2014 RALLY ENTRIES OPEN

We are now accepting entries for the rally.  You can join on our website or at one of our seminars.  Our second rally seminar will be held December 10, 10 am 2013 at Marina La Cruz.

And just a few words about our sponsor:  Mexicolder has a new website and Mike is still offering to trouble shoot your systems for free from anywhere in the world via email.

Morrelli Sails has joined us and is offering $100 discounts on rigging or sail work.  We think Tony is the only sail-maker who is physically making sails in Mexico.

We talked to the Battery Center in San Salvador and they will give us their distributor discount on any battery you buy.  As an example, a wet-cell 6 volt battery lists for $224 but we pay only $135.

A new mooring field has opened in Bahia, La Palma Moorings.  They have new 4000-pound reinforced concrete moorings with American brand 1/2" chain and quality attachments.

Vancouver Boat Show

We are guest speakers at the Vancouver Boat show February 7, 8, & 10.  Come join us to learn about El Salvador, the forgotten middle and the Cruisers Rally to El Salvador.  This is our first visit to Canada but no worries, we heard that you can get a Canadian phrase book at the airport! Here is a link to the boat show seminars:  http://www.vancouverboatshow.ca/features/seminars/  Hope we get a chance to see you there.

FINAL SEMINARS IN MEXICO

We opened the week with a great presentation about the southernmost state in Mexico, Chiapas where rally sponsors Marina Chiapas and Macaw Tours are located.  The owner of Macaw Tours, Arturo, wants to let everyone know that he is offering rally members a 10% discount on all tours not already specially priced.  And during the week-long Chiapas activities which start February 13 in Chiapas he is hosting the ending party.  So that is three events happening in Chiapas starting February 13:  A "Bahia-style" wine tasting, a welcome BBQ hosted by Marina Chiapas, and a closing party hosted by Macaw Tours.  Check our website for details.

The following day we held our final rally information seminar in Marina La Cruz.  For the two days we spoke to over 80 people.

Prize winner, Nick

Plenty of information was provided.

LA CRUZ SEMINAR DEC 19, 2012

Fourty-two folks attended the afternoon seminar held in the VIP room at Marina La Cruz.  Each received an information packet with maps, touring information, 42-page Bahia Cruising Guide, and other infomational material.

Snacks and goodies provided by the rally hosts.

The next rally seminar is scheduled for January 10, 2013 in La Paz, BCS at Marina La Paz in the new Yacht Club meeting room.

 Everyone won a door prize!

MEXICOLDER OFFERS FREE TROUBLSHOOTING

This will be the fourth year that Mike Wilson, owner and designer of Mexicolder refrigeration systems, is sponsoring the rally.  If you are having problems with your refrigeration you can email Mike and describe your problem.  He will email you back telling you what to check.  Mike says he can usually diagnose a problem in just a few emails.  He will tell you what to tell your referigeration technician, what parts you need, everything you need to know about getting your system repaired and he will do this all for free.  How can you beat that?  Visit his website at Mexicolder.com and email him at mexicolder@hotmail.com

2013 RALLY ACTIVITIES STARTING.

A rare moment of relaxation

Well things are starting to heat up for the 2013 rally.  The organizers were seriously delayed getting to La Cruz, Mexico and were forced to cancel the La Paz seminar.  Hopefully, we can reschedule before the end of January.  In October we had the chance to meet some of the latest Baja Ha Ha group in San Diego.

This year we added a nominal $66 entry fee, created a larger welcome package, and designed a rally flag.  We created our new “Rally Host Port” project that includes three marinas where entrants will receive discounted rates and other benefits or sponsored activities.  We hope to add more marinas to the list before the beginning of February, 2103.

Our first free rally seminar is scheduled for December 6, 10 am at the Palapa restaurant located on the isla across from Marina Mazatlan.  Eric & Sherrill, the authors of Sarana’s online cruising guides will also attend and talk about traveling Central America. The next seminar will be in La Cruz December 19 in the Marina La Cruz VIP room.  Of course we will have some fun door prizes and light refreshments/snacks.

