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 Bahia Santa Elena, Costa Rica
May 5, 2006 Our trip from Nicaragua to Costa Rica was a bit of a rough ride. At around 23:00 we hit wind 20-25 knots, right on the nose, with the wave direction the same. In other words, it was a beat. I was on watch and took a big wave right into the cockpit, so I went and woke up Ken so we could put the windows in. Things were much better after that. It was a long night and neither one of us got much sleep. Our first view of Costa Rica was beautiful, towering mountains reaching the sea. We spotted the entrance to Bahia Santa Elena, and made our way into the bay. We were the only ones there, and soon had our anchor set. The bay was very protected, with dry barren hills surrounding us. This bay was known for the many different species of wild cats, bats, and bugs. We went swimming in the water, which was surprisingly cold, watched the birds catching fish, and took naps, listened to the howler monkeys and the many different birdcalls. It was very relaxing. Soon Finisterre made their way into the bay. They had caught a dorado on the way in, so were over at our boat for dinner. We spent several days here snorkeling, fishing, visiting, and then were on our way to the next stop.   Islas Murcielagos
May 7, 2006 The trip over to these islands was very short, only 20 miles. We (almost) caught a 60 lb yellow fin tuna. It was a beaut. Ken got it all the way up to the swim step and lost it trying to get the gaff hook into it. We could almost taste the sushi. Got pictures though. We found anchorage in a small little cove, and were joined by Finisterre (who caught another dorado), and Sol Surfin our friends from Zihuatanejo. We did more snorkeling, swimming, visiting and such (I know, getting a little boring for you readers). Ken did get our spear gun out and speared a fish, which was really tasty.  Bahia de Culebra
May 9, 2006 Ken and I left the islands mid morning and trolled up and down the channel looking for “the one that got away”. But, alas and alack, we did not catch anything. The sky was looking pretty dark and we were anxious to get to a safe anchorage. We were going to actually check into the country now. We had been visiting these places, well, let us say, not quite to the letter of the law, but they were so isolated we felt pretty safe. By the time we got our anchor set, it was looking like it was going to be a heavy down pour. We got out the bucket, and boat soap, and gave the boat a quick wash, and let the rain rinse things. It was perfect timing. The next morning we motored over to El Coco and officially checked into the country. The officials were very friendly and helpful. It was nothing complicated, but as in all of the countries we have visited thus far, things happen in their own sweet time. After picking up a few things at the grocery store, we headed back to Playa Panama in Bahia de Culebra. It is a beautiful, isolated anchorage, with one little bar and restaurant, and very friendly people. We befriended some of the local “tica’s” as Costa Ricans call themselves, and took them out sailing. They had never been sailing before, and had a good time. We even managed to catch a few nice fish. We have now been here for almost two weeks, have fixed all of the leaking windows, fixed the water-maker, provisioned, rented a car, visited some beautiful nature preserves, saw monkeys, parrots, iguanas, and other beautiful birds. We have met some fabulous people, but it is getting to be time to move on, and check out other parts of Costa Rica. Until the next leg… Jorie and Ken  Bahia Guacamaya & Bahia Protrero
June 12, 2006 Bahia Guacamaya & Bahia Protrero Well, we finally decided to leave the Del Coco area after a full five weeks here. We had a good weather window and decided to “go for it”. We cleaned the bottom of the boat before leaving and dislodged the barnacle reef that was growing there. Our friends on Creola are traveling with us, and our plan is to take our time down the coast to Golfito, and then travel on to Ecuador, skipping the dangerous waters of Columbia. Our first stop was a nice little anchorage called Bahia Guacamaya. It was a spectacular little cove with white sandy beaches. We had a very rolly night and did anchor watches. The next morning we snorkeled and walked the beaches. There were masses of beautiful butterflies everywhere. This would be the perfect place to live if you wanted to “get away from it all”. Mid morning we motored over to the next bay, Bahia Potrero. We had lunch, snorkeled again, it was a bit murky, but tons of wild life swimming about.  Bahia Carrillo
