SAGA'S LOG - COSTA RICA

October 9, 2003

Golfo de Santa Elena, Costa Rica

RAIN!

It 's great to have finally made it all the way to Costa Rica! But it is, as many cruisers before us have said, very rainy! We motor-sailed from Puesta del Sol Marina in Nicaragua to No Name Anchorage ' further down the coast but decided it was too rolley to stay, so we motored on to Bahia Salinas, the first anchorage in Costa Rica. We found another sailboat there. A C&C 35 named Oneida from Washington State with Mike, Amy and 3-yr old daughter, Ali on board. They 're doing it like us, cheap but for six month periods and they 're headed our way. We spent an extra day in Salinas with them. Jann got together with Mike to try some spear-fishing off the small reef near the island, while us girls collected shells, raced little hermit crabs and played on the beach. The shelling was good. I collected a nice selection of Leopard Cowry shells as well as some other pretty ones. It has rained most of each day. It seemed to have changed literally as we crossed the boarder from Nicaragua! It 's been foggy and drizzly most of the day, with sunshine for brief periods from around 6:30 to sometime around 9 or 10am. We have collected enough water to fill every container we have. Even had to toss some back! It 's nice to not have to worry about water usage after living in the desert for so long. Yesterday we left Salinas to sail over one bay to Santa Elena. We headed straight for the little town up a small river to find the store. Jann stayed with the boats while the rest of us dinghied into the town. Along the riverside there were houses on stilts and people lazing about on their balconies. We motored by and waved. We stopped at one place and asked were the tienda was and were told it was only a couple of kilometers up the road. The man said we could tie up to his panga. He was very nice and had a lovely house with large pieces of white coral decorating the outside. The store was pretty close and a nice walk up the road. It was a 'Super ' and well stocked. Oneida was able to buy lots of provisions, we only spent $6. The exchange rate is 406 colonies to the dollar. While we were walking to the store it started to rain. It rained rather hard once we were inside the store and continued to drizzle on the walk back. It was nice and cool too! By the time we returned to the boats, it was raining in earnest and we got pretty soaked. Jann decided we better not chance it and wait for the rain to quite and we soon got underway to motor over to the better anchorage of Santa Elena. So in the rain we went. It was the first time sailing so wet. Then to make it even more enjoyable, we ran the fuel tank dry! Jann had forgotten to check the diesel before we left and the

Oneida anchored under the rainbow, Bahia Salinas, Costa Rica

engine died leaving us wallowing between the reef and the shore. Fortunately, it was very calm and no current so we pretty much staying in one place while Jann filled the tank and primed the fuel system. It took about 45 minutes and we were underway again. We got the anchor down just before sunset in this lovely bay. It 's perfectly calm and currently shrouded in fog and drizzle. There are parrots talking in the trees next to us and many fish jumping about. Mike has been trying to catch some for days. We managed to catch a few sardines by jigging with a shrimp jig. It 's time to catch some real nice ones. Jann finally caught a fish other than a Puffer. It was a very large Trigger Fish. Almost one foot square. I found a recipe in Cruising Cuisine for Trigger Fish Salad and had all the ingredients but the cabbage. Fortunately, Amy has some. So we had another pot luck dinner aboard ONIEDA.

We have had the most amazing luck in not getting drenched on the way back to the boat from shore. Almost every time we 've gone ashore and come back late, we have managed to reach SAGA just before the rain came. It literally has begun to sprinkle as we are unloading our groceries! It 's been rare that we got soaked on the way back to the boat.

Monday, October 13, 2003

Islas Murcielagos (Bats!)

