A Bird By Any Other Name

Turquoise-browed motmot, also known as Torogoz

One of the most colorful birds I've seen during our visit to El Salvador is the Turquoise-browed motmot (Eumomota superciliosa), also known as the Torogoz in El Salvador. Found throughout Central America, it is the national bird of both El Salvador and Nicaragua. These birds are often seen perched along roadsides on lines or tree branches where they hunt for insects and small reptiles. Their distinctively shaped tail feathers are found in both sexes, and are often seen wagging back and forth when a predator is spotted. This tail wagging behavior has given rise to the common name of clock bird in the Yucatan.

Roadside hawk of El Salvador

Another interesting bird I encountered on one of my morning bird walks was the unimaginatively named Roadside hawk (Rupornis magnirostris). Measuring 12 to 16 inches long and weighing in at only 250 to 300 grams, this diminutive Accipiter hunts small mammals and birds from posts and lines near roads and open fields. It is used as a falconry bird in El Salvador where it is often trained to hunt small game birds. The hawks can be quite vocal and aggressive during mating season. This one kept a close watch on me and answered loudly as it's mate called from deeper within the woods.

Walking along the banana fields near the marina I could see several volcanos in the hazy distance. The people here burn wood almost exclusively as their source of heat and for cooking. As with Mexico and most of Central America, the city skies are thick with wood smoke and pollution. Even the countryside smells of smoke due to the common practice of burning trash and using fire to clear fields and roadsides of unwanted brush.

Double-striped thick knee 

I was fortunate to encounter a couple of lovely birds with not so pretty names, the Double-striped thick knees (Burins bistriatus). These long legged waders are most frequently active at dawn and dusk and can be found roaming through the lowland fields. They prefer to run instead of fly, resembling long-legged roadrunners as they dashed in and out of the rows of sugar cane looking very much like their reptilian ancestors.

The list of birds to be found here in El Salvador is longer than my arm, and many of them were in evidence during my morning walks. However, few of them were patient enough to allow me time to photograph them. Here are a few of the more obliging birds seen...

Inca doves

 Great kiskadee

Forested path through nature preserve. So many birds to see when walking quietly.

Barillas Marina

Sirena on the hook in Barillas Marina estuary.

Pool at Barillas Marina

Restaurant serves meals all day.

Kayaks available for rental by guests.

We've been taking advantage of some unfavorable wind and seas by staying put in the remote branch of Bahia Jiquilisco, home of Barillas Marina. Located on an upper loop of the estuary, the marina is well protected from wind and swell but we do get a nice tidal change each day. Most of the land is preserved as a wildlife sanctuary, so we see a great many birds and animals.

Yesterday we were privileged to take part in a turtle release. Operated by the government park services, turtle eggs are collected and raised, then released back into the wild, giving them a much better chance at survival. Two species of turtles and two species of land tortoises were released.

Shawna releasing tortoises.

Guards on the plantation make certain there are no poachers. Turtles are often killed to make turtle soup, a traditional remedy for illness similar to "chicken soup" in the US. 

Tortoises are captured and sold as pets. 

Next we were offered the opportunity to see wild spider monkeys. An old fellow from the plantation can call them down for bananas and feed them by hand. After several minutes of calling, the tribe started to come down from the tree tops. We could see them leaping from branch to branch as the tribe grew nearer, many of the females carrying young ones clinging to their chests.

Another male was kept in a cage and we were told it was because his tribe had fought with the home tribe and lost. All were killed but him, so he was placed in protective custody. Poor boy did not look happy to be caged while the rest roamed free.

Warm Welcome in El Salvador

Tide and time brought us to El Salvador unexpectedly, but it turned out to be a welcome respite once we got the arrangements made. We turned from our course SE and instead sailed northward towards Bahia Jiquillisco located 70 miles NW of our intended destination of Puesta del Sol in Nicaragua.

This marina is located 9 miles up an estuary whose entrance is ringed by breakers and shoals.

