We are excited to get to Quepos, for it is here that we are going to meet my sister and brother-in-law and our friends Leah and Drew. Party! Well, we do have a reason to celebrate...Leah's birthday! Happy Birthday Leah!!
I know its been a while since we updated our blog, one of the reasons is that we are still having difficulty getting Internet consistently and powerful enough to upload pictures. Occasionally we are able to get it from the boat (with Hawkings extender) but usually not a very strong connection. It has been just too risky for us to bring in our computer from the boat due to dinghy landings have been wet ones. We do not want to put the "dry" bags up to the challenge at the risk of drowning our computer!
We arrived in Quepos with some uncertainty about the anchorage. The guidebooks do not really give it rave reviews and we have heard from other cruisers that the anchorage is not that great. We did read that the town of Quepos has a lot to offer in regards to restaurants, pulperias for provisioning, surf, Canopy tours, and much more. One of the things that is interesting is Manuel Antonio National Park, is very close and is known as one of the smallest parks in Costa Rico but filled with many species of mammals and birds.
We arrived at the anchorage waypoint, which is just outside the breakwater of the marina that is still under construction. We anchored near some the boats that were on moorings. We sat there for a while and realized pretty quickly that this was going to be a rolly anchorage especially with the swell building. While we were contemplating what to do, we saw that there were a few boats anchored south of the commercial pier. Since we were going to be in Quepos for awhile we wanted to check out the anchorage to see if it would be much calmer. We have had our share of rolly anchorages, which always makes sleeping restless. Too many restless nights can possibly make the Captain and Admiral cranky! We do not want that!
Well we were in luck! This anchorage ended up being great! It had a small public beach (Playa Biesanz) on the edge of the jungle. The beach and cove was fairly popular for snorkeling; however when we tried skin diving and the visibility was not that great due to the swell. Other than the a little swell towards the end of our stay, the anchorage was calm! Later we found out that our friend Leah's hotel not only the hotel itself but the suite she was in was just above where we anchored overlooking the ocean towards Quepos. What a Sweet Suite! We totally appreciate Leah letting us hang out in her suite (especially to use the cool water pool...very refreshing!) To get to town it was a very interesting hike up a hill from the beach through the jungle up to a dirt road that lead to various hotels. The anchorage ended up being in a good location because it was only a short taxi ride to my sister's hotel too. We are thankful for all the boat parts that Susan/Kevin brought to us...and luckily my sister did not have to carry them on her head as she swam out to the boat! Brian was able to swim with them with not problems! No not really but almost! We did have some interesting dinghy issues while they were visiting. We are very thankful for all the sunflower seeds that both Leah and my sister brought for us.....we are back to seeding!(this item is not easy to find in Central America)
We had a great time visiting with my sister/brother and Leah and Drew. We went to Manuel Antonio National Park and saw two toed and three toed sloths, frogs, bats, Jesus Christ lizards, monkeys, raccoons, and various birds. We were glad that we got a tour guide for the park otherwise we may have just walked through with out seeing much. Touring the park is about a 2-hour hike. Most of the mammals and birds were protected with in their natural habitats, which at times was difficult to see without a guide pointing them out or with use of binoculars. I did not get many pictures with my camera but hope that Susan's and Leah's pictures are good and will post some of them when we can! I am totally amazed with sloths...WOW they can move slowly! Funny, the day before we came to the park, we were coming back to Playa Biesanz in a taxi, and we came to a stop, as well as the oncoming car came to a stop ........the reason was that a sloth was crossing the road. I should have gotten a close up picture of it but I was stunned how slow it was moving, and missed the opportunity. I guess I was slower than the sloth getting my camera out!
We also went on a Canopy tour (Titi Canopy tour) while family/friends were here. It was fun zipping through the jungle on zip lines! We did get to see a toucan sitting in a tree while we were hiking up to the first zip line. Apparently at times you can see many other species while on the zip line but so busy concentrating so I could brake soon enough so I would not slam into a tree. I kept envisioning smacking into the tree and slide down as a flat as a pancake like in the cartoons I watched as a kid! We should be getting some great pictures of all us on the zip lines
Brian and I really enjoyed having Susan/Kevin and Leah/Drew visit us while in Costa Rica. We hope that you guys had a good time too! Thanks! Our next destination in Costa Rica is Drake's Bay, which is approximately 60 miles south. Then on to Golfito, both are on the Osa Pennisula which we have read that is more remote as well as has a different weather pattern then the other two peninsulas (Papagayo & Nicoya) in Costa Rica. We should find out soon enough!