Monday Dec 13 –
The addition of two new crew has livened things up a bit :-) It's late Sunday morning when we pick up Patrick and Moffett at the ferry dock at Los Suenos Marina (Bahia Herradura – just north of Jaco) – for the pricey sum of $40 for a ‘day use fee’). Their friend Greg had dropped them off ... but soon we are hailing him back, to give us a lift to the grocery store (although the boys had lugged at least a gallon each of rum, vodka, and wine aboard). Coincidentally Greg is a fellow Seal Beach-er and has a bike shop in town, which I walk Gracie The Dog past every morning; plus his small surfer hotel* here, at the north end of famed Playa Hermosa, which boasts ‘Best Surf in Costa Rica’ – a fact you can confirm on the Surfline webcam that Greg has perched at the edge of his casa. Besides that, he’s a really nice guy eager for a gringo fix, so after he takes us to the supermarket, and comes by FRC for a 5¢ tour, he invites us to the Inn for a little terra firma.
The sign and entrance are innocuous enough I might have missed this little slice of paradise: a charming strip of rooms edged with lush gardens, a tiny but refreshing two-level pool with a waterfall, a breezy palapa on an exotic black sand beach strewn with driftwood ... so we hang around ‘til sunset, enjoying the scenery (and wifi) and Greg’s tales of his breathtaking adventures - including a non-stop bike ride from Calif. to NY; his flight over the English Channel is the ‘Gossamer Albatross’, and so on ... ( * http://www.sandpipercostarica.com/ )
Early the next morning (despite the boys’ brutal partying) we set off for our longed-for destination; back across Golfo Nicoya to Isla Tortugas... On the way I indulge myself: listening to Christmas carols in the galley while I make mango salsa to go with the fish I’m trying to catch – but all I get is another bonita :-P (at least not a boobie again!) These islands are exactly what we’d dreamed of all those weeks plowing away on our ‘delivery’ - and end up being one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been. These twin isles are set off from the mainland – steep rocky foundations plush with the greenest foliage, footed with snippets of pale sandy beach here and there, lapped with teal and azure water speckled white with the gentle breeze. As soon as the anchor is set we start jumping in; the snorkeling so-so in water sprinkled with teeny life forms, but the fish spectacular through the turquoise gauze none-the-less. Afterwards we explore in the dinghy and stop at the small public beach where we’re met with chickens, horses, vultures ... and a young (not-so) wild boar who lets me scratch his bristly chin – and as I do he lifts his tapered head up and jigs his leg like a dog.
Too soon we leave for Bahia Ballena – allegedly because the wind is coming up but truly I think it’s because there is a rum panic – we haven’t hoarded enough rum apparently; and they think the ‘town’ here will have a liquor store. Uhm ... not! This is a meager fish camp, set around a steep concrete pier that serves as a loading platform and fish market, with arms that stretch out and down to either side for pangas to tie up. We approach the pier and a spiderweb of long lines strung from mooring cans and skiffs to the pilings, pulling ourselves along the ropes to the south landing – a crumbly concrete platform with ruins of stairs that zigzag up to the open deck, where somber fisherman tally and clean their paltry catch. Following the length of the pier – which is lined with Coleman coolers – we come to the Ballena Bay Yacht Club. Yup – a ‘yacht club’ here ... Although it’s no more than a bar and restaurant, it is clean and spacious with a view of the dock and the bay beyond. We enjoy a round of drinks and once again, sit and watch the day come to an end, until it’s time to leave. Alas the landing is now awash, and our dismount from the crumbling concrete dock which is now awash, onto our dinghy, is a bit sketchy. By the time we return to the boat my butt’s soaked and filthy from our expedition; the wind has come up and the boat’s rocking and yawing wildly in the open bay – as it continues to do now (just past midnight). But by some miracle there’s wifi in this most unlikely of places ... so I’m pirating while I can, hoping to post or send this note tonight (Monday) - and I have already put up new pix!
Unless we’re chased out by a storm tonight, we’ll leave early tomorrow for Quepos and a visit to the Manuel Antonio wildlife reserve the following day. Updates to follow ...
Sending love today & always, XOXO Mom / Betsy
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