Marina life

Quepos, Costa Rica

 

We are settling down to the hectic life in a marina, for the first time in over a year. The last time the boat was tied up to a dock was at Puesta del Sol in Nicaragua, on our way south last year.

 

Marina Pez Vela is a very upscale place, catering to the mega-yacht and sport fishing crowd. At times the docks around us are very busy with fishing charters going out in the morning and returning at dusk, plus a couple of "party" boats and smaller para-sailing adventure boats coming and going. As far as we can tell, we are the only real "cruising" boat here, but that is not too surprising with transient rates at $2.50 US per foot per day. We certainly wouldn't be hanging around so long if we had any choice. Having said that, though, this is a very professionally run marina, with excellent shore and dock facilities and access to two restaurants onsite plus the town of Quepos only a 10-minute walk away. Security is very high.

The weather remains very consistent, highs each day in the low 30s, cooling off to maybe 23 at night. The humidity is high, but not as bad as back in Golfito. We have not seen a drop of rain since we have been here - it is the dry season.

 

I have managed to arrange for a replacement transmission oil cooler to be shipped from Miami, hopefully arriving around next Wednesday. We have a bit of a deadline here as there is a major sport fishing tournament coming up on the 9th of April and the marina is completely booked - we will be forced to leave at that time, ready or not - basically they are not too sympathetic towards cruising yachts with problems - the almighty dollars that the tournament brings in are much more important.

 

The town of Quepos is a pleasant surprise. A bit touristy, but containing a nice selection of stores and restaurants and such. Re-provisioning here should be no problem.

 

Only 7 kms from Quepos is Manuel Antonio park. There is a frequent bus that runs back and forth to the park gates, passing a bewildering variety of tourist shops, cafes and restaurants along the way. Yesterday, we took a half-day tour in the park, which is a dense biological preserve with some magnificent beaches. You really need to have a guide who knows what to look for if you want to get the most out of your time here. We were surprised just how busy the park, and the surrounding area, are. We are told it is going to be even busier in the coming week, when Semana Santa (Easter) arrives - we will probably be keeping a very low profile for a while.

 

{GMST}09|25.9|N|84|9.67|W|Quepos, Costa Rica|Quepos, Costa Rica{GEND}

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Challenging times

Quepos, Costa Rica

 

Over the last few days our sailing, and general coping, skills have been tested!

 

It all started at the end of a lazy day in Bahia Drake. We had decided to leave real early on Saturday morning, anticipating a fast motorboat ride to Quepos some 55 miles away. Since the marine forecasts were calling for almost non-existent winds, we figured that making the whole trip using the engine at full speed, all during daylight hours, was the best course of action. We were kind of looking forward to making a passage that did not happen at night for a change, especially as we were experiencing a "new moon" right now and it is so awfully dark at night. But that was not to be...

 

Friday evening I was doing my usual check of the engine oil and such, when I spotted this interesting pinkish soup in the bilge. This can't be good news! Indeed, it was very bad news.

That nasty sludge turned out to be a nice mixture of seawater and automatic transmission fluid. It didn't take long to spot where it was coming from - I could see the stuff oozing out of the overflow valve on the top of the transmission. Since I had not been adding fluid to the transmission, obviously it was coming from somewhere else. I pulled the dip-stick out and was greeted with a small geyser of seawater.

 

The only possible explanation for how this can be is that the oil cooler (basically a heat exchanger using seawater for cooling) was compromised. This is not something that I can fix and I do not carry a spare, so there was little I could do about it. We went to bed knowing we would not be getting up early in the morning to motor to Quepos.

 

In the morning, I did what I could. I disconnected the hoses that send transmission oil to the cooler and rerouted them so the oil just returns to the transmission without any cooling, used a hand pump to extract as much seawater out of the transmission as I could get, then refilled it with some fresh ATF. I really need to do this another time or two to get all of the seawater out, but I don't have enough ATF - it takes over two litres. I did some research on the web (I have Internet access using a simm chip we bought in Golfito) and determined that I could run the transmission this way for no more than a few minutes before it will overheat. But it might be better than nothing.

 

Bahia Drake is a lovely spot, but not a place where we were likely to get the help we needed. Quepos was a possibility and they have a big new fancy marina. Susanne was quick to remind me that it is only 55 miles away and we have a "sail"boat - we don't need no stinking engine! So we decided to go for it.

 

We had to wait until around 10:30 AM before a bit of a breeze came up, then we hoisted the mail sail and brought in the anchor. About 3 hours later, we had crawled out of the bay and were pointed towards Quepos.

 

What followed was some of the most challenging and frustrating sailing we have expienced to date. The only winds we saw were some onshore thermals which started around 11AM and died around 6PM each day, almost never more than 7 or 8 knots, and always from the west. We had a consistent counter-current of between 1/2 and 1 knot the entire time, pushing us backwards whenever the winds stopped. We spent some long, tiring nights attempting to catch little zephyrs of wind to try and keep from giving up whatever distance we had gained in the afternoon. Each morning we were just about ready to give up, then each afternoon there seemed to be a little glimmer of hope. The only good thing was that we never had to change our sail plan, keeping the full main sail and full Genoa out at all times.

 

We each cope in our own way

Dolphin, not a shark...

We can see the marina up ahead

In the end, it took us 4 days to get to Quepos. We had contacted Marina Pez Vela via phone and VHF radio and they assured us that they had a slip available, but after numerous requests for some help (possibly a tow) into their entrance channel, they were not ready when we got to the entrance, and we really couldn't stop to wait for them. We had little choice but to sail right into the marina. I was able to limit the engine use to only a few minutes while maneuvering into the slip.

