Thursday, April 22, 2010

More news from Costa Rica

After our guests left, we did our grocery shopping, checked our emails and returned to the boat to find that we were relieved of our new to us and still unused surfboard. We had been warned about petty theft in this country from other boaters, guidebooks and even locals, but at the end of the day we have a boat full of stuff in compartments that, by design, cannot be locked. The surfboard is a bit large to put anywhere and on most boats they are tied up on the lifelines. We did the same thing and did not have any way of locking it down. Brady had been insistent on putting it inside, but this would have required me moving it in and out every time we left the boat and every morning and night. Add sand and salt to the board and inside was not a good place to store it (I think she still deserves an I told you so!) In retrospect, it should have at least been out of reach of the lifelines and thus partially out of site. I feel a bit fortunate that nothing was damaged and that this was the only thing taken since we have plenty of other, more valuable things. Prior to our visiting here, Costa Rica was very high on our list of places to see. Since arriving, we have had high winds and desert like vistas in the north, rolly anchorages with few spots to land the dinghy, locals that are less friendly than in prior countries, very high prices, and our surfboard stolen. Brady and I are fairly optimistic people and we hope the rest of our visit goes a little smoother. On the brighter side, this end of the country is beautiful green and wildlife abounds. Brady’s mom and my mom will be visiting in the next couple of months and we will have lots of national park visiting and monkey watching to do. I, for one, am ready for Panama.

Capitano Troyo