SAGA is anchored next to ONEIDA in between Isla Cocinero and Isla San Jose. We arrived a day later than ONEIDA as we went back into Bahia Cuajiniquil. That was quite the adventure as it was low tide when we attempted to enter the river. There were breaking waves at the entrance and we were swamped when our outboard quit. It had been acting up but Jann thought he could keep it going so off we went. We took so much water into the dinghy that we ended up hopping off and wading up river. I bailed as we went. The river was actually dry just where the houses begin, so we left the dinghy tied to a tree and made our way to the road for the walk up to the Super. Then, on the way back out the river, the waves were still breaking at the entrance, but Jann thought that we 'd have enough power to get over them before the got over us! Unfortunately, although we were able to ride 3 or 4, the last one broke over us. We didn 't flip, but we flew up into the air and when we crash-landed, one of our shopping bags, (the one with the bread and crackers!) flew out of the dinghy and we weren 't about to go back for it! We made it back to the boat and got under way again. It was nearing 1pm and it would take 3-4 hours to get to the Murcielagos. As we neared the entrance to Bahia Santa Elena, a very strong rainstorm overtook us. The winds got up to 30 kts and the rain came down hard. It was almost a total whiteout, so we decided to go back into Santa Elena. The good thing about all that rain was that I was able to rinse the clothes we were wearing of all that questionable river water they were dunked in. It was still drizzling by the time we got the anchor down. And we had the anchorage to ourselves. It was time for showers on deck.

Saga anchored off one of the Bat Islands, Northern Costa Rica

We 've finally found clear water. This area is one of Costa Rica 's premier dive sites. Jann & I got in the water shortly after getting the anchor down yesterday. There is a house on Isla San Jose that is filled with Southern California college students on a dive trip. Although it 's 25-40 feet deep, the visibility was pretty good. The water is very warm on top and very cold on the bottom. There aren 't very many fish, though. We saw only two or three and one sea snake. We heard that there 's good snorkeling by the reef between the two islands. Perhaps if we get the outboard working today, we 'll check it out. I 'm looking forward to heading further south to Bahia de Culebra where Delusions is right now. Victor has said on the radio that the diving is excellent there. I 'd like to meet up with he and Elizabeth & Nancy & Roddy again and perhaps join them for dinner aboard Delusions. Victor made contact with us on the Pan Pacific Net this morning and asked if they could check in with us in Playa del Coco when we get there. It 's so rolley in here that I 'd like to leave tomorrow. We 'll see how the motor repair goes. Jann just replaced the fuel hose with a new one. Hope that works.

We had our first clear night last night. It drizzled a few drops before sunset, but was rain-free all night. I hope it rains tonight so that I can wash some clothes!

Yesterday we awoke to gentle breezes and calm flat water. Jann decided we should try sailing off the hook and out of the bay. It was the only sailing we 'd do! We had between 2.5 and 5 kts so we tacked very slowly up the bay and then the wind died at the entrance so we ended up motoring to the Mucielagos.

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Dinner aboard M/Y Delusions w/ Eclipse

SAGA and ONEIDA motored over to Bahia Culebra and put the anchor down at Playa de Panama yesterday afternoon. Shortly after the hook was set we heard from our friends nearby on DELUSIONS that they were hosting a dinner party on board their 60 motor yacht. We met them back in El Salvador. Nice folks. They had 10 people for dinner and it was splendid. They left this morning for a week of inland touring in Nicaragua, so their excuse was that they had to get rid of the food! We met some a new boat here from San Francisco, a huge motor cat called ECLIPSE. We 're headed into Liberia today with Carolyn from ECLIPSE. Liberia is close to the coast and is the capital of the Guanacaste province. (It 's also known to be the driest of Costa Rica 's regions! Can 't wait to see how much it rains further south!) I 'd like to spend a week here as it 's a lovely large anchorage surrounded by resorts that are actually difficult to spot amongst the verdant foliage. The diving is said to be superb and there seem to be plenty of fish.

