We're back in one of our favorite anchorages with howlers, the organic market, groceries and a nice beach. Sherrell really wanted to post some photos from Southern Costa Rica and some of the sights so far so here's a few of the goodies.

Fiery-Billed Aracari Toucan

Scarlet Macaws

Sunset Out on the Ocean

Bad Kitty on Watch!

Labels: Q

Once a hot-spot for sailors, the Fantasy Island Yacht Club lost its sparkle when the owner died in 1997. Now in the hands of new owners whom are suffering through the failing economy, it has yet to see new life. This is a shame too because the location is beautiful. One can easily see the attraction to the palapa bar and pool, but it is fast becoming a ruin.

We did some tours around the bay in the dinghy checking way points and depths for the guide book and seeing what else has changed. This anchorage is like a lake surrounded by green jungle.

While we were hiking around we spotted howler monkeys! A whole troop of them were carrying on in a large tree. This is the first time we've managed to see them, rather than just hear them, in over 1 year! I've been practicing my howler monkey call and it was quite a crowd pleaser with the monkeys.

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We woke up to find our boat plastered with white smelly goo. I quickly found something else to work on while Sherrell cleaned it up. I'm always amazed how much crap those sea birds carry around, it's a wonder they can fly.

On our way from Drake's Bay we did a lot of upwind sailing and motoring. To add to our anguish we had to fight a 1 to 1.3 knot current. But later in the evening the wind quiet, the seas calmed down and the current changed. When life was looking good, the squalls rolled in on us. They were small and didn't pack much punch, but you never know. It's enough to keep you on your toes and hope that lightening doesn't strike. As we approached the bay there was a wide array of flashing lights. And that means trouble. Fishermen had set long lines out, but there is no way to tell which end is which, so you have to just charge ahead. I caught two of them and had to pop them loose with our boat hook in the dark.

Nonetheless, we arrived in Bahia Ballena and are now happly anchored. Jordan is sniffing the new smells and waiting for the birds to try to land. Now to catch up on some lost sleep....

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We spent about 5 days touring the Golfo Dulce to see some of the places we hadn't seen before. One of those places was Casa Orquedea. This botanical garden is packed with all kinds of plants, fruits, herbs and veggies. We got our first glimpse of the Firey-Billed Tucan and some great photos. The additional bonus is we can now update the guidebook with the best anchoring spots (yes there is a good spot!) and the exact location of the garden. We also checked out a wildlife refuge along the coast and bought some bagels in Jimenez.

The swell has been too small to try surfing so we skipped those plans and headed back out into the ocean. The winds and currents weren't very kind to us so after about 14 hours we decided to stop for the night in Drake's Bay. It was a bit rolly but pretty calm compared to the last time we were there.

Sherrell is outside trying to take a picture of a booby (that's a bird gutter-brain) who keeps trying to land on our boat but can't manage the dynamics of approach/landing. Our goal is about 25 hours away at Bahia Ballena where we will rest a bit and then go into the Nicoya to visit one of the last islands we didn't see on our trip through Costa Rica last time.

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We found it difficult to leave Golfito and our friends there but Costa Rica's customs keeps a tight tab on how long we can be in the country before they want us to pay a huge amount of tax. Our summer in Golfito was probably one of the best. We had a great time there and got a lot of work done on the boat too.

Now we are across the Golfo Dulce in Puerto Jimenez doing some last minute shopping (they have bagels here) before we check out a couple new spots and start heading north again.

Since we will be underway most of the time our access to the internet will be limited and sporadic. We will post updates to the slog while we are underway as usual via radio email.

This little project started with a "Wouldn't it be nice if this table leaf was about 3" narrower?" Almost two months later it's done. Sure it only took about three days to remove the molding, formica, and cut the table leaf. But why settle with average? A local artist, Tari of Galeria Bambu, offered to do some painting for us in trade for watching her house. So why not paint our Sarana (chocolate lily) flower on our table? It sure beats the yellow formica!

We destroyed her first attempt because our epoxy coating didn't cure. Three weeks wasted. After drinking about 3 beers each (a lot for us) we angrily stripped it and then sat around depressed. Tari, probably feeling bad for us, generously offered to paint it again. Her second effort turned out beautiful too and the glass-like epoxy finish hardened properly. It looks so cool.

After not having a table for a long time, we were excited to install it and take some photos.


One leaf open.


Both leaves open.


