Neighborhood Around Us

Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Fri 16 Apr 2010 04:12
One of the things I have really enjoyed with the trip down the coast is the
different cruisers we meet and the stories we pass between us.
Now we settling in for the summer, we are out of the main cruising routes as
this area of Central America is often referred to as the forgotten coast.
But we are slowly gathering in different people, they are liking it here
like us, and feeling safe, and planning to wait out the summer/ wet season.
But each day we all get on with our own activities but come 4 to 5 pm we
gather at the pool for sun downers and catch up, we talk about items on the
boat. We bring out cruising guides and sit with people who have come through
there and get there inside knowledge on the anchorages and the dos and
don'ts. This will build up over the summer. It is a little community which
we interested in each others moves and activities and we help when needed.
So we are still on the dock we will be for another week, I am completing
projects, (today major clean of the barbeque, it needed it, dismantling it
and taking it on the dock). It is also nice for Tracy and Boys to free to go
to the pool easily without a dinghy ride. Next week we will move onto a
mooring and get ready to leave the boat for 3 + months while we travel.
But as I sit here to my left (Port) we have "Shannon" from San Diego but the
owner is east coast, they are sailing around and through the canal, up to
Florida, and all the crew are pick ups as they have gone around, so Sarah
(who came to the school with us yesterday) she is from Boston and traveled
last summer across the country worked in California for a couple of months,
and then jumped on the boat, and will go through May. On the other side we
have "Sunsenation" (a cat from capetown originally they sailed it 10 years
ago from capetown to San Diego in 90 days, but really have not cruised it
until the last 3 years). But John and Sharron will be here this summer and
do a similar trip to us over the next year or so, so we will see them in
Panama and south and the rest of the summer here. Opposite us we have Vicky
from Canada she is single handler in a Hans Christian 36 foot boat working
on the wood work at the moment, next to here is Mitta Kulu with Bill and
Jeane (who are running the rally) they have been cruising for 11 years and
just keep going up and down this coast from La Paz to Ecuador. All are
retired, we are youngest on the dock other than the "CHula" the power boat
which searching for surf spots, with the young Australians on board.
This is our dock community and we have another 8 boats out on the hook all
with their own story, which we cover through the summer.
But it is the comradeship between all of us the common thread of boating but
the ability to have space and our own life which I am really enjoying, and
it gives me time to reflect on my life and how good the decision was to take
this time off and be with the family and especially the boys growing up.

The water is running below the boat at 5 + knots as the tide runs out, the
surf crashes in the back ground, the air has a smoke smell from the burning
off of the sugar cane further up the estuary. Stars light up the sky, with
the odd lightening flash in the distance, the breeze has dropped off, the
pangas have shut down for the night. In the morning you do not need a an
alarm clock as we get a fleet of pangas roaring down the river past us as
the fishmen go out to sea. If you are not woken by the outboard sound you
will be woken by the waves washing up against us, and the boat reacting to
the waves, as we are on floating docks. The pangas do not slow down for
anything so there is no "NO Wake " zone, and this is why we need to work on
lights that show where we are for when we on the mooring.
Stay tuned