December 15, 2007

so this is how sailing looks like

hanging around


What are the girls doing?
Hanging out with boys...messing around in boats.
This day they went wake boarding on the Bocana.

The story of the crates

Our stuff was diverted out of San Salvador to La Union as a compromise to avoid paying the 15% duty. There was about 30 grand value of stuff in those crates.
La Union is where the main Naval Base is. A friend of ours arranged to have the Naval Captain recieve our stuff until a customs agent could view the crates going on to the boat.
In San Salvador there is no port. We offered to pay for a customs agent to come to our anchorage an hour away from San Salvador but they said we had to sail to La Union which is 18 hours away by sail.
The fact that the "crates" had navigational equipment and other parts that are nessessary for the journey did not seem to change thier mind. I am told that they have no clue as to what is required to sail. La Union is the closest customs on the coast. They like to follow the "rules" here and can't be really creative when the rules don't speak to the problem.
The truck was supposed to arrive at noon. It arrived around 8 in the dark and the naval base dock was under construction. Exposed beams, missing planks and no lighting. We used flash lights and truck head lights to load. I felt like we were doing something illegal.
The Customs guys left shortly after the crates were opened. There was a soccer game on so they stayed the bare minimum.
The Naval unit were really happy to help and stayed behind to help us load. We finished up around 11 pm througly exhausted.

December 10, 2007

The crates are here


After 4 months the crates have arrived....navigational equipment, school supplies and power source, among other things!

The crates are here

The crates arrive

The crates arrive



The chain gang.
The last of the equipment 500 feet of chain loaded into the anchor locker which
certainly helps trim the boat....the bow was riding rather high. It was quite a story getting the contents of the crates into the boat. Michel was pretty happy to have it all finally here. No more unknowns.

December 2, 2007

Aduana headaches.


Our crates have finally arrived in El Salvador. They are being held at customs and "aduana" dispite our efforts in hiring a broker to navigate around the paperwork we still are subject to the taxes. The solution was to sail to La Union which is a port with customs so they can witness that the crates are going to a "ship" that is leaving the country. This involves a 13 hour sail from where we are at. The problem is that a lot of the "stuff" in the crates is navigational
equipment. It is a good opportunty for "sea trials"

look ma- I can fly

Coast of El Salvador


Chantal has a "new friend" Charlie a young pilot he offered to take her flying.
Yes, we are crazy letting teenagers fly together- Do teenagers fly as crazy as they drive?
Apparently so....according to Chantal.
Charlie is a real sweetheart we all love him. We have stayed with his familily in San Salvador and we have been invited to celebrate Christmas with them at one of thier holiday places. Genevieve and Chantal flew to Honduras with Charlies family to watch an airshow. Charlie's Dad who is a commercial airline pilot of TACA air lines ( the local equivilant to Air Canada) was flying his stunt plane in the show. Apparently he was the star attraction. Charlies family owns a flying school which seems to be doing very well. The girls enjoyed the show from as Genevieve called it " the other side of the fence"