After seven days of fighting currents, bouncing in the waves, and more motoring than we would have liked, we arrived safely in Playas del Coco, Costa Rica. Here we discover that the seams on our old inflatable dinghy have decided to give up.
After our long stay in Marina Chiapas, we finally found a window of reasonable weather to set sail for Costa Rica. Though the eastern pacific hurricane season is still going strong, most new storms were forecast to form much farther north in Mexico. This left us with a mix of light to moderate winds from just about every direction, which with our new sails, proved to be a fun challenge.
But sharing the seas with these distant storms meant we would have to push through some uncomfortable swell en route. For the smoothest possible ride, we chose to sail due-south for 80 to 100 nautical miles into unfathomably deep water, before turning to port and paralleling the coastline.
This first stretch was a bit rough, as multiple swells stacked up from different directions above the relatively shallow shelf that hugs Mexico and Guatemala’s coastline. Coupled with nightly thunderstorms and squalls, we were thoroughly shaken after our first two days underway. But our new sails performed spectacularly on all points of sail as we navigated through the washing machine.
Once we reached the deep water (allegedly between 3000 and 6000 meters, wow) the sea settled nicely and a steady 1 to 1.5 meter medium-period swell pushed us along in light to moderate winds. The currents however, had other plans. We encountered between 1 and 2.7 knots of countering current as we slowly sailed along. But our new sails (and a relatively clean hull) boosted our speed through the water between 0.5 and 1 knot. At least we felt faster than we used to feel!
It was there that we began to encounter the wonderful aquatic wildlife we had been missed so much while in the marina. Just after climbing back onboard following our first swim break, we spotted a giant manta ray gliding slowly across our stern. Then almost immediately, three brilliantly colored Mahi Mahi began following us, periodically leaping out of our wake. Soon they were joined by a group of rather small sharks. Spinner dolphins kept pace in our bow wake and sea turtles ducked upon seeing us. The sea welcomed us back with lots of fanfare.
But any journey after a long stay in a marina is bound to turn up some issues. The following troubles cropped up while we were underway:
- Our windvane adjustment control seized up. This meant we had to lean a ways out over the stern to adjust the windvane
- Our electric autopilot pilot mangled the connecting arm attached to the bottom of the tiller. The arm is now bent awkwardly but still functions, albeit without the range it used to have
- Our watermaker output reduced due to growth and could stand to be chemically cleaned soon
Thankfully, none of these issues stopped our progress. We approached Costa Rica’s Northwest shore in light winds and motor-sailed the final 5 hours to reach Playas del Coco. We anchored outside of the moorings amongst party boats and pangas, with no other cruisers in sight.
As we mentioned in another recent post, checking in to Costa Rica was a breeze, thanks to the great info we received from friends who arrived before us onboard Anila. But before we made it to shore, our inflatable dinghy (which we’ve repaired many times before) sprung multiple leaks just after re-inflating. Furthermore, our outboard, which has been plagued with carburetor problems since Puerto Vallarta also gave up just as we turned back to Rua Hatu. Luckily, we rowed safely back and decided to wait another night at anchor before taking the SUP to shore the following morning to complete the check in paperwork. The hunt for a new tender begins!
Our first impression of Costa Rica, from our short stay in Playas del Coco: Lush! Though Chiapas gave us a taste of the humid, tropical climate of Central America, Costa Rica is green, warm and wet unlike anything we’ve experienced before. The people and places we’ve seen so far are uniquely welcoming and relaxed, and we look forward to more adventures along the Costa Rican coastline. Pura Vida!