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We really enjoyed our visit to Costa Rica, from the villages where young touring back-packers went surfing and hanging out, to the unexplored Osa Peninsula, where the pristine Corcovado National Forest, is located.
PLAYAS DEL COCO We checked into Costa Rica at Playas del Coco, a delightful little town.
BAHIA BALLENA AND BAHIA BALLENA (LOS SUEÑOS MARINA) Bahia
Ballena is a beautiful bay, with great holding.
We made the trip non-stop from Playa del Coco as an overnighter. We would have
stopped along the way, had we had more time. The tide runs about 8' or more
around here, and the beach quadruples its size during low tide. Dinghy wheels
are a real asset around here! We tied our dinghy at the cement dock, which takes
some doing due to the tides and many fishing boats tied to the same pier. We
felt comfortable leaving our dinghy there for the day, without a lock. We
walked along the beach, in the shade of lushious
vegetation, alongside several nice gringo homes, past the Swiss-owned Perla
Tambor restaurant, home of Luis and Doris, and on to
the The
In
the same general area is the Hotel Dos Lagartos,
owned by ex-pats Carlos and Rita (ex-peace corps, who never returned to the From
the Costa Coral we walked along a divided "boulevard", onto a dirt
road and on to the mouth of the Tambor river,
which was not flowing much at all. There is a large gazebo near the mouth, where
we sat, took in the seabreeze, admired the beach,
and the tropical vegetation. We walked back along the beach, and got to see the
luxury and quaint hotel Tambor Tropical, right on
the beach, built entirely of Costa Rican woods of all types. The woods make them
unique and beautiful structures. It was indeed a top notch small resort. We were
allowed into the grounds, but not in their pool. On
the way back, we saw a local gringo land his ultralight
place right on the beach. His propeller almost chopped a local barking dog into
little pieces. Great place for a hot dog barbeque, huh?
We
bordered the bay on the dinghy and went by a small fishing village on the
opposite end of the bay. There is a river there that goes way in. We went in
about a mile, and and saw some beautiful houses.
Very near the mouth of the river, around a point of jagged reefs, is a lovely
little beach. This beach has a dilapidated trimaran
decorating it, as well as a nice house a bit back into the vegetation. The
private estate includes two hobbies, two windsurfers, two lasers, and few other
toys. We think this home belongs to the Heart family, the founders of Heart
Interface. We
met Eden Heart who runs the Ballena Yacht Club, a
conspicuous yellow CBS building, right by the town's huge cement dock. Annd
we met her mother, Honey, who is a delight. On Fridays, about
Last,
but not least, we traveled by bus past the bohemian
One
can take a bus in the opposite direction from the main road, near the cement
dock, to Paquera, and from there a ferry to Puntarenas.
We did not take the trip, because we heard it was very hot in Puntarenas,
and we did not need any parts or unusual items, which may be found there. You
can do the round trip easily in one day, if you want to see Puntarenas
and do not want to cruise deep into the From Ballena, we intended to go north and sample the snorkeling at Isla Tortugas, but after facing some unusually fresh winds and an outgoing tide from Tortugas, we decided to turn to Bahia Herradura and visit the world-famous fishing resort of Los Sueños and top off our fuel tanks. It´s only about 20 miles from Ballena to Herradura, an easy sail in those unusually fresh winds we encountered.
