Greetings all!
Just a quick note (because we're so jazzed) that we departed 'Camp Bahia' this morning after over 5 months at anchor. Got up at 5:15 AM (dark), raised anchor at 6:00 (sunrise but light since 5:50), underway at 6:15. We're in Caba Pasado about 20 miles north (30 as you sail). Had a safe and uneventful exit despite our worrying about conditions getting over the bar and into the ocean. Then had a wonderful 5 hour sail up here to Cabo Pasado. What a wonderful first day out.
We almost didn't leave. Turns out that Migracion and Capitania del Puerto don't have an agreed upon check out process. Migracion was closed for a holiday on Monday, our planned visit and provisioning run to the nearby 'big' town of Manta. So we had to delay out departure for one day to the VERY last high tide we could navigate and get to Migracion on Tuesday. When we show up, the lady asks for our zarpe (exit permission from the Capitania del Puerto) and wouldn't check us out without it. Other friends told us to do what we were doing (Migracion first) because that was what they did the week before. But then other cruisers apparently did it in the opposite order which seemed to set a precedent for our Migracion lady. (There's only one.) But between us explaining that this was our last chance (we couldn't go back to the Capitania and back to her without spending another $35 on a taxi ride, and besides the Capitania was saying to everyone, "Show up at 8-9 in the morning, not in the afternoon. Can't do zarpes in the afternoon" We explained that if we did what she wanted, we'd miss our tide on Thursday and have to wait for another month. So between our explanations and a helpful word from a taxi driver who knows us (driving another couple that day), she checked us out. It may have cost is an extra $4 as others paid $16 and we were asked for $20. But, hey, the service was supplied and now no one owes anyone else anything.
Then we dutifully show up at the Capitania del Puerto at 9 AM on Wednesday only to be told that he is out and in meetings until 2 in the afternoon. Only he can sign the zarpe, no delegation of signature authority here. That worked out with just a little rushing in the afternoon and juggling of the get-out-of-town-project schedule. Turns out that the Capitania just needs a copy of the checkout form from Migracion and doesn't care if your do it first or second, as long as they have that copy before you haul up anchor. And they don't check the date on it, just that you have one.
Then last night for the first time in a month the winds continued all night long which usually indicates sloppy conditions for going out. But that turned out to be just small waves and of no consequence. Better conditions than we had coming in. We were beginning to wonder if it was destined that we really leave in November.
Another fun item: friends told us to raise the anchor days early and re anchor. After being in the same spot for 5-6 months they have many horror stories of the bottom mud sucking down their anchor and other cruiser's and not letting it go without days of lifting pressure. So we did and a good thing. We get over our anchor, chain straight up and down, and the whole process stops. No forward movement on ceilidh, and the windlass stalls under the load. I had Hope speed up the rpm's bit by bit and after a few minutes the anchor came up with a 6-8 inch diameter log about 6 feet long neatly balanced in its claw. Glad not to have that stress the morning when we departed.
So after all that, we're out.
Right now we're planning to clean the bottom and chain tomorrow. Check the zincs and clean the thru-hulls. Then we're out of here, probably for the Galapagos. We may change our minds before halfway over and head north to Costa Rica. We really want to get to the Galapagos, but if we have to pound into seas and winds to get there, well, we're just not too enthused about it at the moment. We've been looking forward to a lovely downwind sail. But we'll give it a try and see if we can adapt. So we shall see. No promises.
love from us both.
the yang side.
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