Welcome to Costa Rica

Jan. 29, 2007 Sunday
At daybreak this morning, we arrived in Bahia Santa Elena, our first port in Costa Rica after a strenuous non-stop sail from Barillas Marina - about 280 miles. How about this red sunrise? We made no stops in Nicaragua. It took us two full days and the last day and a half was in the infamous Papagayo winds - as high as 34 knots, but mostly in the low 20's. This is very different from the mellow Mexican sailing that we have seen for so long and, as a result of having relaxed our guard, we got some water down below because not all the hatches were closed tightly. We did get in a lot of sailing though, and once we learned to sail close to the beach, the waves were tolerable.
So we are resting up and drying out. It is still blowing like stink in this beautiful little bay. Bahia Santa Elena is almost completely landlocked with a small entrance leading into a large round bay. We had to time our arrival very carefully because we couldn't have gotten into here in the dark without relying totally on our electronic charts (which we hadn't yet been able to verify for accuracy). As a result, we spent much of last night trying to sail the boat 'slowly', not something we do often. We just crawled along in all kinds of wind so that we would arrive as the sun was rising. We timed it so well that we just had enough visibility when we arrived at the entrance. As it turned out, our electronic charts were spot on as well, so everything worked out nicely. It is a little dicey when you are running downwind with 30 knots of wind behind you, heading for a dark mass of land that reportedly has a gap in it somewhere, but if it doesn't, that dark mass of land could be very bumpy.
There were two other boats here when we arrived, but by the time we woke up, both had moved on so we have the place to ourselves. There is no development or human settlements here. The cruising guides speak of parrots and monkeys, but all we have seen so far is wind. Apparently this wind is going to last until Tuesday, we we'll just read and work on projects. It's not hot, so hooray.