December 25, 2005

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y PROSPERO ANO NUEVO

Hey everyone, thank you for your kind wishes from afar. I would like to take this moment to send my regards and Christmas greetings back to you. This report is coming to you from the decks of the Chickadee anchored in Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador. I’ve been aboard ship for the past two weeks preparing the boat to head out to sea. I was hoping to have Chickadee in San Juan Del Sur for Christmas day but unfortunately I will be a few days out.

It has been a while since the wind has been in Chickadee’s sails and there is much preparation to do before putting to sea.

I had to bend the mainsail and its accompanying fittings, lines, halyards, reef points, down haul, topping lift and so on and so forth. Chickadee has been anchored in this estuary for over 2 years. The bottom is a bit scruffy and she needs a little TLC inside and out; nothing serious thank goodness.

The Magellan GPS2000 gave up the ghost for some silly reason. It simply won’t power up. I find with electronics, they either work or they don’t. Unlike a mechanical device, you can’t rip an electronic component apart and fix it just like that. They’re all diodes and liquid crystals. Thankfully my friends on SV Agape had a spare GPS unit they could loan. I need this precision navigation device in order to make accurate land falls. The days of the pelorus and sextant are long gone.

My music box also packed it in. It’s an old 12 volt cassette/radio deck that came out of 1977 Ford pick up truck. I suppose the salt air and humidity finally caught up with it. The radio works but I would rather listen to my Roger Whitaker and Vangelis collection.

The ships battery was discharged. I managed to get it back up to full capacity using the 80 watt solar panel. It’s taken about 4 days to charge at 3 amps per hour at high noon. There is no shortage of sunshine to fuel the solar panel. With the battery topped off, I can now tune into the ICOM M710 single-side band transceiver radio. The radio doesn’t use much power to receive but it does require sufficient energy to transmit. There is a Panama cruiser's net that airs at 14:00 hrs GMT on 8.143 MHz. If the propagation is good I can pick up boats as far south as Peru. The majority of the fleet is cruising between Costa Rica and Panama this season.

 Crossing the sandbar at Bahia Del Sol, El Salvador: S/V Avante

Okay mates, that is about all I have to report for now. I have a busy day ahead. This afternoon I will row over to Santo’s shop and pick up my outboard engine.

It’s a small motor, 9.9hp Suzuki but I will need it to push Chickadee across the sandbar and into open ocean. Once we are clear of the surf, I will be able to hoist full sail and set a course for Nicaragua.

I expect to pass one week in San Juan Del Sur then will provision to head south along the coast of Costa Rica to Panama. My guide book CRUISING CENTRAL AMERICA is theoretically being formatted in Panama, so that is where I need to be at the start of the year.

2005 will soon be a memory. It’s been quite a year. 2006 is going to be amazing. Take care for now and may you and yours, have the happiest holiday season ever on record.

Too be continued...

Eric Blackburn
SV Chickadee
Cruising Central America
Managing Director
www.cruisingcentralamerica.com
www.worldkidsvoyage.org
eblackb@earthlink.net
011-503-7935-9541 ES
011-505-899-7201 Nica