Passage to Costa Rica
09 March 2008
Roger
Trip log: 1634 nautical miles. This leg: 165 nautical miles. All of the cruisers were invited to a potluck at the huge palapa and swimming pool on the ocean beach at Puesta del Sol. Customs, Immigration, and the port captain visited in the afternoon, and processed another small mountain of paperwork for us, at the boat. This gave us our passport exit stamps and our zarpe, the boat exit document. We decided to stay for the potluck and to leave early the next morning.
Under way at a little after 6am, we started with a strong headwind and nearly two knots of current against us...extremely frustrating. The current continued against us all day, all night, and into Saturday afternoon. We were followed by four other boats that checked out early Friday morning: two Nordhavn trawlers (Alanui and Paloma) and two sailboats (Manju and Mungo). Since we're slower than all of these, we could see them gradually catching up to us on the radar. On Saturday morning, we started entering the region of highest Papagayo winds, off the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The wind was off the land and gradually increased until it was gusting to over 30 knots. We started making much better time. After putting in the first reef, we rounded Punta Santa Elena (Costa Rica), cut in behind the islands near the point, and given the increasing winds and forecast of a real Papagayo blow, we decided to continue. Manju was a few miles behind us, the two power boats were about 9 miles ahead, and Mungo was out of contact...they seem to have dropped back out of VHF range. With Manju, we decided to press on to Bahia Culebra, which has good Papagayo protection. After passing the islands, the winds would range from 5 knots to well over 30... really strange gusty conditions, with each gust coming from a different direction. In a while, it was a steady 30 knots and we covered the last 20 miles very quickly, reaching 8 and a half knots at times under a small jib and reefed main, and getting sprayed as the sharp little seas slammed against the side.
It was a long motor up to the head of the bay, but although the wind is still gusting over 30 knots at times, the sea is flat and it's good holding. There are five other boats with us, including the two Nordhavns and Manju. We arrived yesterday, and there is now some concern for Mungo.
The hills from Punta Santa Elena to here have been quite dry and brown. Apparently there's a marked division between the drier Pacific north and the extremely wet southern part of Costa Rica. It's Sunday and the officials are not around, so we'll check in first thing on Monday and start heading south. A cocktail hour has been organized for this evening on the beach, so we'll catch up with the other crews there.
Last night was beautifully clear and full of stars. This bay seems to have several resorts around it... we're already noticing that this is a much wealthier country. Also, there are many more bays and anchorages, and many more pleasure boats---a marked contrast with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.
So... here we are in Costa Rica. We've worked out that we need to leave the coast of Central America for the journey to Cocos Island (Costa Rica, 350 miles off the coast) and on to the Galapagos by the beginning of April, so we'll have 20 days to explore Costa Rica and, possibly, the Western Islands of Panama. Unfortunately, much of the trip to the Galapagos will be in the ITCZ --- the doldrums --- so we have to find some way to store extra diesel.