jT, hot and humid :) but not winter!
01/22/2009, Golfito, Costa Rica

Hi all,

First I'd like to thank all that commented on my hand, it's healing nicely! Two stitches out last night and the last three will be in the next few days.

We are finally done with all in Costa Rica... paperwork, provisioning, hiking in the rain forest... only bummer is we never saw a live Toucan :( Oh well, maybe if we stop off in the islands of Panama on the way to Ecuador!

So we are heading south... in a week we will have crossed the equator, both the first time on a boat for Kirsty and I....We'll update more during the passage... for now i'll post a few more pictures without posts, and maybe get a few updates to them while we sail :)

Thanks to all for asking and supporting us!

Fair Winds and smooth seas!

jT

02 Costa Rica

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KB
01/21/2009, Costa Rica

Howler Monkey doing what he does best... HOWLING

02 Costa Rica

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KB
01/21/2009, Costa Rica

Up close and personal with an Iguana.

02 Costa Rica

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KB, Sweat Box
01/21/2009, Golfido, Costa Rica

We have been packing a lot in over the last few days. Our sail to Golfido from Isla Tortuga was basically without wind for 90% of the way so we had to motor for a lot of it, which is never as much fun. After an overnight sail (motor) from Isla Tortuga to Quepos we decided to stop for a couple of hours at Manuel Antonio National Park and head inland for a little hiking and sightseeing. According to all our guides you could anchor there for a $6 fee. I guess things have changed a little since the guides were written... anchoring is a no no and so is beaching your dingy. As we paddled into shore, with our one paddle (we haven't had time to put the new set on yet), because I had flooded the engine (or so we thought) we were both looking forward to a hike and some wildlife spotting. We had the dingy on the beach for less than a couple of minutes before we had a couple of park rangers telling us that we couldn't stay... no dingy and no anchoring! Ahh bugger we only just got here. So we re-launch the dingy and of course the engine still wont start, so now I'm padding into a headwind with one paddle while Jeff tries to fix the motor. We get about 2/3 of the way there before the engine bursts back into life, after Jeff had to change a spark plug... Manuel Antonio a little bit of a non event for us, but very pretty from where we were anchored.

So we set out south again towards Gofido in a very light wind and we just decided to amble along close to the coast during the day and check out the scenery and do some fishing. Jeff went off watch to have a nap and I was on deck reading (yes life can be tough sometimes), when the fishing rod goes beserk again. Jeff gets up and we have another fish on the line and as I start to reel it in the $25 West Marine rod and reel combo decides to pack it in, the handle on the reel falls off - crap not the best timing. Ahh well that's what you get for buying cheap fishing gear. So as we manually turn the reel to bring the fish are hoping that it's a good eating fish, but from a distance it kind of looks like a barracuda. Luck was with us and we managed to get the fish on board and it was just under 3 feet and a blue fin Tuna - big score, our first tuna. Jeff cooked up a storm for dinner, we had seared Ahi, it was divine, I now understand what everyone fusses about, followed by Coconut Tuna. YUM.

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, as well as being amazingly beautiful, we are getting into some very tropical scenery now, and this part of Costa Rica is almost empty of people and covered in rainforest - a good combination. As we sailed up to Golfido in Golfo Dulce under spinnaker, we had the best spinnaker run we have had since we have been on board. The sun was shining, the wind was consistent - excellent, we managed to sail for a full 10 miles uninterrupted. Definitely the best time for a beer! We even managed to anchor in Golfido, get packed up and be able to kick back and enjoy the sunset - what a view, surrounded by rainforest.

Next stop... San Jose to collect my passport. I cant explain how excited I am by the prospect of getting my passport back and being able to move around freely again, this saga has been going on since Nov 30th when I first reported it lost, a 7 week turn around is OK, right? A 7 hour bus ride up to San Jose (at the buses are cheap here, even if nothing else is, it was about $10 each for the trip). We headed into the Canadian Embassy on Monday morning first thing and collected my passport within 5 minutes, it was 100% the easiest part of the whole process. We spent the rest of day running errands in San Jose - kind of dull but to be honest San Jose is not the most amazing capitol I have even been in and every single building has either bars or roller doors and barbed wire, not the most welcoming look. The very best part of San Jose was the passport celebration dinner that we had at Restaurante Tin-Jo - really good Asian and Indian food as well as REAL wine glasses, not plastic. I miss Asian food so much and this restaurant was a winner.

02 Costa Rica

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jT
01/21/2009

And the crowd ROARS!!!! Winner - Kirsty!!

02 Costa Rica

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jT
01/21/2009

Grandpa, if your reading this post, there are some Gio's down in Costa Rica... well, back in the 1800's!!!

02 Costa Rica

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