Tropical Sailing Adventures

We can hardly believe it has been just over one month since our arrival in Costa Rica. We have had the opportunity to make a couple land trips and have been enjoying the beautiful Bahia Culebra where Maestro is currently docked. Behind our vessel each morning we wake to the view of a beautifully protected harbor with many white sand beaches within our sight and the sounds of howler monkeys in the distance. As rainy seasons go so far most of July has been good to us. Late afternoon there are storm clouds that form and eventually drop torrential rains but the sun has been out enough for it to still be exciting and tolerable. The locals say it has been a light rainy season thus far.

Our first land based trip was prompted early because Len fillet his knuckle (5 stitches) with the fish knife and had to be out of the water for a week or so. We packed up the car and headed to Volcan Arenal. Arenal is one of the most visited destinations in CR but since it is the "Green" season (Marketing making OFF season sound better) we headed there anyway knowing there wouldn't be huge crowds. We stayed at www.tabacon.com hot springs resort. What a treat. Great service and you really get to experience the thermal area in a great environment. We hiked to a gorgeous waterfall, viewed a butterfly farm, viewed monkeys and enjoyed a rainforest walk with lava fields. Volcano Arenal blew just eight months ago so no lava was flowing from it at this time but we did see quite a bit of steam around the rim.
Another highlighted trip was driving through the Nicoya Peninsula and taking the ferry across to Punteranus. It has been great stopping in at places that we remembered from our last voyage through CR. Some places have changed a great deal and others have maintained their local charm.

Just this past Monday we wanted to start the week right so we went to a 'wellness' resort where we were the only guests for the entire day. The package entailed horseback riding, jungle zip-line, organic gourmet lunch, mud-spa and hot springs. During lunch thunder was cracking which apparently makes the monkeys move in the jungle canopy. (smart right?) We were lucky to watch a troop of about thirty white-faced monkeys jump from tree to tree. Then after about 45 minutes five howler monkeys came within about forty feet of our table and leisurely took naps in the trees. There was also an abundance of colorful iguanas and giant blue Morpho butterflies - it was really unforgettable.

Len finally got the diving hooka working and cleaned the entire bottom of the boat. I have been working on the stainless and detailing the dighny in between trips to swim at the beach. The little beach about a 10 minute dinghy ride from our boat is pristine blue meets white shell sand. Last week we motored over in the heat of the day and dropped the hook for a warm swim to find another troop of five monkeys right on the beach! Len loves to communicate with them ... (its embarrassing.... Lol) He really gets the male howler monkeys going. It even sounded like they were trying to mimic his rhythm.

Please enjoy the corresponding pictures listed under Costa Rica in the photo section.