October 20, 2003

Bahia Culebra, Playa de Pamama, Costa Rica

M/Y Delusions underway

SAGA is still anchored in the lovely bay along with ECLIPSE and DELUSIONS. We 've spent a very nice week hanging out with Gary & Carolyn from ECLIPSE. Their home-built catamaran is huge and looks like a sail cat without the rig. (They say that for the cost of that rig, they could circumnavigate twice!) They have taken great care of us, offering us showers, fresh-baked bread and brownies! What else could one want? ONIEDA has taken off for points south as they are on the fast track through the canal. We enjoyed spending time with them, and Jann especially enjoyed having someone to fish with!

Today, Jann & I are headed into El Coco via the road to try to check into Costa Rica. You 're supposed to bring your boat over, but we 've heard how unsafe the anchorage is and don 't want to. So we 'll try it this way and see what happens. I understand that the Customs man has to drive to us from Liberia and wants to see the boat, but not board it. We can always come up with some engine problem that prevents us from moving the boat.

As it turned out, we were able to check in without bringing the boat over to Playa Coco. But we had some serious opposition. Fortunately, we were able to enlist the help of the man who owns the restaurant on the beach, Congrejo. Renaldo (who only speaks Spanish) carried us into Coco and then went with us to the Port Captains ' office, saying that they were friends. He had told us on the way over there that it was necessary to bring the boat for the man from Aduana (or customs) to come look at it. But we explained to him that we had engine trouble and couldn 't. He carefully explained all this to the Port Captain, who said, No Way! You must bring the boat here, This Afternoon! '

Main road at Playa Coco

Well, we were a bit nervous, but we explained as best as we could in Spanish that this would be impossible and finally he gave us the number of the man from Aduana and asked Renaldo to call him to see if he would agree to this. Renaldo tried to reach him but ended up going back to the port Captain to ask him to try and call. Somehow it was agreed that Aduana would come to Coco even though SAGA was nearby in Playa

Panama! The Aduana official came about two hours later than he had said, and he didn 't even talk to Jann, he just signed and stamped our papers and off we went. And they all said it couldn 't be done!

Except for the rolley nights, Playa de Panama is an excellent anchorage and is soon to be improved for cruisers. We met a young couple who own a new bar/restaurant down the beach. They 've been only open a month but are planning to cater to cruisers by adding mooring balls, water taxi, a dinghy dock, shower facilities, stores and even a hotel. So far their bar/restaurant is lovely. We had drinks there during the afternoon downpour and spoke with Hiram. I offered to do an interview with him for the December Latitude 38 Changes in Latitude ' section. SAGA was published in the August Latitude with information about the new marina in Huatulco, Mexico.

It never ceases to amaze me how things just happen that were meant toA On our trip into Liberia, we met a local ex-pat in the bank who owns a lot in the jungle north of here. Jann mentioned to him that we were on the lookout for a new handheld GPS (Global Positioning System) since ours bit the dusk last week. We have a backup, but it 's a dinosaur! This man takes us next door to a computer store and introduces us to the owner who just happens to know someone who 's just down the road in El Coco and is selling on! The exact model we want with the maps in the display! He calls him, puts Jann on and they agree to met us back at the boat later. Turns out this guy is also selling a slightly used VHF radio. We took both for a good deal. It 's always a good idea to have backups with all the lightning around and we didn 't have a backup VHF radio. The timing was so perfect it was unreal! We thought we 'd have to wait until Panama City to replace that GPS. We use it every time we move the boat so it 's essential. I like it when things like that happen. Means we 're doing something right!

October 25, 2003

Leaving Bahia Culebra for Bahia Brasilto

It 's Saturday and we 've decided to leave a day earlier than planned along with DELUSIONS who left earlier today and ECLIPSE who are just behind us. We all returned from our road trip Friday afternoon, after a short side trip into Santa Cruz for propane. We also got some last minute provisions there.

