Ecuador, We Are There

The trip to Ecuador took ten days largely because of stormy weather with contrary winds. The first day out, Saturday, we had Southerly winds at 20 30 knots, so we settled for just heading west, seeking deeper water and smoother seas. The seas were very rough, and I was tossed across the cockpit to land on the mainsheet traverler giving me a large and painful bruise across my back. An inauspicious beginning to a long trip. The next couple of days brought light variable winds with little southerly progress.Tuesday brought westerly winds allowing us to head south at last. With 6-8 knot winds we were making 5 or 6 in the desired direction. A lot of rain squalls everywhere, making us slow down and shorten sail just in case the winds got blustery. The winds died off at night forcing us to just drift and wait for the wind to fill in in the morning. This pattern held until we got to Isla de Coco, where the rain diminished somewhat and the wind got steadier. We were making 8 or 9 knots on a good course for the whole day. We discovered that the seal on the port ama was not doing its job and the ama was filling with water when we pressed the boat for speed. I emptied it with a bucket a couple of times and made a new gasket from a floor mat. Great improvement, but we still could not get the electric bilge pump to perform, and had to keep a close eye on it. The days of torrential rain has revealed some unforeseen leaks and lots of we stuff was showing up in the boat. Sailing fast also revealed some leaks with salt water, which is much more difficult to clean up. We were now making 150 plus miles per day and starting to plan our arrival in Bahia Caraquez.
Entering the bay involves negotiating a large beach are where the Rio Chone enters the pacific. A pilot or guide is required for entry by the port captain. They only enter at high tide which happened to be at about 4:30 pm, perhaps the windiest time of the day. The wind drives the seas making this the biggest waves available. We barely got there in time to come in, and another cruiser heard us calling on the radio and helped arrange the pilot. We thought he was going for a swim when he jumped from the panga onto hot sauce. He directed us through the surf toward the beach and immediately we were surfing at about 15 knots. Pedro the pilot had never surfed before. As we weaved our path towards the bay, another big breaking wave loomed up behind and he hopped up and moved as far forward as possible to avoid the impending flood. Cowabunga, off we go again. At least enough excitement as we needed at the time. We got anchored in the bay by the club and went in for dinner.
The next few days were occupied with going to the doctor for Monteszumas revenge and looking for a dentist to do a root canal. Got to the dentist today and got the root part done. The yacht club shuffled boats today and put us on a mooring. I go back to the dentist Fri. To finish up, then off to the interior.