Costa Rica

A Yacht hauling cargo ship loading in Golfito destined for Florida

Golfito

Southwestern Costa Rica with Punta Blasa and
Isla de Burica in the background

On the morning of May 7^th, 2013, after raising our anchor at Punta Balsa, just a few miles away, we rounded the westernmost point of Panama, Isla de Burica, and turned north toward Golfito, Costa Rica.  The seas were flat calm with only the slightest swell and in spite of the slight southerly current we made good time up the coast and into the Bahia Dolce (Sweet Bay).  We pulled into the Golfito harbor and were greeted on the radio by Bruce Blevins, a friend of our Panama agent, Pete.  Bruce popped out in a launch to help guide us to the Fishhook Marina.  By 3 PM we were tied to a nice floating dock at the marina and Bruce was on hand to assist us with the paperwork clearing into the country.

The fish that helped revive Golfito

Formerly from Florida, Bruce is now an agent and broker in the area.  He assists owners in shipping their boats to and from the east coast (there was a yacht transport ship in port as we cruised in and Bruce was busy supervising the loading of yachts destined for Florida).  It seems that to save the time, expense, and wear and tear on their yachts, (most we observed were large sport-fisher style) owners will ship them back and forth for the fantastic fishing seasons in both Costa Rica and Florida.  We had earlier considered just such an option for Arrluk, but discarded it as too costly.

Sail Harbor has modest, but high quality docks

Bruce and I prepared some clearance paperwork and then he and I jumped in his jeep and made the short trip to immigration, Customs (Aduana) and the Port Captain’s office.  By 5 PM we were legally in the country and had our all important temporary importation permit (Customs), our visas (immigration) and our domestic Zarpe (travel/cruising permit).  With the formalities out of the way we sat in the beautiful open air dining room/bar watching the daily afternoon thunderstorm heading in and enjoyed a nice dinner and cold beverages.  Golfito is a large sport fishing community and frequently hosts English speaking customers, so most of the staff spoke English and all of them were exceptionally helpful.  A significant number of English speaking ex-pat’s also live in the area, so there is a small subculture of them and even their own Gringo Bar, Latitude 8 (ocho), downtown.

Looking north from the marina, Golfito is stretched along the
shore with steep mountains to the east.

As we had completed our final preparations in Panama for our departure to Costa Rica, we had determined our anchor and aft navigation lights no longer worked.  I made it my goal in Golfito to find replacement bulbs.  In Golfito, Matthew scaled the mast and removed the bad anchor light, so we knew what kind we needed, and the aft light was a standard navigation bulb.  While there we went to every ‘marine’ store (one – mostly fishing gear), auto parts (two) and hardware store (two) we were unable to find any replacement bulbs in town.  Finally, I ordered some nice LED replacements online from the US and made arrangements to have them priority shipped to Los Suenos Marina, one of our next planned stops.

The Marina's outdoor restaurant/bar was dark and relatively cool

Upon arrival I’d mentioned to Bruce that I needed to have our canvas zippers replaced and he recommended a local Ex-Pat who was the local canvas maker.  I was impressed with the work I saw on several of the local boats who sported his Biminis (shade covers) and other canvas covers so I asked Bruce to have him stop by the boat.  The next day he did, and the day after that Arrluk sported shiny new aluminum canvas track (which I installed) and brand new zippers on our aft canvas screens.  As the bugs were fierce in the evenings, this was a very welcome repair.

