Costa Rica - Golfito to Bahia Santa Elena

We departed Golfito on Wednesday, the 19th. We had an outgoing tide, so we were nicely flushed southbound toward Cabo Matapalo, rounding the peninsula to anchor in Bahia Drake.  This is a pretty part of the world.  We had been there, on land in 2009 and I was up for going ashore to explore again, but Barb wasn't in favor of that and the anchorage was rolly, so we pushed on the next morning making Manuel Antonio anchoring in Costa Rica's smallest National Park, just off Playa Espadilla Sur.

Manuel Antonio sunset

 I had thought of a fix for the gear shift on the Tohatsu engine and I took the remainder of the afternoon to work on that.  The next morning I put the dinghy in the water with the Tohatsu engine and found that my fix sort of worked, but not well enough to be reliable.  A small Channel Lock pliers worked as well as anything I had tried so far so I rigged a lanyard for them and tied it to the motor so as we landed in the surf, I wouldn't lose the pliers.  We put ashore on the beach and dragged the dinghy farther up past the high water line and locked it to a tree.  A ranger appeared and with the help of a tour guide as interpreter told us we had to pay for the park and the anchorage.  We knew that was going to be the case and we were prepared for it.  We walked out of the park and into Manuel Antonio and found the Italian Restaruant that Barb liked so much years ago and had lunch.  Then we walked to the park entrance, bought our tickets and paid for anchoring.  With receipts and stubs in hand we toured the park.  The tour guide that helped the ranger was leading another tour and even though we were not part of a tour he would grab Barb's elbow and told her to look in his spotting scope to see the sloths, the monkeys and the birds.  I looked too.  Nice guy!  I didn't know if what we paid for anchoring ($8) was a permit for one night or for forever, but the weekend was upon us and we had heard that there was a sweet cove just beyond Punto Quepos that would be quiet.  We made our way slowly in between several reefs and found a very good spot in which to anchor using the hand held depth sounder.  Several tour boats took their moorings near the reefs and hoards of snorkelers took to the water.  Before sunset they all left and we had the place to ourselves.

Conditions were good the next morning and we thought that we could make Bahia Bellina, crossing Golfo de Nicoya if we felt comfortable.  The wind was good and we got into Bahia Bellina with no trouble, but found that the north anchorage we hoped to use was occupied by another boat and he was rocking enough to convince us to try the south anchorage.  It was calmer, but also close to the village of Tambor where the fishermen were returning with their catch - not exactly quiet.  Their dock had been partially destroyed and there was no way we were going to try bringing our dinghy near the rough concrete.  We elected to just stay aboard.  During the night the wind shifted and increased in strength and the anchorage became very rolly.  We were happy to pull up the anchor and get on our way with a brisk, following wind toward Cabo Blanco.  Upon rounding the point, the wind was now too close on our nose and the current was against us a well.  Fondly remembering the good luck we had had crossing Golfo de Nicoya on Saturday, I decided that we deserved a little bit of humbling as we turned on the engine and motored to Bahia Samara.  We sounded our way and used the cruising guide waypoints to a great anchorage behind a huge rock, Isla Chora.  This time we thought we might experiment with a stern anchor as suggested in the guide book and deployed the eighteen-lb Danforth anchor we had extracted from mud with our own anchor as we left the anchorage off the Naval Academy in 2006 in Annapolis.  We went ashore the next morning, tied our dinghy to a motorless panga that looked like it wasn't going anywhere soon and took the channel lock pliers with me.  We walked the long beach, found a reasonable place for lunch, got a few groceries and fresh vegetables and hiked back to the dinghy.  We timed the surf badly and got a little wet returning to the boat, but all was well.  I had a devil of a time pulling up the Danforth anchor the next morning as it must have been seeking a short route to China over the last day and a half.  Finally, it let go and we began to make our way north again toward our next hurdle Golfo del Papagayo. 

