We surfed the wave and then went into shore. A guy who is a surf instructor and who lives in a little cliff type hostel on the beach came down and talked to us. He told us to pull the Dingy up in front of his spot and then we took everything out of the dingy and he tied it up. He told us he would watch it and then he basically checked out every crevis of it! Funny stuff.
We left the beach and went walking around and the town is a really neat little surfer community. We had some food and played on the beach. Then when we went back down the beach to find the dingy we came apon a little party and all of these El Salvadorians were sitting in the dingy and little kids were playing in side her. It was quite a little scene. The surf Instructor, who's nick name is Charlie Brown, asked he could help bring the Dingy to the ocean. They hemmed and hawed and asked if they could come and see the boat, so I invited them out to the boat. We all piled into the dingy, about 5 young kids ages 23-10. They were soooo excited. The 23 year old kid said that He has lived here all his life and a sail boat has never stopped where we were in his life!! It was pretty surreal. Then we went into shore later that night and pulled the dingy up under a bright light in front of a restaurant and it was fine when we got back a couple of hours later.
During the day, while I was surfing, people kept swimming or paddling up to the boat, where Mat was and he just spent the day talking to everyone... A couple of Canadians came over and invited us to come have a beer with them later. When we went in that night everyone was crowding around us. The tourist people all said that they took tons of pictures of the boat etc... We hung out in this little compound and talked to all of the excited people. Then we headed back to the boat, through the low tide rocks and surf. When we got to the boat she was rocking really really bad. We slept poorly and I got up about 5 times to find the source of some racket going on due to the rocking. It rocked so bad that Sean's beater board flew off of the boat! We found out the next morning!
Today we woke up to small waves. I went surfing and then the people started to come over. First it was the 23 year old kid, then all of a sudden 5 more kids paddled out. One guy brought his 4 year old son on his surfboard. Then 4 more kids came out. So there were 9 El Salvadorians on the bow all talking excitedly! It was quite strange really. They dove off the bow and swam around and climbed back on board. They spent about 30 mins with us and then they all said Buena Suerte en su Viaje! And paddled away, but not after I took a picture of them all!!!! I'll post it soon!...
After all of the excitement we hoisted anchor and headed south to THe Estuary/River/ Marina of Costa Del Sol. It is 30 miles away. We got a late start because of our visitors... So we rushed here, where we needed to contact some people and get a pilot to come out in a panga and guide our way into this deep lagoon type area. Keep in mind we have been at sea for 7 days, including our short but rocky anchorage at the surf spot...
If we didn't get to the river mouth by sunset we would have to anchor or sail around in the sea all night! Really uncomfortable. As we rushed towards our pre destined meeting spot, that we organized over VHF the weather began to change. The Volcanoes on the coast first disappeared and then a beautiful rainbow came out, it was raining inland. Then all of a sudden we were 10 mins from the meeting spot, the sun set and the rain came down with a vengeance!!! I donned my classes as the guys brought in all of the towels and clothes on the line. At one point we came within 4 feet from the keel! We rushed along behind the man in the Panga for about 15 minutes, then he took off and another panga with a light came in his place. We trucked along up this river until we came to an area where a bunch of lights were. The panga pulled up on us and an American guy said to pull up at the slip ahead of us. When we tied up a woman came up and said that the Navy and Customs would be down in a minute. By now it's 6:30 pm, dark no moon yet and the rain is pouring down. I said "really they are coming over tonight?" The first American guy says" They don't 'F' around in El Salvador. So that got me thinking what are we in for!
Well, ten minutes later this young looking lady say early 30's shows up in a yellow poncho, she's the customs. She introduces herself to us and then I ask her to come aboard. She gets scared of slipping so we all grabbed her hand and pulled her onboard. She came down stairs to the our musky and humid cabin. She sits down at the table and begins to examine our passports. She just seems to be thumbing through them and comments on the amount of places that Matt has been and all of the stamps he has. Then the Navy shows up. It's just one guy with a scar on his lip who has a nice trustworthy face. I'm sitting there thinking that I'll have the cavalry down here to investigate the boat, and the next thing I know I'm sitting here with rain pouring down all around us with these two nice officials. they are just talking to each other and I Sign my name on a document and hand over my “Zarpe” from Mexico. They continue talking about their work and that the Navy guy works 24 hour shift etc. They are just taking their time and relaxing...
After about 15 minutes the women says, "Okay time to go to the office" In spanish of course. Meanwhile the guys are up top talking to the America women who is treating them like little children and telling them all sorts of nonsense and gossiping about everyone in the little 15 boat marina...
I come up the stairs with the Customs women and the Navy man says "Buena Noche" and sonders away down the dock.
By now the tide has started to go out. The water is rushing like a river past the dock. It's really swurling and churning under the boat. If we would have been 10 minutes later in our arrival we would have not been able to enter or else would have had to fight our way against a 3.5 knot current rushing against us. We were very lucky!
Well, I leave with the Customs lady and we walk up the small gangway into the Hotel of the Marina. There is a small restaurant and bar on the water and then a vast wooden deck. Beyond that is a big pool with an Island in the middle. We are in Paradise!!! I go into the air conditioned office of the hotel and the customs office is a little room off to the side. I pay the 10 dollar per person fee and our passports are stamped... I check into the Marina hotel with my credit card and everything becomes 50% off. We are only paying 22 dollars a night to keep the boat tied up to the slip with electricity and water, a good deal.
We are all tired out now and i am ready for some sleep in a boat that doesn't try to throw me out of my bed!!!
Wow! Great pics. I'm digging your descriptive flow as well as. By the way who's the blonde. Okay?! Don't mess around Tony! resummerizing: wow.
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