Arrluk sporting her new zippers - nearly bug free now

We made several trips into downtown Golfito, the first by taxi all the rest by foot, to buy groceries and chase our parts.  The town is stretched along the bay at the bottom of a steep rain-forested mountain.  Originally built by a fruit company as a major shipping port for Bananas, for many years the community prospered as a “company town” supporting the industry.  With changes in the Banana market, much as we’d seen in Jamaica, in the mid 1980s the company pulled out and transferred all their land to the Costa Rican government.  The town fell upon hard economic times.  A small duty free area was formed which helped somewhat, and the community turned to fishing to help it recover.  Now a major sport fishing area, as well as an active commercial fishing community, Golfito is recovering and doing much better economically.  One thing we did note in our shopping trips was that costs rivaled those in the US for food, services and fuel, and each bore a significant sales tax.  Locals advised us that Costa Rica was the most expensive of the Central American countries and to wait to do any significant re-provisioning until we could get to the small nearby Panamanian border town, where everything was less expensive.

The main highway into downtown Golfito.  It was always busy with bikes,
buses and taxies

Bruce also introduced us to Chris, another American from Florida who married a local girl and is now raising his family in Golfito.  Chris now acts as a tour guide and driver for those in need.  On Monday, May 13^th, we hitched a 90 minute ride with Chris on his weekly trip to Capacho, Panama, just across the border.  There, we visited a large grocery store, beverage dispensary (soda shop for case lots) and liquor store for very inexpensive beer and booze (1.5 L bottle of Rum for $7, as an example).   Several hundred dollars poorer and several hundred pounds of provisions later we were soon back in Golfito.  Chris proved to be knowledgeable about the country and the area, and we learned a great deal about Costa Rica, its people and their culture, and the Golfito region from him during our trip.

We hoped to leave early on the morning of May 14^th and continue our journey north, but by the time we’d received our necessary Zarpe to travel to our next port (Playa del Coco via Los Suenos) and refueled at the town fuel dock it was nearly 11 AM before we headed out of the harbor and back south out of Gulfo Dolce into the open Pacific Ocean.

On the Road Again

Our next stop, 62 cruising miles but only 25 miles due west of Golfito, Bahia Drakka (Drake Bay), was much touted by those in Golfito as a must-see anchorage.  Named after Sir Francis Drake, for which local lore has anchoring here to re-provision and re-calk his wooden ship in the 1600s, Drake bay is a sheltered bay with a deep approach.  The later we were thankful for as our late departure now had us arriving well after dark.

Bahia Drake still sported ominous storm clouds the early morning of our departure

We enjoyed an uneventful trip on calm, nearly flat, seas. As the sun set on us, cruising north along the coast, we were treated to a fantastic sight; bioluminescence within the sea.  As the sky was cloudy from the looming evening thunderstorm, and there was no moon, it was very dark; yet the sea was alive with light.  Every little whitecap and our bow and stern wakes glowed brightly in the night with light generated by the disturbed plankton within the waters.  As though not quite enough to compensate us for having to travel in the dark, we were soon visited by a small pod of dolphin, all glowing from nose to tail as they sped through the water at our bow disturbing the same plankton.  You could clearly see the dolphin and all their markings.  Ghostly and iridescent, the scene was wondrous and while not photographable, will remain etched in our memories.

Bahia Drake proved to be a slight challenge to anchor safely in, primarily due to all of the other boats already there, none of which shone a single light.  Thank god for radar and depth sounders, as we would have had a very difficult time without both.  By 8 PM we were safely anchored, and just in time, as the storm blew in with a fury, and the rain came in torrents.  Did I mention that all the reviews of Drake Bay were that it was gorgeous but VERY rainy ;-)

Punta Quepos

We awoke to a gorgeous little bay, occupied by small local boats anchored or moored around us.  It was odd that the night before, these little boats looked huge on the radar!  After a few obligatory morning photographs, we set out for our next planned stop, Punta Quepos.
 Again blessed by wonderful cruising weather, we arrived early at Punta Quepos, just south of the town of Quepos, to find a nearly deserted anchorage.  This was likely due to less than sterling ratings in the guidebooks for the site due to its exposure to the west and potential winds and swells from that direction.

