Once we got back to the boat from bidding Patsy goodbye, we batten down the hatches, pulled up the hook, and headed south towards Tamarindo. Tamarindo is approximately 25 nm south of Playa del Coco. Tamarindo is not listed, as a possible anchorage in most of the cruising guides b/c there is surf all around, which does not make a calm anchorage. Surf is good for us! We were excited to check it out and get some surfing in too! Tamarindo is just south of the Golfo of Papagayo, but is still influenced by the strong NE winds
We had 25 knot winds, the majority of the day, which was a very comfortable sail (6.0-7.0 knots) all the way to our last wave point of the opening of Bahia Tamarindo. We arrived in record time and had enough daylight left to watch some of the local surfers surf their last session of the day. We experienced a pretty rough, rolling night our first night. The next day the wind was very strong (gusting up to 35 knots), therefore we were not able to launch our dinghy, nor did we want to leave the boat, in fear that we could drag anchor. We ended up having a boat day that was nice to catch up projects and of course read! An added bonus was that we could get internet from our boat! This was also the day Brian became "champion of spider solitaire" There is still time that I can beat him!
We were glad when the wind died a bit the next day, so we could launch the dinghy therefore get into town and head to the surf breaks. As you may have already guessed that since there is surf all around the bay, it makes getting to shore an interesting feat. Because there was a swell, we had to anchor the dinghy off the beach and swim into land. The town of Tamarindo is surfer town that is definitely a tourist town and has several "gringos" that have made this their home. The theme of the town mainly involves surf. There are many surf shops, surf lessons offered, and surf trips to some of the various surf breaks in the area.
After exploring the town, we got back into our dinghy, which at this time since the tide came up it was anchored further out. You guessed it! We had a further to swim! Actually b/c it is quite warm here, the swim was welcomed. We got back to the boat and grab our surfboards and headed to the river mouth to surf this break. We had a great surf session but decided to leave when the tide got too high. Plus it started to get crowded as the locals were coming out after their workday.
We decided to stay in Tamarindo a few days so we could surf again as well as get some laundry done. I guess we love a challenge because we decided to take the challenge of getting our laundry to/from the dinghy through the surf. It didn't matter so much getting dirty laundry in but the real challenge was how were we going to get it back clean and dry to Four Points. We did it! I was able to carry it through the surf (on my head) while Brian was able to tender the dinghy just outside the breakers. We sure were glad that we water proofed it by double bagging the laundry because even though we managed to keep it dry getting it to the dinghy. We still had to make it through the wind chopped seas to Four Points anchored off shore about a quarter mile. Even though we both arrived to our boat wet, the laundry was dry!
With clean laundry, we decided that we were ready to leave Tamarindo the next day. We decided that we would sail to Samara, which is about 46 miles southeast. Another day sail for us. It may be a few days before we can update our website due to limited internet access. We have more pictures to load too but need a good internet connection to upload them successfully! We hope everyone is doing well back in the US and we miss you all!