Puerto Amistad, Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

0 36.511 S, 80 25.371 W, Puerto Amistad, Bahia de Caraquez

Monday morning we went into the office and Veronica helped us check in. It was easy, almost one stop shopping. The costs for check in were as follows:

Pilot                  - $30,
Health inspection and certificate - $5 - he came to the boat
Immigration      - $20, plus $40 for taxi to/from
Port Captain     - $40,
Agent               - $50
Boat extension - $100, to allow Windarra to remain in Ecuador for up to 1 year.

Boat that delivered the pilot in front of Bahia de Caraquez

Rich in front of Puerto Amistad

We provided the documentation to Veronica, she scanned it and sent it to the applicable agencies, and then she took our passports to immigration to have them stamped and to get our tourist visa. The only 'travelling' we had to do was to take the health inspector out to the boat and back. This was so much easier compared to Panama in large part due to the efforts of Tripp, one of the owners of Puerto Amistad Yacht Club. Tripp is an ex-cruiser who met a lovely lady from Columbia and the two of them came to Ecuador and with another couple started Puerto Amistad almost 9 years ago. Tripp definitely understands what cruisers need and want and he does a lot to provide it. Our mooring fee includes access to the very nice dingy dock (puts Las Brises to shame), wi-fi, showers and nightly security that patrols the boats. There is also laundry services, plus diesel, propane, bottom cleaning, deck cleaning. The yacht club also has a restaurant and bar open for lunch and dinner. So far, this is a great place to leave our boat while we do some travelling.

Windarra on mooring at Puerto Amistad

Tuesday we walked into town. We stopped at Claro, one of the cell providers in Ecuador, and we purchased a Sim chip for my Iphone, 5$ for the chip, $14 for 300Mb of internet download. You can recharge this at grocery stores, banks and Claro shops. So we will try it out. We also checked out one of the local grocery stores and took a walk around the point to have a landside view of the entrance to the bay. It was close to low tide and we saw a lot of exposed sand.

Today, Wednesday, we took in some laundry to be done and made airline reservations for the first part of our trip back to the US. Rich had some diesel delivered to the boat and he filled the aft tank and most of the forward tank. We will also have the water tanks topped off as well before we leave.

Even though we are very near the equator, the days are cooler and the nights are even cooler. The Humboldt current coming up the western South American coast, moderates the temperatures in Ecuador. Last night I even used a blanket which I have not used on the boat since we left the US in 2011.

I am trying to put in some of the photos from Panama so you may want to look at our previous posts.

Standby for more adventures.