By the time I got my work done and the mess cleaned up the rain had started. I don't think I mentioned that it had also rained yesterday, but it did. I think the "Rainy season" is upon us. In the mornings the clouds are low and soft, hanging on the hills. Then, as the sun warms the land, the cumulus clouds build up, their white crowns towering high in the sky but dark below, and decorated with lightning. The rumble of thunder goes on continually. Then will come the rain, sometimes gently, sometimes in a torrent, driven by the wind. It's so warm that we hate to close the hatches and doors, so when it starts to rain we run around shutting things up, then opening them again the moment it stops. I'm used to the thunderstorms of the northwest, but they come quickly and then are gone; here they seem to be always on the horizon.
One way of getting out of the rain is to get into the water, so that's what we did. Took the Metz over to the beach, this time anchoring it out where, if the kids did get to it they at least would have clean feet, and swam in. We walked down the beach to the east end, meeting and talking with several people on the way. One man in particular, a chemist from San Jose here for the weekend with his family, spoke English and was very helpful, telling us of several places to the south which he thought we'd enjoy. At the far end of the beach is a reef and a lagoon. While Lois stayed on the beach looking for shells, I went wandering off along the edge of the lagoon which was almost dry. There under the trees were thousands of what I's guess you'd call land crabs, little critters about three inches across with one bright red claw who dig their holes in the mud. I can't imagine what kind of food would support so many of them in such a small area. I didn't stay long to investigate though; there were also a large number of famished mosquitoes who considered my warm body a fine feast!
We hiked the beach in the other direction as far as the cantina where we had a cerveza. It was pretty quiet today with only a few fishermen there; I guess Saturday is their big day. By the time we got back to the boat the wind was blowing a brisk breeze out of the west and Sailorr had already moved out, so we hauled up and ran across to Nacascola on the north side. Our chemist friend told us that the two story house there belongs to a religious mission of some faith, and that it is only used intermittantly for a few months at a time. By the time we got there Margorie Grace had showed up, and Felix and Seabiscuit were anchored in the next little cove to the west. I guess Coco is almost deserted now. We anchored, then I took a nap while Lois read her book. Later, I went out and did a bit of snorkling on the rocks didn't find anything eatable, but saw swarms of little fish and a few turtles who wouldn't let me get close enough for a good look.
Early this morning I took a little walk back into the woods behind the house with the blue cross on it. There is a good trail there with a sturdy foot bridge across the lagoon made by sawing big hardwood trees in half and setting the half logs on big concrete piers. Lots more of the land crabs, these with blue backs, red legs, yellow eyes, and one big white pincher. I was hoping that the trail would lead across the isthmus to Huevos bay on the other side; but instead it led to some small farms set back in the forest. I thought that there seemed to be an awfull lot of people going into the other house on the beach; now I realize that they were just passing through on their way home. The farms are strictly subsistance type, but there are fences, and pigs, and lots of chickens, and some small banana groves, and some coconuts,and even a horse or two. Eveidently, they are the homes of some of the fishermen we've seen and talked to. I again got turned back by mosquitoes before I could do much exploring it's amazing that we have had so little trouble with them on the boat.
After breakfast we took a tour of the parts of Bahia Culebra which we hadn't seen. It's a big bay, maybe ten miles around the perimeter, with at least three major watersheds and lots of coves and beaches along the shore. We'd been to Panama beach on the south, and Nacascola on the north where we are now, plus two more on the north side of the entrance. This morning we took the Metz around the east side, or the head, of the bay from Nacascola to Panama. There are at least three big ranches along the shore of the inner bay. One has a big, modern, ranch style house sitting high on a hill overlooking the bay and the valley in which we could see papayas, mango, and coconut trees. Another large, modern, recently painted house stands on the shore in front of a huge plantation of coconut palms. The third ranch lies behind a public beach which we'd been told was one of the nicest, even though it was very hard to find. I can believe that! We stopped there, anchoring the Metz and swimming in through the surf. To get there from the shore you'd have to navigate several miles of unmarked dirt road, and then go through the ranch to the beach; but once there, you'd have three nice camping sites under huge spreading trees and a beautiful black sand beach on which to play. The black sand comes from the volcanic rock which composes most of this country, but it's just as soft and clean as the white. This was the cleanest beach we'd seen, possibly because it's so hard to get to.
We continued our tour around the bay, stopping once on a reef to look for fish lots of little ones but nothing big enough to shoot then splashing our way back across the bay as the wind picked up. When we got back I spent a couple of hours "mowing the lawn", first with Lois holding the Metz while I used the scraper and scrubber on the waterline, then with the mask and snorkle scraping growth off the hull.
In the afternoon we went to a birthday party for eight year old Lili on Seabiscuit. That was kind of fun! The party was held on the beach just after the afternoon rain and Mary and Dina had fixed up a pinata for the kids Lili, her brother Ben (10), and Luke, Mary's son (9) which they took turns whacking with a stick. Then they had a treasure hunt, with a genuine treasure map, and cake, and presents, and all. We sat around talking on the beach until almost dark.
Another popcorn and movie night with Sailorr and Margorie Grace. This time we watched "The Man with One Red Shoe", a spy spoof which was very funny. I guess that once in a great while the movie makers can still come up with one that is just good clean fun.
