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Heading South In A Papagayo
Tom & Walter enroute to Costa Rica
Hola Amigos y Amigas,
January, 2009
Walter and I left Puesta Del Sol Nicaragua for Costa Rica and motored for 3 hours till the wind picked up. But it just kept building in a really big way. We had started out buddy boating with Cursail, but they stayed closer in to shore and I was a little impatient and went offshore a little further in search of wind. Eventually, we had drifted out of visual and VHF range, but no matter. By this time, the Papagayos were pushing 30 knots. Seas were running about 3 to 6 feet. We sailed for 25 hours. Sometimes gently, mostly not so gently. We were ranging from 8 to 12 miles offshore and never saw Cursail until Playa Panama in Costa Rica. Nothing to be done but to keep on sailing. Later in Costa Rica, Frank told me they never went more than 5 miles offshore, an excellent strategy in retrospect, as they did not experience the wind and sea state that Walter and I had to put up with. The wind was in a range of beam reaches, from 90 to 45 degrees off to port. Not nearly as bad as the winds I had experienced further to the north in Gulfo De Tehuantepec, but still, it was a long arduous sail for 2 people. I caught a fish en-route it was so tough, my knife couldn't get through the bones, so I ended up throwing it over the side. We ended up a little North and West of Playa Coco in Costa Rica. The winds died as we approached Coco, so we ended up motoring into Playa Panama well after dark with the aid of the GPS and radar and dropped the hook. We tried to check into Costa Rica the next day, but it ended up taking 2 days and nearly $100 (USD). Costa Rica is not cruiser friendly. They do a lot better with the land lubber eco tourists.
Leaving Coco, we motored a couple hours then raised sail en-route to Carrillo. Had some fierce winds again, gusting to 50 knots. We were a little closer to shore on a beam reach, but I couldn't trim the sails properly because of the frequent violent gusts. Proximity to shore meant the seas weren't to bad though so it wasn't all that bad a ride. I caught a tuna en-route. Tasty little bugger. The Papagayos stayed with us until Bahia Balena. It was a welcome change to be sailing for extended periods after the motoring I had endured throughout much of Mexico.
