Greetings from the Southern Hemisphere

I’m happy to report that we made the 600-mile nonstop trip across the Equator to Bahia Caraquez, Ecuador in a mere five days! We expected it to take six or seven, so we were thrilled by this. That’s the good news. The downside to it is that it was by far our most challenging passage to date. The seasons change in this part of the Pacific between April and May. We planned this passage to coincide with the prevailing northern winds so we’d have the wind behind us. Well, you know the saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men . . .”; the southern hemisphere started moving into its dry season a month early which changed the prevailing winds to southerly. That translates to wind on the nose which you not only can’t sail in, but it’s an uncomfortable ride because you are beating into the wind and the seas. We could have tacked, but that would have put us too close to a penal island off the coast of Columbia, which you are supposed to stay 60-miles, away from. Tacking also adds significant time to your passage and in crappy conditions all you want to do is get to your destination. So, wind on the nose is only part of it. There is something called the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in the Pacific Ocean. This phenomenon creates it’s own air and ocean weather system when the cool Humboldt current along the coast of South America clashes with the warm El Nino current near Central America. These colliding currents create a washing machine affect in the ocean. It looks like the water is boiling. That’s not the whole picture though. Now, add in squalls which are random and erratic storm systems that bring pouring rain and sometimes very strong winds. The good news is you can actually see the squalls on the radar screen. You can alter your course to try to avoid one, but they are so unpredictable in their movements that there is no guarantee. It’s bizarre; the wind is blowing in one direction, yet a squall is moving in another. At one point, we were in a squall for 36 hours. It’s the first time since first leaving San Diego for Cabo San Lucas that we had to use our foul weather gear. I had another first; I got REALLY SEASICK. Yep, this time it was the real deal including hugging the rail and tossing my cookies! Waves of nausea came over me if I made the slightest movements. Also, if I tried to steer the boat I’d feel sick. Nights were the worst because it was pitch dark with the clouds shrouding the stars and the moon. If I tried to focus on the compass to steer or focus to write an entry in our log, the nausea would overtake me again because the boat was moving in four directions all at once. My sad condition lasted pretty much the whole 36 hours we were in the one squall. I kept praying that the Lord would just get me through it. However, the sensation of still being on the boat did not leave me until I had not been on the boat at all for a couple of days! When you combine the conditions created by the ITCZ with the ocean swells and wind chop you have the perfect conditions for seasickness. Thankfully, Barry did not get sick. He’s tougher than me! We had planned to celebrate crossing the equator by getting in the water and swimming across however, it was 8:30 at night and dark when we crossed. So we did a quick high five and I went to bed as it was the end of my watch. Once all the cruisers got to Ecuador we compared notes on our passages. A couple others agreed that it was the worst passage they’d ever had. We all felt very glad to be in a safe anchorage again with the ability to stand on solid ground. We also feel a satisfying sense of accomplishment at our feat.

Well, with all that said, let me tell you a little about our first two weeks in Ecuador. We arrived on April 16th with three other boats. We had to be escorted by a local guy in a panga through a narrow and shallow channel at high tide to get into the large river that runs along the north side of this small port town. There was a big swell the day we came in which meant once again we had to go through some small surf just outside the mouth of the river. I thought that once we left El Salvador we wouldn’t have to do that again! We later found out that the surf was unusually big that day. Wouldn’t you know! The panga driver is hired through the establishment we were headed toward which is called Puerto Amistadt. Puerto Amistadt is a restaurant and marina with services for cruisers. There are nice showers for our use, a book exchange and laundry service. They don’t have Internet services yet so we have to use one of the many very slow Internet places in town. Puerto Amistadt was created two years ago by Trip who is from Alabama and his wife, Mayee, who is from Columbia. Trip is a former cruiser who met Mayee when he sailed to Cartagena, Columbia. They married and moved to Ecuador. This marina consists of mooring balls that the boats tie up to at the bow. The boat heads into the rivers current, which rips at a speed of about 2 ½ knots. Trip doesn’t have enough moorings yet to accommodate all the cruisers who are beginning to make Bahia Caraquez a destination. So, some boats are at anchor in the river. We were fortunate and reserved the last mooring he had. Blew Moon will remain there until next season. We hired a local guy (originally from Kentucky) to boat sit while we are away.

So far, we have found the people in Ecuador to be very friendly. Tourists are not that common yet in Caraquez and I think the locals are fascinated and curious about us. This town, simply called Bahia by the locals, is supposed to be fairly affluent in Ecuador terms. There are cute little houses with flower boxes in the windows and often a person in the window watching the people pass by. The area is very hilly and still lush because it is the end of their rainy season. It has rained almost every day since our arrival, but it is usually light and short-lived. The poorer people live in ramshackle structures on the hillsides. In town, you can hire a cab to take you anywhere in town for $.40/person or you can pay a flat $.35 to hire a pedi-cab. There is also a bus station in town where you can arrange passage to other parts of Ecuador.