We are going to continue with our Just Water project and you can check the latest on the Just Water page.  This humanitarian project directly helps the local island families to obtain clean water.

Be sure to click over to our new website Elsalvadorrally.com to get all the details about the rally.

2012 RALLY COMES TO AN END

Taking Flight well... taking flight!

Our third rally is now over.  We had a total of 98 boats sign up with 50 arriving in Bahia.  There are still a few more boats expected to arrive before summer starts.  Some of the rally activities are still continuing like happy hour and pizza Sunday and one or two more special tours are in the works plus everyone here will continue to receive discounts at the local businesses for the whole summer.

Marina and hotel (photo: paul kamen)

Wine tasting, cook-your-own, dinghy rafting, special tours, etc kept everyone entertained for the 7-week long rally.  Probably the highlight of the rally was the special 2-night event in Suchitoto.

Hugh & Anne - Serendipity

Leading up to the rally we had successful events at the La Cruz and Chiapas marinas.  We’re sure everyone remembers the rum tasting in La Cruz and the special tours given by Macaw Tours in Chiapas and we expect even more for next year.  The rally influence is extending way beyond El Salvador.  For example, Marina Papagayo in Costa Rica is offering special prices for rally folks as well as Bocas del Toro marina in Panama.  We expect to continue our relationship with Marina Riviera Nayarit and Marina Chiapas for next years rally.

Girl at fruit festival

The organizers are going to take a short vacation then start planning the 2013 rally.

We want to thank everyone who arrived for making the long effort to come to El Salvador to discover the forgotten middle.

Please check our FaceBook page to see the other happenings in Bahia.

Some of the 2012 folks. (photos: paul kamen)

PLENTY OF ARRIVALS

Today marks the first day for multiple arrivals for quite a while.  Four boats arrived, Serendipity, Taking Flight, Swift Current, and Hotspur.  Also, today was the first day since November that the bar has been boisterous so it was quite exciting.  Rally events are already underway with happy hours, cook-your-own BBQ and this Friday we have a tour of the estuary on the hotels' power cat.  More boats are expected Thursday and Friday so there will be a lot of folks ready for the opening day party.  We understand that more boats are waiting in Huatulco and a few more scattered from Zihuatenejo to Huatulco.  Check the FaceBook site (Annual Salvador Rally) for all the detailed happeings and photos.

SECOND ANNUAL RUM TASTING A BIG HIT!

The rally organizers hosted the second annual rum tasting event at the Marina La Cruz Sky Bar.  We watched a great sunset while sampling 14 different rums. 

The event began with a sampling of 9 different rums followed by a vertical tasting of Flor de Cana ranging from 4 years to 18 years.  A slide show of highlights of El Salvador and touring photos of Ecuador and Peru ran continiously.  The local spa offered free massages and the marina restaurant provided snacks for all.  The highlight of the event was the sampling of 23-year old Zacapa rum from Guatemala.

Over forty people from 22 boats entered in the rally were in attendance.  It was a great opportunity for the people to meet others who are sailing to El Salvador.

The final rally seminar in Mexico is scheduled for Jan 18 at the La Cruz Marina and the last seminar of the season is scheduled for Jan 28 at the West Marine store in San Diego.  We are looking forward to meeting each boat as they arrive in Bahia.

FINAL RALLY SEMINAR IN MEXICO WITH A BIG SUPRISE!

Please join us on Wednesday, January 18, 3pm for our final Cruisers Rally to El Salvador Seminar.  It will be located in the VIP room at the La Cruz Marina.  Everyone will receive an information packet containing maps; gift CD, 42-page Bahia cruisers guide, and tourist information.  Craig Chamberlain from Mariners Insurance will also make a presentation addressing insurance coverage for Central America.  As always, afterwards we will hold a drawing for some fun prizes.  Refreshments will be served.  For those who stay for the whole presentation we have a special, not to be missed surprise.  For this event we require an RSVP for a head count.  Just send us an email or if you are in La Cruz, just call us on the radio.

