Newsletter December 2002

‘Tis the Season to be Sail’n"

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum. Yes, as you probably guessed, rum is cheap in Central America. We have switched from Scotch and water, or Margaritas, to Rum and Tonic with lime. It is wonderful, try it!!
The zany crew of Pipe Dream spent the holiday season in the Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica. Inside the Gulf, there are more than one hundred miles of coast line and many islands, all of which teem with parrots, monkeys, and other exotic animals. This truly is a cruising paradise.
Our Christmas was spent at a resort with 10 other boats in Bahia Naranjo. The resort charged us two thousand colones per person for the use of the facility. That translates to $5.00 per head, for the entire day, which included the pool, restaurant, bar, the grounds, and a cabana for our world famous potluck. This was attended by 22 adults and 7 children. No, we did not have a Christmas Turkey, but our potluck included everything from chicken casseroles to ham, to veggie salads, to pumpkin pie, and even a fruitcake that had been soaked in rum for three years! Needless to say, nobody went home hungry.
After Christmas, we picked up Jutta’s brother Claus and his wife, Erika, from San Jose and sailed to Bahia Ballena for year end fun. For New Year’s Eve, our tranquil holiday took a different turn for the better. Captain Ferdy has never been known to miss a good party. One of our friends on the boat “Mamouna” met a drunk Scotsman at a bar, and he invited us to his finca (ranch) for a New Year’s Eve party. At 11:00AM he loaded all 10 of us into his pickup and drove us up the mountain on a tortuously twisting dirt road to his 400 acre estate in the jungle. We were greeted by 200 other guests, mostly Ticos (Costa Ricans), two pigs, one pit barbecued and the other on the grill, Chinese style. What a fun day we had. I love to drink good wine and Paul, the Scot, owns a vineyard in Salinas, Ca. I drank more than my fill. It was the only polite thing to do!!
New Year’s Day was not any tamer. We were anchored at Bahia Ballena in front of the little fishing village of Tambor. On New Year’s Day, the local rundown bar and restaurant named Don Emilios had a big party for the village and all the surrounding areas. The music, a live band and DJ Disco, started at 2:00 PM and lasted until midnight. We did our share of dancing but only lasted until 9:30, “It’s the shits getting old”.
On January second, we finally got one day of rest. The third of January, we were off to Chris’, the cabinet maker’s shop, for his holiday happy hour party. Chris is one of the many ex-patriots from the States we met at the parties. Although well attended, it was nothing like Paul’s party at the ranch. After a couple of days of rest, the crew of Pipe Dream pulled up anchor, sailed to another bay, and got some much needed R&R.
Jutta’s brother and sister in law attended all the parties with us and we were sure to let them know,” this was an average week for the crew of Pipe Dream.” I don’t speak any German and Jutta’s brother only speaks a little English. His wife and I make hand signals and smile a lot. Over all, they are having a wonderful time and dread going back to the snow and cold in Germany.
For those of you who are wondering what life on a boat is like, here are some answers to questions we get asked a lot when we are back in the States. Since October 30, 2000, the beginning of our voyage in San Diego, we have traveled 6,789 miles on Pipe Dream. We have used about 600 gallons of diesel fuel. We must motor about half of the time due to wind direction or the lack of. For our fresh water needs we have a water maker which makes pure drinking water from the sea. It will make 200 gallons a day in a 24 hour period. Our daily consumption of fresh water is about 15 gallons. The longest passage has been about three days at sea, and our farthest distance away from land has been about 250 miles. When we make an overnight passage we go on 2 hour shifts, one sleeps and the other is on deck. If at all possible, we prefer day trips with a tranquil bay waiting for us at the end of the day for a good night’s rest. When we find a secure bay or anchorage to leave the boat, Jutta and I take off on a bus for inland travel.
Lastly, an important announcement: to date, since October 30, 2000, donations to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund,” have been $.00000. “Friends, something is entirely wrong!!” Remember, publishing all those monthly newsletters is not cheap. You have no idea how long it takes Jutta and I to lick the stamps on all those e-mails!!! I’m sure, in 2003 you will do much better. Happy New Year, from the decks of Pipe Dream.
Ferdy and Jutta