To check into the country you must drive for 2 ½ hours to another port town called Manta where Immigration is located. This must be done after clearing into Bahia with the port captain who is part of the Navy. The Navy boards your boat upon your arrival and go through a checklist. One item on that checklist is vaccination for yellow fever. We indicated that we did not have yellow fever vaccination to which they said we could get it in Manta when we checked in with Immigration. We indicated that we would do just that. On day three, we piled into a ten-passenger van hired through Trip with eight other cruisers and drove to Manta. It was a very interesting trip. We all took lots of pictures as the van drove through mostly open countryside and held our breath each time we had to climb one of the numerous steep hills. This van was not in the best condition! The most interesting feature of our trip was seeing all the bamboo houses built on stilts. One area was nothing but rice paddies. Barry and Robert on Sea Peace commented that they felt like they were back in Vietnam. Once in Manta it took us nearly three hours in the Immigration Office because we had to wait for quite awhile for some foreign commercial ship’s passengers and crew to be processed first. Then, it was off to the shopping mall’s food court for a quick lunch. For some reason, our driver insisted that’s where we go to eat. Maybe because he didn’t know if our delicate foreign tummies could handle the local fare. Who knows!? By the way, Ecuadorian food does leave a bit to be desired in my book. More on that later. So, after lunch we go to the Department of Health Services for our yellow fever vaccinations only to find out that the nurse who gives the injections has just left for the day. We are told to come back tomorrow. Well, after much effort on the part of one young lady amongst us who speaks fluent Spanish we were able to convince the administrator to call the nurse at home and ask her to come back. All this, because it obviously was not convenient to make the long trip again just for a shot. Well, we were very fortunate because the nice young nurse came back and vaccinated each of us. Mission accomplished and then it was back to Bahia.

We hung out in Bahia with other cruisers and got a feel for the lay of the land. Our first note-worthy experience was getting our first $1.25 lunch. In Ecuador, there is a set lunch for anywhere between $1 and $2. Ours consisted of a large bowl of soup with cooked squash, cheese, carrots, onions and other stuff (quite good), steamed white rice, two very thin pieces of deep fried fish, fried plantains and fresh juice; not bad for our first experience. Our second lunch was similar with the main dish being a local delicacy (tripe in a peanut sauce). The sauce was delicious, but I’m not a fan of cow’s stomach. Another delicacy is roasted Guinea Pig which I haven’t tried yet. Not sure I will. Their diet is heavy on starch, light on seasoning, i.e., pretty bland. Although, experiencing the local fare is all part of the adventure, it is only a small part.

We spent the next two weeks getting Blew Moon ready to leave for six-months, said our good-byes and boarded a first class bus to Quito where we are as of this writing. Quito is the second largest city in Ecuador and is also the capital. It is where we fly out of on the 23rd and is a great tourist destination with interesting side trips that can be taken in outlying areas. Our eight-hour bus ride was nothing short of spectacular. We traveled through some of the most breathtaking scenery I’ve ever encountered. Traveling from the Pacific coast you go passed lots of shrimp farms and through several small towns as the bus climbs and winds it’s way up into the Andes Mountains toward Quito. Neither of us had any idea what the topography of the Andes was like. I’ve never seen so many hills and valleys, all covered with tropical vegetation. I never thought I’d see palm trees at 8,000 feet! As we traveled through the clouds there was water flowing and seeping from the hillsides. Bromeliads were growing from the phone lines of some of the towns. We must have passed eight waterfalls, some of which were right beside the road! It was amazing. I even saw a group of monkeys in a tree as we drove along. There were lots of burros saddled up along the side of the road, ready for carrying cargo. It was a fascinating trip.

We’ve been in Quito now for a few days and are really enjoying it. The city is at an elevation of 9,400 feet and you can really feel how thin the air is. The city consists primarily of two distinct areas. Old Town is the historic district built in the 1500-1600’s with museums, churches, shops, restaurants and anything else you can think of. The colonial architecture is exquisite. One thing that strikes me about Quito is how nicely the local people are dressed. I have never seen so many men walking through the city clad in beautifully tailored suits, designer eyewear and shiny leather shoes. The women are dressed more casually, but are very well attired. It reminds me of the streets of New York City in that respect. New Town is the name for the newer area of Quito that spreads from Old Town up the steep mountainside. This is where most of the tourists stay and hang out. There are dance studios where you can learn to Salsa, trendy cafes, bookstores, lots of Internet establishments, two very modern shopping malls, and everything else you’d see in a large U.S. city. There’s lots to do in Quito and the surrounding area and we plan on doing as much as we can between now and the 23rd. I look forward to sharing those experiences in our next update.

Till then . . . Stacey