SHARKS

After leaving Drakes Bay we thought we should take a little detour to Isla Del Cano, a famous diving island. This area is infamous for having a large population of sharks so I ran the idea of snorkeling at the island by the kids. We read that the reef sharks are non-aggressive and as a family we decided to risk the sharks for the beautiful snorkeling, hoping that the guide books were indeed correct about the sharks.
The guide books were wrong about one thing. We didn’t see a single shark. Not that I was sad about the missing sharp toothed fish, and it was definitely nice to have made it out of there with all my limbs attached. I did keep a good look out for them though, left, right, behind my back, kind of manically. What we did get to swim with were graceful turtles, lobsters, brain coral, parrotfish, clown fish, and all of Nemo’s other friends. The reef was amazing and active with colorful schools of fish.
I am glad in the end that we didn’t let our shark fears get the best of us and that we were able to explore the beautiful reefs of Isla Del Cano. This trip was about seeing the world on and off land and this island was an important part of the journey. So, we are reminded every day why you look past your fears and embrace the incredible life that you have been given.

-Brady


PMS ALERT

I know many of you have expressed concerns for the close quarters that we live in and the affects that it can have on a relationship. Well, I have to admit the certain times of the month can be quite challenging to say the least, but I am so lucky to have a wonderful, understanding husband. The tip of the week- if you are ever sailing on a boat with PMS, a patient spouse is a must.

-the less sane spouse of the week

Drakes Bay

We have started heading south and have found ourselves in the prettiest part of Costa Rica, Drakes Bay on the Osa Peninsula. If you come to Costa Rica this is a must visit spot. This area is filled with scarlet macaws soaring over head, hiking trails with the most fragrant flowers, wildlife peaking out of the rainforest, beautiful beaches, and friendly folks. The town isn’t huge, but the houses are adorable stilt houses with views of the gorgeous bay. This is the Costa Rica that I had envisioned before we came down here. I am just sorry that none of our visitors got to see this amazingly unique area. -Brady

Ditto, on all of that. We heard that this was the place to see and so far, we have not been disappointed. After my mom left, we did some grocery shopping and headed south. The trip here took about 18 hours and we managed to avoid every thunderstorm that surrounded us. The water at the anchorage is crystal clear, the houses are beautiful, the beach is long and sandy, the trails leading to and through the Corcovado National Park are seemingly endless, and all in all a paradise. We are going to take the dinghy up a local river to check out the wildlife and then head to Isla del Cano for some snorkeling. Supposedly, this is second only to the likes of the Galapagos and Isla del Coco for snorkeling on the Pacific. Then it is off to the Golfo Dulce (Sweet Gulf) to clear out of the country and head for Panama. We can’t wait to see my dad and little sister, who are coming for their second visit in July. This will hopefully be followed by Suzi’s (Brady’s mom) second visit in as many months. We are truly thankful to our wonderful families for their love and (sometimes reluctant :) support and their continued efforts to visit us in tropical paradise.

-Troy-

Ahhh...Boat life!

Shortly after the last blog entry, we left for Isla Cedros in the rain for a change of scenery. The trip was a wet one with intermittent rain squalls, but we made it safe and sound to a very quiet anchorage. During the rain of the past week, it has come to our attention that several hatches are not exactly watertight and need re-bedding (remove, clean, recaulk, replace). This left lots of tools wet and rusting along with a bit of a damp bed for Ashley. Ahhh...the little joys of living on a boat. While in Bahia Ballena, there was a lot of leaves and trash in the water and it kept clogging our refrigerator cooling line. Ordinarily, this is no big deal because I just remove the line from the through hull (fitting that lets water into the boat for various reasons), clean it and replace it. Well, today was a little different. As I was removing the line, the entire shut off valve broke loose releasing a steady stream of water INTO the boat with no immediate way of shutting it off. I’m sure you all can imagine my intial expletive laden response. Apparently we would have no refrigerator for awhile, not to mention a HOLE IN THE BOAT! While I plugged the hole with my finger, Brady trimmed a cork to the appropriate size so I could temporarily stop the leak. The copper fitting that the valve was attached to sheared off leaving about 1/2 inch to work with. Fortunately, I had some plastic tubing that was the right size and with a few hose clamps and salvaged parts, I stopped the leak and was able to keep the refrigerator going. A proper repair will have to wait until we haul the boat out in Panama for bottom paint. The rain has since stopped and I was able to re-bed the leaking hatches. With all crises averted for the moment, we moved again and anchored near playa Naranjo in the Gulf of Nicoya. We were hoping for a town, but found only a ferry dock with a bar/restaurant. Brady and two of the girls did manage to find a quaint little village about 30 minutes walk from the ferry dock. After three days we headed back to the Costa Rica Yacht Club for some time at the pool and Sam’s B-day.

