Friday June 24 – Tuesday June 28We took a few days after our adventures with Dennis’ brother Greg to catch up on chores and boat projects. For the first time, we had run out of propane, so we were looking at some cold meals unless we got some more quick. A few bus and taxi trips were required. We took the bus to Ciudad Neilly to turn our burned out alternator into a repair shop and the nearest place to get a propane refill was on the way (quite a heavy and awkward load for Dennis to take on the bus –especially since the bus driver is not supposed to let you on the bus with a flammable container, so he had to carry it concealed in a large gym bag). Also took a bus to Paso Canoas, which is at the border of Panama and Costa Rica. There is a duty-free shopping zone there. It’s an interesting area. The town is precisely on the border between the two countries with no physical separation (i.e. wall, fence, etc.). In fact, one side of the main street is considered Costa Rica while the other is Panama. So it’s easy to understand why the area is considered duty-free, there’s no way to really control the movement of goods. We were looking for a microwave and icemaker – two appliances that will be helpful in keeping our boat and us cooler in the tropical areas (less cooking on the propane stove which heats up the salon and guaranteed cold drinks). Priced things, but didn’t buy anything.

Back in Golfito for happy hour that evening, we learned that Katie and Tim that run the Land Sea Marina where we are moored are from Santa Barbara. She went to college at Westmont and after his time in the service Tim attended the SBCC Dive program. They are wonderful folk and have really created a comfortable stop for cruisers. Having done a lot of sailing themselves, they know what we need: internet, laundry service, advice about local services and official procedures, boat sitting when you do a land trip, a comfortable spot to gather with other cruisers. Anybody cruising in this area really should make a stop here. When we arrived in Golfito, a Dockwise Yacht Transport (www.yacht-transport.com) was there to take on some boats. This stimulated speculation on how we might make the passage past the Somalia pirates and through the Suez Canal.

Wednesday June 29 - Thursday June 30We took another land trip – this one a jungle adventure. Carolyn and Tom of s/v Sunny Side Up and Chris and Paul of s/v Jeorgia went too. We took a water taxi to Puerto Jimenez which is near the entrance of Gulfe Dolce, on the tip of the Osa Peninsula. We then took a 45 minute 4-wheel drive taxi ride on a wash-board dirt road to Encanta la Vida – a resort in the middle of the jungle just outside Corcovado National Park. It was a bit isolated and so three meals a day were included in the room fee. We had the upstairs room in a 2-room cabana. It had mosquito nets on the beds which we did use because although we didn’t notice mosquitoes in particular there were plenty of other bugs flying around. It wasn’t an open-air room, it had walls and a roof, but it was very rustic and fitting for the location. We had a large veranda outside our front door with a hammock, rocking chairs, padded sofa. We spent a lot of time out there watching for wildlife as at that height we were closer to the canopy. And we saw lots of animals. It was fantastic. The monkey video that we have posted with this blog was taken from our veranda. Some of the monkeys were just a foot or so away. It was awesome. It was safe on the veranda, but if you were standing on the ground below with no roof overhead, you might have gotten hit with some of the sticks, leaves, and other jungle rubbish that they were throwing down from the trees. They were so playful. While at Encanta la Vida we saw squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, and the white-faced capuchins that we captured on the video. The fourth type of monkey in Costa Rica is the howler. We aren’t sure we saw any of these, but in the early morning (3am) they would be in the trees just above our cabana doing their howling, loud enough to wake us all up – it was amazing. On the property we also saw red macaws flying in pairs (they mate for life), flocks of noisy parrots overhead, other colorful birds, numerous types of lizards (in the middle of the path to the office, a large iguana would greet us and then duck into his den under a rock), a coati (?), and butterflies. The blue morpho alluded us, but we did find one beautiful blue wing on one of our hikes and snapped a photo. The grounds were beautiful and they weren’t landscape plantings, it was natural jungle flora. Absolutely fabulous.

We took several hikes: to the nearby beaches, to another resort on the peak of the nearby hills where they had a lovely view, and our longest hike was to a waterfall which had plenty of watershed given we are here in the ‘green’ (aka rainy) season. It was 60 ft. high; swimming in the pool at the foot of the falls and standing in the mist was welcome refreshment. The hike was a bit technical for some of the group (rock climbing and stream forging) but the only casualty was Dennis’ ‘amphibious’ shoes of which the soles came unglued –hmmm wonder if there was a recall he didn’t hear about. There were other very interesting people staying at Encanta la Vida – a young couple who were there for the surfing – she had just passed her medical boards to be a Physician’s Assistant, he is an artist. They live in San Clemente. Unfortunately for them, the days we were there the swell had completely petered out but that’s why they enjoyed that area so much. When there’s no surf, there’s so many other things to do. We met several folks with connections to Santa Barbara. The owners of the resort weren’t there that week, but they are from Santa Barbara. There was a couple there who had both gone to UCSB and they have two children there now; they live in San Francisco. There is a pool there and we did enjoy it one day, but we spent most of our time hiking the area looking for the wildlife and enjoying the beauty of the Costa Rican jungle. Our last night there it rained really hard, but we were dry and comfy in our cabanas. It was a wonderful trip with some good friends.

Friday, July 1 – Happy 61st anniversary to Virginia’s parents! We returned from the jungle to our boats. It took us a while to actually get to our boats. That torrential rain the night before had put about a foot of water in our dinghies and had to be bailed out before we could use them. Finally got back to Libertad to happily find her dry as a bone having sealed a few leaks discovered in earlier rain storms. We now needed to get serious about sorting out where to leave our boat for our planned trip home to California.