Our navigation guide warned that a pilot boat is a necessity rather than an option, so it was imperative to the safety of our boat that we contact the marina for a guide. For hours I called, trying to reach the marina by SSB and VHF radio with no success. Our cell phone had no service and our Inmarsat satellite phone gave me the annoying British voiced message, "Your balance is below the limit, please top off your account." before disconnecting my call. This was especially frustrating since we had loaded $300 in airtime onto the phone just a few months prior and had not used it, saving the phone for emergency use only. Turns out that Inmarsat charges $15 per week for the privilege of owning the satellite phone, so all of our money was taken by their fees. I hope anyone reading this will decline to use the services of this company, as I certainly wish we had decided to do when we first purchased the boat!

Running out of options and daylight, we eventually reached the US Coast Guard via the satellite phone, the only number that still worked on the unit. I explained our situation, provided our location and the phone number for the marina, and they were more than helpful in making contact with the marina for us. Quickly we were contacted via VHF (turns out the marina had neglected to turn their radios on that day!) and sent a pilot boat and escorted through the breakers and shoaling entrance to the estuary.

Along the way we passed some unusual sights. Buildings made to float and some that were floating but not intended to do so.

Once tied up to a mooring bouy the port officials were brought out to the boat and clearance was a simple matter of filling out a few forms. Everyone was friendly and the fees for the mooring were inexpensive, $45 for the first day, which included the service of the pilot boat, and only $17 for each day thereafter.

Other boats moored at Barillas marina.

Barillas marina is located in the middle of a vast plantation of bananas, sugar cane, and other crops. It is guarded by armed men and sports a small compound for the guests consisting of an office (air conditioned), restaurant, shop, showers and laundry facilities as well as such luxuries as a swimming pool and hammocks strung up amongst the shade trees. The marina has seen better days and the guide book mentioned a travel lift and marine boat yard that no longer exist, but the people are friendly and helpful and the wifi is the best we've had in ages, so no complaints here!

Mooring boys are strung down the estuary next to an old shrimping fleet originally brought down from Texas, now being cut up for scrap.

A neighboring cruiser told us to look closely for a frequent visitor on the top of an overturned and mostly submerged boat just a few hundred yards away. Do you see what I see?

Crocodile rests on the wrecked hull of a fishing boat.

He is estimated to be about 10 ft long. 

Guess we will keep our swimming limited to the pool!

I've since learned that this crocodile has a name...Pana. It means "my buddy" so we hope Pana will be a good neighbor and not try to eat our dinghy.

Hitchhikers on Board

Sailing out of Chiapas after our final inspection and clearance paperwork was completed we set our course SE with the intention of sailing all the way to Nicaragua before stopping. Unfortunately, we met up with headwinds and large swells which slowed us down to a crawl at times, and drenched us with waves over the bow and rain from the scattered squalls at night.

Twice we had hitchhikers join us along the way. A juvenile blue footed boobie was the first to join us, riding along for almost the entire first day before finally flying off when several other of its kind flew past the boat. Only later was I to discover that the name boobie supposedly originated from the Spanish slang for stupid. The bird so named because of it's habit of landing on sailing ships where it was often captured and eaten by the crew. I suppose this one was lucky we were well provisioned!

Our second passenger was a ring necked dove with a light flesh wound on its belly that looked suspiciously like talon marks had made it. Perhaps this dove was the lucky survivor of a falcon's missed meal, heading far out to sea in order to evade it's pursuer. I provided a bowl of fresh water and some bread crumbs and shaved almonds for our guest and it was gladly consumed. Several hours later it departed towards land several miles away.

Two days and two nights later we evaluated the arrival time at our destination and understood there was no way to arrive within the required window of daylight and high tide, necessary for the tricky entrance. So we made the decision to divert northward and enter El Salvador at Bahia Jiquilisco where Barillas Marina is tucked neatly nine miles up the estuary, well protected from the ocean swell and winds. That's the way of sailing...if plan A does not work, make sure you have a plan B and C. So on to El Salvador we went.