Rain Forest!

(photo info: Picture #1 is a great swim if you like to get eaten by crocs! Picture #2 is at Punta Leona at the slippery tidepools- Brady fell here as well.)
Hello all,

It is time for another post as we sit on the boat for the fourth consecutive day. Apparently rainy season and rain forest means that it rains A LOT. Who knew? We left the Los Suenos marina area for Bahia Ballena again to kill some more time before my mom arrives on the 4th of June. We entered the bay by GPS and Google Earth alone as we could not see the land 1/4 mile away. Brady finally had to get off the boat yesterday, for sanity purposes and we landed on the rocky shore in a slight drizzle. Brady proceeded get her leg crunched by a piece of driftwood the size of the dinghy (still attached and no marks, so don't worry). This was followed by Brady catching her flip flop on the dinghy and tumbling into the water. Grace is her middle name (her line, not mine for all of you mothers and wives out there). A few tears of frustration later and we were off to donate comforters, clothes and shoes to some local squatters, who happened to be among the nicest people we have met. Their houses were made of bamboo, corrugated metal and black plastic to keep out some of the rain. They were very appreciative and we wish we had more to give. The local school is flooded due to the rain and some help with education and construction would go a long way here. We have considered, albeit briefly, squatting next door, but we are leaving soon if the rain ever stops. We walked to the local town for treats and avoided the worst of the rain inside the store. The return dinghy trip was just about as eventful. We were all doused by salt water and dirt from an incoming swell and Sam briefly lost a flip flop. We are hoping to head to some other spots before heading to the Costa Rica Yacht Club for Sams's birthday (10 this year, wow) before heading back the Jaco area.

Ta-Ta for now,

Waterlogged

Back from the US

Hola All,
I had two wonderful trunkshows and countless visits with friends and family in Colorado. I do have to say that nothing is better than boat life. I enjoyed seeing everyone, but I don't know how you all put up with the rush of American lifestyles. Life on the water is full of entertainment, but without the havoc. I am back in my comfortable habit with swimming off the boat and hiking daily. My mom is visiting for the week, which she seem to be getting her sea legs in gear. I will give you a better update when she leaves. i can't leave my guests unattended for long:)


Brady

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

Costa Rica!!!

