(note: some of you have asked what we eat, so we’ll try and include some info on that in this post)

Thursday, June 9 Playa Panama (in Bahia Culebra) was very beautiful and calm so we got a good night’s rest there each night. The closest town with any facilities is in the bay between Panama and Coco, named Hermosa. But Hermosa is mostly resort hotels, so we decided we would bus back to Coco and spend the day as our cruiser guide suggested. We went to the corner bus stop and waited there with two locals for about 45 minutes – no bus. We found out later that they come only once an hour and we must have just missed it. While we were waiting, a Hermosa resort van stopped and gave us their timeshare sales invitation to tour the resort with a 90 minute “presentation”. We tried not to be rude so when we showed a little interest and they found out we were headed to Coco, they offered us a ride as they were headed that way. We had an enjoyable conversation with them. They were excited because Costa Rica was playing El Salvador in the soccer America Gold Cup that night. We had lunch at Woody’s - reasonable food with two caged parrots that talked nonstop for atmosphere. Had a conversation with a couple of women on a business/vacation trip here from Washington DC. They were staying at one of the resorts in Hermosa. We provisioned with some groceries and some items we needed at the hardware store and then took a taxi back to Playa Panama. That evening, we went to a restaurant/bar that we had noticed just a short distance from the beach in hopes that they would be showing the soccer game. But they were closed. We ate on the boat and played scrabble. We still hadn’t had a big rain in that anchorage – just watched the lightning in the distance each night.

Friday, June 10 We found another restaurant in a hotel that was more hidden behind dense foliage, but is also close to the beach where we are anchored. We had a nice lunch there and used their wifi. Wish we had found it one day earlier so we could have watched the soccer game! We did hear that it ended in a tie 1-1, so it probably was pretty exciting. s/v Jeorgia joined us in the anchorage later in the day.

Saturday, June 11 we moved to the nearby Papagayo Marina – also in Bahia Culebra – so that it would be convenient for Dennis’ brother Greg to get to us. We filled up with fuel and water and told the marina we were staying for one night. We met Larry, Lisa, and Ben aboard s/v Lisa Kay as they greeted us at the dock, helping with our lines. Greg arrived at the boat earlier than expected which was great because it meant he had an easy time finding us. He pitched right in and helped us with a few boat projects (finding the leak in our dinghy for instance). It was hot and humid that day so the marina’s pool was very refreshing that evening. We went to happy hour at the marina restaurant where we spoke more with Larry and Lisa. They were so nice to us during our stay, including hooking us up with some friends of theirs that were further south (east) in Costa Rica so we could get info on anchorages, and providing fresh baked goods (yes, Lisa baked even in the hot and humid weather –their boat had three air conditioners!). We noticed that our friends, Sylvia and Ken aboard s/v Ann Lucia, are here but they are on a land trip for a few more days. We last saw them in Huatulco, Mexico.

Sunday, June 12 Happy Birthday to our son, Darren! In the morning we worked on more boat projects (finding the second hole in the dinghy, working with the marina to get a new mount fabricated for our alternator – the weld on the original one broke). We had to admit that it was sure nice to do some of our boat projects in a marina instead of floating in an anchorage and the marina was so accommodating about helping us get connected with the services we need. And the pool, large beautifully tiled showers, fast internet, and air conditioned recreation room are luxuries that we fully enjoyed; so we decided to pamper ourselves and stay at the marina a few more days. But we took Libertad back over to Playa Panama for a few hours to join s/v Jeorgia for some snorkeling and then happy hour at the beach restaurant where we poured through the travel guides and the internet to choose a ziplining adventure. We ate dinner at the marina restaurant and watched the Costa Rica/Mexico soccer game –Costa Rica was not doing well and the kitchen staff were a bit sad (Mexico won 4-1).

Monday, June 13 We made arrangements to zipline at Buena Vista in the Rincon de la Vieja National Park. We rented a car for the adventure. It was Chris and Paul from s/v Jeorgia, along with us and Greg. Ken and Sylvia came back from their land trip and came over to Libertad in the evening, bringing a delicious sushi dish. We had a great visit with them. Ken gave Virginia yet one more weather site she could check on the internet (she can’t seem to get her fill). They are from Japan and started their cruising adventure with 53 days at sea crossing from Japan to Canada.

