We motored down river in Puntarenas at 7 AM to take advantage of the high tide in the estuary and sailed out into the Gulf of Nicoya . No sooner had we cleared the channel than the dark clouds of a rain squall started to form in front of us. Although we tracked the main squall on radar as passing a half mile north of us we still got drenched in a massive downpour. The only saving grace was that the rain water was warm. This was as much rain as I had ever seen and visibility was absolutely nil. This squall passed in less than a half hour, and it was suddenly warm and humid for our sailing day. This was a pattern that we would see over and over again for the next two weeks as we entered the Costa Rican rainy season on Costa Rica’s wettest coast.
We had planned a series of day sails along the coast between the Gulf of Nicoya and the Golfo Dulce (about 200 miles) that would allow us be at anchor each evening during the daily rain and lightning shows that began shortly before dusk. Most of the anchorages were pretty little bays surrounded by steep hills and lush tropical jungles, and frequently we could hear the howler monkeys at night. Even though the lightning lit up the skies we felt much more comfortable with some hills nearby than we would have at sea with only our mast (read ”giant lightning rod”) poking up from the sea. The strategy worked as we bobbed peaceful and dry during the storms.
We finally reached Golfito which is only 30 miles from the Panama border. We had planned a short stay in Golfito which is a cruiser friendly town with good supplies, entertainment, and a well protected bay sheltered from the wind and swells. This was also the first stop since El Salvador where we found multiple cruisers in the anchorage so we finally had a chance to swap stories about our travels and our plans. We heard that there are fewer than 30 boats cruising the coast of southern Latin America this spring, and in most of our anchorages we have been the only boat.
Unfortunately our short stay in Golfito will now be an extended one. Once again a motor is the culprit. A rather necessary part had apparently vibrated loose from one of our motors. The missing part prevented the motor from shifting out of reverse, and no replacement was readily available. We could have had the part custom machined or we could have tried to get it shipped from San Jose or the states, but we have decided to leave the boat in Costa Rica for the summer (short of our planned goal of Panama) and bring the part back with us when we resume sailing next fall. To be honest… weather did play a part in this decision because the entire coast of Costa Rica has been HOT and HUMID!
Golfito did provide some entertainment however. We took the death defying ferries to and from Puerto Jiminez on the Osa Peninsula across the Golfo Dulce. We took the “fast ferry” over in the morning. Although not the hover craft you normally associate with “fast ferry”, the monster 300 hp Suzuki outboards on a 30 foot open boat really did mean fast. I think when the boat was on plane only the propellers actually touched the water anyway. For the return trip we opted for the “slow ferry”. The only difference was a smaller boat (with more passengers) that would have had water flowing over the gunnels if not for two more outlandishly big outboard motors that lifted us well clear of the water. Thank god for smooth water because this was not a stable setup, but it was a lot of fun. We also spent an evening in Golfito at a local bar that featured an all girl band called the “Tipsy Chicks”. The highlight song was “Tequila Makes My Clothes Fall Off” if you were wondering about their musical talents. They were actually pretty good and are rumored to be very popular in Europe .
Our final trip of the trip (for this spring) was a seven hour bus ride (Costa Rican buses are worlds apart from the rolling wrecks they use for local buses in Mexico, Guatamala and El Salvador) from Golfito to San Jose where we rented a car to kill three days before our flight home. We visited a coffee plantation and got a tour very much like visiting a winery (complete with instructions on how to taste test coffee), and we drove to some of the anchorages along the coast that had taken so long to reach under sail and that we had enjoyed so much. It was life from the other side of the tracks so to speak. Since it was a rental car we also drove the 30 mile dirt road from Manuel Antonio Park to the surf town of Domincal . I have been on worse roads in my life, but I have never been on a worse road for that long. The 30 mile trip took well over two hours. I was reminded again that although Costa Rica boasts the highest standard of living in Latin America , that standard is none too high. At the very least I think any country boasting about its standard of living should be required to have toilet seats on all the toilets. Call me picky. Throw in the rampant theft problems (none of which we saw or experienced personally) that make razor wire as common as picket fences and you have something less than a “high standard”. Yep, we are very spoiled in the US , and we don’t always appreciate how much.
As usual I write this final e-mail from a small seat on a large plane. We are headed home, tanned, happy, and sorry that the trip is ending. The heat was a drawback and the rain was a nuisance, but visiting El Salvador , Nicaragua and Costa Rica over the last six weeks has been awesome. We are already looking forward to Panama and probably Colombia late next fall.