The conditions were such that we mostly motored and we spotted the town of Playa del Coco, where we would clear out of Costa Rica, but we also wanted to get fuel at the Marina Papagayo.  We crossed the mouth of Bahia de Culebra where the marina is located and settled into a sweet little cove off
Playa Pan Azucar on Christmas Day.  This was a good settled anchorage.  The next day we motored up the Bahia de Culebra to the marina took on fuel and met the crews of a few boats with whom we had talked on the radio, Gosling, Nauti-Nauti, and August Moon.  They were headed south so we traded information, charts and I gave Gosling our Colombian courtesy flag.  After a pretty good lunch we left for the anchorage off Playa del Coco.  We got there and lowered the dinghy to explore, but determined that landing in the surf would have been tricky.  I decided I would try tomorrow to hail what I thought was a water taxi.  I raised the dinghy and secured it.

The next day I hailed and hailed, whistled and honked as the "water taxi" made several trips from the beach to various fishing boats and a large tour boat and back, but not to us.  Finally, the fellows approached our boat and we asked to be taken to shore.  We were helped aboard and when we asked what the fee was, one of the men said that we would have to speak to Mario.  Okay, we would find Mario.  We found Mario on a path on his cell phone and he was looking for us.  He said that this was not a water taxi, but he would accept $15 for the ride we already took and assured us we could get a return trip later in the day at no additional charge.  Okay,  I'm sure he was violating some rule of commerce, but it worked for us both.  Following Mario's directions, we found the Capitanaria easily enough.  She handed us forms to fill out and filled out some herself.  Barb hoped that the check out procedure would only involve the Port Captain, but no.  Next stop Immigration, several blocks away on foot.  We stopped in a copy center to get a few copies of our National Zarpe from Golfito in case anyone needed one.  Almost to the Immigration office, Barb exclaims "Our bag, our black and white refrigerator bag!"  Forgotten, but where?  She went back to the copy shop, but signaled no luck, so I went back to the Port Captain's office and she greeted me with a smile and got the bag off a shelf.  I said,"Gracias, haste luego." On to the Immigration office.  The officer there was very deliberate (officialspeak for slow) but we struggled through the process.  Next stop, the bank, to pay our exit fee and receive a receipt to show the Port Captain.  Next stop Aduana, a bus ride to just beyond the airport.  We had no clue that the airport was about an hour away by bus, a pretty fast bus at that.  We were let off right in front of the Customs office, went in, stamp stamp then, examining the customs declaration we brought with us from Golfito, she said that it was a copy and not an original. The process seemed to come to a screeching halt. I said that it was all we had - now what?  She vacillated a bit, but then shrugged and with one last stamp we were on our way.  Well, we were out of her office back on the highway anyway.  An hour bus ride, a five minute visit and now to get back. After ten minutes, one bus for Playa del Coco went flying by even as we wildly waved to the driver who was looking down at the moment as he tailgated the semi-truck in front of him.  Deciding that this was not the best bus stop, we walked (hot sun, whizzing traffic, one kilometer) to the bus stop opposite the car rental lot near the airport.  I crossed the street and asked the attendant if the bus to Playa del Coco would stop there.  He looked at his phone and excitedly said cinqo minutos mas (5 minutes more) and gestured that we would need to wave the bus down.  About forty five minutes later we saw the bus, stopped the bus and were able to board the bus.  In Playa del Coco everyone got out (end of the line) and Barb went to the grocery store while I hoofed to the Port Captain with our bank receipt.  She asked for our Crew List that would serve as our International Zarpe.  I whipped one out of my packet and she said no, the stamped one from Immigration.  I did not recollect such a form.  She got on the phone and called the Immigration office.  She said that he had forgotten to give it to me and that I would need to go back there and get it.  I said, if my wife comes to the office she should rest there in the air conditioning.  Hasta luego.  Returning, finally, we got our paperwork done, had our stamped and paid for International Zarpe in hand and the Port Captain pointed out the line that said the Vessel Clearance was "valid only for the day you get it and the international vessel departure permit expires 12 hours after it is issued, therefore we recommend that you obtain these documents on the same day that you will truly leave Costa Rica."  RIGHT!  A sailboat could reach the border of Nicaragua 55 miles away in 12 hours in ideal conditions, but we weren't!  "The Papagayo winds were blowing too hard."  "We were sick." "We had no depth sounder - equipment failure."  It was 1:30 in the afternoon and a we were hungry.  We went to a restaurant and had a nice meal.  On the beach, we loaded into Mario's newly established water taxi service and returned to the boat, pulled the anchor and left the country - so to speak. 

