After a 3 night passage of 330 miles directly from Las Perlas islands of Panama, we arrived at Golfito, Costa Rica to the Banana Bay Marina. Despite light winds we made good time on our passage due to favorable currents. In fact, we were amazed to see speeds of 9 - 12 knots off the coast of Panama with only moderate winds. This extra boost due to strong currents had us anticipating a pre-dawn arrival, which we always try to avoid when coming into a new harbor.
The current however changed to flow against us - sort of like getting a benefit for which you will later pay! So no chance of arriving too early in darkness - we arrived in early morning light at 6 am.
Golfito was a banana shipping port until the mid-1950's and it is currently trying to establish itself as a tourist destination like other parts of Costa Rica. We enjoyed the small town atmosphere and the friendly people. After 4 taxi rides to different government offices, we were checked into the country with Immigration, with Customs and with the Port Captain. We spent one day provisioning the boat and found the grocery shopping and an excellent fruit and vegetable market. And of course, we got caught up on our sleep after 3 nights at sea.
On Sunday, February 21 Dave's sister and brother-in-law, Norma and Michael, flew in to Golfito to join us for a fun 12 day vacation. We started out with an overnight passage from Golfito to Drake's Bay, arriving at 8 am to a smooth anchorage in the Bay where supposedly Sir Francis Drake had anchored after capturing a Spanish galleon off the coast of Ecuador.
The morning and afternoon were spent hiking into the tropical rain forest over the crest to a lovely beach and then going up the bay to a small river to explore the mangrove swamp at high tide. Next stop was the beach below the small town where we managed to find an ice cream shop for a cool afternoon snack.
The water temperature here is markedly warmer than what we experienced in the Las Perlas islands, so it is easy to dive in; however, trying to stay cool in the tropical heat isn't easy when the ocean water is about 84 degrees. Attached you see our "make-shift" small air conditioning unit which we purchased in Panama. It only works when we are at a marina using shore power, and it has been a wonderful bonus to have the main cabin cool enough to be comfortable as well as having our cabin better sleeping temperature.