Table up and put away. It looks really really good! Thanks TARI! See her website and check out her paintings. http://costarica-art.com/default.html

Over Sherrell's birthday we took a trip to Panama to buy a year's supply of her cancer meds, do some shopping and maybe celebrate a little. Getting her medicine has been an ordeal because the credit card won't work in the hospital scanner. These meds aren't sold in many places so we've been desperate to get this to work. Really this is our second attempt to buy them because last time we were here they had the same problem. On Sherrell's b-day the plan was to swipe the card then head to the mountains. No go. After trying a few machines they found one in the hospital that worked. Despite trying to arrange this weeks ago, they still didn't have the stock we needed. So we paid for everything and they were going to airfreight them from Panama City. I really tried to get this setup before we got there, but I think they thought we were trying to scam them or something since the card didn't work when we tried to buy them earlier. So we spent Sherrell's b-day arguing with the pharmacy. To make it up to her, I decided we should rent a car. With a car we could do our shopping, then lug all our stuff around up into the mountains, return to get the medicine, then get a cab to the border back to Costa Rica. I'm really glad we splurged. We drove up towards Boquete and found a fantastic used book store that was one of the best we've seen since Seattle! We drove up and up to Boquete, through the so-so town and up into the hills. The narrow winding roads, oxygen rich clean air and the greeeeeeen pine forests were a healing change. Breathing in the cool air and enjoying the waterfalls was a blast. We had so much fun driving through the hills and rivers we forgot our troubles.There was a hot springs too in Caldera, so we drove out there through rough dirt roads (poor rental car). We hiked into the hot springs and in 20 minutes felt cured. It was soooo nice letting the hot volcanic water bubble up all around us.
Returning to Golifto reminded us of all the work we needed to finish. We repaired our outboard. I had to use marine-tex epoxy and stainless parts to build a new carburetor bowl (took 4 days). Our oars needed to be stripped, dried out, epoxy sealed and painted (took 3 days). I did some spying for Land Sea on their network to try to catch someone sharing illegal files which caused them to have their internet access blocked for a few days. We re-epoxied our table (try #2) after Tari repainted everything again (please cure stupid epoxy)! Oh the list goes on - repaired a deck leak that ruined some cook books, cut and sanded about 60 wood plugs from the mast/table modifications, we did....

Last but not least, I pimped out our website to google ads. I know it sucks. Our homepage now has a string of ads somewhat related to our site's theme. I only did this because I found out that other people are actually making money doing it. So if you see an ad that looks interesting don't be shy, click it. We earn a little moo-lah off that click. It's a brave new world. I might add them to this page too (depressing sigh).

So I was reading this dramatic story on the internet about how a scientist has found a way to literally turn "life" on and off. Seriously. He found a way to prevent cellular damage caused by rapidly dropping oxygen levels (i.e. irrecoverable death). Basically he uses a poison to stop the damage from lack of oxygen. Then the organism "dies" without any cellular damage, only to be "restarted" again later, sometimes several hours later. He is working on ways to extend this technique to larger and larger animals, like us humans. So you could clinically be dead while they operate on you (or your dead body at least), then when the time is right...BAM! Re-animation! IT LIVES!

I was thinking that if scientists can switch life on and off, why can't I stop things from breaking on the boat? At least for a while. It seems that fixing them doesn't really help as things break faster than I can fix them. Maybe there is a way to stop this entropy for a while so the boat stays suspended. I can fix everything then have a beer to celebrate being done, before I turn entropy back on and something breaks.

Well, so much for fantasy and procrastination...back to work.

Our "side project" of painting the mast turned out to be a HUGE amount of work. But after hours and hours of sanding and layering paint on the oxidized spots, it took only an hour with the sprayer to put 3 final coats on the mast. The results look really good. Here's a photo of the mast after we moved it from under the roofed building and we're getting ready to hoist it. I'm at the end hooking up the antenna and windex and Robert, Kelita, Dana and Steven look at our sparkly paint job.

We managed to wrestle it back onto the boat without breaking anything or even scratch the new paint. And what a relief! The new compression supports are nice and solid. We pulled a chain plate and the bolts just to inspect them and they all looked good. Now I'm in the process of re-tuning the mast as things have changed slightly after the compression post work and it all sitting in the yard for a while. I installed a LED tricolor/anchor light and rigged our steaming/bow light so that for the first time EVER we will have a working deck light.


The great part is we are almost finished with our 3 month bonding period with Costa Rica Customs, so we will be able to get another 3 month cruising permit and be free.

A big thanks to all those who helped us get the mast back on:
Tim - LANDSEA
Robert & Kelita -- S/V FREEDOM
Steven & Darusha -- S/V SCREAM
Dana -- S/V VIDA LIBRE