Tuesday, June 14 most of us hadn’t been ziplining before and found it enjoyable. But we were disappointed in how the activity seemed to be geared toward speed and excitement rather than a “jungle tour.” They rushed us through, not giving us much time to look around in the canopy to see wildlife and get some photos. We did see one monkey and lots of lush green jungle foliage. We had a productive day, driving to Liberia to do some errands and having lunch at a restaurant that offered a ‘typical’ Costa Rican meal. It consisted of black beans, rice, grilled meat of choice, beet salad, and fried plantains and was delicious accompanied by the local Imperial cerveza. We celebrated our last night in the marina with some of Dennis’ delicious barbequed chicken, corn on the cob, and coleslaw. Greg walked up to the marina restaurant and got 3 root beer floats to go – total indulgement that night.

Wednesday, June 15 We said our goodbyes to Ken and Sylvia who will be following us in a few days, and to Lisa, Larry, and Ben who are flying home for a few months and eventually going through the canal to the Caribbean. We decided we would do an overnight run to Bahia Ballena in the Gulf of Nicoya. We saw storms (no lightning) all around us, but we didn’t hit any of them. We were motoring all night and Dennis noticed that our alternator wasn’t charging our batteries. Evidently it got too beaten up when the bracket broke and although it worked when we tested it after mounting the new bracket….it of course decided to wait until we were out at sea to give it all up. But we have backups for nearly everything and Dennis hooked up our portable generator and charged up the batteries – no problemo.

Thursday, June 16 our granddaughter Kira’s birthday! We got some wind in the early morning and were able to sail for a couple hours but we had to tack offshore to take advantage of it, so we arrived a bit later than originally planned (0200 instead of noon), but still in daylight. We caught two mackerels that day; they were small so we released them. We were able to reach Kira on the satellite phone. We ate barbequed porkchops, stuffing, applesauce, peas and canned corn. Greg and Virginia played scrabble. Bahia Ballena was a very calm and pretty anchorage. There were a few residences and a restaurant (which looked closed) and some panga fishermen. We had quite a downpour after arriving and we began to understand why this is the wet season. We didn’t go ashore.

Friday, June 17 All of Dennis’ work before we left to load us up with spare parts came in handy. He installed the spare alternator before we headed off for Quepos. There is a new marina there which is even more expensive than Papagayo so we planned on anchoring. We arrived at dusk to find that the marina had been built on the former anchoring site which had been somewhat protected by a breakwater. The new site, just outside the marina entrance was unprotected and very rolly and we saw no other boat anchored there with people on board. So we immediately headed to the nearby cove which at first seemed quite calm. Unfortunately we encountered a current running parallel to the beach that kept the boat broadside to the incoming swell. We put out our flopper-stoppers to counteract the swell but the current disrupted their function. By the time we finished dinner (spaghetti) we decided to pull up anchor and make an overnight run for Golfito –having three crew members made the decision easier.

Saturday, June 18 We had very calm seas and we motored the whole way, dodging debris – including some very large logs –flotsam resulting from the downpour the previous evening. At times there would be birds perched on the debris giving us an early warning, but we had to keep a close lookout. At 1630 we arrived in Gulfe Dulce at the Land and Sea cruiser’s club. They didn’t have any mooring balls available, but anchoring was no problem in the calm waters. It is so pretty here. We went ashore (in the rain) to scope out the facilities at the club house and to have dinner. Tim and Katie run Land and Sea have been doing this for awhile. They are so helpful and friendly – you can understand why some boats extend their stay here. A number of the cruising friends we have made this year highly recommended this stop and we’re glad we came.

Sunday, June 19 Happy Fathers’ Day! We walked the town. Nothing much was open, but we scoped it out -with rain sprinkles to keep us cool. That evening we sat on the clubhouse patio (Tim and Katie’s home) visiting with Tim and Katie and the crews of s/v Sunnyside Up (whom we met in Bahia del Sol, El Salvador), Windfall, and Patience. We made an oriental stir fry for dinner.

Monday, June 20 We rented a car for our second land trip with Greg – a whitewater rafting adventure. Costa Rica is quite mountainous as we learned on our short ziplining trip. This time we drove all day through one mountain after another to Turrialbe – beautiful country – even greener than El Salvador. We spent the night at a very basic hotel recommended by the tour company – Interamericano Hotel. It was very inexpensive ($35 for a double room with a private bath; only about half that price with a shared bath). It was owned and run by a woman from the US (New Jersey or New York) who had obviously been in Costa Rica for awhile. She said the streets were very safe at night, so we took a walk to see a bit of the town and have dinner. She had a small entourage of dogs and it was very homey and comfortable.

