Where is Pairadice?

[Crusty Chief]

Just finishing up the Seminars here in Barra Navidad, and a group pic of those in attendance.
A decision was voted in to drop our masks for the photo, so not to worry!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

So next plans?

Better let Patches the dog take from here!

 

[Crusty Chief]

Update!

We left Barra Navidad Marina two days ago to spend some time on the hook in a bay just north. Tenecatita bay is a great anchorage. Went to start up the genny just as the sun was setting and genny wouldn’t start. To make matters worse the alternator on the main was acting up. Went into conserve mode and headed back to the marina first light yesterday morning. The genny problem has been an ongoing issue for the last 60 days and I was pretty frustrated with it. Upon arriving back at Barra Navidad, Poncho the man here at the marina new the right guy to help us out.
Roque came onboard and spent 4 hours going through the generator like a man on a mission. He found corrosion on a few connectors and then found a faulty relay for the starting system. Got the genny up and running and found a pinhole leak in the exhaust hose. This pinhole leak was right behind the electrical control box for the genny and we suspect that with the sound shield enclosure on and the heat of the genny it sorta turn into a sauna with misting salt water going everywhere.
At the same time, we noticed a significant salt buildup at the end of the main exhaust hose way back in the corner. After firing up the main and inspecting the main exhaust hose closely we found several pinhole leaks on the bottom of the hose also.
So with any luck Roque will have replacement hoses in place in the next few days and we will be back up and running again.

Lesson learned. Remove the sound shield and check the genny under operation and inspect those exhaust hoses more often.

Cheers all

PS, with very slow wifi, its tough to download pics. If I get a some wifi, ill download a few pics.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Pairadice is revolting! It wants cooler weather and water. Head north old man, head north!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Where is Crusty and crew. I had heard a rumor the Patches, the dog had to be put in one of those hamster wheel to get power as their generator keeps dumping and more and more $$$.

No A/C too......

 

[Crusty Chief]

Currently in Ixtapa marina, got the genny repaired again. Seems that the starter solenoid was acting up, this little jewel controls a lot more than just the starter. Anyway, been working fine for the last 4 days, so were gonna move back over to Zihuatanejo for a few days before continuing south to Acapulco for New Years.

Hope you all have a great Holiday season, wherever you may be.

Feliz Navidad from the crew of Pairadice

 

[GFC]

Crusty, thanks for sharing the joy and pitalls you're going through. Good luck with the remainder of your trip. What is your final destination with the PP group?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Pairadice has made it to Acapulco. Crusty also managed to hook a marlin. How long are you there, next stop?

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well Crusty and MY Pairadice are now at the southern tip of Mexico with the Panama Posse group. He'll be held up for a few weeks waiting on weather. He told me there is a section that blows winds from the Gulf to the Pacific and when the warm air meets the cold, it blows across a valley making high winds and very large waves.

This last run was 36 hours. Lost two huge marlins, so he says, no pics. Cell service sketchy at best.

Here is his position:

https://us0-share.inreach.garmin.com/WhereisPairadice

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

No Longer in Mexico

Well it seems Pairadice has finally left Mexico and are in Guatemala heading further south. They are cruising with the Panama Posse.

John borrowed a sewing machine and made some screen curtains as the "no seeums" are really bad. He also wishes he had A/C!

He did catch a good size Black Marlin. Took him a while to reel it in. He said that the BIG sword was a scary thing. He closed the stern door so it would come inside!!

Oh those that complain about Customs.......Guatemala style.

Internet connections are poor at best.

 

[GFC]

What a life! John, you and Tracey are living a life that hundreds of people on here could only dream of.

Have fun my friends. FWIW, I'm thinking about you guys.

 

[GFC]

Don't you old timers have Facebook??! Just kidding. Good stuff.

I had it for years but found it was a HUGE waste of time. My wife has it, spends hours a day on it. Not for me.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Pairadice has been hold up in Guatemala for weather. Talked to John yesterday and the storm is nasty so a extra week in the jungle. His nemesis the generator was giving him issues AGAIN. It would start and he is on a mooring ball. He has already spent around 2 boat dollars fixing it. It just so happens that an electrician was working on a sail boat next door. 10 minutes later he found the problem. A bad kill switch!! It was loose inside. John was very lucky as he had a spare switch! Parts are very hard to find. Switch installed, genny working fine. Now he wonders if this was the original issue??

The next plan stop is Costa Rica. Then the Canal. When they get to the Gulf side they will hand Pairadice over to a cap't and a crew who will take the boat to Ft. Lauderdale FL. They will stay in Panama for a few days and then fly to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Message from Pairadice 2/24/21:

Looks like we are leaving El Salvador on This Saturday, stopping at “the bay of 3 countries” for the weekend. Arrive in Marina Papaguyos Costa Rica Wednesday! Happy hour on Delta Swizzler tonight playing Mexican Train.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

A few more pics. I am told cell service really sucks. Pairadice is the second boat on a mooring ball.

 

[FlyWright]

It's great to see fellow TFers Delta Swizzler and Pairadice joining forces on the water in their adventures! It was Mark of Delta Swizzler who took my avatar photo as I was escorting and taking photos of their departure out the Golden Gate 6 years ago.

