Gulf of Papagayo

Feb. 3, 2007 - Saturday
We spent almost a week in Bahia Santa Elena with the wind howling through the anchorage. When a little weather window opened up for us to leave, we took it and never even had a chance to really see the sights of Bahia SE. There was a little stream that we could have gone up in the dinghy to see a waterfall, but, oh well...
When we got mellower weather we started out for Cabo Santa Elena, which has a bad reputation sort of like Point
Conception for being a place where the winds are extra strong and the waves are large. As we left the bay, the wind came up from behind us and we thought, "Oh no, it's already 25 knots. What will it be at the Point?" But strangely enough, as we reached the point the wind started to die and it was down to 10 knots as we went around. Since it was smooth,we headed directly for our destination, Bahia Huevos, and arrived there by 2PM. Bahia Huevos was a pretty little bay with the clearest water I've ever seen. We could see our anchor on the bottom out in from of the boat from our swim step at the back of the boat!
We spent the night at Bahia Huevos, but left the next morning because we wanted to officially check into Costa Rica and the port of entry was 6 miles away at Bahia del Coco. Since it was Friday, we needed to check in at once to avoid overtime charges on the weekend. Everything went smoothly enough at the check in. The hardest part was to find a functional copy machine. Bahia del Coco has all the pleasures of a harbor - bank, markets, internet cafe, and lots of restaurants. I even found some hardware that I had been searching for for a long time.
I think we'll stay here through the weekend at least. If we get to the internet cafe, maybe we can post some pictures. We have a lot of time available in Costa Rica since we are waiting for Andrea's daughter Elinore to join us on March 18. We got down here faster than we needed I suppose, but I'd rather go when the weather is good. We are now past the worst of it. The only other hurtle will be Punta Mala in Panama, but we are helped greatly in these difficult parts by the weather predictions available on the cruiser's nets (on the single-sideband radio). The Pan-Pacific Net has a guy named Don who was a weatherman before he retired. He comes on every morning and gives a complete weather summary for the entire region and then answers specific questions from individual boats. The Net gets you acquainted with a lot of other cruisers and after a while, they know who you are and where you are going. If you don't call in for a few days, they start to get worried about you. I kinda like that. Write if you get time.