Costa Rica
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| We (Steve, Jay, Mike and Judd) flew from San Diego to San Jose, Costa Rica, on Friday, August 31, for the start of our adventures. The moms accompanied us to the airport, providing the appropriate amount of gushiness to send their first born sons off into the world. We spent the weekend in San Jose, taking advantage of some of the eco-tourist excursions available. On Saturday, we were picked up at our hotel at 6:15 am for a 2-hour ride to the Pacuare River, with breakfast followed by a whitewater raft trip through class 3 and 4 rapids. A late lunch followed, then we were dropped off at our hotel ... exhausted ... at 6 that evening. On Sunday we were driven up into the mountains, through banana and coffee plantations, to an elevation of about 7,000 feet. There we spent a couple of hours ziplining through the rain forest canopy. |
| Click on the pictures below for pictures of our raft and zipline trips, plus Mike's commentary (warning ... these pages may take some time to load) |
| Packed up and ready to drive to the airport |
Our breakfast stop on the way
to rafting
to rafting
| The van we rode to Golfito |
| On Monday, September 3, among the four of us and our luggage - bags, surfboards, X-Box, guitar and other miscellaneous carry-ons - we commandeered the hotel shuttle and made our way to the domestic-flights Sansa Airlines terminal at San Jose Airport for the 1:05 flight to Golfito. When they first delayed our flight to 1:50 we thought nothing of it. When we heard the sirens out on the runway, we grew a little concerned. So, it was no surprise when they announced that a corporate jet had crashed upon landing (a tire blew out, the landing gear collapsed and the plan skidded off the runway ... no injuries, but fuel and debris all over the place ... once again, corporations dumping all over the little guy), the airport was closed and all flights were cancelled. Rather than schlep all our luggage back to a hotel, only to return to the airport the next morning in the hopes that we could get on a flight standby, we approached the driver of the Sansa inter-terminal shuttle van to see if he'd be interested in driving us to Golfito. He was thrilled to do it for an amount equal to the price of our cashed-in airline tickets ... after all, he really had nothing to do for the rest of the day ... so, we loaded our paraphernalia into his van and headed out. After seven-and-one-half hours of driving 20 to 30 miles per hour through the mountains and a tropical rainstorm, he dropped us off at the Banana Bay Marina at 10:00 that evening ... and, we slept that night on DAKOTA ROSE! |
| Setting Sail! |
| On Thursday, September 6 ... exactly three months after Dakota Rose's arrival in Costa Rica ... we had a hearty breakfast, made a quick trip to the Port Captain's office for our Zarpe Nacionale (cruising permit), sent off some final emails from the internet cafe, then pulled away from the Banana Bay Marina mid-morning. Our first stop was the animal rescue, rehabilitation and release station about 15 miles north of the marina, in Golfo Dulce, where we dropped anchor and paddled ashore for a tour and to bond with the animals. Since that area of the gulf is a protected marine sanctuary we couldn't anchor overnight, so we crossed about 12 miles to the very northwest corner of Golfo Dulce, where we dropped anchor in the well-protected Bahia Rincon just before sunset, in about 40 feet of water. We're the only boat here. We'll stay two nights, explore the local area, dinghy into the mangrove swamps. |
| Fun With Hair ... Mike's triangular sideburns, Judd's dreadlocks |
| Click on the flower to see pix at the animal rehabilitation and release station ... which the locals call "monkey rescue" |
| Chillin', relaxin' and explorin' in Bahia Rincon |
| We're starting to lose track of the days. After two nights in Bahia Rincon we pull anchor and head out. According to Steve's watch it's the 8th; according to Mike's watch it's the 7th (although it changes to the 8th at noon), we think it's either Friday or Saturday. We originally were going to anchor for one night at Puerto Jimenez, but the weather was looking a bit unsettled and we decided that we need another trip to the grocery store before we head out to sea. It seems that after our shopping expedition a couple of days ago we were covered for formal dinners but we needed more general "stuff to eat" during the day. So we headed back to Golfito. As we turned to enter the bay, a squall blew in. We anchored off Banana Bay Marina in a 20+ knot headwind and torrential rain. The boys did well: Jay knows what he's doing from our previous trip, and Judd and Mike are picking things up quickly (as long as they're not preoccupied with hair maintenance). Boring Boat Stuff from Steve: There are always maintenance issues on a boat, of course, but we're being plagued with electrical problems. I think that three months in high humidity and lack of use has corroded many terminals. For example, the other day, when we tried to raise the anchor after visiting "Monkey Rescue," the windlass wouldn't work going up (it worked fine going down!). Jay had to pull up about 65 feet of anchor chain and the anchor by hand, which wasn't fun. I traced the problem to corroded contacts in the operating relay ... taking the thing apart, cleaning all the corroded copper with sandpaper, and reassemblying/reinstalling the contraption and all works great!. Now, the volume and remote control on the TV don't work. I'm thinking that this may exceed my diagnostic and repair capabilities. |
