New plan - surprise?

He he. Life is but an ongoing adventure so there you go. We are anchored in Bahia Herradura and now have full diesel tank and jerry cans. We WILL NOT be taking our dingy into the dingy dock at the marina because they want $40 US for the privilege. Find that hard to believe but it is a true fact. The wind picked up today in the anchorage and we are taking a day of rest. Rumors are that Quepos, our proposed next stop is way rolly now and that the lovely Manuel Antonio nature park has a hour wait to get in? OK. We are not stopping in Quepos after all. Onward to Bahia Drake. Will be an overnight sail and that is just fine. So tomorrow we'll time it so we'll leave with light from here and arrive in Bahia Drake with light for landfall.

Another book recommendation: "Zenzele, A letter for my daughter" by J. Nozipo Maraire. It is more of a collection of letters or a journal from a Zimbabwean mother to her daughter who is in the US attending Harvard. I laughed, cried and thought deep thoughts. Also littles, you were much on my mind during the entire read.

There are HUGE mega yachts here (200 feet +) in the marina and anchored out in Bahia Herradura. Wow. Complete with powerboats onboard the size of Ceilidh as well as helicopters. Makes us feel like a toy boat. The weather changed radically today. The wind started up to 15 knots or so and the clouds rolled in big and dark. Rich us said it looks like rain coming our way. Wouldn't mind at all. Fantastic way to painlessly remove the salt and dirt that miraculously appears on Ceilidh girl. We are happy campers (opps, sailors) and enjoying life eversomuch. While sitting in the cockpit eating a delicious lunch of tomatoes on fresh mozzarella cheese with olive oil, herbs and basalmic with lovely whole wheat bread for dipping and glasses of red wine, we commented on what a lovely life this is we lead. Thank you goddess and wish all of you similar bliss tuned to your own particular desires.

May this find you all happy and well
missive from the yin side (still in Costa Rica)

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Bye bye Bahia Ballena

Today is Feb 24th. Very hard to believe that we have been in this area for a month but we have! Arrived on Jan 25th so there you go. All in all a wonderful stay, meeting cruisers and locals, having fun adventures. We never did get to Puntarenas. Did get back to Montazuma and saw a second waterfall. We actually walked along the coast all the way, a 4 1/2 hour walk with a short snack break and water play in the small pool beneath the waterfall. The adventure was filled with beautiful sights of tropical GREEN forests on one side and beautiful shades of blue ocean and craggy rocks on the other. Some of the trek involved rock climbing and picking a path back down to the beach. Must say I did much better than I thought possible, enjoyed myself immensely and had minimal pain and agony the next day. Think I'll try doing that type of fun more often. David, our friend on s/v Incantation went along as well. Ever so much fun. Tried to use the internet cafe here in Tambour to upload photos but could not get our wireless card to talk to theirs. Also, our cd drive wasn't functioning but Rich has now solved that - it was a software rather than hardware issue (we hope). So when we get to the next stop I'll upload some photos to past blog postings and to the photo site. There are quite a few stacking up at this point.

Tomorrow we are off after the organic vegi mart at the yacht club. I'll take the camera in and get a few snaps. Once the booty is stored we'll up anchor and cross the Gulf of Nicoya to visit the Marina Suenos fuel dock. Probably spend the night anchored off the marina and head down to Quepos the next morning - only 35 miles south east. Not sure if we'll be able to anchor there or not. If it is not too rolly (an exposed anchorage) it is THE best place to leave the boat for a bus ride into the Manuel Antonio National Park. I would so love to spend the day walking around the jungle and seeing the birds and animals that are protected in this preserve.

So many wonderful sights and friendly people come to my mind in colourful array - Costa Rico is a beautiful place. Looking forward to the next adventure and some fun sailing!