We were just sitting down to breakfast when we had visitors. A very nice lady, her daughter, and three sons stopped by on their way to the fishing hole. They were in a brand new, still unfinished boat which I'll call a panga for lack of a better name. It's a far cry from the fiberglass Mexican pangas we know so well, being made of hand hewn planks and beams. It was almost finished with one coat of paint and a few seams needing a bit more caulking, but it looked sturdy enough to carry the family! The kid's ages ranged from about five to twelve or thirteen. The girl and the oldest boy provided propulsion with a pair of hand carved paddles. They had a jar full of hermit crabs for bait, a few hooks, and a couple of rolls of nylon monofilament line. We talked for a bit, then they went over to the reef about a quarter of a mile away, anchored the boat, and began fishing.
A couple of hours later they came back and stopped again, this time asking for water It was a very hot morning with almost no wind. We gave them a big pitcher full, then the lady asked if we had a "brocha". I was doing working on the cap rail, sanding and oiling it, so I misunderstood her, nodding and saying, "Si, con acete.", (Yes, with oil.) Later, when we went to her house on the beach and I talked to her husband, I found that she was asking if we had a brush with which they could paint their boat. It must be tough trying to communicate with dummies like me! Anyway, they had eight or ten small fish in a pan. She had gutted and scaled them, then made slits in the sides, leaving the heads on as they are served in the restaurants. The slits, I suppose, are to keep them from curling when fried why they leave the heads on, I don't know.
Margorie Grace and Sailorr left for Coco about noon they both are running low on water and fuel. I worked for a while on the cap rail, getting about half of it done. It was just too hot to work in the sun, so I did the part that happened to be in the shade. Then we just lay around until the afternoon breeze came up and a few clouds hid the sun for a while. No rain today. When it cooled off a little we went over to the house on the beach, taking some of Lois' banana bread as an offering, and asked how to find the trail to the other side of the isthmus. Everybody was very friendly and Papa (I didn't get his name) immediately called for the eldest boy, Juan Carlos, to show us the way. Off through the fields we went, with Juan Carlos leading the way, his two brothers behind him, and we trailing along. Much of the land across the low saddle over which we went either has been or is in cultivation, but looks starved for water. There are mangos and other fruit trees, but they are small and scrawny looking. We went by, and through, several barbed wire fences, all in good repair, and saw one fine looking horse in a field.
It's about a half mile easy walk across to the beach on the other side. The kids left us just short of the summit when we hit a well worn trial, and we went on with our exploring alone. I can't report anything very exciting, just another pretty beach with thousands of hermit crabs making the sand seem to move at this hour of the low tide. We took a different route on the way back, following the traveled path which ended up at the other little farm which I'd seen yesterday. We talked again to the people in the beach house and this time the man got over to me his request for a paint brush, insisting on paying for it with a half dozen eggs. Juan Carlos says that he and the other kids go to school at Panama across the bay. The community here isn't very big but it seems pretty self sufficient.
Dorado for dinner tonight not ours, but from Panache the stuff they gave us to keep when Doran's frige quit. We'll try to replace it if we ever catch up with them. We hear they are heading into Puntarenas now.
While we were sitting in the hotel, sipping our cervezas and waiting for the telephone, the newcomers started arriving and the restaurant was soon crowded with about twenty people. I didn't even try to sort out all the names; but, for the most part, this group is composed of older folks like us. It sounds like they had an easier than usual ride past Nicaragua with fair winds and currents most of the way, but they're still happy to be past the long haul.
We heard that Maury was back from his eye operation in San Jose'; so, once I'd gotten our call through, we decided to go see how he was doing. It's about a half mile walk down the beach to his property, then we had to clamber through a vacant lot to reach his house which is in the rear. We hollared, "Hi!", and he immediately responded, "Just a minute!" and, in a few moments, came out to greet us looking very fit except for the patch over his left eye. For an eighty-four year old he's a very well preserved guy! And Maury loves company, and loves to talk, as you might expect from an active HAM radio operator. For the next couple of hours he told us tales of his sailing days. He and his wife, who died last year, took off in 1958 planning on taking two years to sail around the world. They never made it around, but they spent twenty-five years sailing the coasts of Central America, including trips to the Galapagos and Isla Coco. He says he lucked into his place here in Coco when he decided to sponsor a young Costa Rican who wanted to go to medical school. The kid ended up a businessman instead, and now owns a chain of Pizza Huts. He and Maury jointly own the beach property where Maury lives, a nicely landscaped lot with two houses, a nice swimming pool, and a satellite antenna. Anyway, it made for an interesting afternoon.
The town of Liberia is not one I'd recommend for other than a place to get something you need. It's flat, and hot, and has little to interest the sightseer. The central area is dominated by a block square plaza with a big church at one end and a prison at the other. For some strange reason, in country with lots of huge shade trees, it's hard to find any shade in the plaza. In fact it was hard to find much shade anywhere in town; the sun beats down mercilessly on the hot asphalt streets even at eight in the morning, the time we got there. The bus dropped us at the square and we started wandering around, looking for a place to get some breakfast. There are lots to streetside eating joints, or Sodas as they are called here, and also lots of Chinese restaurants, none of which seemed to be open for breakfast, but we wandered several blocks without finding a place where we could go in, sit down, and have something to eat. Finally, we ran into a guy named Carlos who said he was a tour guide and who led us back to a place right next to the bus station which he said was the best in town. We did get a reasonably good meal there of Gallo Pinto con Huevos (mixed rice and beans with an egg), although the place was noisy and looked sort of like One Shot Charley's in Harrison, Idaho.