We went around Punta Mala to a wonderful, quiet, calm anchorage, Bahia Huevos (almost out of the country?  Not yet.) 

Bahia Huevos sunset

The morning of the 28th, following a wonderfully quiet night, we knew that the Papagayo winds were forecasted to pick up, but I wanted to dash around Cabo Santa Elena, a notoriously tough stretch of water and make it into Bahia Santa Elena, a famously wonderful sanctuary if we were going to be blasted.  We motored out of calm Bahia Huevos and the wind began to pipe up.  We sailed with staysail reefed jib and reefed main past Islas Murcielagos and Isla Pelada as the chop began to build a little.

 The wind was actually forecasted to diminish a little around noon and I thought that we could hang out near Key Point anchorage until then.  We hauled in sails and approached the anchorage - without our depth sounder - and I chickened out - Errr, I used discretion.  I reasoned that if we just drifted with the wind at our back without sails we would reach the point by noon, poke our nose around the corner of Punta Santa Elena and then decide to proceed the remaining 12nm or not.  Without motor or sails we were still doing 3kts and got to the point faster than I expected, but we poked our nose out anyway.  We turned the corner and stayed close to the shore, it being charted as very deep water until Punta Blanca where it was charted as 11ft.  There we went wide around the point and it got choppy, as in water-over-the-bow choppy.  I guess that those would be waves. At one point our anemometer recorded 44.1kts of apparent wind and considering we were headed into it at between 2-3 knots that was still really very windy, but I wasn't watching that instrument, only the seas, which really weren't bad, considering. After we cleared Punta Blanca the going got a little smoother and we changed course a little toward land again to better handle the seas.  It was then that we spotted two whales about 100ft from the boat, between the boat and the shore.  Very, cool.  Conditions got better and better and we motored easily into Bahia Santa Elena, choosing a spot to anchor at about 2:30pm.  Another hurdle cleared.

For the next three days the Papagayo wind blew, 34kts on Saturday, 36kts on Sunday, but the boat did not rock at all on the quiet waters within the protected bay.  The boat sailed on the anchor chain in the wind, but we slept well because we felt no motion and became accustomed to the sounds of the wind in the rigging and the trees on shore along with the cries of the sea birds, parrots and howls of the monkeys.

Instruments showing over 30 knots and hardly a ripple on the water (and the DDDS showing nada)

We passed two days aboard reading, doing sudoku, watching the frigate birds, pelicans and hawks soaring on the thermals.  On New Year's Eve, the wind was moderate in the bay.  We knew there was a waterfall described in the cruising guide and we set out to find it.  With bathing suits on we launched the dinghy and made land fall on the other side of the bay on a dark sand beach.  This was still Costa Rica, remember.  We locked the dinghy to a tree and taking our hand held GPS found the creek that would lead us to the waterfall.  There was no trail along the creek!  We rock and boulder hopped and waded the creek several times until, at long last, came to the waterfall with its clear pool.

 We enjoyed the fresh water soak for an hour and then headed back the way we had come.  The tide had risen while we were gone so dragging the dinghy back to the water was only a matter of a few feet.  We motored the length of the bay to investigate conditions outside and the whitecaps told the story.  It was still pretty windy and rough while we were snug inside Bahia Santa Elena.

Happy New Year!  We are headed out of Costa Rica aiming north and west hoping to clear the Papagayo winds of Nicaragua while they are weakening in the next few days.