Love to all from the yin side

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Time is slippery

Just looked back in the outbox and it appears that my last blog entry was Feb 1st? Could that be possible with today being (according to the computer) the 18th of Feb? My goodness but time is ever so slippery. Ah yes, we did the waterfalls and then some small provisioning trips to the nearby town of Cobano and then big winds were forecasted (30/35knots) and we wanted to see other areas within the Gulfo de Nicoya and traveled up - a wonderful 4.5 hr sail - to Isla Muertos (yes, island of the dead?). Perfectly protected area between the mainland and island. Ever so picturesque but with icky water. Tides rip in the anchorage and are dramatically changeable - 8 to 14 feet. We met some ever so interesting cruiser type boats and also had quiet time on Ceilidh. The wind did get up to the 30knot range but no wind waves/fetch so not a problem. We ventured forth from there yesterday morning and traveled on to Islas Tortuga, two islands much more exposed to the beautiful Pacific. The water clarity was incredible comparatively but the tourist herds had also discovered this paradise. We'll be posting some photos as proof soon. Just about 5pm all the tourists trundled onto their charter boats and we had the anchorage to ourselves. Took off in trusty squishy (aka floating car) and did a snorkel tour. Ahhhhhh! Swimming with the fishes again. Lovely. Next time, however, I'll wear my lycra suit as I collected multiple stingy memorabilia.

So, back on Ceilidh and ready to settle down to a quiet night? Oh no no. The wind picked up and built and built and the seas got fairly exuberant and it stayed that way all thru the night and into the morning. Not a whole lot of sleep but no danger, either. Spent quality time with Mama Luna and the southern cross. So we left this morning and headed back to Bahia Ballena for a few days to reprovision and do the trip we didn't do to Puntarenas via bus/ferry. Did a down wind sail with jib only doing 6 to 7 knots. Lovely. The wind stayed up in the anchorage here but no fetch so all is good. Tomorrow is bottom cleaning day (Ceilidh's - not ours) and then provisioning and the trip to Puntarenas. Think I'll stop here and write more in the next day or two. Take care and love to you all!

from the yin side
afloat in Costa Rica

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Waterfalls are cool

Went on another adventure yesterday. We, along with Bill and Doreen from s/v Lanikai, took a bus from the town of Tambour. Tambour is the small village/resort area we are anchored off here in Bahia Ballena, Costa Rica. as an aside, and since I can't get to an internet cafe and upload more photos for a while yet, you can check out the web site of the beautiful little hotel where we had lunch the other day. IF we were anchored here when they took the photos you would see Ceilidh floating in the bay just off the hotel. The web site is www.tambortropical.com.

From Tambor, the bus took us along roads - some paved, some dirt and washboardy - to the resort town of Montezuma. Not much there except tourism. Eco resorts, small cabanas for rent, tours by car, boat, horse... you name it. Also a surfers paradise which is why we did not anchor nearby. The bus trip took about 45 minutes - passing thru one other small town named Coban, and wound around hills and valleys keeping mostly insight of the ocean shore. Wow. I love the green of the jungle and interesting plants/flowers that abound in this verdant land. Once in Montezuma we walked along the coast to the outskirt of the inhabited area, over a bridge and up into the jungle. Following a well traveled dirt path between trees and shrubs we wound along the stream bed of a small river. The howler monkeys and insects in the trees made me feel as though I was in a Tarzan movie. We'll have to work on a way to share the sounds as well as the colours with you. Before too long we came to the first small set of falls - really not more than a very pretty set of rapids. Keep in mind this is the dry season and the amount of water flowing is minimal compared to what one would see in the rainy season. Still, it was a beautiful scene with rock ledges and slopes providing gentle slides for the water to play on as it traveled down towards the town and sea.

We continued along the stream some of the time and the path where passable and in 30 min or so found the larger waterfall. It drops from about approximately 100 feet above, cascading into a deep pool about 50 feet across. (hey, one of the spanish words for waterfall is la cascada!) We jumped in and swam in the cool, clean water. Played behind and in the sparkling water as it danced into the pool, tried diving thru it and found that the waterfall pushed us flat - belly flop city. We started out on this journey at 7:30am so we were among the first visitors to the falls. As we played and splashed more and more people showed up. It think there were about 15 or so when we decided to head back to town.

Once we arrived back in Montezuma we had a lovely lunch at one of the restaurants and then caught the bus back to Tambor and Ceilidh. There are more waterfalls in the area which we might visit but this will always remain special because it was the first! Tomorrow we'll catch the bus again back to the small town of Coban. There is an ATM and grocery - just what we need and in that order. Well, time to get on with boat type tasks so all for now. Love to all

from the yin side.

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