Golfito

Finally! We are here! I like it! The anchorage is perfect! Mirror like water! It’s green! No bugs! Our friends from Ganymede are here, we are reunited after 2 months of crossing each other and almost the lost hope of a reencounter. As we entered the channel we get a call from them announcing the birthday of their boat and extending an invitation to have cake at the club house of the Cruisers Lodge. Soon Ben and his girls are over to get Samantha and Trinidad. That was joy; for them to see one another and for us to see the girls’ faces.
There are several places to anchor, moor or dock the boats, but we followed the recommendations of our guidebook. We anchor and use and enjoy the amenities of “The Cruises Lodge” The place was built by an American couple who have done an amzing job at giving it character and practicality. For $6 a day we could use the dingy dock, the shower, browse through a nice library, watch cable tv, use wi-fi and have free Costa Rican coffee, although, I never made it early enough to have a full cup.

My favorite part of this place were the walls.. What and awesome idea! All boats have left their mark for which they supply the paint and tools. I made sure we left a good one of Endurance. If you are ever there, you wont be able to miss it.
We have checked out and must go today! We’ll be back sometime before Yacht Path leaves… it could be a 1 or 2 months!

Dealing with Formalities

  It was over a month that we spent in Puntarenas. We desperately needed…wanted to get out, move on!, but we were trapped with the dilemma of what to do regarding our immigration status, the boat status and Matt recovery. The tourist visas for Costa Rica are given for 90 days, on that day or before one must leave the country for over 72 hours, not a big deal when Nicaragua or Panama are easily accessible. The boat, on the other hand, is give 90 days, but it must remain out of the country 90 days before re-entering. BIG DEAL! On August 15th our documents expire, but we must ship the boat out of Costa Rica on September 15th. Our options were the following, as we were able to find out:

•   Mechanical problems; a mechanic must issue a letter, then this must be certified by a lawyer and presented to Customs. Customs then will require you to put the boat in Bond. It means that the vessel will have to stay in a marina and we would not be able to move it without proper authorization… then we are really stuck and paying marina fees. The marina manager in Puntarenas offered to do all this for us, but he asked us to wait until the last minute. We were getting really nervous, so further our research.
• Suspend the boat permit travel out of the country and then comeback and use what is left of it. That meant for us to leave Puntarenas immediately, sail to Golfito, check out 5 days before the time expired, head to Panama and stay in Panama until 5 days before we have to ship the boat.

Drake’s Bay

Visiting a bay like this one makes up for all those down moments in our cruising voyage. What an amazing place! The contrast of colors is outstanding; black volcanic rock, green trees, pink, red, white and yellow flowers, grey sky, yellow birds. The sounds are invigorating; macaws, toucans, craws, waterfalls, river rapids, frogs. The strong fragrance of Jasmine covers the bay!

Its been said that the famous privateer; Sir Frances Drake’s ship, supposedly, anchored here over 400 years ago with a pirated cargo of gold worth $140,000,000 in today’s currency. So, shovel on the shoulders; we get on the dingy and entered the beautiful river mouth of Drake’s river, almost hidden from the bay. We motored all the way to where the rapids ended and let the currents takes us back out. Later we walked through the hanging bridge and up the muddy trails, but the sun was setting and we did not want to adventure in the dark. Instead, we visited a mystical hotel spa where we had a juices and a couple of margaritas, while watching the white cappuccin monkeys run back and forth on the tin roof.

Good bye Puntarenas

“Put her to the rudder!” yells Matt, that means leave Puntarenas. A “panga” from the yacht club leads us out the shallow, 2 mile estuary to open water, sails are hoisted and along we go at a cool 5.5 knots.

Four hours latter we drop the hook in Heradura, Great! Another rolly anchorage, we were forewarned by friends and our guide book so we slept as best we could and headed the next morning to Punta Uvita, where we actually had a decent nights sleep. Excited to unload the dingy in the morning and explore the beach we were halted by the Costa Rican Coast Guard informing us we anchored in a marine national park. Up comes the anchor and four hours later we are in Drakes Bay.

My view of Puntarenas

It used to be that Puntarenas was “The Place”; a couple hotels, the Marina Yacht Club, the vacation homes of the affluent people of San Jose, the main port, the most accessible beach in the Pacific of Costa Rica. Some people remember this place with an incredible amount of nostalgia. Today, the roads have opened to visit much better beaches conveniently and comfortably and the port has been moved to Caldera; a town near. Puntarenas lost its sources of income and over the years it has become what it is today…

My sister-in-law puts it the right way, the prettiest view of it is from the rear view mirror as you are heading out…poor Puntaarenas! It really needs help. The town is messy, the streets are dirty; trash is piled up in the streets, the sidewalks are all broken, it smells. The stores are cluttered with Chinese shoes, Chinese clothing, Chinese brand name imitations and Chinese toys. Some stores I had to check twice to see if what I was looking was a thrifty item or a new one, the front houses are barred, a lot of people walking around with deformations, retardation or clearly on drugs. Not a very sophisticated place to come for vacations, we didn’t have a choice. Fortunately, the Yatch Club was nice, we spent hours by the pool and restaurant area