We spent the next three hours wandering around the town. We found a Birthday Card for Jessica, took it to the Post office and mailed it, found the Biblioteco Publica, and lots of fabric, building supply, and farm stores. There are several leather shops doing very practical things like boot repair or saddle and harness making. The small public market is cleaner and better laid out than most of the Mexican markets, although the produce wasn't nearly as good. Surprizingly, there wasn't an orange to be found anywhere, or any decent lettuce. We sure miss the good Mexican orange juice. Across the street from the public market is the one large supermarket. We bought a few things there that we hadn't found in Coco; but, at least for the time being, we're pretty well fixed for provisions.
The ride back was about the same as going, except hotter. The bus was fairly full with several people standing but, because they keep all the windows open, it wasn't too uncomfortable. When we got back to Coco at about 1:30 the whole gang, including Ken and Wanda Fletcher, was at the hotel having lunch or drinking cerveza. We did a little of each and I tried to call Mom again no answer; I hope things are alright in Spokane. In the afternoon we just loafed. Down here you really get to realize the reason behind the custom of Siesta!
Omar had taken Damaris and the baby to town to see a doctor, so only Wilbert was at the house. He was out fishing on the reef in front when we arrived. We took the Metz over, swam in, and told him to let us know if there was anything we could do for him. He looked at us like we were nuts he's a pretty self sufficient kid for fifteen. The tide was in, so we ran across the reef to the other side of the island to do a bit of snorkling. Lots of fish there, but none very big. I did get a good look at a turtle, though. He was feeding on the bottom and either didn't see me, or ignored me, until I was right over him. Even when I tried to grab him he just slowly drifted away. He was an old salt, with a big yellow head and barnacles on his back. We then went back to the south side of the island where I managed to spear one of the fast moving, round, siver sided fish which hang around the reefs. Our fish book isn't much help in identifying these guys, but this one was about twelve inches long and had enough meat on him for a good batch of ceviche.
I was in the water long enough to get a good sunburn on my sholders and the top of my head. I've got to remember that it's easy to get burned while snorkling. The water feels so good that you don't realize what's happening 'till later. In spite of my burn, I managed to finish putting a coat of oil on our rail in the afternoon. We anchored a little closer to the island this time, so we're tucked in under the rock cliffs where the sun goes down earlier. It's not bad working if you can stay in the shade, and this is such a pretty place with the flower covered cliffs above us.
For our anniversary dinner I made up a batch of barbeque sauce and we broke out the last of our Price Club spareribs. Lois had gotten some fresh green beans in town; so we had ceviche, spareribs, and beans, with chocolate chips for desert. Eight years ago at Sun River we'd have had a hard time envisioning a place like this in Costa Rica.
Omar was having trouble with his VHF radio which he said wasn't working, so he and I ran back out to the boat to pick up my watt meter. Good thing we did, because when we got to the beach the Metz was afloat and drifting in the surf we hadn't pulled it up high enough. It would have been dumped by a big wave before long if we hadn't rescued it. Anyway, we got the meter, took it back, and measured the power going to the antenna. It showed that the radio was good but the cable to the antenna looked like an almost perfect reflector as much power coming back as was going in. Omar has either a bad cable or a bad antenna. We had to stop with that because the antenna is on top of the hill behind the house and we weren't dressed to go crashing through the jungle. Maybe we can try again later.
In the meantime Damaris had fixed us up some tamarindo tea, I guess you'd call it. Made by soaking the tamarindo fruit in water and adding sugar, it was delicious, much like lemonade but with a nice tangy taste of its own. The tamarindo is a large, spreading tree which grows everywhere on the Nicoya penninsula and which has a long, hard, brown, beanlike pod full of soft, tangy fruits. If Omar hadn't taken us out to the tree, picked up a pod from the ground, and broken it open, we'd have never guessed how good the ugly things could be.
We needed to make our call to Nan, so we bid our friends adios, hauled anchor, and headed back for Coco. The hotel was crowded with the weekenders from the city, but this time my call went through on the first try. Tuck will be coming into San Jose' on Friday the 26th, hopefully with the waterpump parts we need. I'll call him Tuesday morning to confirm the dimensions of the pump. In any case, we now have a plan! All we have to do is get the boat ready to leave for a few days.
In the evening we went to Maury's house for a potluck and a slide show of Maury's cruising adventures which was very interesting. He and his wife cruised in a lot of places with are now either overrun with boaters, or have been put off limits. He had a bunch of pictures of the Tres Marianas, prison islands which no longer welcome yachts, and of the Galapogos Islands where he had spent many months but where your stay as a boater is now limited to 72 hours. His boat, the "Dubloon", is a scooner with cutter foresails, and gaff rigged main and mizzen built in 1931. It sure makes a pretty picture with all the sails up.
Just as we were leaving for the potluck the alarm went off the bilge full alarm! Our automatic bilge switch has quit again! Fixing that will be a fun job for tomorrow!
