Brad comes for a visit, Quilatolla loop and Banos and Tena

Brad came to visit and we spent an action packed 2 weeks with him

Columbia, land of kidnappings

Fellow hikers on the island in the lake outside of Pasto

Santuario Las Lajas
Our Students
Yes kidnapping is alive and well in Columbia. We were grocery shopping in Ipiales when suddenly we were approached by a Columbiano who is an English teacher, and taken to a classroom where we were required to talk English for 2 hours one night and then 5 hours the next day. They also made us eat the traditional barbeque of lamb and potatoes and other grilled veggies!! We were also invited to have breakfast with them and stay another day, but having only a limited time in Columbia, we decided to move on and jumped on a bus to Pasto. So if you ever are in Ipiales and happen to go grocery shopping, don't be surprised if you too get kidnapped for an afternoon......or more.
Once we arrived in Pasto, it was just in time for the Celebration of the Day of La Paz or peace. Hostages had been released by the FARC and the entire country was celebrating with parades and music all day in every city across the country.
Later we traveled to the nearby Laguna to enjoy the scenery and eat trout.

Apology

We wish to express our sincerest apologies to the Port Captain and Mayor and officials, and businessmen of Bahia for the unprovable and unkind remarks made in this personal blog intended for those people we have invited to look at it. We do not wish our family and friends to think ill of these citizens of Ecuador. We made a mistake .

Careening at the Yacht Club

Our new shaft arrived just in time for the spring tides and here are pictures of our first careening. (first picture is of the break in the shaft) We woke up at 4:45 in the morning and with the help of 6 other cruisers (4 dinghies, two onboard), we were dinghied down to the yacht club wall to tie up and wait for the tide to ebb. By low tide the job was completed!! Ron had planned very well, the rudder came off quite easily and the new shaft was cut with little strain, thanks to Tom's (Leonidas) great saw. John (Nakia) and Tom (Leonidas) showed up to help just in time and Terry(Secret of Life) and John (Nakia) came back to help us move off the wall when the tide lifted us off the bottom. Notice how low the bow got at low tide!! Thank you Jack (Bella Via) for suggesting that we make our rudder "quick release". We never dreamed that we would be experiencing its benefits so soon!

Banos and Cuenca, Saiananda and Bahia

Our Trip to Ecuador, Complete with Tow

The 7 and one half day crossing from Western Panama started out great--we sailed and motorsailed in the company of Sarana and Leonidas, our good friends. In the first 2.5 days we covered over 250 miles, but when we encountered the current that would set us on our way to the Galapagos, we needed to motorsail to head in the direction of Bahia Caraquez, our destination. Upon turning the engine back on, we determined we had no forward propulsion and began to fall behind our group. That was when we realized we had a problem with our prop. Later we determined that the end of the shaft had broken off. So Leonidas suggested that they begin towing us so that we could continue on our journey and get to Bahia in a timely manner. Thus began the 4+day tow (300+ miles) using a 32' Dreadnought (Leonidas), with a 10 hp Saab diesel engine and a 31' Mariah (Sarana), with a 28 hp Yanmar diesel engine. The following are pictures of the trip from the view of Batwing some while under tow: First we have Batwing sailing, then being towed by Sarana, then we have Leonidas making some adjustments, Sarana in the sunset, Leonidas sailing nearby to be close throughout the night, Sarana dropping off a jug of fuel for Leonidas to pick up in the water while towing us, and Sarana towing us at dusk.

Needless to say, we are extremely grateful to have friends like these. They are our heroes!
Kudos to Tom and Ann, Leonidas, and Eric and Sherrell, Sarana!!!!!