In spite of the looks and feel of the place, we did meet kind and helpful people such as the bicycle shop owner where I bought my backpack. The girls got a great impression of him when he shared with them his stack of chocolate. A Taiwanese lady, restaurant owner, who after hearing what we were doing gave me money back saying the juices are on me!!!, most of the marina personnel. We also had the opportunity to meet a wonderful Family; The Pacheco’s who had an 8 year old girl; Sofia. Samantha, Trinidad and Sofia played, ate, swam and talked for hours. They had a blast! I was able to play a few matches of backgammon with her dad on which I was defeated. I got to know the family; I hope we see them again, maybe in our way to the airport in San Jose.

Time to reconsider

Another rainy night in Puntarenas, Matt was still recovering, but in pain, the boat is still out of the water and we are letting another 30 dollars go for a room with one and a half bed, bad lighting, cold, grey. The moods are fragile, the air is heavy, its hard to breath, it is hard to think, I feel my brain spinning, my heart sinking, my spirit breaking! We are at a point of change, we have to change the plans, the route, the diet, the attitude or something must change. We are going south! Literally and figuratively speaking… Matt walked out of the room, he returns and as if lighting strikes he announces “We are shipping the boat back to Mexico”… I feel a blow of fresh air! A decision has been made, we are committing with something already known, we will go back to La Paz and sail what is left to see of the Sea of Cortez. My heart aches with feelings of disappointment, I was really looking forward to crossing the Panama Canal, explore the San Blas Islands and Bocas del Toro in Panama, but at the same time I don’t want to push against reality and reason.

Reality

• I have to be back in the US no later then December 15th to retain my residence status.

• The best time to sail back to the US is in November, no earlier due to hurricane season. We will need more than a month to take it back to Texas. (Where we had planned to take it)

• Bringing the boat to San Carlos in the Sea of Cortez is the closest point to our house in the US.

• The Sea of Cortez has so much to offer, It is a sailors paradise!

• The rolly anchorages and rain make the water muddy and un swimmable, because you never know where the crocodiles are, not to mention the unstoppable mildew.

• The money… is not growing on trees? Although I am still searching and Matt continues to looks under our saloon cushions for coins.

Reason

• Sailing across Panama will put us in a completely new adventure… I am adventured out… well… not really.. Its just a consolation!

• We don’t have the time to sail at the right time comfortably and peacefully up the Caribbean.

• It will be easier to take care and manage the boat affairs if it is in San Carlos. In Texas we will expose her to hurricanes and oil spills. In Texas we will probably see her very little.

• I do want to see the Sea and sell sea shells…with Sally sailing.. haha. I want to explore it and maybe run into our friends who found refuge there this season.

• I want to be in a drier climate, I want my hair to be straight… (did I say that loud? How vain!) and I want to stop this acne that I am experiencing in this weather… or is it a late manifestation of adolescence? I want my clothes to stop smelling like my great aunt’s closet. I want the books, the wood, the clothing, the bags, the food and who knows what else to STOP GROWING MILDEW!!

 Sooo, YachtPath is scheduled to take our boat to La Paz, Mexico on September 15th, we will sail to Golfito where the boat must be loaded, we will try to get an extension from Customs officials to wait until then (our visas and permits expire on August the 19th). We will fly to Cabo San Lucas, take a bus to La Paz and just wait there until November to sail up the sea, in the mean time we will stuff ourselves with, La Paz’s bacon wrapped hotdogs, ice creams at La Fuente, Tostilocos, tostielotes… etc, etc, etc.

Trip to Sarchi

Darn! Darn! I should have taken the long way!, I tell myself as I start to feel in trouble. The girls and I are standing on the freeway, trying to flag a bus down to get back to Puntarenas, after an exploratory trip to a different town, many of them have gone by with no intention to stop, it has been 1 hour and the rain is getting stronger, we have two flimsy umbrellas, the girls are sharing one and I am sharing mine with a local lady about 3 times my size who was also waiting for the same bus. The umbrella was enough to cover half of her and my backpack with my camera in it. It’s getting dark and I am truly worried, 30 more minutes of it and I would have dropped a thousand tears.

This all happened after visiting the town of Sarchi; where they elaborate the famous Costa Rican Oxcarts, carts that were used to transport the coffee in the old days and today is used to rip off the tourists. I was told it was easy to get to.. (easy my a…rm!!) and worth the visit. I must have done something wrong because it was a 4 bus ride to it, not that easy in my standards, and once there I found very little to see, except a giant oxcart in the middle of town. After our unsuccessful search for excitement, we were at the bus stop to take the first bus home when someone made the suggestion to go directly to the freeway in a taxi and catch the bus to Puntarenas directly. What a deal! I was saving time and money… WRONG!!