March 13, 2008

Alfredo and the gang


Upon our arrival we were greeted by Alfredo and his boys. WE really enjoyed our time here.

March 12, 2008

Bahia del Coco to Bahia Brasilito.

We had a nice sail relaxing and fishing. Dolphins and rays were jumping everywhere. We were lucky to spot a single sperm whale floating about,-actually, We came within feet of going over top of it. The green sea turtles were a regular sight with some piggybacking.
The Islas Santa Catalina a group of islets off of Brasitito were a stunning sight of massive pinnacles offering spectacular diving. Unfortunately, we all were all having ear trouble or colds so had to give diving a miss.
We spent the most part of the day motoring, which is kind of boring after such lively winds of the past few weeks.
Chantal and Genevieve livened up the ride a bit by fastening the banana float behind the boat and rode into the bay. Fine for a while but Genevieve fell off at the most inconvenient time navigation wise. We practiced a man overboard drill between some rocks and swell. Meanwhile, inside Pete and Michel were fussing with the pressurized fresh water pump system. While frustration levels rose inside the kids have a hoot outside obliviously enjoying water sports.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by "locals" Alfredo and his son Oliver. They offered the girls jet ski rides and the fun was full on! Meanwhile….. Pete and Michel are sweating inside trouble shooting the water system. Sue and I opted for Cervasa’s and photo taking.
The pump was fixed temporarily and we all settled in for a well deserved swim ashore. There was surf at the beach so we tied to one of Alfredo’s mooring buoys and swam ashore. The beach was comprised of an amazing white shell sand that could rival any Caribbean setting. Ashore there were fine resorts off of the beach separated by a road lined with souvenir sellers. The beaches were pristine and free of the "sellers" that were so annoying in Nicaragua. I was happy to see a series of 2 garbage bins offering recycling a lined up along beaches.
Costa Rica is really working hard to keep their parks and country clean and very visibly noticeable in some areas
Alfredo offered to bring a tent down to the beach so the girls could camp out. We had to swim to the boat and bag the gear to bring to the site. We had a lovely night around a camp fire. Alfedo brought out his guitar and sang some Cuban flamingo songs. Apparently, he has some association with the Buena Vista Social Club and his repertoire certainly attested to this. I could of stayed all night listening to his beautiful songs. The girls were equally entranced. Helen played a song which was nice to see here perform in front of people. We were joined by a bongo player and a couple of young adults traveling from Argentina. We shared stories …. Everyone has a story and Alfredo’s certainly captured my attention. After hearing a small piece of his life I was extremely grateful that I am Canadian. ( I hope I get this right, this is what I remember after a few disjointed conversations we had - )
In 1994 he was flying commercial aircraft in Cuba. Apparently, his father had been executed for organizing political opposition to the Castro communist government.
Alphredo got into trouble with the government by making a statement in a bar to a reporter about the government not having a "clean shirt". He was being interviewed after some airline misshape involving questionable aircraft maintenance practices. His interview was published and probably taken out of context given the circumstance.
When he arrived back home, he was charged with crimes against the government and headed for some serious jail time. He continued to fly after some weighty negotiations and was restricted to domestic flights. After towing the line for some time, he was given clearance to fly internationally. On his first international flight he redirected the plane he claimed political exile and was granted asylum. He took a boat to Miami arriving penniless, survived living on the streets by working as many jobs he could to get his feet back on the ground. He married his beautiful wife he met I think at a refugee support organization. Despite the escape from the communist oppression of Cuba Alphredo disliked the "American Dream" facade. He and his wife made plans to raise their children is an alternative environment that was more inline with their principles. They opted for Costa Rica which has similar beaches and the tropical paradise offerings of Cuba.
They have two gregarious boys who enjoy this alternative life. Yes, there is life after Nintendo…They packed up thier belongings sold there home and started a jet ski, water sports business 4 months ago. We wish them well and are certain they will be successful in their endeavors.

