Saturday 14 February - Valentines Day - and we are off to Costa Rica. Yesterday was frustrating. We hoped to be going but did not know that the Port Captain's office shut at 1600 so we missed our check out (clearing customs and immigration for departure from Panama). The Port Captain called David's mobile at 0700 calling us in for 0800.... David and Sarah went ashore and returned 4 hours later. After a quick lunch we weighed anchor and motored south. There was no wind - an almost flat sea under high cloud so the whole world looked grey. Out in the bay of Panama many merchant ships are at anchor - I counted 30. We were later told that they are here for a number of reasons : no cargo, waiting for cargo, impounded for some legal reasons, no crew, or in storage (Panama acts like a garage and provides caretaking duties). Economic conditions can affect the number of ships parked here.
We continued south on acourse of 185 for most of the day. We had an early dinner on the deck at sunset which inthese parts is just after 1830 at the moment - very lovely and as we ate a small pod of dolphins came to visit. They are steely blue and mottled like a leopard down their sides. Dinner was interrupted while we wtched them play up and down the sides of the boat and in and out of the bow wave.
Darkness fell. Venus shone brightly above us. Here in the tropics she is very bright. On previous nights when we have been at anchor she casts a bright path on the water. I have read that Venus is the only planet that can cast a shadow on the earth. Other stars came out and the Milky Way splashed across the sky. Bright stars, but not so clear as on land - it must be the moisture in the air at sea. still, it is all very impressive and the sky is very big.
This is our first night sail together. David decided he would sleep on deck and Sarah and I would take turns on watch - she from 2200 to 0200 and me from 0200 to 0600. As the evening wore on the wind picked up and we were able to hoist Main and Genoa. I went below to sleep - and awoke at 0130. It is many years since I slept at sea and the movement of the boat brought back many memories of my Naval life at sea.
Up on deck wind had picked up and was coming from the NE. An hour into my watch David ordered a Jibe ... steering at night is a whole different experience. We steer our course by GPS on a Raymarine chartplotter which is a marine version of a land GPS. we also have ships compass and a wind repeater at the steering consol .... but I am used to steering a yacht visually using the sails and the masthead wind vane neither of which are visible at night. My steering for this jibe was not a happy event - we went around twice ! David was calm and understanding - steering IS different at night.
Dawn came up silver, gold, pink and yellow over a ruffled sea. we were now steering west. To the north land showed blue and misty. We were sailing well with 15 knots of wind from the NE. And after a time came to the Bay of Benoa,a small bay on the south side of Peninsula Los Santos. This was a sheltered spot with a long beach on the north side, backed by trees and a line of low brown hills. As we cameto anchor aflock of pelicans was wheelinga diving into a feeding frenzy. To our right was a lump of an island connected to the shore by a narrow ithsmus.
The sun was bright and hot and a light breeze ruffled the surface of clear blue water. I swam ashore - a bit further than I thought. The beach was brown sand and slightly gravelly. Walking to the trees I found a small creek full of fish. Hundreds of hermit crabs rustled through the dry leaves under the trees. I heard a plaintive cry and thinking it was a bird looked up, and then down to see a small brown frog caught in the jaws of a long thin green snake. As I watched, the snked realising that eating a frog feet first was not sucha clever idea, let go of the frog, whipped round and tookits head in its mouth. I have never seen a snake each before, and it was slightly gruesome wonder to watch the snake's mouth and body expand to swallow whole a frog four times its width.
We had a pleasant day in this place and were entertained by Nick and Robin, a couple from North America working in Panama who had come to the small resort on the beach for the weekend. They came onboard for sunset drinks and we joined them for an excellent dinner a the resort after.
The next day, Monday 16 Feb, we lay at anchor for the morning and then departed in the afternoon in a nice strong NW breeze which did not last the rest of the day. By mid afternoon we were motoring along with a lovely coastline to our right rising to blue hills in the far distance. We motored all nightand it got a bit lumy at one point as the wind came up. we hoisted sails and had a fine sail up the side of Isla Coiba in the Golfo de Chiriqui. The coastline of Veraguas was on our right. We came at length to a small bay in the north-east corner of Isla Coiba to a tiny rock island called Granita de Oro. Anchoring a ittle to the north of it we went ashore to a beach on the main island as there was a crowd of people on the Granita. I tried snorkelling but the water was too cloudy. So we took the dinghy to the Granita de Oro - a large rock with a small sandy beach and submerged rocks. The snorkelling around the rocks was wonderful - brown corals, brightly coloured fish some irridescent blue, oranges, yellows and pinks. And on the beach more hermit crabs in the thousand. Isla Coiba and surrounding islands are National Park. After lunch back onbord we motored around the north end of the island and came into a large bay Ensenada Santa Cruz for the night. In the late afternoon I took the dinghy to nearby rocks for more snorkelling - again with great results. This island is pure jungle, green and lush. we think it is how this country must have been before humans started felling the forests.
The next morning, Wednesday 18 Feb, we left mid morning in a light breeze coming from 300, right on our head. So a long tack on 240 for the afternoon and thena tack round to the North A very slow passage that did not get us very far up the coast. we sailed through the night with the wind veering to the north which helped our passage. But at dawn David had had enough so we motored for the rest of the day (Thursday), up the coast of Costa Rica. At lenght the coast of the Osa Peninsula appeared over the left and by mid afternoon we were in the Golfo Dulce. We came through the entrance to Golfito into a large bay of water stretching a little to the north with the bulk of the bay to the south. A thin strip of shore with buildings upon it is backed by steep wooded hills. we were met by Tim from Tierra Mar (Land Sea services) who guided us to our buoy. It was to late for Pratique (entry procedures) so we stayed on board with Flag Q fluttering from the yardarm (Flag Q is a solid yellow flag which declares that the vessel needs to clear customs. Once done it is replaced by the flag of that country).
So now we are in Golfito for a few days - time to store up, look around, do some repairs .....
Photos here : http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/PanamaToCoastRica#
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