While I was down below having fun the dorado were having fun all around the boat. Bill on Margorie Grace not only managed to hook one and get it aboard, he also speared one. Bill is an ex-navy diver with thousands of hours of underwater time, but still loves to spearfish and he has pretty good equipment. I'm not sure my little gun would throw a spear fast enough to catch a dorado. They were sure in the anchorage today, though. Once when I had come up from the engine room for air I saw three in the air at once chasing the same poor little flying fish. They act as though they had some means of communication; Bill said that as soon as he had hauled in the one, they stopped going for the lure. That's what happened over in Culebra the other morning. Do you suppose --????
It wasn't long before an inflatable dinghy put out from the beach with two men in it, one rowing furiously, the other paddling with his hands; so I took the Metz and gave them a tow to the boat. One, a local named Ulysses, was supposed to have been watching the boat; the other, a blond gringo with striking blue eyes named Shannon, was his friend. They were in a state of shock as they went aboard! The boat that they had left in good condition the night before had been trashed. All the electronic equipment was gone, and whoever had taken it had tried to sink the boat. I took Ulysses back to the beach to find a pump, then went over and woke up Bill on Margorie Grace. By now several others in the anchorage were awake but nobody had a good pump. When Bill and Deb rowed over with a hand pump and bucket I decided that drastic action was going to be necessary.
The next two hours were pretty busy! I went back to the Sea Raven, we hauled anchor, and moved over to Voluntary Compliance. Taking care not to rock him fortunately the sea was calm we rafted up with fenders between us. I got out our spare bilge pump and, running some lamp cord wire over to the other boat, we got it to throwing a stream of water. With Deb operating the built in hand bilge pump and Shannon another hand pump the water started slowly receding. In a few minutes Jack from Halcyon arrived bringing a little gasoline powered pump, the Dick and Penny from Pendrea rowed over bringing another small 12 volt pump. By stringing more wires we soon had it going. Bill, our pro diver, went over the bottom of the boat but could find no damage. All the while Lois was running around like Gunga Din, making and distributing coffee to everyone. After about an hour we'd gotten the water level down far enough to see that hoses had been pulled off the thru-hulls in the engine compartment. They were closed, or plugged, and soon after, we were able to get power to Voluntary Compliance's own bilge pump; then we really started making headway. By nine o'clock we had the boat dry and we moved off to re-anchor.
All this time we were picking up bits of information on who owned the boat which made it sound like maybe we'd done something which the locals wouldn't have done. The story goes that it belongs to a drug dealing playboy who also has a house here, as well as several other boats in Costa Rica, Mexico, and even France. He is not well thought of locally and his house has been burgularized several times. Ulysses, the local operator of the boat, was supposed to be sleeping on it, but had been partying and stayed in town for the night. Another story is that a known electronics thief from Puntarenas was seen in town Sunday, and was gone this morning. In any case, we had no choice but to save the boat you never know that it might not be you next time.
After all the excitement, most of the participants went to the hotel for breakfast, we with them. Then we came back and spent a good part of the rest of the day cleaning up the mess of the morning. We had tools and junk spread all over the boat. They soon had a mechanic working on Voluntary Compliance and he, with his assistant, pulled her batteries and brought them over for me to put on the charger. Several hours under salt water had drained them flat! I guess they are going to try to get the engine rinsed out and started soon a good idea if they can do it, but they really ought to have some fresh, fully charged batteries. Our little 10 amp charger isn't up to giving them what they need in any reasonable time. Oh well, we've done the best we could!
In the evening we went to town for dinner with Pendrea and Sailorr. Both have been having their problems. Dick on Pendrea hurt his back the other day and has been laid up, just now able to move around again. Sailorr was planning on heading south yesterday but came up with a bad heat exchanger with filled their transmission with water. Bob got that fixed by borrowing another from Halcyon, but then found that he too had lost an impeller in his raw water pump. Fortunately, he had a spare so hopes to leave tomorrow. It's sure fun being a cruiser getting to make repairs in all these exotic ports!
All day long, before and during the rain, the dorado were cruising around our boat. Evidently the forage fish use the hull for shelter, because they would move from one side to the other with the big yellow, green, and blue monsters cruising around and around them with their mean looking mouths half open. The dorado move lazily around and even through the mass of small fish; then, suddenly there will be a flash and a splash as one of the tiny flying fish becomes a meal. I got out the pole and managed to hook one before they wized up again it shook the hook almost immediately. Then, because they were swinging in right under our boarding step barely under the surface, I got out the Hawiian sling and, using it like a harpoon, tried to spear one. No luck! I don't know for sure if my aim is just bad, or whether they are fast enough to dodge the spear. I don't think I ever touched one. Guess I'll have to try getting down in the water with the speargun like Bill did.