Bahia Brasilito

mobile cop shop Playa del Coco

March 10, 2008

Parker Point to Bahia Del Coco Costa Rica



We left the gusty Papagayo wind area and were awe struck by the rock formations ( hole in the rock) Similar to Gaspe Bay rocks.
Dolphins joined us for a short while and thankfully the winds dropped to our favor. We had a nice broad reach sail until we got to Bahia del
Coco.
We had trouble anchoring in the soft sand ground. I was sick from a flu and sore from my car accident and dragged myself to shore to get some provisions.
The price of stuff virtually tripled from El Salvador and the scenery drastically changed as well. Less chaos, less garbage and a lot more organized. The streets were lined with tour operators and sarong shops. The taxi’s and busses are newer models all painted the same all lacking the kitschy adornments of Religious and Hollywood icons so common in Central America. ( The busses in El Salvador had shark fins on top of the roofs, and mad max slasher hubcaps))
We see the Town as a tourist trap, the beach mediocre, and question why people even holiday there.
The Police came via a semi truck- Apparently a portable jail for out of control party folks. There is some sort of festival happening that weekend. We did not stick around to find out. The port captain was not there and the next day he had no power to process our Zarpe. He suggested that we never stopped there. As far as he was concerned he never saw us. He advised us to check in at Punterenas which was days away.

Bikini bratt


Josee lives in swim suits....

.

March 9, 2008

Enjoying the wind

Rounding the pinnacles


all hell broke loose around the corner.

Not enjoying the wind


Helen is a real trooper helping pull in the sails in awful weather.

Enjoying the wind

Santa Elena to Bahia Murcielagos

Santa Elena to Bahia Murcielagos- Parker Point.
True to the notorious Papagayo reputation we got blasted with wind. For the most part we enjoyed having a beam reach ( a good point of sail). We had a lot of fun sailing with the new gib. It worked well because we did not need much sail out so the wraps around the stay were not a problem. The sail company made the sail with the wrong size of luff tape meaning that the sail will not hold in the track when fully unfurled. As soon as we rounded the amazing pinnacle rocks at Bahia Murceilagos we got blasted on the nose with about 30-45 k gusts…it was terrible. Water washed over the deck and poured through the hatches that we had not got around to fixing yet. I hated it…Sue and Pete were really great help. For the first time we donned wet gear and anchored in with harnesses. The winds were so relentless an unpredictable that we dropped our sails and motored straight into the wind. hoping that the lea of the land would help…it didn’t help much however we pushed on - it was getting rather dicey with rocks all around us. I would not want to even imagine what would of happened if we lost our engine.
After a group consult we opted to anchor at Parker point not very protected but the best option available close by.. A panga was anchored there taking refuge from the relentless wind gusts. We anchored about 50 feet from shore hoping that the winds would keep us off the beach and close enough to not have any wave action . It was pretty scary listening to the wind rip through the rigging. A good test for our anchor which held ground well.
IT WAS A NOISY NIGHT to say the least. Just as things started to calm down a coyote yelps close to us sounded really strange keeping me awake for hours. We regret not going ashore to explore the wind drift sand dunes and turtle nesting sites. It was just too damn windy to go ashore

Those damn pufferfish

diving

Anchored at Santa Elena


We stopped here for a great snorkle and dive. Sue and Michel scrapped off the hull and keel which certainly a good lift. Michel got covered in sea lice or some sort of crill that was impossible to get out of velcro.