What a storm does when you're at Anchor.
Our overnight "track"

As the afternoon thunderstorm threatened and winds picked up we dropped anchor, and let out a lot of rode (chain) to make sure we didn’t get blown off our anchorage.  This proved to be a good choice, as darkness fell and the storm hit we experience brief 35 Kt winds coming from shore (east), along with furious rain for several hours.  I left our chart plotter’s anchor alarm and my iPhone anchor alarm both set just in case, as we retired for the evening, rocking gently from the swells and the wind.

Numerous nighttime anchor checks proved for a somewhat sleepless night, but morning found us still well anchored.  Our chart plotter documented the effects of the storm, tides and current on our position relative to the probable anchor location throughout the evening.  We’d done a lot of swinging around during the night!  We set out for Los Suenos Marina at just after 7 AM.

Los Suenos, CR

Arrluk's crew getting some exercise with Los Suenos
Resort in the background

Yet again blessed by a wonderful Pacific cruising day, but faced with a much stronger southerly current we motored along bouncing from 5.5 to 6.5 knots and entered the large bay where Los Suenos is located right on schedule.  The marina is located at the northernmost corner of the bay with an entrance to the south that is not immediately apparent until final approach.  The large marina stands out at the base of a hill occupied by large condos and fancy development style homes.  Before working our way into a slip, we topped off our fuel, during which the fuel dock guys were extremely attentive to assure there were no spills.  They explained that the government allowed the development on the condition that they run a very eco-friendly operation … a besides, the boss was up on the breakwater watching what was going on in the marina ;-)

Many boats, mostly locals, elected to anchor outside the Marina

The marina, in spite of its impressive breakwater and narrow entrance deep into the bay had a surprising amount of tidal current and swell in it.  After a couple of attempts to back into my assigned slip, assuring I didn’t bump any of the multi-million dollar boats nearby, I gave up and we nosed ourselves in bow first.

Affiliated with Marriot resorts, Los Suenos is a large development selling condos, homes and (probably) time shares.  The whole campus, which has a Marriot hotel in addition to the multiple little subdivisions, a golf course and apartment style homes must be several square miles.  As we walked much of it one hot afternoon, I can attest that it is huge! 

Matthew up the Mast

The marina sports multiple awards as the marina from which many of the “Billfish Champions” originate.  Fishing for Marlin is very big business, as evidenced by several hundred multi-million dollar sportfishing boats berthed here.  Each of the boats seemed to have at least one, if not several workers who worked on them each morning wiping them down with chamois and washing everything to keep it shiny and clean.  We were only one of three yacht style boats along with three sailboats in the marina, the rest were all sport fishing boats.  Notwithstanding our minority status, marina staff treated us very well and were extremely accommodating, even helping us track down our package and getting it delivered … three days later. 

A variety of wildlife enjoyed the resort as well as
the tourists and residents

 Our intended overnight stay in Los Suenos was extended to three nights.  It seemed that in spite of my phone call and e-mail messages to the marina to get registered and verify a shipping address, our package showed up the day before we did and they couldn’t find our name in the list of boats/guests, so they refused it.  By the time we understood this, the package had already been sent back to the big city San Pablo.  Getting it scheduled for re-delivery through FedEx was a challenge.  Fortunately, marina staff were familiar with the local (in Costa Rica) delivery service and called them directly to get it scheduled for a Saturday re-delivery.  Otherwise, through FedEx, the package wasn’t going to be delivered until Monday.  Making lemonade out of our lemons, we enjoyed one nice dinner out, walked into the older part of town, and frequented the very well equipped marine supply store.  Otherwise, we greatly enjoyed the dock time with the associated electricity and air conditioning. 

Captain Bob up the Mast

Floating Dock, Floating Boat, swell activity do not equal
good nighttime photography

Our package finally arrived Saturday morning and I set to work getting the new lights installed and checked.  I even went up the mast myself to install the anchor light.  While getting me up there with the boom hoist proved easy for the rest of the crew, I underestimated the impact of a rope on my butt and ended up with a couple of unmentionable bruises; I think the kid will go up next time.  I’d also purchased on sale in the local marine store a pair of electricity saving, LED spreader (flood) lights to replace the high energy-consuming halogen ones over our boat deck.  The old ones used so much juice that we seldom, if ever, used them. 
Overall, I was pleased with the result of all the lights.  Everything was installed by mid afternoon, and after checking our cruising plan, we elected to stay the evening and leave early the next morning for our intended anchorage at Bahia Carrilo, about 60 miles up the coast, northwest.