June 14, 2006 Bahia Carrillo It is really nice doing these short little hops down the coast. We are staying closer in, and it seems there is much to see with the majestic mountains, and the lush green landscape. Ken and I seem to be learning important lessons everyday. A friend of ours who helped Ken with the watermaker suggested that we change the impellers on the engine and generator. Well, the manufacturers suggested time frame was still a ways away, but we decided to tackle the job anyway. After contorting ourselves in yoga like poses, reaching, twisting, bending into the hot, dark underbelly of the engine compartment, Ken loosening, while I held the flashlight, we finally got the impeller out. The impeller was missing three of its five flippers, and it is amazing that we did not overheat our engine! Lesson learned, check frequently. After that came the generator, easier to reach, but still in bad shape. We were very proud of ourselves for a job well done. It was definitely worthy of a cold beer after. Anyway, back to the travels. We entered the bay of Carrillo, a few hours before sunset. There is a huge reef to the left of the entrance, with very intimidating waves breaking on the surface. We skirted in on the other side, and tried to anchor near the small fishing boats that were there. We could not get good holding for the anchor after several attempts, and tried the other side of the bay…it was way too rolly, so we finally found a place in the middle and set our hook. By this time our friends on Creola were making their entrance to the bay, and set their hook next to us. We were rewarded for our efforts with a spectacularly beautiful sunset. This is what it is all about.  Bahia Ballena
June 15, 2006 Bahia Ballena Another 7 hour motor sail to the next anchorage inside the gulf of Nicoya. Ken and I caught six fish on our way down, we released all but a nice Dorado. Bahia Ballena is a big wide bay, surrounded by palm trees and other tropical plants. You can hear the parrots and the howler monkeys. We invited Creola over to share our dorado, and had a great time. We spent the next day (after boat chores) walking through the little village, discovering the most beautiful resort tucked into the trees, and finding out the way to the waterfall that is supposed to be a short hike away. We plan on doing that in the morning. Life is good. Our waterfall day was fantastic. We had breakfast at a little restaurant in town, and got directions to the local falls. “Just take the bus to the bridge about five kilometers away, and then walk down the dirt road to the trail. You can’t miss it.”. Well, that is a guarantee that we will miss it, and we did. We ended up getting off the bus at a little town called Montezuma. It was the young hippy/environmentalist/dropout community. It was very picturesque. We got directions to the river and hiked up to the waterfalls that were there. We all swam, picnicked, took pictures, and relaxed. After that we went back into town, called a cab, and went in search of the waterfall that we missed the first time. The cab driving knew where to take us, and soon we were on a very narrow, very muddy little road. We had to park and walk the rest of the way. On the way down, we walked under these large banyan trees that were full of howler monkeys. They followed us all the way to the waterfall. This waterfall, cascaded down into the ocean. It was beautiful. Ken, then had a conversation with the monkeys, and they seemed to understand him. It was quite the ruckus. We then headed to a resort that we had seen the day before, enjoyed happy hour, had a nice dinner, and went back to the boats, tired but happy.  Isla Cedros & Isla Jesusita
June 18, 2006 Isla Cedros & Isla Jesusita Tucked in between these two little islands, we were well protected from all of the swells. After a beautiful night, with clear skies, and calm seas, Bill and Linda from Creola went with us to the neighboring point to catch the ferry into the fishing port of Puntarenas. We wanted to look for boat supplies, get some groceries, and visit the Costa Yacht Club to check out the diesel situation. Our friends on Sol Surfin were there, and we had lunch and cold drinks with them. It was a good visit, but the overall consensus is that Putarenas is a very ugly, dirty town, and we would rather not stay there. We do have to go in however, to get our paperwork to leave the country. We spent the next day doing boat chores, and I wont bore you with the detail.  Bahia Luminosa, & Playa Naranjo
June 19, 2006 We split ways with Creola at this point and continued to explore the gulf of Nicoya. We ended up anchoring at a little resort at Playa Naranjo and were the only boat there. We had the pool, restaurant, and bar to ourselves. We continued getting the boat ready for our crossing to Ecuador. After several days, our friend Jef on Enterprise arrived, and we set firm plans to make the crossing together. Creola discovered they had bigger problems than they originally thought, and were going to have to haul their boat out. We left Playa Naranjo with Enterprise and headed to Bahia Ballena. When we got to Ballena we met up with Bob and Betty on Mallard. Bob and Betty were heading to Ecuador from Bahia Ballena, While we had decided to head with Enterprise from Quepos an exit port about 70 miles south of Bahia Ballena. The trip to Quepos was quiet. We drug a line and only caught a small skipjack which we promptly released. Quepos is a nice little town, we would have liked to have some more time there. Unfortunately checking out was a bit of a process. We had to travel by car Caldera to check out with Customs. Then back to Quepos to check out with Imigration and the Port captain. So on the 29th on June we said goodbye to Costa Rica and set sail for Ecuador. | Costa Rica | El Salvador | Nicaragua | | Central America 2006 | North America 2005-2006 | South America 2006 | | Return Home | Great Links | Contact Us | Pictures | The Crew | The Boat | logs | People We've Met | |
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