San Juan del sur - Santa Elena log

We actually did not get around to leaving Nicarauga until about 2pm which pushed our arrival time in Sana Elana to after sunset. We had to sneak in anyhow because we had not made the manditory clearance of Port Captains and immigration for Costa Rica yet. The nearest place to do this was well over a day sail away.
We had lovely motor sail because the gib was still out of commission. It was too windy to put up our new sail in Nicaragua so we motored with the main up instead. We saw a lot of rays jumping and a sperm whale breaching ( Pete’s Rock performance) which was amazing. We arrived after dark….really dark, the only company in the bay was 2 small fishing pangas. (Remarkable - they had anchor lights)
The anchorage was lovely, much like our nice little BC cove anchorage’s. We would later find out that these spots are rare in Costa Rica. The mangroves were loaded with macaw parrots and howler monkeys. Pete commented that they sounded like they were advertising Botox as they squawked. We tried to fish but only caught puffer fish, actually a lot of pufferfish. They are pretty stupid fish that are in abundance because they are poisonous for the majority of population when eaten. I Japan they have perfected a non fatal way to serve.
We went for a great snorkel and dive off the rocks at the entrance. It was pretty windy stirring up the seas effecting the visibility a little. We anchored the boat agaist the the high rocks which provided us some lea and sheltered us close to shore.
We did not find any paper nautilus shells which were reported to be in abundance on the shores.

March 8, 2008

Jovietal Sail


Although our new sail had to be jury rigged on to the stay because the luff tape was the wrong size, we were happy to sail with our Logo on the sail. (Genevieve's design) We can't unroll the sail completely without it falling off the track.
........another day another problem.

Fixing sails



we were happy to have our fiend PETE help us out with our sailing troubles>
I can't imagine going up the mast and swinging around like a monkey cutting the sail free. He did a stellar job and were were lucky to have his help. ( Pete brought his climbing harnesses for the occasion)

Ouch


A crazy gust shredded our tired sail. Noisy, messy and damn well scary.
It was a good thing we were close to our anchorage and had a motor.

Visiting Friends



It was nice to have company in our journey- The girls loved having Sarah and Helen to hang with- I think the beach rats enjoyed the scenery too!

Surfing with Lary


Helen and the girls took surf lessons from Larry an American expat that has settled in San Juan to work in fit/retreats. He teaches, yoga, surfing and diving and just a real "sweet guy"
He really helped us out as much as he could -arranging for our sail and outboard loaner.

Harley Ride San Juan del Sur


San Juan was over run by about 200 bikes( mostly Harley's) The riders came from all over North and Central America. They threw a great beach party.

fish head man


This guy just would not give up. He tormented the girls for about 10 minutes. Funny once but soon he was just damn wierd.

Happy divers


What a special way to celebrate valentines day. We all dove together on our first solo dive. Even mom joined the gang...it's been about 10 years since I last dove and seemed a bit tougher than I remembered- lugging all the weight around.

March 7, 2008

troubles...


International calls are cheap and easy to do . Dave calls home and Michel makes a million calls for sails.

San Juan del Sur to BAHIA ELENA

San Juan del Sur is a Surfer hang out. Kind or like Tofino was before it got hijacked by tourism operators. Lots of Europeans and back packers enjoy cheap food and lodging. There are cheap hotels (5-20 bucks) a night and a few boutique hotels around the 70 dollar mark that offer a little bit more. There are language schools, restaurants and internet cafĂ©’s all over the town which is about 5 blocks wide.
The streets are being torn up for better sidewalks and a waterfront promonade which should make this town really nice.
We have a lot of wind on the nose in the anchorage which is a little annoying. The girls are attracting a lot of attention "land locking" and tanning on the beach.


