Costa Rica

Brasilito to Bahia Carrillo
We began with a pleasant sail to Bahia Carillo. The wind gusted from Bahia Tamerindo reputed to be a great surf spot. Judging by the huge swell it's reputation is well deserved. The wind gusts were rather unpredictable and challenging for the helms person. Strong gusts would fling us down to water, dipping the rails in the water--yahoo, hold on folks! The trick is to spill the wind out of the sails by turning into the wind- or fall off the wind as quickly as possible if you are going downwind. We had to take in some sail in quite a hurry as the rail dipped into the water more that we wanted to. Having too much sail up is a sailors nightmare. The kids seemed to love this action- I did not.
As the wind kicked up a huge beam swell hit us as well. We could see huge surfing waves breaking ashore. We prepared to get wet as we were getting it on the nose again. I was feeling a little sea sick from the swell and this feeling sucked energy from me. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and go to sleep. Make it go away!- I was not looking forward to getting whacked on the nose again, getting wet and tossed around. There is a bright side though, this time my bunk would be dry as Michel had repaired the leaky hatches after the last Papagyo blast.
Thankfully, the winds subsided then we ended up motoring for a while as we transited into Bahia Carrilo. We hoped to get Pete and Sue ashore to arrange transportation to the airport. They had to fly back to Canada in the morning. The Bay was beautiful, the entrance was riddled with breaking surf on a ledge and gated by a large Guano covered rock. This provided an excellent backdrop for sunsets.
The hotel in the area claims they have the best sunsets in Costa Rica.
It was a rolly anchorage riddled with rocks. The commercial boats pretty much took up the best part of the anchorage that offered protection. We were left with the rolly open areas. We tucked into the commercial area as close as we could and anchored between 2 nasty rocks.
Helen asked a great question: " What happens if the wind changes direction"
pointing at the rock in front of us. WE were hoping this would not happen as the winds have been coming from the opposite direction for the past few days along with the swell.
Well, as Murphy's law would dictate, it did switch around and we had a rather sleepless night. The alarm on the GPS was set and went off warning us of our dangerous position change. I spent the night having a fitful sleep poking my head out of the hatch every couple of hours to check our position.
The GreyKatz gang went ashore as they had successfully arranged transportation for the morning.
We had a great time with Pete, Sue and Helen and will miss their company and help.