Our road trip was fantastic! On one of our forays along the beach at Playa de Panama, we found a good deal for the rental car at the El Nakuti Resort front desk. The resort is located at the far southern end of the anchorage. Charley 's Charts tells of the restaurant in the middle which is located by the cluster of Palm trees. This is a good place to lock your dinghy when you come ashore but at low tide, it 's a long walk ashore. (It 's also where you can catch the bus into Liberia.) We chose to rent from ECONOMY Car Rentals and got a good deal ($130) that included 3 days for the price of 2 for a RAV 4. (Four wheel drive is a must for any sightseeing!) We left Wednesday afternoon and drove directly to the town of La Fortuna. This nifty and touristy town is located on the far side of Lake Arenal, just past the Volcano Arenal. It is the best place to stay nearby and do your day excursions from. We had planned to visit the hot springs at Tabacon after checking into our hotel, La Fortuna. ' Our drive took less than 3 hours with the worst roads on the far side of the lake. We wouldn 't recommend this road at night due to the poor condition, multiple slides and even a downed power line across the road. But you wouldn 't want to miss the vistas, so make it a day trip. The views were lovely, with a light rain coasting through, then clear skies and awesome views of the lake. It 's a shame that more cruisers don 't come down here during the rainy season. It 's so lovely and green. I can 't imagine missing these colors! Much of the coast becomes dry and brown in the dry season (our winter, their summer).

Our Lonely Planet Guide was right on in their recommendation of Hotel La Fortuna. The rooms were $16 for a double and included breakfast at their restaurant. The beds were a bit too soft for me, but all n ' all, it was a good choice for the money. While we were talking with the resident tour guide, we discovered that there is a better option for hot springs. Although Tabacon came highly recommended by my brother, we were informed

Nancy at Baldi Hot Springs Swim-Up Bar!

that for half the cost, ($10 per person) we could enjoy a better view of the volcano from the Baldi Hot Springs resort located closer to La Fortuna. It seems that the views from Tabacon are no longer the best because the volcano is now erupting from a different angle than it did previously. We were happy to check out Baldi and were quite pleased with what we found. Baldi has 7 pools of varying temperatures ranging from cool to very, very hot! Most have waterfalls and some surround a central swim-up bar. The pool for viewing the volcano is a short walk up a stone tiled path. It 's one of the hottest, but seems appropriate while you 're watching the molten lava flow down the volcano.

We stopped first for dinner at one of the many restaurants along the road to Baldi. Praying for clear skies, our hunger sated, we soaked in the pools, massaged our shoulders under the waterfalls and took in all the beautiful surroundings and landscaping. (Be sure to bring your own towels. There is a bag check area by the changing/shower rooms, to stow your stuff). After playing in the lower pools, we explored the upper ones. To our amazement, the volcano was clearly visible and we glimpsed not one, but two eruptions of lava and watched as the red stuff slid down the mountainside all before the clouds came down to obscure it. It was perfect!

Volcano Arenal Smokin '!

While shopping in La Fortuna for handcraft gifts, we met the proprietor of one place that has Internet and lovely crafts, who advised us to skip Monteverde! We had planned to continue around the lake to the Monteverde Cloud Forrest until he told us that the road doesn 't go there! I had read that some folks now refer to the park as the "Crowd Forrest" and this gentleman echoed that sentiment, saying that the crowds had scared away all the wildlife that everyone goes to see. With that news, we changed our plans and retraced our tracks back the way we came to visit The Parque Nationional Rincon de la Vieja. This vast park is home to a few non-erupting volcanos and many other geothermal features. It 's similar to Yellowstone, with fumerals, bubbling mud ponds, geysers and natural hot springs. As it turned out, we were glad that we had to retrace our steps around the lake because we got to see some wildlife. We were accosted by a large troupe of Coati on the road obviously looking for wayward Gringos with handouts! We complied with some of our delicious grapes while taking photos of these very cute furry creatures!