About an hour out of Liberia we started to catch glimpses of the Golfo de Nicoya, the big inlet where Puntarenas is located. The highway passes within 15 kilometers of that city before turning more to the east and climbing into the mountains. After a short rest stop at a little village called Esparza we really started climbing San Jose' is on a plateau at an elevation of about 4000 feet; the pass leading to it must be from 5,000 to 6,000 feet high. Before we reached the top we were in the clouds and it was raining. There were some pretty spectacular views back down the steep, cattle trail terraced hills into the deep valleys below. As we started down the other side of the pass there was a marked change in the vegetation and cropland. The pasture gave way to mountainsides covered with neatly planted coffee and another plant with a heavy stalk and long green and yellow leaves which we couldn't identify but which our fellow passengers called, "cana indio". We saw truckloads on the way to somewhere but were never able, with our limited Spanish, to determine where. The approach to San Jose' could have been the approach to any large U.S. city. The highway became four lane, we passed the airport about ten miles west of the city, and industrial buildings with familiar names like John Deere on the sides started to appear along the road. The city itself is, like most cities, a mixture of new and old. In the outskirts the streets are wide and the buildings modern; however, as we approached the central area they became so narrow that, although they had been made one-way the bus would hardly fit through. Our driver had to back into the bus terminal, jockeying several times to fit through the narrow opening.
We hailed a cab in the street and in a few minutes arrived at the old but nicely renovated Hotel Europa which we had selected from one of our guidebook recommendations. It was clean, had a pool, and we were given a reasonably sized room with a big walk-in shower. We hung up our things, then went out for a walk around the central area. It's a pretty nice feeling city, with lots of parks and plazas and statuary and a few grandiose old buildings such as the Theater of the Arts. There are also a few mmodern twists such as Pizza Huts and McDonalds. Unfortunately, we hadn't been sightseeing for more than an hour when we were driven back to the hotel by a real downpour of rain. No matter, we had cable TV, a real treat for us, and an excellent restaurant for dinner. We had the best steaks we've had in many a month, then were able to sleep with a light blanket over us in 60 degree temperatures, another thing we haven't done for quite a while.
At the airport, an $8.00 cab ride away, Tuck's flight was right on time and they gave him no trouble at customs even with all the goodies he had for us. It turned out that he has a week before he has to catch a flight back, so we decided to rent a car and see some of the countryside off of the boat. He can then take the car back. The drive back to Coco was really nice, especially since the car, a Toyota Corrola, had air conditioning. We took side tours through a few small towns along the way, were able to stop for lunch at a truck stop where we had some excellent deep fried shrimp, and even went into Puntarenas for a quick look at that little city. There we ran into Richard and Dee from Moon Dancer in the Costa Rican Yacht Club and they gave us the lowdown on Puntarenas. The yacht club is nice, sort of a poor man's version of the Acapulco Yacht Club, but with a nice pool and restaurant and at only $5.00 per night for a buoy. Unfortunately, the water is too shallow for us, so we'll have to anchor out and dinghy in. It also appears that we will be able to haul out and get our bottom painted, although not at the yard we originally planned we draw too much water. The drive through town confirmed what we'd been told Puntarenas is a grimy, dirty, waterfront town where we will want to do our business and get out. It may be our imaginations, but the people on the street seem a different breed than those we've met elsewhere, including San Jose'. I get the feeling of 1st avenue in Seattle.
We stopped in Liberia for a few groceries, then arrived back at Coco just in time for a spectacular sunset and dinner with Dick and Penny at the hotel before loading all our loot in the Metz and heading back to the boat through the surf. It would have been a perfect day if it hadn't been that Tuck got some bad chicken at the hotel. He sent it back and ate a hamburger instead, but not before he'd eaten enough of it to give him a nice case of food poisoning. He spent most of the night in the head.
Other than that high point the day was a loose! Tuck was still sick and slept all day, and I was running Gennie to get the freezer down so the engine room was to hot to work in, so we spent the whole day sorting and reading our mail. No matter, we'll get the pump installed tomorrow.
Once the work for the day was done we decided to get off the boat for a while and do a little sightseeing with the car, so off to the beach we went. We took a short side trip to Playa Ocotal, a nice looking resort development about four miles to the west of Coco. There wasn't much activity on this Sunnday morning, but we did find that they can fill a dive tank with air for us. We then headed north, back to Liberia where we stopped for a delicious milkshake at the Gardin Azucar (Sugar Garden) before driving to the end of Highway 1 on the Nicaraguan "Frontier". It was kind of a neat trip. There is quite a variety of country between Liberia and the border some fine ranches and farms in the bottom lands where several rivers come down from the high mountains to the northeast. Then, as we climbed onto the plateau, it was drier and, on the windswept tops of what I'll call the Papagayo Ridge, we saw pine trees reminiscent of those on the Oregon and Washington coasts except here they were all swept toward the sea instead of away from it. From that ridge we could catch glimpses of the Golfo de Elena and the other places we first visited in Costa Rica. Near the Nicaraguan border there are more rivers, the land turns green again, and there are lots of small farms and houses along the road. On the way back we drove through a clean little town called La Cruz, then took a side trip to the town from which the first Costa Rican fishermen we met had come, Cuajiniquil. (Try pronouncing that one correctly!) We had planned on at least taking a short drive into Santa Rosa National Park, but missed the entrance while looking for a Servico for Tuck he was still having just a bit of trouble. Instead we took another side trip to a town called Canas Dulces. Set down in a valley in the shadow of the volcano Rincon de la Vieja, it is a lovely little pueblo.
We got back to Coco about 4:00, then decided to get a change of scenery and try out our new pump by moving over to Culebra for the evening. By 6:00 we were anchored there, this time in a deserted bay just to the west of the one we've anchored in several times before. Had a dinner of dorado then watched "Belizaire the Cajun" before turning in for a roll-free night in flat water.
