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 →

The Drive to Heredia – Part 2

Continued from yesterday”¦ Not too long after we had checked the GPS, the road finally shifted to be both up and down, and while we had plenty of uphill stretches of road, we slowly but surely were losing altitude overall.

At about 1630, we rounded a bend a saw a huge city below. This must be San Jose. The road quickly descended and dropped us into the heart of the city. This was where we got totally confused. Lonely Planet has 4 detailed maps of San Jose, each of a different neighborhood, and we had a hard time finding the map we were on and figuring out how it connects with the map of where we were going to. Part of the reason we couldn’t figure out what map we were on was that we couldn’t find a street sign anywhere. Eventually, we managed to get oriented and had a vague idea of where we needed to go.

At one point, while the light was red, some street performers ran out into the intersection and juggled what looked like bowling pins until the light turned green. That was definitely amusing.

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We found the right street and followed it. It happened to be Continue reading →

The Dinghy Ride and Costa Rican Cuisine

We were excited about today’s trip to the animal sanctuary. The local we had talked to made it sound super great. Most of the animals were illegally poached and domesticated, then confiscated and brought to the sanctuary for reintroduction into the wild. Some were legally domesticated and voluntarily turned in by people who realized the animals would be happier in the wild. Some were sick or injured and brought there for care. Since most of the animals were once domesticated, they will run up and play with visitors.

We were told not to wear any kind of sunscreen or bug spray or lotions or perfumes because Continue reading →

Finishing the Costa Rican Check In Process

It was another roasting hot morning. Christi started the day with a huge breakfast. We hadn’t read any reports that indicated the quarantine person would confiscate food, but we have had it happen enough times in other places that she is now a little paranoid about it. It was her mission to use up all the eggs and produce that were the most likely confiscation targets, and we succeeded in eating most of it up before we were so full we felt like we were going to explode.

We were at Land & Sea waiting for Continue reading →