Coatimundi attack!  *************** Monkeys on the wire

Next, we spotted a small family of Howler Monkeys. Dad was leading two very small babies out over the roadway along the telephone cables. We held our breath while we watched the babies trying to hold on to the wobbling wire, their tails too short to grasp the upper wire for support! Their acrobatics provided a wonderful diversion and some great video. Our route from Lake Arenal took us back through the town of La Canas, then north on the Pan American Highway through Bagaces to route 164. Just before the town of Guyabo, the road takes a turn left (and for the worse.) Those of you who like off-road adventures or four-wheeling will love this part. Jann had a blast driving and the rest of us passengers didn 't have it too bad. This road to San Jorge takes you right to the park. Since we like to leave some things to chance when traveling, we thought we would find our lodging on the way to the park. Since it 's not really the high season, we thought no problem, but the first place we came to, the Rinconcita were full up! They mentioned a place a couple of clicks back, called Rincon de Gaetano and we drove on back. What a find! Sometimes you come across the best places when you don 't have a clue. Gaetano 's is bed & breakfast located just minutes from the park and only 25 kilometers from Liberia. In fact, the road out of Liberia takes you almost directly to it. But a bit of warning, it is a rough road in parts and not for the faint of heart! One should have at least some experience with 4 wheeling taking this more direct route. A bit about Gaetano: the Finca de huespedes, Rincon de Gaetano, Chambres d 'hotes is still under construction, but the proprietor, Gaetano (who hails from Belgium) is working very hard to finish the project before the end of the year and the start of the season. Considering that he had no warning whatsoever that we were coming to stay, he couldn 't have been more hospitable. He went the extra mile to make us feel welcomed. He prepared an extra room, prepared an impromptu dinner, and even took us for a short nature walk showing us the spectacular views of all of Guanacaste and even the Pacific. We could almost see where our boats were anchored! Although Gaetano doesn't speak much English, he is fluent in Spanish and French. The accommodations were simple country style and very comfortable. There wasn 't any hot water, but it didn 't matter much. It 's a good idea to bring along hiking boots for this time of year as there is much mud about.

You can reach him via email at elrincondegaetano.free.fr ' for now as there are no phones until early next year. The poles are in place, they 're just waiting for the service to get there. Once it arrives, he will offer Internet services as well. There is a small pool, lots of chickens, a few cats and some beautiful countryside. We recommend him highly!

After a lovely breakfast of crepes, we were on our way to the park. The entrance and Ranger Station is only a few kilometers from Gaetano 's but the road is pretty bumpy. We chose the shortest hike from the ranger station, a 3 km trail to the waterfalls or Catarata. We had to forge a couple of creeks and cross some pretty muddy patches, but it was all worth it! For butterfly enthusiasts, it 's simply paradise! We must have seen all the various butterfly species shown on our Costa Rica Flora & Fauna guide. Some even complied with our demands for photo ops and stayed still long enough to be photographed.

What a delightful trip. Originally, we had heard through the cruiser grapevine that it wasn 't very safe to leave your boat in Costa Rica for inland trips or was too expensive to leave it at Marina Las Suenos, so we were thrilled when our friends on the Motor Vessel DELUSIONS agreed to watch ours after we watched theirs. And Playa de Panama turned out to be a great place to stop. Our sincere thanks to both DELUSIONS and the Motor Cat - ECLIPSE (also from San Francisco, with Gary and Carolyn Yeakle on board).

Some more on Bahia Culebra: We met a young couple who own a new bar/restaurant down the beach. It 's located along the road that runs along the beach for access to the campers who come on the weekends. The road turns away from the beach to meet the main road and the restaurant is just before entrance. They 've been only open a month but are planning to cater to cruisers by adding mooring balls, water taxi, a dinghy dock, shower facilities, stores and even a hotel. So far their bar/restaurant is lovely and they already have the showers working. We had drinks there during the afternoon downpour and spoke with Hiram about his plans. It 's just part of the Projecto Papagayo. ' Soon this entire area will be developed but hopefully in keeping with the eco-friendly building designs. At least in Bahia Culebra, you can barely see the resorts hidden amongst the lush foliage. And you can still hear and see the howler monkeys who come right up to the shore.