Without
a reservation we showed up at Los Sueños, where a
fishing tournament was in full swing. They have an excellent fuel dock at the
marina (stay left when coming inside the breakwater, then make a right after all
the docks on starboard). You can anchor on the opposite side of the small bay,
and call Victor on VHF as FUEL DOCK. He will respond and squeeze you in between
mega fishing machines. Most of the yachts here, and there are a gazillion of
them, are of the 45'-65' sport fisherman, variety. Certainly multi-million
dollar fishing machines, immaculately kept. A lot of these boats are from south We
did not see any boats from We
managed to get an end-tie berth for the night at $88, after we showed up at the
Harbormaster's. We had been told via VHF that there was "no room at the
inn". The fancy hotel swimming pool was not included. Sailboats are non
pampered here. Only a very few were seen. Not worth more than a day, in our
opinion, but a great fuel stop. Today
we are off to Quepos and the Manuel Antonio nature
preserve, a full day's run. From there we plan an overnighter to Golfito
to check out of
QUEPOS/MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK After our stop at the glitzy Los Sue ños mega marina in Bahia Herradura described on our previous report, we SAILED (does not happen very often in these light winds) to a beautiful beach anchorage, right off the Manuel Antonio National Park. The anchorage is well marked on Charlie's Charts. There, Doug and Lisa of MAMOUNA greeted us, and gave us a quick orientation.The port of Quepos is right around the corner from this anchorage, and can be easily reached by bus from the village just outside the park. The buses go by every half hour and the one-way trip costs 90 cents US. Quepos is a quaint town, with reasonable provisioning, internet access, hardware stores, good Tico food, and a nice walk along the harbor. It used to be an important port in the days of the United Fruit banana plantations. Not much there now in terms of commercial shipping. The harbor is reported to be rolly, but we did not go there by boat. It did not seem that way from shore. The picture postcard setting at our anchorage off Manuel Antonio was one of the best we had seen so far in Costa Rica, and one of the best stops ever, including Mexico. The beach was clean, the lush tropical vegetation surrounding it was something you read about, and the water temperature was warm. We spent a lot of time in the water, relaxing and enjoying the sights. We also did some boogie boarding off the next village by the park. Good sized waves! You come into the anchorage between the two prominent islands well marked on Charlie's, on an approximate bearing of 70 degrees magnetic. Stay between the two islands and anchor as close as you can to the spit on the SE end of the park beach, to minimize the swells, which were very mild when we were there. It costs $8 a day to anchor off the park. If you want to in the park, walk the trails, and take a look at the other beautiful bays that are within easy walking distance, you pay $7US per person at the park gate, which is to the left of the anchorage. The park is closed on Mondays. One ranger did not want to have us beach the dinghy. The others did not have a problem with this. You can dinghy outside the park, in front of a small town by the park, and anchor outside the surf (we grabbed a buoy there). We swam ashore, took a shower across the street for 200 colones/person (385 colones to a US dollar at this time), and got in the bus to check the town out. In addition to one of the best anchorages we have seen yet (with some modest rolling, we did not put out a stern anchor), we thoroughly enjoyed our hike through the park. It is here that we first saw many monkeys in the wild, macaws, sloths, and all kinds of other birds. Take your camera, and your camera shutter will not get a moment's rest. The sights are postcard quality. The trails are well-marked. There is a lot of public touring the park, since it is easily accessible from Quepos and even from San Jose. This, we felt, was a drawback, since the heavy traffic is beginning to take its toll on the resources there. But, the park was still in excellent condition and makes for an unforgettable experience.
We asked about the RAINMAKER rain forest tours in Quepos ($50/person with transportation and lunch), but decided to move on, having done a cable canopy tour in Montezuma, near Ballenas, and loved it. We would have done it, had we had more time.
