Golfita, last stop before Panama!

We stayed in Puntarenas 3 days longer than expected. I had a battery die in my bank so I had to replace both on that side. 2 batteries = $400…..not fun. The next morning, we woke to dead batteries. Both banks were at zero, 0, zilch. We tried to track the source but couldn’t find it. I borrowed a generator from Timo and began the process of charging up the system, 10amps at a time. After troubleshooting for another day, we called it quits and took off. So far, everything is working however the solar can’t quite keep up w/ the fridge. It rains a lot and with the fridge working hard to keep all the beers cold, we’re forced to run the engine from time to time to assist the panels. Small price to pay for cold beer.

We headed out and made it to our first anchorage, Leona. Nice anchorage but not much there. I put the dinghy in the water and quickly discovered my outboard wouldn’t start. No problem, I can row. We spent 2 nights there, then pulled anchor and did an 85nm passage down to Drakes Bay (where Sir Francis Drake landed back in the 1500’s or something like that).

It was a gorgeous bay but a little exposed. We rolled pretty good each night but had no problem sleeping. Unfortunately, it’s a shallow bay, thus we anchored rather far offshore. Not a problem except for the fact that my outboard still didn’t work. I’m slowly becoming a pretty solid rower (if that’s even a word), a skill that I really could do without. Drake’s was a great little town, quads, dirt bikes, walking and horses were the forms of transportation. I think we met just about everyone in the 3 days we were there. Great people, very nice and a lot of fun. We booked a walking tour with one of the guides we met at the bar, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.

We arrived on the beach the following morning at 7:30 to meet our tour guide. We were told to bring some sneakers or hiking boots and a snack. We were also warned that we’d get soaked. This was an understatement to say the least. We hiked for about 7 miles through the forest, arriving at a waterfall by noon. We all jumped in, fully clothed (not my choice…). We then strapped on some life jackets and jumped into the river. We floated for a few miles down river, heading out towards the ocean. It was such a cool feeling to be floating through the rainforest in Costa Rica, knowing that we’ll hit the ocean soon enough. After about 1.5hrs, the river dumped into the ocean. We got out, had lunch, waded across the river, and began the 5 mile hike home. Luckily, we were able to hitch a ride w/ a panga, thus cutting 3 miles off the trip.

We left Drake’s 3 days ago and arrived in Golfito on the 2nd. Long passage, leaving Drakes at 3am and arriving at 6pm the following day. The following morning, we attempted to move but the engine wouldn’t fire! Now I had a dead diesel and outboard.....what more can go wrong????? After checking filters, bleeding the system, and everything else I could think of, we gave up for the day. The next morning, I learned that when I asked Erin to kill the engine, she never pushed the kill knob back down. After sailing by myself for so long, I never thought of not pushing it back down after killing the engine. My mistake, just pissed at myself for not checking it first! This morning we bled the system and fired up the engine. The good news is that I cleaned the air filter and she runs better than ever (so far).

We then tackled the outboard. I had 2 guys on my boat working on her. We pulled the carb, cleaned everything (which looked good from the get go) and put it back together. After some new, clean fuel and 2 pulls, she too fired right up! What a great 4th of July! I’m now sitting on the front porch of the yacht club drinking a $1 beer and watching the rain.

“Land and Sea” is a cruiser’s club run by a gringo couple. Beers are in the fridge. Put your name on the chalkboard and if you grab a beer, put a slash next to your name. When you’re ready to leave, count the slashes and settle up w/ the owners. For $4/day, you get use of a dinghy dock, showers, internet and kitchen. Not too bad and just a really cool system. Erin just did paper/rock/scissors to see who showers next. Today, they’re throwing a big 4th of July party here. Basically, the owners and buying and prepping and at the end, we’ll add up the receipts and divide by the total people present…pretty laid back.

We plan on heading up into the bay for some snorkeling and relaxing “on the hook”. We’ll return here, provision and head south. Panama is right around the corner, about 40 miles from here. Still can’t believe that I’m sailing from Costa Rica to Panama next week…kind of weird but exciting!