Well, we 're off to explore the rest of Pacific Costa Rica and then Panama before our transit sometime in December or January. As usual, (and to the my mothers ' displeasure!) we 've got no plans, and we 're stickin ' to em!

October 28, 2003

En route to Bahia Ballena

We 've been buddy boating with ECLIPSE since Bahia Culebra. They seem to want to stick with us even though they can go much faster when they want to. It was an overnight passage to Bahia Carrillo from Tamarindo. We never got to see the turtles at Bahia Grande because of the exorbitant fee the park wanted and because the anchorage was horribly uncomfortable. As it was, we spent the day aboard the very stable platform of ECLIPSE watching movies with Gary while Carolyn went ashore with DELUSIONS. They did our laundry once again while underway last night. The anchorage at Carrillo was almost as rolley, but with the stern anchor out it was good enough to get some rest before heading out again at 4pm today. Another overnighter and we 'll be in the Gulf of Nicoya tomorrow at Bahia Ballena. We 'll probably spend Halloween there. Hope to have a costume party on one of the bigger boats. I seem to be doing pretty well with all the rough anchorages and swells bouncing SAGA around, like right now! But I still long for that catamaran!

Isla Gitano (Muertos)

Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Playa Naranjo, Gulfo de Nicoya, CR

We spent a couple of days anchored in the calm waters between Isla Jesusita and Isla Cedros. It was sooooo nice not rocking and rolling all day and night, I almost didn 't want to leave. But we motored over to the Ferry terminal at Pareda and beached the dinghy near the palapa restaurant and got a taxi at the ferry into Pareda. Carolyn & I checked email and did a quick shop finding wonderful fresh fruit and veggies right across the street from the super market. Meanwhile the guys got the jerricans and filled them with fuel. We had some lunch at the palapa and then headed back to the boat for the two hour motor over the Isla Gitana (Muertos). Another lovely and calm anchorage, where we went ashore to explore the now defunct resort. Today we dinghied over to the La Luminosa Resort. Matt on ELSEWHERE had told us not to miss it. It 's a small resort with pool and showers but no guests right now. In fact the entire staff was gone, except the manager Finn, and ex-cruiser, himself. He 's been there 10 years. It 's owned by a SF attorney who isn 't there very much, so the place is a bit rundown. Finn has a new white-faced Capuchin monkey.

Finn & Baby Pablo in a rare resting posture

Pablo is 2 years old and was rescued by some kids in very poor health. Now he is a rambunctious, non-stop, crazed little guy who comes flying at you from all sides. Carolyn & I had fun playing with him and trying to photograph him, (not an easy feat!) We relaxed by the pool, went for a quick dip, showered and chatted with Finn.

Sad, sad news....We learned on the SSB net this morning that the owner - Lucky Wilhelm - of the next place we are to visit was murdered in his bed a few days ago. He and his wife, Agie have owned the Oasis del Pacifico Resort and Marina for over 10 years. We are anchored just off the resort tonight and plan to catch the nearby As it turns out it was a robbery that went bad. Lucky tried to fight off the robber and was killed in the process. Agie says she wants to sell the place. Her son, who is an active Marine, was there with her helping out. We take the ferry to Puntarenas tomorrow morning with Carolyn.

The four of us got together the other day and compared cruising plans and we 've decided to buddy-boat the rest of the way for now. Our time frames seem in conjunction and we both want to transit sometime in early January. They plan to leave their boat in the Rio Dulce for next summer, but want to cruise with us at least until we head off for Cuba perhaps. We certainly are enjoying their company. They are very generous and laid back. They don 't drink, but don 't seem to mind if we have a beer. They 've been showing us all their movies and don 't mind watching them again with us. Janns ' been enjoying that, especially the popcorn!

We 'll be heading out of the gulf soon, onto the Golfo de Golfito and the end of Costa Rica. Should be in Panama in a couple of weeks, tops.

Agie and Nancy at Oasis del Pacifico Resort

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