Passage from San Juan del Sur to Huatulco – Days 2 and 3

Day 2

It was a smooth ride until around 0430, when the wind picked up to low 20’s. After dawn, we moved closer in to shore where, where the wind was only 1 4 knots apparent and the seas were smooth. Man, talk about a drastic difference! No wonder they advise running so close to shore. It was another gorgeous, cloudless day.

Eric saw a turtle this morning. What made him notice it was he saw a bird standing on the water. Not sitting, standing. He did a double take and realized the bird was standing on a turtle that was swimming in the water. Eric tried to get a photo, but the bird sensed the camera being turned on and flew off. He took a photo of the turtle, but you can’t really see it in the photo. It looks like a smudge. Christi thinks she may have seen a turtle shortly afterwards, but isn’t sure. It was farther out.

At 1300, Christi also saw bird standing on a turtle. We had thought it was a freak occurrence the first time, but now we think it could be a common behavior. As she was watching the duo, suddenly a four foot sailfish leapt out of the water in the distance. It smashed back down into the water and a couple seconds leapt up again. It jumped at least Continue reading

ATV Tour of San Juan del Sur

This morning we were at the ATV tour company office promptly at 0900. We think they were surprised to see us on time, expecting us to be late. We waited a few minutes while they got the vehicles ready and then we headed out. Here is Eric getting ready to go.

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It was just the two of us. We love it when we get private tours! At first we followed Continue reading

Passage to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

The moon rose shortly after midnight, but it was a tiny sliver that gave off virtually no light, so it was essentially pitch black all night. In the wee hours of the morning, something odd happened. Two boats passed us at the same time. One of the boats pulled out a spot light and was looking us over with it, but then turned it off and kept going. We are guessing they were trying to see if we had nets out to make sure it was safe to pass us.

By morning, the ocean was still as calm as a lake. Here is the sunrise.

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There were tons and tons of sportfishers out, and the wakes of their boats was about the only movement on the water. It was wonderful. Mike is prone to seasickness, but he was feeling great. Although, he never tried to read, not wanting to push his luck. Instead, he watched the horizon intently.

Not too long after sunrise, Mike saw a school of dolphins in the distance. Then he saw a sailfish. A little while later, he saw another pod of dolphins. This pod swam up to the boat and rode the bow wake for a few minutes. Since the water was so flat and calm, we could see them especially clearly. It was really exciting for all of us, but especially Mike.

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At 1030, the seas picked up some, but it was just small swells and the ride was still nice.
Mike saw dolphins again around lunch time, but they Continue reading

Back to Golfito to Start the Passage to Nicaragua

Yesterday we started the day with Gallo Pinto for breakfast followed by a nice walk around downtown Turrialba. The first photo is a typical street scene and the second is the town square, which is probably the most attractive part of town.

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After our walk, we headed out of town. It was time to get back to Kosmos in Golfito. We headed northeast towards San Jose, again guessing at where we needed to go. We drove through mostly farmland. They seem to grow a lot of Continue reading

Welcome to Golfito, Costa Rica

Since the seas had been so calm on this passage, we pulled into Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) at around 0230, hours earlier than we anticipated when we plotted the course. Going in at night was of zero concern, though, because the visibility was like daylight. We could see the land on both sides of us clearly, as well as floating obstacles like tree trunks. And yes, we did see a few tree trunks in there! The aroma in the bay was so strong that it was almost overwhelming rich, fertile soil and sweet tropical plants. It smelled so good. The wind picked up and the water got a touch of wind chop, but it was still a great ride. Here is a shot of the moon after the wind picked up. Note how clear the mountain is.

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We meandered Continue reading