| We left Golfito at 0515 for the 60 mile, 10 hour sail to Bahia Drake. Interestingly, Bahia Drake lies only about 10 miles due east from Bahia Rincon, where we’d spent a few nights at anchor, across the narrow top of the Osa Peninsula. Unfortunately, not being crows, we needed to take the long way ‘round. The first few hours of the trip were the roughest. The headlands at the mouth of Golfo Dulce funnel the long, deep ocean swells into the gulf, where they build in height and steepness upon encountering the shallow shelf at the mouth of the gulf. We spent almost 3 hours hobby-horsing directly into this evil chop and all felt queasy. One of us, who will remain nameless (but, it wasn’t Jay nor Mike) learned a valuable life lesson: choppy seas do not go well with video gaming in a stuffy cabin below. Once we rounded the point and turned west onto a beam reach in the calmer open ocean, things eased substantially and we made great time. Bahia Drake is a long indentation in the coastline opening to the north. The town, population only a couple hundred or so, consists of a medical outpost in a trailer, a small school where the drum corps practices daily, a few small shops and restaurants, guest houses, and several eco-lodges ranging from austere to plush. We hiked along the coast to a small beach where the boys got some skim boarding in. The next day we took a longer hike, spotting two troops of white-faced capuchin monkeys. |
Harvesting coconuts on the
beach near Bahia Rincon
beach near Bahia Rincon
| Sailing up the coast towards Bahia Drake |
| Our company at anchor in Bahia Drake |
| Bahia Drake: hiking through the rain forest to the beach |
| "Downtown" Bahia Drake; up a lazy, jungle river |
Leaving Bahia Drake, our next destination is the city of
Quepos, about 65 miles up the coast and advertised by our cruising
guide as one of the nicest towns and best provisioning stops along
the coast. Rather than do this in one long day, we decided to break
the trip into two days, with an overnight stop at Bahia Uvitas. BIG
MISTAKE!!! Uvitas was difficult to get into, being ringed with rocks
and reefs that are only visible at low tide. It was totally unprotected
from the south to the northwest, and we spent the night rolling and
pitching and slamming. And, to top it all off, the boat was swarmed
with annoying little gnats, thankfully not biting. All in all, the worst
anchorage ever! The only saving grace was that the boys were able
to get in some skim boarding and surfing the evening we got there.
We left first thing the next morning after a sleepless night for an easy
motorsail up the coast to Quepos. This stretch of coastline can be
very hazardous, with barely visible rocks and reefs extending more
than a mile from the coast and charts that are of dubious accuracy.
We stay two or more miles off the coast and keep a sharp eye out for
breaking whitewater and for the black flag markers the local
fishermen use to mark their drift nets. Jay spotted whales off in the
distance, probably humpbacks.
The anchorage off Quepos is also not very well-protected, but the
swell isn’t as bad as in Uvitas … or, maybe we’re more acclimated.
There is a rusty, old, iron ship pier dating from the days when
Quepos was a bustling fruit shipment port. The privilege of
anchoring and tieing up to the floating dinghy dock attached to it for
two nights cost us $40 (U.S.). We dinghied in and walked to town in
a rainstorm to get the lay of the land. We had an early dinner at a
Mexican restaurant, found a surf shop so the boys could buy climate-
appropriate surf wax, and stopped at an open-air farmers market
stocked with a potpourri of familiar and exotic fruits and vegetables.
Since it was pouring rain at that point and we were already lugging
bottles of water, we confined our purchases to a kilo of lychees
(which the boys had never had before) and a pineapple; we returned
the next morning for a more extensive browse, returning to the boat
with another kilo of lychees, five pineapples, and a couple of kilos of
unknown and unpronounceable fruits and vegetables, which we're not
sure how to cook or eat.
Quepos, about 65 miles up the coast and advertised by our cruising
guide as one of the nicest towns and best provisioning stops along
the coast. Rather than do this in one long day, we decided to break
the trip into two days, with an overnight stop at Bahia Uvitas. BIG
MISTAKE!!! Uvitas was difficult to get into, being ringed with rocks
and reefs that are only visible at low tide. It was totally unprotected
from the south to the northwest, and we spent the night rolling and
pitching and slamming. And, to top it all off, the boat was swarmed
with annoying little gnats, thankfully not biting. All in all, the worst
anchorage ever! The only saving grace was that the boys were able
to get in some skim boarding and surfing the evening we got there.
We left first thing the next morning after a sleepless night for an easy
motorsail up the coast to Quepos. This stretch of coastline can be
very hazardous, with barely visible rocks and reefs extending more
than a mile from the coast and charts that are of dubious accuracy.
We stay two or more miles off the coast and keep a sharp eye out for
breaking whitewater and for the black flag markers the local
fishermen use to mark their drift nets. Jay spotted whales off in the
distance, probably humpbacks.
The anchorage off Quepos is also not very well-protected, but the
swell isn’t as bad as in Uvitas … or, maybe we’re more acclimated.
There is a rusty, old, iron ship pier dating from the days when
Quepos was a bustling fruit shipment port. The privilege of
anchoring and tieing up to the floating dinghy dock attached to it for
two nights cost us $40 (U.S.). We dinghied in and walked to town in
a rainstorm to get the lay of the land. We had an early dinner at a
Mexican restaurant, found a surf shop so the boys could buy climate-
appropriate surf wax, and stopped at an open-air farmers market
stocked with a potpourri of familiar and exotic fruits and vegetables.
Since it was pouring rain at that point and we were already lugging
bottles of water, we confined our purchases to a kilo of lychees
(which the boys had never had before) and a pineapple; we returned
the next morning for a more extensive browse, returning to the boat
with another kilo of lychees, five pineapples, and a couple of kilos of
unknown and unpronounceable fruits and vegetables, which we're not
sure how to cook or eat.
| Scenes from Quepos |
| It turns out that we’re in Quepos for the 186th anniversary of Costa Rica’s independence. The gunshots from shore that we heard on Friday night were, in fact, fireworks, and when we went into town on Saturday we were able to watch the independence day parade … though not quite Coronado in scale (I guess there aren’t many Shriners in Quepos), we did see a drum corps, glockenspiel band and twirlers. |