Sailing Trance

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!

Friday February 7

We walked around town today.

At 5pm the marina had a free beer happy hour on G dock under a big tent. We met three other couples part of the Panama Posse.

Ben and Annie Doyle from Cour d’ Alene, Idaho recommended this little Italian restaurant in town, the food was delicious! On the walk back to the marina we stopped at the farmers market, picked up fruit and vegetables.

Thursday February 6

We pulled up anchor at sunrise 5:58am, headed for Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rico. Another no wind day, hope I don’t regret these days I’m sure there will those with too much wind.

Wednesday February 5

Left Golfito early morning, headed for Isla del Cano to anchor overnight there was hot with little to no wind. We saw whales today and we actually caught 3 fish 🐠 🐠🐟 also got to use our new Magma fish cutting board.

Tuesday February 4

The most complex check in procedure when arriving by boat is here in Costa Rica. It took Dan 7 hours to finally cleared customs and received a cruising permit from the port captain.

Sue, Al and I took a taxi to the “free zone” where you can buy all sorts of items duty free. We just window shopped, then had lunch, returned to the marina. Later we all had dinner at the Fish Hook Marina restaurant, which is next to Banana Bay Marina, watched the second Jason Bourne movie.

Monday February 3

Passports stamped, boat inspected, entrance fee paid, still have to go see customs and port captain tomorrow, as they are not open on Mondays.

The prop on the outboard for the dingy needs to be replaced, walked to a local Yamaha dealer, ordered one, will go back tomorrow to pick it up. We asked the salesperson if he could recommend a restaurant for lunch. He did, it was down the street from his store, great food.

We got a slip in the marina this afternoon, yesterday we were anchored out front. It was 87F here today and humid, it rained after dinner, so we had movie night on the boat, watched Born Identity, Sue and Al had not seen it before.

Sunday February 2

Well it’s also Groundhog Day, not sure if Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, but it’s always summer down here. Currently we are still in Panama 🇵🇦, will be in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 at some point today.

Saturday February 1

Our buddy boat radio us this morning when they were ready to lift anchor, followed by them singing Happy Birthday to Dan! We all cheered! Today we’re headed to Isla De Burica, anchor for the night.

The beach here was very rocky so no swimming today. We had dinner together with Saltair 3 on their boat, celebrating Dans birthday, grilled fish, cabbage, we brought over cheesy mashed potatoes and homemade soft pretzels. Krista even baked a chocolate cake!