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