Puerto Lucia
La Libertad Ecuador

Log Book entries
25 Nov 2006
Raised the anchor at 0530 in Bahia de Caraquez.
Followed s/v Icarian and s/v Iwa across the sand bar. Luckily, a stress free exit, saw not less than 3.7' under the keel. Weather conditions are overcast, some drizzle as we head south for La Libertad.

27 Nov 2006
Arrive at Puerto Lucia Club de Yates, in La Libertad, Ecuador. at 0958, a little over 52 hours underway.

From the Captain: 
We arrived at La Libertad (Puerto Lucia), having motored the last 20 miles. Otherwise, our arrival would have been late in the day at low tide, not the best of circumstances. Once the conditions settled down in the early evening of the first day, we had a real nice sail to get here. All on the nose, but not evermore than 15 knots and small seas with warm blue skies, still too rough for Judy. The water was colored to match. Quite lovely. Probably sailed twice the distance as the crow flies. We even were visited by dolphins in the worst of it all. I really enjoy watching Gabe and Sam dolphin watching. They always get so excited. Still makes me smile to see them enjoying this life.

From the First Mate: 
Actually, I'm enjoying being on land after our 236 nautical mile bash to weather which was upsetting my tummy. I spent only 6 hours on watch in this 52 hour passage, except for going to pee, I lay, ate, slept in the main settee corner almost the entire way. If John ever wanted to single-hand, this last passage was his chance to experience that desire. I was so unaccustomed to being at sea after six months in the estuary and on land in Peru, that my system didn't acclimate.

The girls did much better than I. They did their normal afternoon, three hour watch. Although their first watch was so rough that John was up in the cockpit with them. It wasn't that he was concerned for them, he just could not sleep despite waking up at 4 AM for our departure. They saw a huge pod of dolphins which had them all smiling. No one went to the bow to watch, as the bow was underwater most of the time.

Sami made one contribution to Neptune, but once made, she was fine for the rest of the passage. Gaby is like her Dad. The bouncier the ride the happier she is. (Read my envy).

Where are we?
Ecuador, La Libertad, Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, where we sit a disconcerting, 15' above ground, yet hear the sound of the surf crashing, right below our bow. Actually, the bow sits over the rock breakwater and rocky shoreline that faces the Pacific Ocean. John has to take a picture of this sight...one we hope we never see from any angle, except from this height and while on eight supports.

Puerto Lucia: Great place for a haul out. No problems with the actual haul out and placement on land. Safely enclosed with a marina and four big hotels complexes, tennis courts, pools and other Club amenities. The owner wants to make this site a magnet for the wealthy Nationals to come for their spas and weekend getaways on the coast. Some have boats, most come to play tennis and swim. There is Internet which is most often up and running. John and Sami like that perk!  The contrast of a boatyard and a fancy marina has the owner's granddaughter making a pitch to get rid of the "ugly" boat yard. She and her brothers are the eventual inheritors so when this happens it might not be much of a draw for the cruisers. In the meantime, the place is great and we are really enjoying being here. Costs us somewhere in the $700 range per month; not cheap, like being in the marina at home.

We are here to haul the boat out of the water and perform our every two year, hull maintenance project which will include spot corrosion repairs on the bottom, top sides and deck. The bottom of course will get anti-fouling. A few other projects also lie on a long list of "To Do" items.

We'll stay up on the hard, until we leave in the spring 2007. Whether we stay at anchor, or on a mooring or a slip, here at Puerto Lucia, one has to deal with this huge tidal surge that is scary, so we might as well stay up on the hard. The advantage to staying on the hard is when we do get relaunched, we'll be super ready to make the passage to the Galapagos and Easter Island with a beauuuuutiful clean bottom.

Essentially, we have a little over six weeks of intense, dirty, labor intensive work ahead of us. Ah, a frequent cruiser quip comes to mind, "cruising to exotic places to do boat maintenance".

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