Tuesday, June 21 Tico’s River Adventures picked us up at the hotel (actually we followed them in our car part way to the launching site) in the morning. We rafted the Pacuare river with Fabio as our guide and Roberto accompanying us in his very small personal kayak to take photos of us. We have included some of his shots in our website gallery. There were three others in our raft: Tom, his daughter Samay, and Jacob. They are from Miami, but have family here in Costa Rica that they visit regularly. It was awesome – so much fun! The first part of the trip was easier rapids and the last part class 3 and 4 rapids. When Fabio mentioned that the rain of the night before was going to make this trip exciting as the river was higher he saw a bit of apprehension in Virginia’s eyes so he told her not to worry – he would take care of her just like she was his mother. He teased her all day calling her ‘mom’ but she played the part well watching and worrying about all of us throughout the day. About 2/3 of the way down the river we stopped for lunch which they had brought in a water-tight barrel – delicious fixings for burritos along with fresh pineapple. We then headed for San Jose as Greg’s flight left early the next morning. We had reserved rooms at the Berlor Airport Hotel . We had trouble finding the hotel and circled around in San Jose for a few hours (asking directions several times). We still haven’t gotten used to the lack of road signs and navigation by landmark versus a map and street names. But Mexico, El Salvador, and Costa Rica were all very similar so as we get more experience with it, we are getting somewhat better at it…but we have a ways to go. The hotel was a bed and breakfast/boutique hotel with just 10 rooms. The rooms were very basic and relatively inexpensive ($68 for a double room) but the staff were so friendly and helpful.

Wednesday, June 22 the hotel shuttled Greg to the airport very early. We had the breakfast that was included and then headed out to see Volcan Poas. We had gotten detailed directions from the hotel staff, but it turned out that the road was very well marked with road signs to this national park. The volcanoes are oftentimes covered with clouds but we were lucky and Poas was completely visible this day. We got some pictures looking down into the top of the volcano at the lagoon and rising steam. We took the hike to a nearby lagoon that is the top of the Botos volcano that has been inactive for many years. The whole area was just gorgeous with lush vegetation. We decided to take a small detour before heading back to Golfito and visited Grecia (the homes on the hillsides indicate that some of Costa Rica’s wealthier people live here) and Sarchi (known for the many artisans). We ate lunch at a restaurant that had a menu item for “typical” Costa Rican cuisine and ordered that. It was identical to the meal we had in Liberia so we had confirmation that indeed it was ‘typico’. We had a long ride home through winding mountain roads, with rain (sometimes very heavy), lightning, fog/clouds, and slow trucks to pass. We took turns driving. Sometimes the rain got so heavy that we contemplated stopping somewhere and napping in the car, but about that time the storm would weaken and we would plow on. We arrived in Golfito about 2200 and had a sumptuous dinner of apples and peanuts as we hadn’t stopped driving since leaving Sarchi. As we ate a storm blew through dumping more rain. We contemplated sleeping in the car, as Tim had given us a ride ashore the day we left so we wouldn’t have to leave our dinghy in the water while we were gone. We didn’t want to awaken him at that hour so when the rain stopped Dennis scouted the dinghies tied to the dock for one with oars that he could borrow to get us out to the boat. Apparently Tim was awake, heard Dennis on the dock and came out and volunteered to give us a ride. He had been watching our boat for us while we were gone, charging the batteries when they got low, standing by to move it if the anchor started dragging, etc. so all was well when we got back to Libertad, and we sure got a better night’s rest than we would have in the car.

Thursday, June 23 was a rest and recovery day. In the early morning we took our gasoline cans to the station to be filled (we use gasoline for the dinghy, our portable generator, and trading for lobster –see our earlier blog entry), provisioned at the SuperMercado and the local produce stand, and then returned the rental car. It rained most of the day – a first for us – and we used that time relaxing on the boat reading, catching up on email, and posting this blog. We knew our propane was low and we were running the refrigerator on it while we were on our latest trip, so indeed it ran out today. Oh well, can’t cook tonight – dinner ashore and bus trip to the propane shop tomorrow. We’ll be here a few more days at least before we head to Panama.