1) Hi! I am Carolyn from Third Wish. First, tell Sam and Dave, Lin and Lou, Bill and Jean hello from us, please. Second, a warning. We went through the Canal in March 2017 and were guided onto a reef by our Panamanian line handler, Omar. That story will be in this Feb. issue of SAIL magazine. We are now shipping our boat to Ensenada since it is impossible to complete repairs at Shelter Bay Marina. In the past 9 months, ten other boats have hit this unmarked reef. More to the point, last week, our line handler Omar again led a boat onto the reef, where the Coast Guard had to rescue them. They are now on the hard repairing their rudder and keel. Our Canal Agent, Roy Bravo, told us he would no longer be employing Omar. Well, Omar is still working and still inept. Roy Bravo is offering no help (other than prayers). Many people here know our story and other stories like ours, all involving Omar and Roy Bravo. I am not the type to be vindictive. I do not, however, want others to go through our sad experience. There are many other Canal Agents and Line Handlers. That Roy is still hiring Omar, and that Omar is still running boats onto the reef, is quite disconcerting. I just felt I should warn you all to learn from our bad experience. Enjoy the sail south, we sure did. We stopped in SO many sweet places. Panama is an amazing country. Just beware of these two smooth talkers. You’re welcome!


2) Fred Again,
Hola Possee! This is Laura on Fred Again, currently in Zihuatanejo. My credit card was compromised today so I need to have a new card sent to me. We are leaving for Huatulco tomorrow and I’m looking for ideas on where I can receive mail there or further south? This is pretty important since I am carrying little cash so all ideas welcomed. Thank you!!!!

    ANSWER
Janet Wenderoth Marina Chiapas will receive letters and packages. They say DHL delivers more often than Fed Ex here. Good luck!
Hola from Fred Again… yes again!!! We are mooring in Acapulco and are having an issue with our deep cycle batteries (we have two group 31s connected in parallel). We are looking for advice/direction for a replacement battery. Gracias Possee.

Fred Again is on the move after a wonderful, but short stay in Zihuatanejo. While on land we had a wonderful tour of Xihuacan ruins.  We went with Norma Blanco (local tour guide – mobile is 755-127-0982 or email: nblanco16@hotmail.com ) and the head archeologist, Rodolfo.  (We found Norma via the Possee update from…  by ).   
The evening ended with a sunset sail with our new friends, their two kids, and a very wonderful mechanic and his wife (who helped diagnosis and repair a transmission issue).  A great outing with locals!!
We are now just outside of Zihuatanejo and headed to Huatulco with a possible fuel stop in Acapulco and possible anchorage stop in Puerto Angel.
Estimated arrival to Huatulco is Jan 28th.
We would love to buddy boat across the Tpec if there are others in the Possee in Huatulco who are waiting for a weather window.  
Thank you,
Laura, Robert, Michael

( keep in mind not everyone uses Facebook – so we repost here what seems relevant )


3) Carinthia – Checked in at Marina Puesta del Sol – Nicaragua – currently on a raod trip in Granada ( 4 hours by rental car via Leon and Managua )


Nicaragua – Marina Puesta del Sol – Channel Markers and 9′ channel even near low tide.
There is even an outer marker to get you in – stay well offshore as there are reefs here – we entered 2 hours after low tide and always had over 5 feet below our ( 4.7′ ) keel –

THERE ARE CHANNEL MARKERS !!! – It’s peaceful and govt officials arrived 2 hours later – total cost for clearing in for 2 was 64 USD – more fees to come when we exit – staff is very excited and happy and we are setting up a meeting to discuss discounts to the Panama Posse –
Robert a 86 year old former cruiser is in the process of changing the laws to make cruising easier int he country – he expects passage of the new law in March – this will negate local zarpes and cabotaje rules – stay tuned –

View from Dock



+5




4)

