Got some wind so we are sailing!
09 January 2018 | Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica - heading to Papagayo
Helen
Tried to get scores from our Tep wifi last night. The service does not work well for each of the 24 hours of coverage. We have to be close to a cell tower for it to work. We have our satellite messenger onboard and that works well. Spent the morning using our satellite messaging system to communicate with Tep technical department. We had not given them any feedback on their 3g system. We paid for 4g but they told us it would not work in Panama. So, they shipped out a loaner 3g and told us we had to pay for it in order to use it. However, our service with 3 hours left, was useless as we had used up the max amount of data. We were able to make a few calls so that may have done it. The emails I composed are waiting for the next time we get wifi to send. Could not receive or send mails with their expensive service. Had lunch and observed the wind picking up from not much and ocean swells to 6 knots or so. Hauled anchor at 12:30 and motored away from the anchorage. We were putting up the main sail when a local boat with several women onboard came close by. They waved and were cheering us on before turning around and heading back to shore. Motor sailed around the tip of the peninsula which turned into Costa Rica. Then were able to turn off the engines and sail. We had good winds to 13 knots with full sails we were making speeds of 6 knots. Then it was up and down at times but still able to sail. Yeah! We kept seeing rain in the distance but by the time we got close, it had dissipated or moved out of our path. The sun has been shining all day. There was some lightning but far off. The sea had a bit of chop with waves 2-4 foots hitting us n the port forward bow. We are being pushed off course now with the wind dying down. We got to see many dolphins playing in our bow wake...one dolphin in particular had something white hanging down on each side. It turned out to be two fish hanging on. The dolphins move very fast so we were wondering how that was possible. Took some pictures and videos, but not sure if this particular dolphin was part of them. The sun is already thinking about setting. The cloud covered skies are reflecting some color. We'll see if we get some more wind before this night is over. We are planning to spend 2-3 days on our route to the furthest marina in north Costa Rica. Unless of course, the winds pick up.