BAHIA DRAKE/CORCOVADO NATIONAL PARK After such a tropical experience in Quepos and Manuel Antonio, very different from northern Costa Rica, we were ready to head for Golfito. We needed to check out of Costa Rica there, and move on to Isla Parida. Doug and Lisa of MAMOUNA, buddy boating with us for the last few days, wanted to stop at Drake's Bay, so we figured we would break the trip to Golfito into two day trips and go along. We motorsailed to Drake and arrived there in the middle of the afternoon, expecting to spend an uneventful afternoon and evening, and then head out the next day for Golfito. As we approached Bahia Drake, we noticed the fairly large Isla del Caño on starboard in the distance, and a mega cruise ship, anchored off Corcovado National Park, about 6 or 8 miles SE of Drake's Bay. This area of the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica is one of the most pristine, unpopulated areas of Central America, with few roads, no electric service, but with awesome flora and fauna. We anchored in 15 feet of water, with good holding, right next to some buoys. We dropped the dink and talked to a panga driver, Alejandro, who agreed to take us to Corcovado the next day round trip for $15/person. You can call Alejandro on VHF 16. A lot of communications in Agujitas, the small town, is done on VHF 16! They reserve tours and even negotiate commissions on channel 16! After negotiating our visit to the park, we went exploring around a breaker into a small river, between two small tourist resorts. There, we found the pier for the Aguila Osa Resort, stepped onto their dock, and climbed the steep stairways to check the place out. We loved the architecture and the use of richly-finished Costa Rican woods all around. We inquired about dinner, and they told us we needed a reservation by 2pm. Well, it was 4:30pm, and there were six of us. With just a slight bit of coaxing, we got our reservations the same day for a family style dinner, with our d'oevres starting at 6pm. What a spread, and what ambiance! They started with the best black bean dip Daisy and I have ever had. It included tocino (bacon), plantains, garlic, onions, cilantro and tabasco. Oh, my! We got the recipe. The banana daiquiris were not included, but we tried them and they were expertly prepared. They sat us, along with the 20 or so guests at the lodge, on three large wooden tables, that were works of art themselves. The silverware and the settings were worthy of some pictures. Then came the carafes of white and red wine, pitcher of refresco de guanabana, freshly baked french bread, and lucious rich salad, all served family style. Serving plates were placed on each table, and they were passed around. Then came the filet mignon's nestled in bacon and the shrimp. The desert was rich chocolate ice cream with banana flambe. Oh, yes! And then a Tico salsa teacher showed up to teach the guests the fine art of salsa dancing. Daisy and I got up and had some fun. We returned to the boat to get some sleep, and get ready for our next day's adventure. Alejandro picked us up at 9:15am at the boat (we were beginning to wonder, gringos that we are). He took us along one of the most enchanting coast lines we have ever seen. PERIOD! The combination of beautiful beaches bordered by reefs, crystal clear water, and lush tropical vegetation rising into sharp rises in terrain were hard to be matched. We were excited as we proceeded toward the park. Alejandro skillfully got through the surf, turned the boat around, and then backed in, lifting the big Yamaha outboard, just in the nick of time, as a wave came in. We stepped off just getting our feet wet, ready to start to explore this remote pristine national park. We asked Alejandro to pick us up at 3pm, giving us 5 hours of hiking, exploring and goofing off under the shade of some trees overlooking the beach and the surf. We paid $8 per person to spend the day at the park, and went exploring on our own. There are market trails there, as well as showers and restrooms at the ranger station. We started our trek through the rain forest, and it did not take long for us to see several species of monkeys, including the reddish endangered spider monkeys. The vegetation was so thick and so varied that is was sensory overload. After an hour or so of walking we saw another group of tourists with a guide, and asked to follow them. The trail lead to some waterfalls, and we all went swimming in this clean, clear and cool water that was very refreshing. We needed this since we were pretty sweaty hiking in the damp rain forest. We had lunch off the waterfall and went back in the water again. It was hard to leave this spot. Words do not do it justice. Neither do pictures, though we took quite a few.
We walked back, retracing our steps, to the ranger station, where we sat by the beach to wait for our guide to return. There were other pangas loading and unloading tourists there, but only a small number. It is difficult and expensive to get here. We saw four college kids on Spring break who had walked from Drake to this station, the same trip we did by boat in 30 minutes. It took them six hours at a brisk pace all over the mountains. They were pretty tired! There is no road to get to the station, not even the beach. Either a 6-hour strenuous hike or a boat ride. The isolation is a big part of the magic of the place. A little after 3pm, and after another magic maneuvering trick from the panga driver to dodge the surf, we headed back, with the four college kids grabbing a ride with us (they paid $40 for their return trip, which the panga driver was glad to receive), and we all stopped at Playa Jesusito, where a small inn is located. This is where the panga driver lived. There it was more protected and easier to step off the panga. We had some drinks there, and were given a tour of a botanical garden. Armed with a printed list of over 80 species of flora, we walked for almost an hour matching the numbers on the trees with our list. What a wonderful day in Drake! It rates as one of the highlights of our trip from California to Florida. And to think that we were going to skip it! We hope we did not blow up your Sailmail or Winlink system with this lengthy message. Fair winds, Ed and Daisy on the S/V SIESTA Costa Rica
GOLFITO We checked out of Costa Rica at Golfito, another pleasant small town in Costa Rica.
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