We left San Juan Del Sur after several days of wind (25+ knots) through the anchorage. It was well protected from waves, but the wind was a little much. We got our zarpe (international clearance) for Costa Rica and headed for Bahia Junquillal. As we left the bay, the wind stayed at 25 knots and we covered the 20 or so miles in a little over two hours. Brady and I expected Costa Rica to be lush tropical jungle, but this far north was still very desert like. Our new anchorage gave us one nights break from the wind and when it built in the morning (gusts to 30), we moved one bay over to Bahia Tomas. This was not much better, so we headed over to Bahia Santa Elena the following morning. As we left the anchorage, we were met by 40 knot winds and hoped this move would be better. When we arrived, the wind was noticeably diminished, but a boat anchored inside informed us the gusts were up to 50 (#$%&). We stayed for several days exploring the trails and meeting new boaters (Paula Jean, Pacific Voyager and Emma Joe). We decided to move on to Playa del Coco to check into the country officially, despite the wind. As it turned out, the wind wasn’t so bad outside the bay and we covered the 38 miles before dark and found our first real gringo hotspot in Costa Rica. This a very cool town with lots of bars and restaurants (We recommend Coconutz for great atmosphere, live music, food and a pretty cool new owner-Hi Dan!). Oddly, there are four grocery stores in this small town and I found Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper for the first time in many months :) Unfortunately, this would be too expensive for us in the long run and you can expect American pricing and more if you visit. There are not many services on the beach (like food, chairs, umbrellas, or anything...), but overall we like the town. Costa Rica has built its economy around tourism, and other than the windy anchorages and the high prices, we have seen: turtles, dolphins, parrots, monkeys, manta rays, sea snakes, and a yet unidentified giant lizard. Hopefully, we will see plenty more of the sights while we are here. The next stop was Playa Tamarindo. This is another very cool town, but again, lots of gringos and high prices. Brady and I had a bit of trouble anchoring here since we are a bit short of anchor chain these days. This means that we have to put out most of the chain and then attach a rope (rode) to the end and then let out the rest of the chain and more rope. Then we have to pull on the anchor to set it and hope that we do not have to pull it all up and try again if the bottom is foul. We had to do that here and after anchoring twice, we were ready for some R & R. We have been on the same track as Danny and Paula from Paula Jean and we headed south together to Bahia Samara. Today, in this location we got a real taste of what our new lives are like. After homeschool, we snorkeled to the island that we were anchored near. After swimming back to the boat, we had lunch and towed Danny and Paula on their kayaks with surfboard in tow across the bay to the town. Danny threw in free surf lessons for the five of us and we were all up in a snap, with the girls being the quickest learners. They all rode several waves in and apparently we are now in the market for a surfboard and a kayak along with a new outboard for the dinghy. Next, we toured the town and then readied ourselves for the craziest return ever. The surf had built and the breaks were pretty stiff, so Danny and I pushed the dinghy out past the breaks and I motored in circles until Brady and the girls swam out. We towed our new friends back to their boat and had chicken tacos for dinner. We are all tired and are leaving again for Bahia Ballena en route to Puntarenas to pick up our first guests since Mexico! Wow, so much has happened since the last line! We went to the puntarenas yacht club to wait for Todd and Jessica and got groceries, propane and the laundry done. Puntarenas was a very local town with plenty of services. After we left, our first stop was Isla Cedros, an abandoned prison island turned park. The area was very dry and dead, but the prison was neat. We saw howler monkeys in the trees and a nice beach on the other side of the island. It was still early, so we went to Isla Muertos for the night. This anchorage was very calm, but there were no services for us or our guests, so after a quick dinghy trip and walking tour, we were off to Islas Tortugas. These were touted as highly visited with snorkeling and some of the best white sand beaches in Costa Rica. The water was murky at best and the beach was OK, but we stayed for about 20 minutes and then took the dinghy across the bay to the Curu biological preserve. This hike afforded us a fantastic view of the bay and capuchin monkeys. Brady pointed out some yet identified sloth like monkey creature that Todd hereafter referred to as a slonkey. The next morning, we were off to Jaco. This is another small town and the dinghy landing required the kids to bail out and swim to shore while I rode the dinghy like a surf board. One night here and off to Quepos. This town has the best services and is finally lush green. It is a short ride to the smaller town of Manuel Antonio and the national park of the same name. We passed on the park since Todd and Jess had seen it already and we will see it when both Brady’s mom and my mom visit in the next few weeks. Next was Dominical. This is a sleepy little surf town with bars restaurants and a well stocked store. There was a restaurant that overlooked the ocean on both sides and a great ice cream shop. We stayed a night and then back to Quepos to drop off our visitors. We did and saw a lot in a short time. We all laughed a lot, motored a lot, drank a few and had a great time.