THE PANAMA POSSE IS NOW
50 VESSELS STRONG
welcome SV GAVIA

5)
MV CROSSROADS – JULIA MAX – COSTA RICA 

After a great day yesterday in Bahia Santa Elena we moved today to Playa del Coco. We made the 45nm journey with anything from 8kts to 30kts of wind behind us or on the beam. We arrived and anchored in Coco at almost the same time as S/V JuliaMax. Tried to check into the country but by the time we got the dinghy in the water and braved the surf ashore the Capitania de Puerto was gone for the day. We’ll try again tomorrow. Check-in is ashore near the beach for the Port Captain, up the street for Immigration and a 45 minute car ride to the airport for Customs. You can’t go into Marina Papagayo until you are checked in and you can’t do that there (you have to go to Coco) or the Marina will help hire an agent to do it for you for a significant fee. We will check-in tomorrow and probably share a ride to the airport with JuliaMax. That’s it for today! Cheers, Stan The northernmost port of entry into Costa Rica is Playa del Coco or if you don’t mind paying an exorbitant fee for an agent to help you Marina Papagayo at the top of Bahia Culebra will help you. Either way the paperwork is processed out of the Coco Officina de Captania de Puerto. I think the Costa Rican have the paperwork cha-cha thing down to a fine science! Here is what our day today looked like. Fellow Posse crew from JuliaMax flagged down a panga at 0800 to pick us all up from the anchorage and take us to shore (thus avoiding a repeat of our less than stellar dinghy launching and landing performance from the day before). We quickly made our way to the Port Captain’s office which is 100′ from the beach on the main road. I lost track of time but the process for both boats took somewhat more than an hour. Next step was immigration several blocks up the same street on the right hand side in a smallish white building set off the street. I think we were there another hour or so then back to the Port Captain for another visit of thirty minutes or so. Next stop was Customs at the airport a 30 minute ($50 round trip) cab ride away. At the airport there is no Customs office just a gigantic arrivals lobby that was empty save two airport workers who called Customs for us and told us they would be right out. An hour later we were still waiting. Eventually a guy appeared in the lobby asked for our paperwork and passports and disappeared for 20 minutes. When he reappeared he brought a clipboard full of forms for us to fill out while we stood there. He then disappeared again with the paperwork and reappeared twenty minutes later stamped our papers and sent us on our way. Now back to the Port Captain’s office for final papers and a National Zarpe. Apparently to leave Coco and go anywhere else you must have an internal National Zarpe. Another twenty to thirty minutes and we were told that the woman that issues the Zarpe was not there for another hour or so. So off to lunch we went. Ate at Coconutz a micro-brewery down the street. The beer was good, food so-so, service not so great, atmosphere gringo touristica. Back to the Port Captain’s office and arrived in time for the woman we were to see to hand us some paperwork as she walked out saying the other guy would take care of it. That guy first insisted that we must tell him where the next place we were going was and then come back to Coco to get clearance to the next place after that and that we were to do this for each stop we made. It took some time to tell him that wouldn’t work, because we could not come back t Coco after each stop. He made calls and settled for a list of stops all the way to Golfito where we will eventually check out of the country. Probably we should have just told him Golfito and not bothered to check in at the various stops in between. Anyway all this took another hour or so and then we were DONE! Just in time too, because they close at 1500 and it was well past that. Next on the agenda was SIM cards for our phones. I had purchased a Movistar card at a tienda the day before (for $2.00) and was having trouble activating it, though I was getting a little bit of data through it. Anyway we found a place on the main drag on the right hand side a few blocks up from Coconutz and directly across the street from the big Auto Mercado. It’s called GD Computador. They spoke good English and sold us Kobi SIM cards with 2GB of 4G data and one hour talk time for about $20.00. I added an additional one hour talk time for another few dollars. We didn’t do any grocery shopping but there are a couple of good supermarkets in town plus many roadside vendors. After a long day of bureaucratic red tape we finally flagged down another panga and begged him to run us out to our boats, it took some convincing because he was tired and wanted to go home but he finally gave in and off we went. A very full but productive day! C Over and out, Stan & Diane

