Monday February 17
Dan and I went to town early, walked around, picked up a few item we forgot yesterday. Had lunch, also stopped at the Port Captains office to get the correct order to check out tomorrow.
Pelicans dive fishing all around us!
Sunday February 16
The manager at Marina Papagayo let us stay another night because the winds were so high, with gusts over 40 knots. He said if we left early he wouldn’t charge us for another day. By 6am we were at the fuel dock, then on our way to Playas del Coco, just 2 hours away. This is the last checkout in Costa Rica. We saw several rays jumping and swimming near us. After anchoring we dinged into town to buy a few groceries. It was tough sleeping with those howling winds.
Immigration from what we heard is not opened on Mondays so weather permitting we’ll check out of Costa Rica Tuesday.
Saturday February 15
Well, we had planned on leaving Marina Papagayo today, but there is way too much wind! These Papagayo Winds are crazy!!! It’s been blowing 25 knots with gusts to 40! (and it’s 91F) since early this morning. Our boat is rocking so much sitting here at the dock it’s making my stomach rock🤢. We tried to rent a car today however none were available. If the winds calm later today or tomorrow morning we’re leaving to an anchorage near by, (anchoring is cheaper than marinas) wait for a weather window to go north. This is the last city to check out of Costa Rica, so we wait.
Pool time!
Friday February 14
I baked peanut butter cookies for my Valentine. Baking on a boat!
We spent most of the afternoon in the pool, cocktails with Krista and Brad, dinner and a movie, The Irishman.
Thursday February 13
Dan ran 10 miles this morning, then we took a 2 mile nature walk around the marina. It was also laundry day, had cocktails with Saltair3 then dinner at the Dive Bar.
Waiting for a weather window as these Papagayo Winds are a bit strong.
Wednesday February 12
We departed Playa Flamingo around 8am, it was a 4 hour sail to Marina Papagayo. At 11:30 we saw the whitecaps coming! The winds went from 0 to 26 knots in seconds.
We hosted potluck dinner on our boat, our buddies on Saltair3 came as well as Robert who is sailing south, he’s also a Panama Posse member.
Tuesday February 11
The anchor was raised at sunrise, we let Baha Samara headed towards Playa Flamingo.
Experienced our first Papagayo Winds, we maxed at 31.3 knots apparent wind speed and reached 9.1 knots boat speed over ground with double reefs in the Main and Genoa. Good thing it was daylight, sunny and warm.
Monday February 10
The anchor was raised at sunrise, we let Bellena Bay headed towards Baha Samara only to set anchor there for the night. Cocktails at 5 on Saltair3.
Sunday February 9
We left Marina Vela Perez around 7 am, headed north. A few days ago we parted ways with our buddy boat Saltair3 because we were dropping Sue and Al off at an airport. We sent them a email to see how far they were ahead of us, they were only a day away. Along the way we saw several jumping Rays, and a bird spent the majority of the day on our pulpit. We arrived at the anchorage, Bellena Bay late afternoon just before Saltair3 arrived back to their boat after visiting a waterfall in Montezema. They stopped over our boat for a bit, we all decided we’d leave in the morning.
Saturday February 8
With a rented car, we drove 3 hours to the Doka Estate Coffee plantation which is just north of San Jose. The grounds were absolutely beautiful! We learned how the plant grows, about the beans, separating the skins, drying and roasting processes. Doka is the largest coffee plantation in Costa Rica, they export 90% of what the process. For Decaf coffee, they ship the beans to Germany where they naturally remove the caffeine in exchange Germany keeps the caffeine for other products.
After the tour we had lunch in their restaurant, then drove to San Jose airport to drop off Sue and Al. It was a great three weeks with them!
Sailing Trance 