With Tuck feeling better, he, as usual, had to be doing something every minute, so I put him to work on as many small projects as I could think of. We got some door latches fixed, one unfixable light fixture destroyed and another repaired, and a number of other things got done while I was busy stowing the last of the goodies he had brought down. In the late afternoon we realized that we hadn't picked up our frozen food from the hotel, so decided to go kill our dinner. We went over to the reef a couple of hundred yards away and, before long, Tuck had shot a nice sized jack caravel. It's not as good as dorado, but certainly made an adaquate meal for the three of us. I was carrying the Hawaian sling but the dang rubber broke the first time I tried to use it! I think the surgical tubing I bought in Zihuatanejo was old when I got it. I also didn't have any fins since Tuck was using our only pair I'm not in very good shape for snorkling equipment! I need another set of fins, a new mask and tube or two, and some good rubber for the sling. Got to get those things on the want list!
We'd planned on going back to Coco but never made it. Just ate our fish then watched another movie, "Oliver" this time, a fun musical. We'll go back in the morning.
Santa Cruz is a clean little town, and busy, busy, busy on this Tuesday morning. We parked the car and walked around for a while, poking our noses into the stores and shops. Surprizingly, I found a dive mask and pair of fins in a small general merchandise store, and we managed to come up with some parts for our broken lamp fixture. They seemed to have almost everything you'd expect to see in a small farming community far from a major city lots of restaurants and nice parks, a hospital, a couple of banks, and schools, schools, schools. These Costa Ricans really take their schooling seriously! From Santa Cruz we drove to the other major town on the Nicoya Peninsula, Nicoya itself. Up in the highlands rather than on the plain, Nicoya is almost a duplicate of Santa Cruz in other ways. We drove through town then stopped at an outdoor restaurant across the street from a modern hospital for a beer and taco. The taco was interesting; not at all like the Mexican version of the same name, it was a big chunk of meat in a hard fried tortilla covered with coldslaw.
About ten kilometers past Nicoya we turned left and headed back toward the valley of the Tempisque which we'd been sort of paralleling. At the head of the Golfo Nicoya, on the estuary of the Tempisque and Bebedero rivers, is a ferry which serves to shorten the distance from the peninsula to the population centers of Puntarenas and San Jose. It's a fun ferry! A barge which can carry about a dozen cars is pushed back and forth across the three quarter mile waterway by a tug. We arrived just in time to see it land on the peninsula side. There was quite a current, either from the river or from the tidal action, and the tug skipper had to really know what he was doing to put that barge where he wanted it. Once in position, the barge was secured by two cables from hand winches (Seattle made) which the crew tied to the barge and drew tight. Other hand winches lowered and raised the boarding ramps.
On the far side we paid our 200 colones for the crossing, then decided to check into a nice looking building we'd seen on a hilltop overlooking the landing. What we found was a beautiful restaurant, newly opened, and with a commanding view of the gulf and surrounding mountains. In the States it would have been crowded with people, here there was only one other family having their midday meal. While there's quite a bit of traffic on the ferry, it's hard to see how a place like this could make a go of it so far from a population center. Since we'd just had our taco we ordered only drinks but the food sure looked good. From the ferry landing to Highway 1 is only about 20 kilometers, but there is a drastic change in climate in that short distance, changing from relatively dry to the lush green which we'd seen the other day on the way from San Jose'. It must be some kind of screening of the rain by the nearbyt mountains.
Turning left again on Highway 1, we headed back toward Liberia. Near the little town of Canas is the headquarters of the Costa Rican National Park system. We stopped there and bought a beautiful book which describes the parks in magnificent photographs as well as in both Spanish and English. We also had a beer in the adjoining restaurant with a Costa Rican doctor who held hands with Lois and made her feel like a teenager again.
From park headquarters it's only a mile to a restaurant which we'd seen on the way back from San Jose' and where we'd planned on eating dinner today. It turned out to be better than we could have imagined! Set in the trees just off the highway and overlooking a beautiful white water river, the Restaurante Rincon Corobici' is about everything you could want in a pleasent place to have a meal. We sat on an open patio above the river and had the best steak I've had in years even better than the one we had in San Jose' last week. We topped our meal off with Flan then spent a little time poking around down on the river bank. Just below the restaurant is a nice class 2 plus drop which should be fun to run, especially since the water is a nice 85 to 90 degrees. Kayaking would be great in this country!
Back at Coco after a short stop in Liberia for groceries and gas, we stopped by Pendrea for a drink and to report our travels to Dick and Penny. All in all a very nice day!
Today turned out to be sort of a work day, although we hadn't really intended it that way. We got quite a few things done. We found a place where Lois got her hair done, drove out to the gas station at Sardinal and filled the jerry can for the Metz, picked up our frozen meat, cleaned the bottom of the boat including the prop which I used 3/4 of a tank of air doing and even got around to having one of Papagayo's famous hamburgers for lunch. The hamburgers were as good as we'd been told, a big patty of meat with lots of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese, and bacon on a good bun with lots of hot french fries. Lois and Tuck didn't have any trouble with theirs, but before long I was beginning to wish I'd not eaten so much. I got a stomach ache. Not cramps, not gas, not nausea, just a plain old stomach ache that didn't go away until after three in the morning. Can't remember that I've ever had that before.
