Bahia Ballena and My Little Mast Monkey

It was a hard slog from Tamarindo to Bahia Carrillo with over 2 knots of current against us most of the way. For you landlubbers imagine getting in your car for a 600 mile non-stop drive, and right after get on the road and hit the gas you discover your destination is really 1000 miles away -- and you can't stop or exit anywhere.

We spent the night in a rolly anchorage with our new buddies on Desidarata whom we had surfed with in Tamarindo. Early in the morning we departed and headed to Bahia Ballena where we are right now. Of course we had to battle another 1 to 1.2 knots of current.

There wasn't much wind, so we had to tax our raw water pump which has been leaking water and I've been repacking the seal ever 6 engine hours or so -- NOT fun. Fortunately we seem to be rid of our dirty fuel now and are pulling in nice clean stuff from the tank. I'll have to scrub it all out once Sherrell is off to Seattle. Oh, and more good news. The bay and the winds were finally calm enough for Sherrell (my Mast Monkey) to ascend the mast and work on our roller furling extrusion. It appears there's some slight damage to the sail, so we were able to get it down and I'll patch that too while she's gone. It's a relief to finally have that problem under control. Normally our roller furling works flawlessly. However I think we did something wrong when we hoisted the sail because I heaved on the halyard really hard expecting lots of resistance and the sail shot up and banged into the top extrusion. Then I think with the wild winds it seperated. Anyway no sign of damage to the foil, just some tiny sail repair required.

I just found out that they filmed "Temptation Island 2" here. I don't know what that is, but if you thought they were on an island you're a sucker. I think the guide books call this place Playa Tambor after the town, but cruisers know places by the bays and points. Apparently they stayed at some fancy resort here for the film, I suppose you could look that up on the internet but it seems rather boring to me.

Tomorrow we are headed back to Civilization where we will tie up to a dock for the first time in 13 months, and we will have water at the dock (I hope!) for the first time in over 18 months!

{GMST}9|43.505|N|84|59.44|W|Oh so calm|Bahia Ballena{GEND}

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