Our passage to Puesta del Sol turned out great. We sailed nine hours of the 36 hour journey, a ratio we haven't achieved for...well I don't remember when! When the wind wasn't propelling us, it wasn't hurting us any. There was a gentle swell but otherwise the seas were calm. The weather pleasant night and day, with a beautiful sunset, a night sky of bright stars and a soft pastel sunrise with a volcano as a backdrop. The trip reminded me of why I love sailing so much.
We celebrated Renee's birthday en route. A pretty dismal performance on my part, as I had made no preparations, either before leaving for the voyage or while on shore at Playa de Cocos. The best I could do was cook her a nice dinner, toast her with a beer, pretend there was a candle on a coconut macaroon and sing her Happy Birthday in my best voice. I put everything I had into the singing. I wish I had a better voice. She was generous in her appreciation, but I feel guilty about coming up so short for the occasion.
Originally we had only planned to stop overnight in Puesta del Sol to rest and refuel. As we approached the mouth of the estuary, I remembered how nice a place it is. When I was here in April, I was by myself, feeling pretty lonely and while I enjoyed the large, pretty estuary and deserted ocean beach, my appreciation was subdued by loneliness. Now I had somebody to show around and it seemed like a good idea to take an extra day to do so. So we're staying two days and will depart for Mexico on Sunday afternoon.
Yesterday (Friday) after we arrived, officially checked in to Nicaragua (so, so, so much easier than Costa Rica) and got the boat squared away, I hung out at the pool buying Mexican liability insurance online over a very slow internet connection. It took a couple of hours but I managed to keep my cool. Partly by jumping into the pool. Renee decided to use the marina/hotel's washing machines to do laundry; why, I"m not sure, but whatever floats your boat. It turns out the washing machines worked about as well as the Internet connection, so we both burned up most of the afternoon. We took a swim at the end of the day and then had a satisfactory dinner at the hotel restaurant. We had a nice relaxing time but it is always a little disappointing to me when the food you get at a restaurant isn't anywhere near as good as you can cook yourself. Well, at least I didn't have to swelter at the stove and there we no dishes to do.
Today we spent most of the day walking along the mostly deserted beach, enjoying the opportunity to stretch our legs after so many days on the boat. We had a few miles of beach all to ourselves, save for a couple of surfers, a small group of guys playing soccer and half a dozen tourists who mysteriously appeared for a short while. The far end of the beach is an expanse of smooth rocks that form a network of tide pools. Renee hopped around the rocks collecting shells while I did yoga on a flat spot of dense sand. It was a good day.
Tonight, I cooked a nice Thai curry, using a fantastic curry past direct from Thailand and Red Boat fish sauce (the best!). Way, way, way better than the restaurant.
Tomorrow we start the last leg of this segment of our journey north. I realized a few days ago that I had reconnected with the boat, sailing and life afloat, everything feeling comfortable and natural again after a somewhat rocky start. I'm looking forward to getting back to the U.S. to visit loved ones and for the holidays, but know I'm going to miss Intermezzo and my seaborne life, too.
