San Juan del Sur to BAHIA ELENA

San Juan del Sur is a Surfer hang out. Kind or like Tofino was before it got hijacked by tourism operators. Lots of Europeans and back packers enjoy cheap food and lodging. There are cheap hotels (5-20 bucks) a night and a few boutique hotels around the 70 dollar mark that offer a little bit more. There are language schools, restaurants and internet café’s all over the town which is about 5 blocks wide.
The streets are being torn up for better sidewalks and a waterfront promonade which should make this town really nice.
We have a lot of wind on the nose in the anchorage which is a little annoying. The girls are attracting a lot of attention "land locking" and tanning on the beach.


They were bothered by some strange guy trying to scare them with a bag of fish heads. He pulled out about 4 different kinds of heads and chased them with it.
Chantal had here purse grabbed off of a table in a restaurant by a 7 year old kid who "booked " it down the beach. He was chased by a bunch of guys in the restaurant and he dropped it after a short chase. He would of been disappointed anyway, She had no money and the only thing of value was some Bonnybell lip gloss and hair paraphernalia.
The girls were registered for a PADDI Dive course. They are pretty happy about that. It is the first time I’ve seen them studying at night.
The dive course went well; everyone is enthusiastic about diving. Josee is a natural in the water, the dive instructor pointed this out many times. She is pretty young to be certified - her comfort in the water is certainly an asset.
We all dove together on Valentines day. It was rather windy but a nice dive full of rays, eels, and a variety of those pesky pufferfish. We saw a lot of dead fish apparently they die when the water gets too cold. The water is a lot colder here than El Salvador and we had to use thicker wet suits than the one’s we bought in Seattle.
Everyone except Lynda and Chantal experienced ear troubles from the diving and had to go on antibiotics.
We blew out our gib sail while sailing with Dave and Sarah. What a disaster, our inexperience certainly contributed to the chaos. The sail ended up being in a tangled mess around the furling shroud. The winds were gusty and generally unpredictable. Some gusts through our rails into the water. I hate this but the kids love it. I fail to see the fun of everything on the port side of the boat being flung to the starboard side in a big crash.
We had to move anchor twice in San Juan del Sur crowded anchorage which I am beginning to hate. During our second move the anchor jumped off the gypsy and 300 feet of chain paid out. We were saved by the knot on the end. Then the engine l got a plugged fuel filter and just quit . Dave and Michel trouble shot for a few hours to finally unplug the thing. I was later told that Michel has just figured out how the "filter boss ‘ works. Which is supposed to prevent such mishaps Diesel fuel is regularly contaminated. Then to add fuel to the fire. Michel ran over a panga line and damaged the dingy prop. So we were are dingy less for a short while. Of course this was all blamed on traveling at night in haste because the girls were late….again for their sunset curfew.

Dave and Sarah left and we had a couple days rest until Pete, Sue and Helen arrived. We cleaned up the boat and the girls and I did an overnighter in town.
It just happened to be a Harley Rally and there were bikes everywhere. It was noisy and exciting all the same. We hit a great party on the beach with a stage and fantastic band from Argentina. It was ten bucks to get in with free drinks of rum and whiskey. I really did not see too many intoxicated people which was quite a surprise. The average age of the Bikers was 45 so this may have something to do with it.
Before we went to the beach party we hit big wave Dave’s for some live local talent. The bar is like a bad Jimmy Buffet novel or song. Lots of alcoholic, 50 year old expats hanging around telling stories, swilling cheep beer or rum with a Nica chick old enough to be daughters hanging on. The music was great all oldies that I new the words to. It was flash back city with both the bikers and music triggering memories of my past. Michel would of hated it. I loved it.
There was an odd looking black fellow who as Chantal put it looked like the logo for the alternative rock band the Gorilla’s. He sang Jimmy Hendrix songs and a fantastic blues harmonica set that was stellar. I went over to him to tell him how much I enjoyed his blues set and probably the best harmonica player I have ever seen. He was happy to have me complement his harmonica playing as he stated he learned to play the harmonica before he learned to sing well over 30 years ago.
Pete Sue and Helen arrived from Vancouver. We had calm sea which made it nice. We borrowed an ourboard dingy motor from the dive shop which would not idle making it pretty scary to land in such a gusty anchorage.
It was easy to meet them and arrange for departure.
We ordered a new sail from Miami and new prop from managua. The sail had to be custom made and it was done in about 5 days. Quite amazing really. We learn that delivery all depends on how much money you want to throw around.
Pete, Michel and I take a trip into Managua about 3 hours away to pick up our sail and prop. About 35 minutes into our trip we were in a car accident. There are a lot of pot holes in the roads in Nicaragua. As we were overtaking a car he swerved to miss a car that suddenly swerved into us- to miss a pot hole!. The driver lost control of the jeep as we snaked back and forth. The jeep flipped onto its side after blowing out 3 tires. My side……. Michel was in the front and had a seat belt on. Pete and I were in the back and seat belts were not an option. Amazingly enough there we no major injuries.
I got the worst of it with a bump on my head ( I think from a dive tank) which later was diagnosed as a mild concussion and my should bothered me as well.
Michel and Pete pushed on to Managua anxious to get the sail and get the hell out of this wind hole.