Anduril Sailing Blog: El Salvador Redux

In the Costa Rican sky, early in the evening looking southward is the constellation Crux – known to most as the Southern Cross. To the north, Polaris dimly hovers near the horizon. To travel further south is to bid Polaris goodbye. To travel north is to plunge Crux into the southern sea. Wanting as we did to further explore the lovely forests of Costa Rica, the choice of going north or south was a hard one. But the end-time for our winter interlude on the boat was looming. Also, our friend Mer was soon coming down to visit and we needed a safe place to bed the boat down for the summer season. We chose northward, retracing our wake and returning to Bahia del Sol, El Salvador.

An attentive reader will recall that north of southern Costa Rica there are vexing papagayo winds. Luckily, as the Spring season arrives these tend to abate: the passages northward from Cocos proved substantially less troublesome than they were outbound – our worst was a short 40 knot burst while rounding Cabo Santa Elena. Our northbound push felt more like a boat delivery mission. Not particularly memorable, but when one is mainly on task to get a boat from A to B, “not memorable” is exactly the outcome we all look for.

The officialdom involved in clearing out of Costa Rica was exactly equal to the prior hassles experienced while clearing in. Central American Officialdom is a force to be reckoned with. There is no point in arguing: just do what they say, hop from office to office, sign the papers, fork out the required cash fees, get your papers stamped and be on your way. All told, we had little to complain about. While time-consuming, we paid no bribes (at least that we were aware of) and the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan officials we encountered ranged from simply business-like to outright pleasant.

Moving briskly from Cocos, we made a pleasant anchorage at Bahia Potrero Grande and also a drop-the-hook-in-the-dark roadsteadstop at El Transito. Waking to a brutal 5:00 AM departure from El Transito Alice enjoyed an early morning Birthday watch. Flora de Cana Rum drink celebrations were soon called for at the Puesta de Sol Marina. With the boat safe and secure in a marina, we were able to bus adventure inland to Leon, Nicaragua. This gave us a better appreciation of the poverty and political uncertainty plaguing Nicaragua. Our final leg included a repeat roadstead stop at San Sebastion. The following afternoon we crossed the bar once again into Bahia del Sol, El Salvador. Arriving back at the hotel docks with familiar friendly faces it felt almost as a homecoming.

Tasks to complete included eating pupusas with cruiser friends, drinking beer, rum, and tequila, road tripping with our friend Mer from Vancouver. Also, we had work to do making the boat ready to spend the summer on a mooring ball in the estuary. With the end of April at hand and our chores all completed, it was time to say goodbye to Anduril and head home for yet more fun in the sun.