Manuel Antonio Park, Drake Bay, Golfito, Costa Rica
07 April 2014

We did see monkeys and sloths at the park - but, as sad as it is to say it, the park is over-rated and way too touristy for me. I think there are far to many other locations for viewing wildlife that would offer a far better experience. But of course, I'm glad for the opportunity and still consider myself fortunate to be able to visit these amazing places.
Our next anchorage was Drake Bay where we obtained our permits for Isla Cano.
As challenging as it was to obtain these permits for simply anchoring at Isla Cano, we decided that it would be in our best interest to purchase a couple of dives with a local dive operator and not mess around with this important event. I needed to go diving !!! We booked our dives with the resort 'Aguila de Osa' and were super-happy that we had chosen them for our dive trip. We had the nicest dive boat in the bay - complete with plenty of shade, knowledgable PADI Divemasters, and a head !! The island is a very well protected National Park, and because of this, we could not just 'anchor and dive where we wanted'. I don't disagree with this system, as many don't understand the affects of an anchor on a reef system. I'm glad the Costa Rican government sees clear to protect the real beauty of their country. Our dives at Isla Cano were really awesome - and, well, very much needed. It was 'instant' peace as I descended. It's amazing how all the stress just floats away when you dive.
The schooling fish were 'off the hook'. I love it when you swim with them, they surround you, and you quickly feel like they are adopting you as one of them. You either see hundreds of eyeballs or tails. Love it!
The first dive had dozens of huge stingrays - and you could get close enough to them to see the colors and details of the cleaner fish (within a foot !)
The second dive was at 'diablo del bajo' (devil of the deep- even so it was not really deep) was great!! There were a few of the bigger mantas (10-12 ft) swimming around for the entire dive. It was very 'swelly' and lots of current - perfect for the mantas to feed. Unfortunately, I had practically filled my data card on my GoPro on the first dive and didn't realize it. So, I was able to just enjoy the view without looking at an LCD screen. Nice!
No Whale Sharks yet ...
After diving at Isla Cano, we moved on to our last Costa Rican port of Golfito. Here, we found the best cheeseburger so far this season - at the Banana Bay Bar and Grill !! It was almost too big for two people. They also had really really cold beer, so every one was happy. Tim, at Land and Sea was great too. We brought him 4 large bags of laundry, which he managed to wash, dry ad bag for us before the big storm rolled in. Luckily, we missed this huge thunderstorm - other cruisers at the dock commented that it was the worst storm in years of sailing. I'm glad I saw that one on the radar screen and not on the deck. Within two days, we managed to provisioned nicely in the amazing fruit and veggie market - had our provisions delivered to the dock for us and complete all the necessary 'check out' procedures. Golfito is lovely, but doesn't offer much more than that.
Costa Rica - put a pin in it !! (as Art says).
Panama, venimos !!!