We escaped the consistently high Papagayo winds of Tamarindo. Unfortunately when we pulled up our anchor we found that the swivel shackle that attaches our anchor to our chain had bent. The anchor and chain must have gotten twisted and those nasty 30 knot winds put too much pressure on it. It no longer swivels so now the chain comes up twisted.

We made the trip down the Nicoya coast in leaps of about 40 miles each which allowed us all daylight passages. Because we had to land on the beach at Tamarindo amongst 100 surfers (where there are surfers, there is surf) you can imaging how hard it would be to get groceries back to the boat dry! Our guide book said that there was a small grocery store at Bahia Ballena so we made that our destination. The bay is large but fairly well protected from the swell making beach landings possible in the dinghy.

Unfortunately our outboard quit so we had to row ashore. I'm not sure if we got some bad gas or if it was just it's time but the outboard would start then quit, start then quit. Ken took the carburetor off and we cleaned the jets. After reassembly it ran fine for about 10 minutes then quit so he started the process over again. We didn't have any carburetor cleaner on board so he did the best he could with lacquer thinner. After a second cleaning it seemed to work just fine.

Bahia Ballena has a resident population of Scarlet Macaws. They make all kinds of noise each morning but seem to be able to stay hidden in the trees. I became frustrated looking for them but finally spotted a bunch of them perched together in an almond tree.

We moved another 10 miles down the coast so that we could visit a private nature preserve called Curu. We went to shore at 7 am in hopes of seeing critters before they quieted down for the day. We were walking along a trail when all of a sudden the trees above us started shaking and all the dew that was on the leaves fell down in our heads. Monkeys! there was a troupe of capuchin monkeys overhead and we enjoyed watching them jumping from tree to tree.

A mile or so off Curu is a popular tourist destination called Isla Tortugas. Several tour boats bring guests out to these pretty islands where they can relax on the beach, play in the water, ride horses or rent those annoying jet skis. We took the dingy there and enjoyed the calm water and the pretty beach.

Our next stop was Isla San Lucas. I LOVED this passage more than any in recent memory because we had to weave our way through narrow, rocky passages and around beautiful islands. Our destination was up in the gulf of Nacoya which is mostly protected from the ocean swell so we motored in flat water, dodging logs, fishermen and ferries along the way.

We decided that we were ready for some 'city' time so we moved over to Puntarenas where we tied up to a floating dock at the Costa Rica Yacht Club. The yacht club is located 3 miles up a shallow estuary and in order to safely get to our destination we needed a guide. We called the yacht club and asked for assistance. Within 15 minutes a guy in a panga arrived and expertly showed us the way in, weaving back and forth to keep us in deep water.

The yacht club has a small marina, a few mooring balls and several 20' floating docks that can accommodate two boats each. For $28/night we get to tie to one of these little docks, use the free water taxi service to get to shore, use the pool and the showers. It's not a bad deal considering the cheapest marina in Costa Rica would be $88/night for us (WAY out of our budget).

Puntarenas is NOT a tourist destination. We've been here for a week and have only seen two other Americans. Downtown is run down and dirty but there are several brightly lit, clean stores. It is small enough that you can walk to everything and the bus service is great.

Because we haven't been near a water faucet since May, the boat needed a thorough scrubbing. Both the deck and the hull were filthy and yellowed. it took 3 mornings of scrubbing but we now have a clean, white boat again.

We are going to spend one more week here then start moving south towards Panama. I've spent a lot of time figuring out where to stop along the way. We have 5 more stops to make in Costa Rica and two more national parks to see. We intend to check out of the county on September 5.

The picture is of one of the dozens of commercial fishing boats that go by us every day.