They hung a left turn and I haven't seen Delta Swizzler since!

Here's a photo of how I first met Mark and Cindy on Delta Swizzler. In 2011, I was flying a mission nearby and circled the gathering boats in the days leading up to the July 4th Fireworks show on the California Delta. I posted the photo here on TF and got a PM from Dswizzler saying "Hey, that's my boat!!"

 

[Dswizzler]

We have come a long way since 2011 on a boat, others were calling a dock queen. Sometimes you just got to cut the lines and look around the corner. Thanks for all the helpful advice we got from every during or 5 year rebuild. So far so good on our run south, five years cruising up and down the Pacific side of Mexico and loving it. I expect after we visit Columbia we will return to the Gulf of California.

Till then any other Trawlerforum boats in the neighborhood, give us a yell..or if we can help out on staying off the dock. Solar panel, inverter, lithium batteries and a Watermaker make a world of difference

 

[Crusty Chief]

Cheers everyone!

We met up with Delta Swizzler (and many more) in Barra Navidad almost three months ago and have the good fortune to buddy boat with them since. They have hosted many a gatherings onboard there fine vessel and have become life long friends. Another TF’er that we have met over the years.

We are ready to depart El Salvador tomorrow and will head down to the Golfa De Fonseca ( we call it the bay of 3 countries) and anchor up for a weather window to continue south to Costa Rica. This time of the year, the Papagayo winds are up and typically are 20 knots with gusts over 30. We hope to find a window with a bit less, as it will be a 24 hr run to get past them. We will be running close to shore ( cruisers refer to this as dragging one leg in the sand) to reduce the wave action as the winds come from shore and swells and waves typically are coming into shore.

We will be three boats heading south at the same time, Delta Swizzler, Alamos and Pairadice and we all travel at different speeds.

Will post an update when we get checked into Costa Rica sometime near the end of the week.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

A few pics from El Salvador

 

[GFC]

Crusty, I am sooooo damn jealous of the great experiences you two are enjoying. Please keep those photos coming so I can live vicariously.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Well it would seem he has bypassed the "Bay of 3 countries" and heading to Costa Rica.

https://us0-share.inreach.garmin.com/WhereisPairadice

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Just heard back from Pairadice. I asked if he was bypassing "Bay of 3 Countries."

His response:


Yep, and wind gusts of 35 knots. 1 Mile offshore and 9 hours to anchorage. Thanks for keeping an Eye on us.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Made it into Costa Rica. What a ride! These Papagayo winds are no joke!
We made it to an anchorage, Santa Elena, on the northern end of Costa Rica after a 36 hour run from El Salvador, total of 270 NM. We saw wind gusts of 41 Knots with steady winds of 20+. We were 18 miles from the anchorage when we hit a **** storm and had to play like a blow boat and start tacking, took an additional 4 hours to go 18 miles.
We dropped the hook at 3AM in the morning and after making sure all was well, passed out in bed for 6 hours. Would have slept longer, but the winds were howling again. Spent 2 more days at the anchorage. While at anchor, we watched the winds howl with steady 20 knots and gust that hit 47, or ground tackle did there job and held us secure.
We left the anchorage this morning before sunrise and had a lumpy ride to the Golfino De Papagayo where we will spend the night on the hook and check into the Marina here in the morning. Wi-Fi is real spotty for now, maybe get better once tied to the dock.

Cheers all

 

[Crusty Chief]

Crusty, I am sooooo damn jealous of the great experiences you two are enjoying. Please keep those photos coming so I can live vicariously.

Pretty sure you wouldn’t want to be on the last leg we just finished, worst one in the last 2 years by far!

But thanks anyway, ya were living the dream, and nightmares too!

 

[Crusty Chief]

Update,

We have made it to Golfito, CR, the last stop of Costa Rica where we will check out of the country and head to Panama. Some pics of our last port (Pez Vela) and where we are now (Fish Hook) for the next 5 days. We wanna rent a car and play like tourists. Have already hired an agent for the canal transit and with any luck we should do that first week of April. And yes, we scored some fresh Yellow Fin Tuna, BBQed that nite, was awesome!
Cheers all!

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Did you spinkle some baby powder under you arms and in your whitey tighties?

 

[Ken E.]

Keep the posts and pictures coming, John. Yes, you are living the dream!.

 

[Crusty Chief]

Keep the posts and pictures coming, John. Yes, you are living the dream!.

Hi Ken,

I will try, just doesn’t seem to be much interest by the majority of TF’ers.
As we have traveled further south, we only get wifi when in a marina. Cell service wifi is expensive on our regular phones. We did get a SIM card in El Salvador for an old phone, but it becomes a little unreliable in less populated areas.

Hope you guys are able to do some cruising this year. This Covid thing is affecting cruising everywhere.

Cheers, John

 

[Crusty Chief]

Did you spinkle some baby powder under you arms and in your whitey tighties?

Nope, dont own any whitey righties.

 

[Crusty Chief]

The trip so far this season

This is a screen shot of our In Reach. We started this trip in San Carlos Mexico and are in Golfito, Costa Rica as of now. Roughly 2,400 miles with another 300+ to get through the Panama Canal.