Gulfo de Nicoya

We departed Puntarenas the afternoon of January 11th for a nice break from boat work. On the way out of the marina, fish were breaking water and Tyler hooked into his first pescado. Excited about the early catch, Chad and Tyler deployed Firefox (our 14 foot dinghy) to chase after the fish. Firefox returned with a skipjack about an hour later as the Broken Compass was cruising in 25 knot winds. We never quite made it to our planned destination, but it was a great shakedown for Tyler and Nicky on the boat as we scurried to a familiar anchorage (Punta Leona) to avoid the swells. It was a rocky night chalk full of lessons on how to (and how not to) anchor in heavy weather. The wind shifted during the night, putting us in a precarious situation. Seeing a small fishing boat anchored next to us was reassuring until they were towed away by our buddies, the Costa Rican Coast Guard, early the following morning.

We subsequently hauled up our fouled anchors and pushed across the bay to a calmer anchorage, ironically named Playa de Muertos (beach of the dead), which we renamed ‘Paradise.’
The beach displayed coconut trees and the 30 year old ruins of a catamaran originally from Coos Bay, Oregon. We dove and collected dozens of oysters and conch. We learned the best way to remove conch is to boil them after nearly 2 hours of pounding and breaking drill bits on their shells. Unfamiliar with island life, we attempted to several techniques to procure coconuts. Tyler had a crack shot at a coconut with the compound bow, and it narrowly missed him as he tried to pull the coconut back down (we retired this method).


We subsequently broke out the climbing gear and attempt #2 yielded coconut milk for our beach bonfire. Makai had a close call with a fellow predator during the fire, which sent Tyler on scorpion watch for the rest of the night.




















The weather normalized and we headed back up the gulf to Puntarenas and spend the past few days finishing overdue boat maintenance, re-working our itinerary, and hanging out with the local fishermen. A local charter fishing captain, Marcial, has made it tough to leave Puntarenas due to his hospitality. Off to southern Costa Rica and Panama this morning for some island hopping and to knock off a few hundred more miles.

New Years 2010!!!

New Years

Still illegal immigrants of Costa Rica we decided to hit land at Hermosa and Jaco. We celebrated New Years on the beach in Jaco surrounded a bonfire and hundreds of locals as an array of fireworks lit the sky. The light show consisted of high grade professional fireworks being set off by amateurs, some being successful, others no so much. We counted down to the New Year at least 10 times as no one seemed to have the ‘real’ time. Guided by our new Tica (Costa Rican girl) friend, Roxy, and accompanied by an amazing group of people including our mother who i swear is a saint, a great friend from home Liz Rapp who is the smartest person i know (and i know a lot of people), Nicky our new sailing strategist to Panama, and our little brother Tyler who brings a lot to the table.



Following New Years we decided to prove ourselves in the ocean and get barreled. We got hammered at Hermosa beach with over head high waves which tested our breath holding ability. The following day, we decided to hike to a waterfall in search of monkeys. Our hunt for monkeys proved unsuccessful but we were rewarded with 3 tiered waterfall which consecutivley leaped down after a nature walk through the jungle. Tempted to see more wildlife, we procured chicken legs and headed to the river.



We tempted dozens of crocidlies by dangling chicken legs on a string until inevitably the seasoned preditor stole our bait. The last couple days were spend surfing and exploring before we parted with our friends and family to concentrate our efforts on curing the wounds from the Papagyos. Work efficiency increased dramaticially with a beefed up crew including two new additions including the little brother and model (Tyler) and Bret's girlfriend Nikki whom we met in Mexico weeks prior. Repairing sails and fine-tuning the old diesel engine have consumed the last couple of days and we will depart for islas de tortugas tomorrow morning. As if Jaco and Hermosa were not vacation enough we look forward to more wildlife and adventure the gulfo de Nicoyo has to offer.

Christmas

After arriving in Costa Rica on Christmas Eve we could not officially check into the country due to the holidays. Avoiding officials, we hid out in an isolated cove about 6 miles North of Jaco beach. My father, his beautiful wife Maureen, and my little brother Tyler flew down and joined us for Christmas. Christmas Day was perfect. We had a great breakfast before heading out to catch dinner. The boys dove unsuccessfully off a nearby point with poor visibility while my father, the seasoned angler, caught a decent Sierra. Sierra are great for sushi and so it was. About 2pm we saw a large vessel cruise by towing a small boat. Further scrutiny yielded their identity,


The Costa Rican Coast Guard.

All our faces turned sheet white. We calculated our international criminal acts as the Coast Guard pulled past us in our dive boat and anchored 50 yards from the Broken Compass. Half a mile away, we darted to a sheltered cove to hide our rods and spearguns. They launched a patrol boat and cruised toward us. Amid the Chaos, Maureen saw a couple of monkeys and almost fell off the boat with excitement. Our plan: we are not criminals, we are now tourists. We threw on our masks and pretended to snorkel and Maureen snapped pictures of the monkeys. The patrol boat cruised right past us to a nearby beach and completed their patrol. We were never boarded or questioned on Christmas day, however we did attract a horn of approval following our Christmas light display up the main mast that evening. The coast guard stayed anchored with us all night and continued up the coast the following morning.