Henrietta II Adventures

Hola, We motored 30 hrs. down the Nicaraguan coast the last 6 hrs into a small Papagallo (like a Santa Ana offshore wind) with 20 knot winds on the nose and steep, closely spaced 4 ft chop. Henrietta II was covered in salt spray (wet) and we were relieved to enter Bahia Santa Elena in Santa Rosa National Park just inside the northern Costa Rican border. The bay is remote, undeveloped and peaceful. We stayed for 2 days of swimming and a bit of walking. Saw parrots and a sloth. A very peaceful place. Everywhere we have been so far we've visited at the end of the "dry" season climate wise. Even the jungle has been mostly brown. Until now. We motored 70 hrs about 30 miles off the coast of Costa Rica in flat, hot, still, windless seas (dry) to Golfito in southern Costa Rica near the border with Panama. My God--what a difference. Lush green jungle. Supposed to be one of the rainiest places on earth (wiki says 400-500 cm of annual rain). Pretty coo...

We arrived in Costa Rica on April 22 nd after a 23 hour leg from Nicaragua and set anchor in Bahĩa Santa Elena which is described as “a pristine, nearly land-locked cove in northern Costa Rica’s Santa Elena National Park”. Basically you can only access it by boat. When we anchored we noticed another Kadey Krogen in the bay (there were only 2 boats) and realized we had caught up to Hobo (same exact boat as ours with a couple and their dog who looked like combo of both our dogs). Every marina we have been at people had been perplexed because they thought we were Hobo so we were anxious to meet them and talk Krogens. The next day we landed the dingy on the beach so the dogs could swim and that they did, Monty jumped into 20 feet of water and Mazie followed (this is a dog who as of March barely would get her paws wet but big brother has helped her get over her fears). We saw that the Hobo crew was making it over to the beach with their dog and thought we should hold onto ours until t...

After our near miss of capsizing on the way into Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador we decided to spend 4 days relaxing at the pool and resting the crew. We signed up for the Rally to El Salvador which got us nice discounts at the marina and resort. The grounds were beautiful as you can see in the first picture and Bill & Gene (organizers of the rally) were super helpful and friendly. One night Greg and I ventured down the road to see what kind of shennanigins we could find. We found a nice quaint little restaurant where we drank cold beers and carne, rice and beans. A little boy sat across from us and Greg and he quickly became friends playing telephone and giggling (we almost adopted him). On our way back to the marina, Greg and I heard some really loud music coming from a tent so we bought 2 $1 tickets and entered. What we didn't realize was that it was a circus and we were the only spectators, oh maybe that's because we were an hour early. My Spanish isn't that great but I...

Captain’s Blog #3 I’ve always had a healthy fear/respect for math. Much like high-voltage wiring, I know it is VERY important, but that I don’t want to touch it, and the less I have to do with it, the less likely I am to be electrocuted. But the importance of math has become so clear that I’m actually wishing I had physics in high school (to my high school students – yes, I am that old that physics was not a requirement). The math I need to do is not complicated. It is not calculus, not pre-calculus, not even logs & trig – it’s not even algebra II. But that nightmare SAT question, “When train A leaves station A going X miles per hour, and train B leaves station B going Y miles per hour . . . “ the answer isn’t “Y do I care?” anymore. It matters. Because showing up at a marina that has a shallow draft at 3 AM . .. it doesn’t work. It means your boat (in my case, your home) is on the rocks. And not in the drink sense. In the call Lloyds of London sense. Converting g...

After leaving Zihuatenjo, we headed to Acapulco where we needed to do some boat repairs and do a little provisioning. Once we learned how to med-moor for the first time (Greg will discuss further), we checked in, got some pool time in and ventured out for some dinner. Over across the hill was a tiny little town called Caleta. It was quaint and provided us with a feel for the locals without the hub bub of the big city. The marina we stayed at was a working marina and didn’t really do anything for us so we decided to head out around 4pm the next day. On our way out it was a little rough so when I went to open the fridge I was hit hard with about 7 tumbling Dos Equis. One hit the floor and started to spray so I immediately hucked it across the boat and outside (sorry I littered, sue me) with my right hand (I’m a lefty). It cleared, thank god and Jeff was a bit silent as he watched the whole thing go down. We laughed hysterically about it later. Anyway, after Acapulco we went to Huatulc...

Puerto Vallarta, or, more specifically, Paradise Village Marina at Nuevo Vallarta, was a much needed rest. And, much as the name implied, a paradise. I found a mechanic to install a new autopilot – an authorized raymarine dealer (the same manufacturer as our chartplotter, gps, and radar). I had a good feeling before I even met him because his estimate was on a letterhead with a painting of Rotterdam harbor circa 1750. He was Dutch. Having worked extensively with the Dutch in Aruba, I know their work ethic. They are meticulous, at times frustratingly so, but their attention to detail is exactly what you need when dealing with a system as important as an autopilot. His estimate was actually less than I expected, yet over my insurance deductible. Of course, I forwarded it to my insurance company, Lloyld’s of London, who quiclky rejected it, discounting the value of my old autopilot by 90% due to it’s age. This is exactly what I had heard about Lloyds and why I tried to avoid them, but...

No, we haven't seen Morgan Freeman. With that said, I can't really explain how wonderful this place is until you experience it. Originally we had planned on docking at a marina in Ixtapa on our way down from Nuevo Vallarta but we made such good time that we decided to anchor in Zihuatanejo instead. We successfully dropped anchor at about 2:30 am on Saturday morning. A few hours later, Jeff and I took the dogs on the dingy over to the beach. I think I remember saying "I am totally going to face plant in the water" as I tried to hold the dogs back from running amok. That was fun. Later in the day we went ashore and checked out the town. We had some cervezas and a nice lunch on the beach, then spent the afternoon jumping off the boat and swimming, it was a really nice break. Sunday was our 1st anniversary. Jeff dropped Greg and I on shore that evening and we dined at Coconuts which was highly recommended by many people. The best part was the look on Greg's face wh...