They were bothered by some strange guy trying to scare them with a bag of fish heads. He pulled out about 4 different kinds of heads and chased them with it.
Chantal had here purse grabbed off of a table in a restaurant by a 7 year old kid who "booked " it down the beach. He was chased by a bunch of guys in the restaurant and he dropped it after a short chase. He would of been disappointed anyway, She had no money and the only thing of value was some Bonnybell lip gloss and hair paraphernalia.
The girls were registered for a PADDI Dive course. They are pretty happy about that. It is the first time I’ve seen them studying at night.
The dive course went well; everyone is enthusiastic about diving. Josee is a natural in the water, the dive instructor pointed this out many times. She is pretty young to be certified - her comfort in the water is certainly an asset.
We all dove together on Valentines day. It was rather windy but a nice dive full of rays, eels, and a variety of those pesky pufferfish. We saw a lot of dead fish apparently they die when the water gets too cold. The water is a lot colder here than El Salvador and we had to use thicker wet suits than the one’s we bought in Seattle.
Everyone except Lynda and Chantal experienced ear troubles from the diving and had to go on antibiotics.
We blew out our gib sail while sailing with Dave and Sarah. What a disaster, our inexperience certainly contributed to the chaos. The sail ended up being in a tangled mess around the furling shroud. The winds were gusty and generally unpredictable. Some gusts through our rails into the water. I hate this but the kids love it. I fail to see the fun of everything on the port side of the boat being flung to the starboard side in a big crash.
We had to move anchor twice in San Juan del Sur crowded anchorage which I am beginning to hate. During our second move the anchor jumped off the gypsy and 300 feet of chain paid out. We were saved by the knot on the end. Then the engine l got a plugged fuel filter and just quit . Dave and Michel trouble shot for a few hours to finally unplug the thing. I was later told that Michel has just figured out how the "filter boss ‘ works. Which is supposed to prevent such mishaps Diesel fuel is regularly contaminated. Then to add fuel to the fire. Michel ran over a panga line and damaged the dingy prop. So we were are dingy less for a short while. Of course this was all blamed on traveling at night in haste because the girls were late….again for their sunset curfew.

Dave and Sarah left and we had a couple days rest until Pete, Sue and Helen arrived. We cleaned up the boat and the girls and I did an overnighter in town.
It just happened to be a Harley Rally and there were bikes everywhere. It was noisy and exciting all the same. We hit a great party on the beach with a stage and fantastic band from Argentina. It was ten bucks to get in with free drinks of rum and whiskey. I really did not see too many intoxicated people which was quite a surprise. The average age of the Bikers was 45 so this may have something to do with it.
Before we went to the beach party we hit big wave Dave’s for some live local talent. The bar is like a bad Jimmy Buffet novel or song. Lots of alcoholic, 50 year old expats hanging around telling stories, swilling cheep beer or rum with a Nica chick old enough to be daughters hanging on. The music was great all oldies that I new the words to. It was flash back city with both the bikers and music triggering memories of my past. Michel would of hated it. I loved it.
There was an odd looking black fellow who as Chantal put it looked like the logo for the alternative rock band the Gorilla’s. He sang Jimmy Hendrix songs and a fantastic blues harmonica set that was stellar. I went over to him to tell him how much I enjoyed his blues set and probably the best harmonica player I have ever seen. He was happy to have me complement his harmonica playing as he stated he learned to play the harmonica before he learned to sing well over 30 years ago.
Pete Sue and Helen arrived from Vancouver. We had calm sea which made it nice. We borrowed an ourboard dingy motor from the dive shop which would not idle making it pretty scary to land in such a gusty anchorage.
It was easy to meet them and arrange for departure.
We ordered a new sail from Miami and new prop from managua. The sail had to be custom made and it was done in about 5 days. Quite amazing really. We learn that delivery all depends on how much money you want to throw around.
Pete, Michel and I take a trip into Managua about 3 hours away to pick up our sail and prop. About 35 minutes into our trip we were in a car accident. There are a lot of pot holes in the roads in Nicaragua. As we were overtaking a car he swerved to miss a car that suddenly swerved into us- to miss a pot hole!. The driver lost control of the jeep as we snaked back and forth. The jeep flipped onto its side after blowing out 3 tires. My side……. Michel was in the front and had a seat belt on. Pete and I were in the back and seat belts were not an option. Amazingly enough there we no major injuries.
I got the worst of it with a bump on my head ( I think from a dive tank) which later was diagnosed as a mild concussion and my should bothered me as well.
Michel and Pete pushed on to Managua anxious to get the sail and get the hell out of this wind hole.

Hi from Costa Rica

I have decided to try a new blog format as our internet sessions seem to be getting more and more difficult.
I am including my passage notes which may be a bit lengthy. I know the pictures are what most enjoy so I will try to include as much as I can ( sometimes they take a few moments to load)