Hoping that my hurt would go away and wanting to give Tuck a look at Nacascolita, we hauled anchor and ran over there for the evening. Omar's brother and his wife are visiting and Omar brought them by for a chat on their way fishing. They had a couple of liter containers full of fat hermit crabs as bait. Don't know how they did because it was dark before they quit. We'll have to try that. Super sunset at Nacascolita it's as pretty as ever.
Our project for the day was to explore the swamp. About two hours before high tide (You don't want to get caught high and dry on the mangrove roots by an outgoing tide!) Tuck and I climbed in the Metz and ran up the river. We'd taken the machette with us to clear away the tree that had stopped Lois and I before but, as it turned out, we didn't need it. The tide was high enough today to float us over. Once past that one obstacle, we were able to motor and paddle our way almost two miles through the winding, root lined waterway before we were finally halted by rocks across the stream bed. There the banks were dry, so we got out and walked up a dry stream bed and then along half hidden trails until we came to what you might call a homestead in the woods. Some barbed wire fence, a house with hardwood planks for roof and walls, a hand dug well with water about eight feet down, an outbuilding, a couple of coconut palms, and a big mango tree made up the little complex. Fresh ashes in the raised cooking fire platform testified to its recent use, otherwise the place was deserted.
Other than our discovery of this hidaway in the woods, our trip was uneventful. We didn't even see a crocodile! And, while we could hear them off in the distance, our monkey friends stayed hidden from our view. We did see many birds, including a Quetzal, the bird our book on Costa Rican parks claims is the most beautiful on the continent. It is a rather spectacular animal with bright green feathers on its back, a bright red breast, and a fuzzy golden crown on its head. We saw many large birds, great blue herons, white herons and egrets, and several varieties of hawk, and also many small colorful birds flitting through the trees. Everywhere there is a bit of solid ground a small dark red crab with white claws has dug his hole. On the river banks they give an appearance of eyes peering at you all you can see are the white claws. We saw only one mammal, or marsupial, the size of a large cat with fuzzy ears and a bushy tail run down the trunk of a tree and disappear into the forest of mangrove roots.
Back at the boat we picked up the masks and fins and circled the inner island stopping to snorkle in a few places on the way, but for some reason there didn't seem to be many fish today. Fortunately, while we were off exploring Lois had purchased some lobsters from the local fishermen so we had dinner taken care of. We ran back over to Coco in the afternoon and found that, in our abscence, a whole new wave of boats had arrived. I can't begin to name them, but where there were three boats when we left there are now thirteen! Tomorrow will be a busy day for the Port Captain!
Now the boss looked like a very harried guy. The Liberia office is evidently the prime control point for all of the Nicaraguan entries and he had all these people to take care of with an inadaquate staff. He obviously didn't want to bother with a yachty, but the answer he gave Lilianna was surprizing never-the-less. He told her that because our visas expired on the 8th we'd have to come in on that day to have them extended! Fortunately, she had a better answer just ignore the expiration date! She said we should go on to Puntarenas, take our time, and when we got there we'd be fined about 250 colones for having an expired visa. That's about $3.00, lots less than a trip to town would cost, so that's what we'll do. Talking later to a German lady named Petra from the boat Alacrity II, we found that she was given a 90 day visa, the reason being that Germany gives Costa Ricans 90 days. The US only gives them 30 days, so tit for tat! Ain't bureaucracy fun?
We swung by the market and picked up a few groceries, then back to Coco where we met Lois at the hotel and Tuck bid us goodby. He's got as much or more weight going back as he had coming down. I sent our 24 volt engine generator and regulator with him plus one of the two pumps that he brought down. I hope I don't regret that but we now have two good pumps, a rebuild kit for each, plus a spare impeller for each. To have kept another pump would have cost about $600, fairly costly insurance. Tuck has a date tonight with a lady from Iowa he met on the airplane coming down. Hope he has a good time!
The rest of the day we spent cleaning up and getting ready to do some more cruising. We stocked up on beer and vodka and actually found some pretty good looking lettuce at the little grocery here, something I hadn't been able to find in Liberia. I have mixed feelings about leaving Coco. It's sure been nice here, but it will also be fun to see some new things.
12:30 Anchored at Flamingo which appears to be a small, Costa Rican version of Cabo San Lucas or Las Hadas quite a change from Coco! Here there is one cruising sailboat, "Shannon", one local sailboat at anchor, and about twenty BIG sportfishing boats. As we came in, Jim on Shannon gave us a call and said that this is the last day of a big marlin and sailfish tournament and warned us to anchor out a ways unless we wanted a lot of action tonight. He was right the band was playing until 2:00 AM!
We'd just gotten anchored and the Metz in the water when it started to rain, and it rained the rest of the afternoon, sometimes in sheets of water. By nightfall the Metz was almost full and I had to pull the plug to let the water out. We got our decks well washed and spent the afternoon on the boat reading and doing our chores. I washed the filters on the watermaker this time they had filled up with something black and odorless, unlike the organic material we usually have, possibly the fine volcanic black sand of the area. Also changed Gennie's oil and filter. Tomorrow we'll go check out the marina and big hotel that sits on the hill above the anchorage.
