed and convinced the government to pave the road and bring in utilities and although it’s still a poor community, hostels and eco resorts have popped up due to Robert pushing the state and the discovery of a world class surf break called “The Boom”.
We really enjoyed the vibe, the great beaches, restaurants, coffee shop, bakery, even a hardware store—none of which were here 20 years ago.
FIRE!
We had one unexpected adventure. As we were strolling down the road, we came upon the ubiquitous aroma of a burn pile. In Latin America and most other places outside the US and Europe, to dispose of green waste and trash they rake everting into a pile and light it up. It’s usually a routine task. As we walked by one house we could hear coconuts popping which got our attention. We could see tall flames in a pile of bamboo and a woman and her elderly mother throwing washbasins of water on the thatched roof eaves of her house. Thinking we might be able to help, we ran down a side street to get to her house. We were greeted by a teenager watching a half dozen young siblings and asked if her mom needed any help. She said “no”. A few seconds later the mom came around the corner rushing to get bigger buckets. We asked if we could help, and she said “yes… please!”We grabbed some buckets and headed to some barrels full of water. Back and forth we went throwing buckets of water on the flames approaching the house. We were making headway but the barrels were now dry and no running water. Just then her husband showed up after a panicked call telling him to get home. He led us to the well and he started pumping. He pumped that well for over an hour till we had things in control. Whew!
I vote they pull together a volunteer fire department.
HOMEPAGE Adventures with Dr. John 