The Final Legs

Yet another great day for cruising greeted us as we made our way up the lush jungle covered Costa Rican coast which grew even steeper and rockier the further north we went.  The wind picked up in the afternoon, as the traditional afternoon shower prepared itself.  Bahia Carrilo was described in the guides as a small anchorage.  When we arrived that afternoon we found that it was not only small and surrounded with rocks, but it was also full of local pangas and small sport fising boats on moorings.  We took a good look at our prospects and quickly turned around for the next anchorage, Bahia Samara, described as having plenty of room, just a couple of miles further up the coast.

This tiny little lighthouse outpost must sure be lonely. 

Bahia Samara was an anchorage that required great attention to enter as the wide beach and open areas were full of charted rocks and bars.  Nevertheless, by 5 PM we were anchored 150 yards off shore in 12 feet of water and got a good set on our anchor before the storm hit for the evening.  In spite of the location appearing to be fully exposed to the south and west, large rocks protected us from nearly all of the ocean swells, so we spent a quiet night.

On May 20^th, 2013 at about 6:45 AM we set out for our final Costa Rican ‘port’: Playa del Coco. There we intended to clear out of the country with officials.  Another uneventful and smooth cruising day greeted us.  All the while we were carefully watching the storm forecast that showed bad weather on our intended path at the end of the week.  Our plan was to clear out of Costa Rica as expeditiously as possible then head straight for El Salvador, skipping the coast hugging route through Nicaragua and Honduras so we could be in a safe and secure location before the storm hit on Friday evening or Saturday morning.

Playa del Coco

We arrived in the large Playa Del Coco bay and puttered about for a while looking for a suitable anchorage among the many boats moored in the harbor.  With no marina or even dock in the community, every boat seemed to be on a mooring ball and they were closely packed in the areas with the best anchoring depth.  We ended up moving to the south end of the bay, near mostly moored fishing boats, nearly all with no one aboard.

At about 5 PM, after a day’s journey of 63 miles we dropped the hook in about 30 feet of water and let out as much rode as we dared with the other boats moored nearby.  We were going to swing with the wind and tides, they would only move around on the secure moorings.

We were immediately struck by the stark difference in this region of Costa Rica.  The vegetation was brown and, while still covered with trees, the hills around the town were not the lush green jungle we’d seen in our entire Costa Rican cruise, even only 63 miles south at Bahia Samara.  This northern region of the country is closer to the Caribbean and is famous for the Papagayo winds that can quickly develop and sweep across the land and out across the Papagayo gulf, just to our northwest.  The town itself is very tourist oriented, and filled with bars, restaurants, hotels and shops selling souvenirs and other locally made products.  Many people spoke English, and we observed more tourists than on prior stops.

Hitting the Beach at Playa del Coco

On May 21^st, the morning after our arrival, we gained a whole new perspective on what is involved in a "beach landing" and the requisite relaunches.  With no docks, just a beautiful crescent shaped beach, everything must go in and out through the 'surf'.  Unlike our previous beach landing in the Bahamas on nice island beaches, this place had rollers coming in.  Fortunately these were not the big rolling breakers we were used to in the open ocean, but still, in our little dingy, it made things a challenge ... and pretty darn wet.