 

We covered a total of 124 miles on this 55 mile passage. Susanne has pointed out that we could have walked it a lot faster.

 

We were tied up to the dock by 5:30PM yesterday.

 

Man, did we ever need a good night's sleep...

 

 

 

{GMST}09|25.5708|N|84|10.0602|W|Marina Pez Vela, Costa Rica|Marina Pez Vela, Costa Rica{GEND}

 

Posted with Blogsy

All night long

Bahia Drake, Costa Rica

 

We stayed in Bahia Rincon for one more beautiful day. We had a couple of dolphins pay us a visit, feeding around the boat - always entertaining.

 

We found a little restaurant along the road and had a belated birthday lunch for Susanne, then I let her get some much-needed practice with rowing the dinghy around. It has been so calm and peaceful, we have not even been tempted to put the outboard on.

 

Yesterday, around 2PM, we upped anchor and made our overnight passage to Bahia Drake. We managed to sail, close hauled, for a total of 14 miles as we were making our way out of the entrance channel to Golfo Dulce, but we motored for all of the rest of the 82 mile journey around the peninsula. We had lots of fun dodging 3 small cruise ships, a handful of large fishing vessels and a few rain squalls, all of it done on a pitch dark moonless and mostly windless night. At one point the motion, fighting our way against the tide out of the last part of the channel, was bad enough that my crew was sick.

 

This morning, we found ourselves in the anchorage here in Bahia Drake. We were here last year in the company of several other cruising sailboats. This year, there is not another pleasure craft in sight. Not sure why exactly.

 

This anchorage is quite a bit more exposed than the ones we have grown accustomed to. We are rocking and rolling around somewhat - takes a bit of getting used to. We will probably only stay for one more day, mostly to catch up on the sleep we missed last night, before pushing on to the town of Quepos, further north along the coast.

Looking north towards Quepos

 

{GMST}08|42.02|N|083|40.02|W|Bahia Drake, Costa Rica|Bahia Drake, Costa Rica{GEND}

 

Posted with Blogsy

A quiet corner

Bahia Rincon, Costa Rica

 

A few days ago, we made the break from Golfito. We motored in absolute calm conditions, twenty miles to the head of the Golfo Dulce, where we put the anchor down in a sweet little bay called Bahia Rincon.

 

This has to be the most tranquil, isolated spot we have been in in years. Because it is a little out of the way, not really on a route to anywhere, not many cruisers seem to bother with it. Their loss! This has proven to be an idyllic location, very peaceful, and we have the whole place to ourselves other than some sort of aquaculture or research station that is set up on one side of the bay.

 

It is still warm, somewhere in the low 30s during the day, still quite humid, but we do get a bit more of a breeze here than we did in Golfito. For the last two days, in the early evening, we have finally experienced some rainfall, with a bit of lightning and thunder mixed in. The birds in the surrounding jungle seem to get quite excited whenever a squall is approaching. Mostly what we see flying over us are pairs of scarlet macaws, squawking like they own the place.

 

So far, we have only gone to shore once. for a short walk before some distant thunder had us scurrying back to the mothership. We have used the opportunity, what with the rain and all, to scrub a bit of the accumulated grime off the decks, and even got real brave and took freshwater showers outside the other night - this is the cruising life we had previously only heard about - pretty cool.

 

An odd sight along the road

Our next planned stop will be at Bahia Drake, on the other side of the Osa Peninsula. This is only 10 miles away as the macaw flies, but since we cannot take the boat overland, our route will be closer to 82 miles. We will probably move on in the next day or two.

 

{GMST}08|41.74|N|083|28.88|W|Bahia Rincon, Costa Rica|Bahia Rincon, Costa Rica{GEND}

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Goofing off in Golfito

Golfito, Costa Rica

 

It sure is hard to get motivated here in Golfito. We have been here for over a week now and not a lot has been accomplished. Of course, maybe we didn't really have much that needed to be accomplished in the first place.

Early morning glare

 

It is very hot and humid. Every day the forecast is for thundershowers but we have not seen a drop of rain yet. It is the "dry" season, which hereabouts usually means it only rains about twice a week. What we are experiencing is considered a draught.

 

Most days we have taken a walk into town, possibly buying a few provisions, once to buy a simm chip for our phone, today to buy some oil at the service station. It is all pretty exciting stuff to be sure. On average, we see about one boat arrive and/or leave each day, so our neighbours have been changing a bit. Right now there are only 3 sailboats at anchor so it is getting a little lonely. There is hardly anyone hanging around in the clubhouse at the Land and Sea Marina, so hardly anyone to talk to either.

Downtown Golfito

Laid back clubhouse

 

Our plan is to leave here tomorrow, although we have been saying that every day for a while now. Today's excuse was that it is Friday the 13th, not a good day to do anything. I have managed to buy 20 gallons of diesel and have done an oil change, so I guess we are ready to move on. Just so you know, it is not that we are lazy; the real problem with moving northward right now is that the dreaded Papagayo winds are blowing like stink off the coast of Nicaragua - we need to delay long enough to let them mellow out a bit before we try and leave Costa Rica. So when we leave here, we probably won't go far.

Next door neighbours

{GMST}08|37.23|N|083|09.184|W|Golfito, Costa Rica|Golfito, Costa Rica{GEND}

 

Posted with Blogsy