Checking-in to Costa Rica at Playa del Coco is an all day activity. We (Marj, Dave,Kari, and Mark and Cheryl from s/v French Curve) were all on shore at the Port Captains office at 8:00 a.m. The office was not open yet. We had packed laundry and took it off to a storefront which was labeled as a laundry service. No one was there, though the sign said open 8:00 - 5:00, seven days. Finally, we found someone in an office below the laundry who took the dirty laundry and promised to have it back the next morning. Next, we got some copies of boat documents made and headed back to the Port Captain's Office. One needs three copies of every document to complete the check-in.

It took the helpful clerk in the Port Captain's Office a little more than an hour to go through our documents, passports, etc. and give us the documents we needed for the Immigration Office. Immigration is about a 15 min walk away. Once there, it took the officer about an hour to go through our papers, after which she told us to come back in an hour to get the necessary documents. We all went off to a nearby internet café, had lunch and checked emails, etc. Then back to the Immigration Office and our documents were ready. It's now about one o'clock.
Back to the Port Captain for an additional document. However, the clerk is out to lunch and not back until 1:30. The Port Captain let us in the air-conditioned office (It's very hot and humid outside.) and tried to make small talk in Spanish until the clerk returned. Which she did at 1:30. It took just a few minutes to get the document we needed to go to Customs (Aduana). Customs office is near the Liberia airport about 45 min drive away. Dave, Marj and Mark took the taxi. Kari and Cheryl stayed in town.
The drive to the Customs Office was pleasant. The taxi driver spoke English and we told him that both boats needed propane tanks filled. He made special effort to take us to several shops where this might get done. No success with this and no place in Cocos has the ability to fill a propane tank.
We got to the Customs Office within an hour. The Office was locked tight with no customs officer in sight. After 15-20 min, some men came into an office next to Customs and asked if they could help. They made calls and told us we would have to go to the Customs Office at the airport. Our waiting taxi driver took us there and we had explicit direction of where to meet the customs officer, Geraldo. Our driver phoned to announce our arrival! Geraldo met us as planned and it took us 15 min to explain to him that we wanted customs clearance for two boats. He took all our papers, passports, etc. and disappeared behind closed doors. An hour later he came back with the documents that we signed and were free to go. The taxi driver said he knew it would be slow when he saw it was a man, not the normal woman, who would do the work. The drive back to Playa del Cocos was uneventful. It was now about 4:00 P.m. In Costa Rica the boat gets a "visa" for 60 days. So, we're good to stay in CR until April 4. The only cost was the $50 taxi ride plus a day's time.
We found Cheryl at the checkout of the supermarket, with many groceries. Kari was back at the beach keeping an eye on our dinghy. We stopped for a drink, then dinghyed back to Kievit for a swim before dinner.

Saturday, Feb 1, was a work and provisioning day for the Kievit crew. After a morning swim, coffee and breakfast, we dinghyed into the beach. First, we went to get our laundry. Once again the laundrymat was closed and the man, who took our laundry and promised to have it back at 9am, was nowhere to be found. His office, a tour agency, was not open. So, we thought we would just find him later. Marj needed to go to a computer/telephone shop to get our internet connection working. The device is like a thumb drive, but is a microwave transmitter that lets you connect to the internet over telephone towers. It's slow, but works great for email anywhere near a microwave tower. Afterward we went to the same internet café and had an early lunch. Marj and Kari stayed there and Dave went to a close by supermarket to buy provisions. An hour later, we all took a taxi (with the provisions) back to the beach. Dave and Marj loaded groceries in the dinghy and went back to Kievit. Kari stayed behind to secure our laundry.