2-18-10 Vomitville, Sanblas Islands

Worst seas yet. I started out in the cabin where things weren't exactly going well. I was breathing hard, lifting my shoulders and chest with each breath all while sweating profusely.  The smell in the kitchen was nothing unusual, just typical food smells which reminded me of the bread that came up yesterday after breakfast.  My mouth would start watering and I'd just stare ahead blankly trying to think happy thoughts which would work for a while until I would take another breath through my nose which would put me on barf alert again.

During one of my code red bar alerts I felt a little burp sprang from my little bench and hung my head off the stern. Just coffee this time, but enough through the nose to turn me off to coffee for a while.

We pulled into Zapzuro today just after noon where we anchored and had a cheesy pasta lunch whose thought makes me want to hang my head overboard again. At the time, however, it was pretty good. Haven't eaten much lately.

I've been in rough shape all day and still am even though we are anchored.  I'm sitting on one of the trampolines at the stern and listening to and smelling the chugging of a diesel generator from a merchant ship anchored a hundred yards upwind.

The seas were about 10 feet tall today, enough to submerge the left bow of the catamaran at times. My bike took a good wave to the side. Luckily I soaked it well the first day with WD-40 to slow down any rust. I also jammed a plastic bag in the muffler to keep water out.

Not long after anchoring we hailed a lancha (open hull boat, 3 person wide, 8 rows long, 200hp outboard) to take us south over to Capurgana where we had to do our customs work. The ride was essentially a cross between 4-wheeling and boating.  Huge seas and a little boat with few life preservers next to rocky shores made things exciting.

Capurgana was only 15 minutes off in the next bay but it was quite a trip getting there. To leave our bay we rode directly into the waves, jumping most of the boat out of the water on the larger waves.  Running south, parallel to the waves was precarious as we were constantly changing from being on a crest to being in the trough of waves, several of which invited themselves into the boat.  Tom sported a waterproof shell which seemed to work. I was wet.

Riding into the bay was no different than surfing. We motored along slowly until one of the bigger waves came along then the captain would hit the throttle and catch the wave, riding it till it dissipated.

We made it into town wobbly legged and went to the customs office where they asked the usual questions. What is your profession? Where are you going? How long will you be here? I was unsure to all the answers but did the best I could.

I was excited to find a little internet cafe but not excited to wait 15 minutes to open a web page. I also ran into Charlie, who I rode with in Mexico. He had arrived the same day via different boat, the MetaComet er 'Vomit Comet' as he said.

We are currently in a holding pattern. Our catamaran can't make it to Turbo, where the road starts again (Zapzuro and Capurgana are accessible by water only). The cat can't go any further for vague reasons so we must find another boat to take us.  We've heard of perhaps a dozen possibilities, none of which have materialized.

The three main options are the 'fast boat' which is like the lancha we took to Capurgana but with an additional outboard motor and has a bit of a roof on it. Then there is the 'slow boat' (technical terms here) which is a larger boat maybe 70' long which is equipped to take people and bikes. Lastly, we're trying to hitch a ride from a local merchant ship in the area but we hear that they are allowed to take bikes, but no people.