We went ashore for breakfast at Marie's, a nice little restaurant where we got a good meal for a good price, then wandered around looking over the premises. The hotel was very busy this morning with people checking out after the big fishing tournament. It's a very nice facility with big rooms, U.S. quality plumbing, a huge swimming pool with a bar in the corner, a great view, and, of course, the beach I mentioned. The prices aren't bad for a resort either $60.00 single, $66.00 double.
After our survey of the facilities we decided to check out some of the waterfront, so we went back to the boat, got on our bathing suits, and headed out to the island just off the point. There are some very pretty little beaches there, quite isolated and with trees growing right down to the sand which provide shade if needed. It sounds sort of strange to be talking about shade at the beach, but this tropic sun is something else. Today we didn't have a problem though, a nice cloud cover kept the temperature below ninety and the burning rays filtered. We swam and snorkled for a while around the island, then motored most of the way around Potrero looking at the many beaches. This seems to be a quite popular resort area in spite of the fact that there is no bus transportation. There is a good paved road all along the beach.
Late in the afternoon Pendrea showed up. They'd run down from Coco after a fight getting their anchor untangled from a mooring buoy there. Their outboard isn't working so we took them in to dinner with us. We had another excellent meal at Marie's, smoked pork chops with a big slice of pineapple, a good salad, green beans wrapped in bacon, and a stuffed potato. For desert they had both a good cheesecake and something they called Queque Tres Leche (Three Milk Cake) excellent!
I got down the Boogie Boards, the first time since Zihuatanejo, and we joined the folks from Shannon and Fillius Fog for the walk across the point to the beach. From Shannon there was Jim and Kris and their crew member, Andy; and from Fillius Fog we had Brett, the hairdresser, his wife Veronica, and their two boys of about five and seven. The surf was just right for Boogie Boarding and we had three boards, our two plus one which Jim brought. Both Brett and Andy have had a lot of surfing experience, so Jim and I learned a bit about how it should be done. The beach here is longer and flatter than the one at Zihuat so you can get a really long ride if you catch the right wave. I managed to get two super rides before I figured I'd better get out of the sun. (I didn't stop quite soon enough so I'm a bit scorched.)
On the way back from the beach we showered at the hotel pool, telling the guard we wanted to have a drink at the bar, so of course we had to have one; then went back to get the boat ready for fueling. The whole process went better than ever remember it going. For one thing, we only had the forward tanks to fill and they go much faster and easier than the sterns. The dock is also laid out just right for us, a starboard landing after a starboard turn coming through the entrance. We slid up to the dock with ease. Ed, the gringo dockmaster who sailed down here 19 years ago and never left, and a Costa Rican dock boy were there to take our lines. The fueling took about an hour, most of which was spent watching the fishermen on the breakwater hauling in little dorado. There must be thousands of them in this bay! We watched one guy using live halfbills for bait pull in three about 30 inches long while we were fueling. Good entertainment and educational. Ed says you can also get them with a red and white feather if you tease them. Once full, we paid with travelers checks, backed directly out of the entrance, and were re-anchored before five o'clock.
We had hardly gotten settled again when a squall hit, with heavy rain and wind. It had been hot and sticky all afternoon so we added another first to our list, taking our first shower in the rain. Really refreshing! After the rain quit we went back ashore and had dinner again at Marie's. I had the dorado. This afternoon's fishing exhibition got me in the mood for some of that good Mahi Mahi.
After we were settled I decided to turn on the Satnav which had been off since we arrived in Coco. The little red power light came on as usual but there was nothing showing on the display. Oops! Well, it would never do to have everything working for long! I checked everything I could, then took the unit apart on the chance that it was a problem similar to the one we had on the computer. Unfortunately, all the circuit boards in this machine are hardwired together. I put it back together and left it on and after about a half hour a display appeared, dim but readable, but all the memory was gone, something which had never happened before. I went through the initialization procedure and, except for the fact that it wouldn't change to a bright display, it seemed to work normally even got in one good update from a satellite. Then it gave a little plaintive peep and the display disappeared again. This time, however, even the red power light wouldn't go on. When I touch the "On" pad it just gives a protesting, "Beeeep!". Time to polish up my navigation techniques!
We did go out for a short tour in the Metz just to look over the beaches. The most interesting thing we saw was the fish. In this bay the dorado have competition from the wahoo. We saw several of the long, mean looking, barracuda like beasts hot on the trail of the poor little flying fish. I think that is what has been getting my lures so I spent some time putting together a couple with steel leaders. We'll try those as we run tomorrow.
We got the Metz up on the deck and covered just in time for the rain tonight, and it did rain, and rain, and rain. I guess the season is here. So far we don't have much in the way of leaks, but we have to learn to cope with the combination of rain and warm temperatures. It can get awfully stuffy inside with all the doors and windows closed. When the wind blows it even comes in the ports and we have to close them. I think rain flies over the doors and hatches are the answer, but that will take some doing.
Vince on Sadko came in this afternoon and anchored near us. I tried to get him on the radio but he didn't answer and when we went out for our tour in the Metz he was off fishing. A Canadian single-hander, he's been having a bit of trouble with starting his engine. I thought he might want to run south with us. Click here for MORE.