| We departed Bahia Santa Elena around noon on Sunday and had a delightful sail to the Islas Murcielagos (Bat Islands), 17 miles away. The hills on all these small islands were just striking with their many variations of green, from light green to olive green, and the water in the only small bay, Bahia Ensueno, was crystal clear. When we arrived in the late afternoon this bay was completely full of pangas; so we anchored for the night across from the islands next to the Santa Elena Peninsula at Key Point. At this anchorage there were only light swells, but unfortunately throughout the evening the winds off the hills gusted to 40 knots. We were definitely glad by morning to finally move over to the bay. The continued gusts, though, made snorkeling impossible, and with our being on a very limited time schedule in Costa Rica, we decided to continue sailing 24 miles on to Playa Panama in Bahia de Culebra. These two days of sailing ended up being our only good sailing during our entire stay in Costa Rica. Playa Panama in the sheltered Bahia de Culebra was a lovely, protected anchorage with dark colored sand on the beach. We spent 4 nights here. On Tuesday, Phil attached the new wheels to our dinghy that we had received in the box of boat parts. On Wednesday, we took the boat for the day 5 miles over to Playas del Coco (a small tourist town) to check-in and �officially� enter the country, plus buy a few supplies. Our new wheels came in most handy, as we had to roll the dinghy quite a ways up the beach due to the increasing tides. The check-in procedure itself in Costa Rica entailed: first port captain, then immigration, next finding a photocopy machine that worked, afterwards back to the port captain, and last customs - a three hour wait as the only agent had to come from the nearby airport. We made it back to Playa Panama just as the sun was setting. My, were we exhausted! On Thursday, Phil fixed the wash down pump that had frozen while taking up the anchor in Bahia Santa Elena. It ended up being an all day project. Friday, July 25, we departed Playa Panama planning to do an overnighter to Bahia Ballena in the Golfo de Nicoya. We ended up only motoring 15 miles down to Bahia Brasilito before stopping, as we were just too tired to continue on. Offshore, the pinnacles and islands of Islas Santa Catalina were most striking, especially as the sun set that evening. After a good night�s sleep, we departed Bahia Brasilito at first light and continued motoring down the coast. By early afternoon the skies had become quite dark over the Costa Rica coastline, and soon we experienced quite a bit of rain, complete with lightning and thunder. It rained much of the afternoon and evening. And, as always, the thunder was most deafening when directly overhead. But, unlike other storms, there was very little wind associated with this weather. Using our radar, we finally anchored in Bahia Ballena around 1 a.m. on Sunday, July 27. Even though we had only slight swells while in Bahia Ballena, it was an open bay. If the weather changed quickly there was no place to run. So after only one day of exploring the area, we motored Monday further up into the Golfo de Nicoya. As it was a most spectacular blue-sky day, the scenery and all the islands along the way were just exquisite, and traveling with the incoming tide gave us an extra knot or two at times. |
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