We upped anchor from Coco this morning and moved 27 nm south to Bahia Portrero, Anchored in 24’ at 10’ 26.49N, 85’ 46.97W. Nice bay, getting 10-25 kts wind from the east. Several dozen boats anchored and on moorings here. We are anchored in front of the breakwater to the now defunct marina. We aren’t going ashore but beach break doesn’t look too bad. Houses and condos on shore and I can see at least one restaurant. Not much swell today so hopefully we’ll have a flat, quiet night. We plan to move on tomorrow just before first light and will hopefully make Bahia Ballena 100 nm down the road before dark. Over and out, Stan CrossRoads



6) OCTOPUS GARDEN

Hola Posse! Don’t be scared off by bad press about Acapulco. We’ve really enjoyed it here. Stay on the mooring, leave your dinghy on deck and let Vincente and crew ferry you to shore. There is a good grocery store in easy walking distance plus Oxxo and Circle K. You can walk to the Zocalo. There are places to eat close. Today we took a 10 peso bus to a big mall, ate at Applebee’s (nice for a change) and watched a movie in English with air conditioning 2 people for 60 pesos. While we take big city precautions we’ve never had any bad vibes here.
By the way we saw the movie The Shape of Water. Very different and good and it was great to have a day off.
After we shopped at the market and back to the mooring at sunset

Jim & Susy


7) Isleña – EL Salvador
Hi there,    Hope all is well. We tried to catch the Panama Possee net this morning and after not hearing anything I took the liberty of starting the net. Unfortunately there were no check ins.    FYI the following boats are in Bahia del Sol Danika Isleña Amante Easy Sea Glass
  Solana is on anchor outside. I understand that he is not a member of the Posse but a good Posse friend. Bill went to get him at 0800 but their motor wouldn’t start. The captain feels that all he needs is a good solar day and his batteries should start the engine tomorrow morn. Bill is on schedule to bring them across the bar tomorrow.
All our best, SaM and David s/v Isleña

8) SHEARWATER
Hola Panama Posse from  Shearwater, We Are currently in Huatulco we arrived yesterday at 13:40 and  dropped anchor in Bahia Santa Cruz.  We Are currently waiting for a good  weather window. We can hear you on the SSB. net  but you don’t  seem to  hear us it might be a mic. Problem. Thanks everyone for  all the  information. Pati and Eric sv Shearwater 

9) RESPITE
Question for all of you further south of Mexico. Are there any specific things we should stock up on before leaving?
Are things pretty available and reasonably price in El Salvador?
We may be leaving soon! Autopilot is installed and we are doing a sea trial today. Hope to see you soon.

ANSWERS
Jenn Ballinger There are big grocery stores in San Salvador that has everything you could possibly need, but it’s an hour bus ride from Bahia Del Sol. Lots of places nearby to get basic stuff though. Dietmar Petutschnig Suzanne said that the grocery store was better than whole foods … Thank the 500+ us embassy staff .. But local grocery stores are much much cheaper – best pricing for
TEQUILA – which Bill will take off you in El Salvador 😉

Annual Salvador Rally Beaver brand horseradish. In our 17 years of cruising we had to bring it back from the US. Sometimes creamed horseradish is available.


10) MY EL CAZADOR –
we have been in Pez Vela marina (quepos) for several weeks and plan to stay for 6-12 months. Super marina. Great wifi, great slips ( interior docks are only a couple years old). Nice restaurants and little shops at the marina and a short walk into town for more typical  Costa Rica stores/little restaurants.  We have found great help on dock for deck hands (talked with people who come here each year for references). 
In contrast to papagayos marina- that was also very nice facilities, but hardly anything to do unless you have a car. Grocery store was about a half hour drive. 


11)PANAMA POSSE NET 
SSB Net 8294 USB @ 15:15 UTC ( 9:15 local time ) fallback 8297 USB
Please confirm your net control and time with ROB with an email rap84040@gmail.com ( cc’ed above )
If you can please volunteer for one weekly slot as a fallback


Monday – VOLANTE III
Tuesday  – ANNAPURNA   – Confirmed
Wednesday – EASY
Thursday – CARINTHIA – Confirmed
Friday – INTERLUDE
Saturday – CROSSROADS
Sunday – RESPITE



12)
Keep ’em coming –

Panama Posse