Cruising the Guatemalan Coast, April 15

After motoring for two days to get through the infamous Bay of Tehuantepec, we finally arrived on the coast of Guatemala. Since we are in no special danger zone here, we turned off the engine and are sailing along merrily. There is about 10 knots of wind, which allows us to sail between 4 and 5 knots per hour, which is fine with us. Even if we had a "four knot rule" we would not have to deal with it. We were motoring because - as I have said before - the area we were in is notorious for bad weather and high seas, which would be uncomfortable at best and downright dangerous at worst. We were subject to no bad weather, but if we hadn't motored all the way, we would still be there. We have been told over and over again not to linger there, because even with a favorable five day forecast (which we had) things can change quickly and then you are stuck. but it is all behind us now, so even if we lose our wind, we can just drift along like we have many times before. Lots of sailors have this "four knot rule",meaning they turn on the engine if the speed drops below four knots. But we bought this boat to sail it, and sail it we will, schedules be damned. Today, however, the sailing has been just about perfect. I got really tired of the constant engine noise, and the heat it produces in the cabin. This is not in any way to be viewed as a dis on my engine. It is so comforting to know that I have a good strong engine that I can rely on to start when it needs to and to do what an engine needs to do. I have had so many piece-of-shit cars in my day that I never take a good running engine for granted.

I really can't say enough about how nice it is out here. A panga came by, and the two guys in it asked us for some water. Luckily we still had an empty clamato jar that I had not yet thrown away, so we were able to help them out. It felt really good to do that. We can make more water any time we want to, so it is no trouble for us. Those guys have to carry it with them, and I guess sometimes they run out before they get back to shore. They didn't have any fish, which was really too bad, as if they did, they would have traded it for the water. Speaking of fish, we caught a HUGE jack cravalle - the biggest one I have ever seen. It must have weighed about 40-50 pounds. Unfortunately, they are not good to eat, even though they are in the tuna family. So we let it go, and hopefully it has learned its lesson and will not go after anyone's cedar plug again.

We are currently flying a Guatemalan flag since we are in Guatemalan waters. We also fly an American flag, but it is a courtesy to fly the flag of the country you are in. Some places actually require it - Mexico is one of them, although I don't think they are very strict about enforcement as we saw lots of boats without one. El Salvador doesn't care, but we are going to fly one anyway when we get there because I like the idea of it. I have no idea what the rules are here, but if they do care, we are ready. We won't be stopping here, but will visit via land trip once we get settled in El Salvador. I want to visit all the Central American countries while we are here - Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and of course, El Salvador. Belize is the only country without a Pacific coast, and El Salvador is the only country without a Caribbean coast. The other ones all have both.

Otherwise, there is not a lot of news out here, which is probably good. We have about 196 miles to go, so we are well over half way. It is nice to know there are people waiting for us in El Salvador. I expect that if things continue as they are, we will be there on Tuesday sometime. The entrance to where we will be moored is through a sandbar that requires a pilot boat to lead us in through a surf break. You have to time it just right and then literally surf in by gauging the wave properly, hence the need for the pilot boat. Actually, it is a pilot jet ski. I am planning to drive the boat in myself, and Mike will videotape me doing it. I will post the video here and on Facebook. I am nervous about doing it, but I really want to do this. It would be easy to let Mike do it. They give prizes to all the women who drive their boats in, and I do not want to be left out. Plus it is a step I need to take. So anyway, that is it for today. I will try and write another post while we are out here.

"Think of our life in nature, - daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, - rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the SOLID earth! the ACTUAL world! the COMMON SENSE! CONTACT! CONTACT! WHO are we? WHERE are we?" (Henry David Thoreau)

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