NEW RALLY SPONSOR - AQUATIC OPTICS

We have a new rally sponsor, Aquatic Optics, who manufactures a line of high quality sunglasses in Australia. From reading their website we discovered that over the past 14 years they have developed a special manufacturing process for their glasses. They produce a wide variety of types and styles like polarised, bi-focal, prescription, and etc all at a reasonable cost.



One of the distributors for the company gave us a pair of glasses to give away at the May 1 party. Also, the distributor will be in Bahia early April aboard S/V Redsky so you can talk directly to them about their product. Click on the sponsor link to go to their website to learn more.

AND LET THE FUN BEGIN !

Cloudy Bay

After recovering from Saturday's opening day party Henry and Janis on Cloudy Bay headed south to make their Panama Canal appointment.  Henry provided a riveting commentary on the VHF as they transited the entrance.

Leaving the marina aboard the hotel's catamaran

Monday afternoon we all boarded the hotel's 50-foot power cat for an hour-and-a-half sunset tour of the estuary complete with the bar on the aft deck.

Ben gets to take the helm

When does the movie start?

A sunset return to the marina.

OPENING DAY PARTY - WISH YOU WERE HERE!

The banner says it all.

Dateline: March 12, Bahia del Sol, El Salvador....  The rally kick-off party lived up to cruisers expectations, lots of fun, food, pool, and refreshements.  Seventeen boats were in attendance.  Two rally boats who stayed here from last years' rally also joined us.

Gringo soup with a few Canadians added for flavor.

The party started out with a cool dip in the ocean-view pool with folks comparing notes on their trip down from Mexico.

Rosie, John & crew Linda from Serena Ray.

Later we all ajourned to the second floor palapa restaurant where everyone received their welcome packages.  The large, rally-logo bags were filled with some nice gifts like rally T-shirts, hats, flags, lotions, etc.

Owner Marco with wife Claudia (l) & hotel manager Augustin & Jean from Mita Kuuluu.

We all say "Viva El Salvador!"

Logo gift bags.

The hotel provided a DJ and dance instructor to liven things up.  During the whole party we played a game called "you can't say no" (you had to be there).  Young Ben aboard Lisa Kay was the winner after three hours of intense competition.

Ben promised to share with his parents.

Ari from La Paloma talking with the port officials.

Also in attendance were the port officials stationed at the hotel and one of the heads of the port district, Delmy Castanada.

So, now events and activities begin for the next seven weeks.  Monday March 14 we all have a tour of the estuary aboard the hotels' power catamaran.  Tuesday we have a pool/happy hour at Acajulta restaurant located a mile up the estuary.  Check the "Dates" page to see all the other events happening.

We hope to see more of you real soon.

WE HAVE PLENTY OF PRIZES FOR THE FINAL PARTY

In case you missed it here is a partical list of the prizes we have to give away at the final celebration on May 1, 2011:

Top Pirizes: $750, $500, $300, $250, one week in the marina, two nights in the hotel.

Other Prizes:  Ten free nights at Hotel Villa Serena plus on-going $10 discount on any of their rooms whenever you go to San Salvador, Five $25 dollar coupons to Marinsa Marine, 22 pound claw anchor, 2 free day tours, 4 free dinners at local restaurants, handheld GPS, and binoculars.  We are working on much more.  All the prizes are awarded by drawing and you must be present to win.

We just viewed the new T-shirts and gift bags and they are just beautiful.  Welcome bags will be handed out and after the opening day party March 12.

DEADLINE FOR SIGN UPS COMING SOON!

The last day for signing up for the rally is March 11, 2011.  So, if your on the way down and haven't entered now is the time to do so.  All is not lost if you somehow decide to arrive in Bahia but haven't joined by March 11.  You can still join in all the activities but you will not be eligible for winning any prizes.