Kathy, Arrluk’s first mate, and I made the run first thing in the morning, checking in with the Port Captain's office to get the low-down on the process: We had to go to the bank and deposit the $20 Zarpe fee into their account and get a receipt, then clear out with immigration, then get our export permit for the boat from customs, then return to the port Captain’s office before 3 PM to get our international Zarpe issued.
We then went back to the beach and found that some kind hearted and strong souls had hauled the dingy up above the incoming tide and tied it to a tree for us.  No one was around to thank so we spent 20 minutes dragging it back down to the water and provided additional entertainment for the locals as we boarded and I rowed out far enough to get past the rollers, lower and start the engine and get us going again to pick up the kids (I mean, ‘the rest of the crew’).
Immigration went ok as the agent there spoke pretty good English, but made us do one piece of paperwork three times until it was absolutely perfect and legible.  I guess he just couldn't read my handwriting, so he laboriously copied it over again until he made a mistake, so Kathy finally did it.  They allow no initialed changes, as we are accustomed to in the US.  Unlike when we checked into the country and I did all of the paperwork, Here they would not allow us to process the kids out without seeing them in person.  After our first beach landing we were none to happy about it, as we were just beginning to dry out.  The bank took an hour of waiting in line, then filling out yet another form, then another line to finally hand them a $20 bill and get a slip of paper.

An hour later, after dealing with passive-aggressive resistance to leaving their games and the comfort of the boat we again made an assault on the beach, only this time with 5 aboard instead of two, and at a little better spot with less abrupt rollers.  We got wet, of course, but with the extra hands had an easier time finding our own tree and dragging her up out of danger.

We then discovered Matt, the youngest of our crew, had left his shoes on the boat so off to a nearby shop for some $5 flip-flops, then back to immigration, where everything was all ready for us.

Unfortunately, customs was out at the airport, so we hailed a local, unsanctioned but cheaper, cab and traveled 30 minutes there for a 5 minute process, then back again.  Finally, about 1 PM we presented ourselves back at the port captain's office with all necessary documents, papers and receipts. .It took them 40 minutes to type up a single page "International Zarpe" (travel clearance), but we finally got out of there with what we had come for.  It may seem like a real pain, but without that document we would most likely be denied entry into our next country.

By 2 PM we were safely sitting in a local cafe getting some rehydration and a last honest to goodness Costa Rican meal.  Kathy and I shared a pizza and the kids had burgers ;-).

Playa del Coco was quite a little town and I think we would have loved to stay longer.  Other than the lack of any boating facilities, we liked it much more than our previous stops.  We even supported the local economy and bought a beautiful and colorful hammock to hang on Arrluk’s back deck in which to take a siesta now and then.

Following our rehydration and meal, documents in hand, we assaulted the beach again.  Sure wish I could have had a video of that launch!  Needless to say, we arrived back at the boat with 5 wet passengers, a dingy half full of water and sand, and passengers a bit on the cranky side.

After showers and fresh clothes all around; gear stowed for the morning’s early departure; generator recharging batteries; AC running because it started raining sideways and we had to close all the windows (the genset was running anyway); and laundry going to deal with all the soaked sandy clothing; we all felt much better and were looking forward to an early evening to ease the pain of a 5 AM departure.

Based on course, distance and projected speed, and our need to be at the river entrance to our intended marina at nearly high tide on Thursday afternoon, we had to leave Playa del Coco as early as possible in the morning.  Ideally, we'd leave earlier than 5 AM, but as no one in Costa Rica believes in using lights on their boats we would sure hate to take out one of the locals before first light.  From the puttering of their outboards, it seems the fishermen are out at all hours but we sure couldn't see them!

The Trip Continues

On May 22^nd, 2013, 5:15 AM, we were on our way: 225 miles straight, with no turns, to Puerto Barillas, in southern El Salvador.  The storm was still forecast to arrive in northern Costa Rica on Friday and sweep north up the coast.  Our plotted course had us arriving at the entrance to harbor in the early afternoon of Thursday so we could catch the tide and beat the storm.  Puerto Barillas itself, is a 10 mile, pilot guided, trip up into the Jaquilisco bay to a sheltered estuary where the marina is located well inland from the sea.