Costa Rica has a much more beautiful coastline so far. It is more rugged and lots of reefs. More of a lush vegetation. We stayed an extra day in Bahia Tamarindo. Our friends from s/v Wanderlust arrived on Thursday and drop anchor close by. We were both heading out the next day, Wanderlust to Bahia Samara and us to Bahia Carrillo, which is the next bay.
We left Friday morning 4 March under light winds, but soon it was gusting 25 to 28 knots. We had the staysail up and 2 reefs in the main, doing good speed. By midday the offshore wind changed to onshore and we had a beautiful beam reach sail for most of the way in moderate winds.
We drop anchor around 5 pm in a very beautiful bay. It was rolly during the night, but not enough to cause sleeplessness. We got up early Saturday morning 5 March for our overnight sail to Isla Del Cano, 110 nm south east. We had little wind but towards Cabo Blanco the wind picked up and we had good sailing for 3 hours although it was on the nose and we had to tack back and forth just to make headway. After we pass Cabo Blanco the wind direction changed in our favour and we were on a close haul all the way. The wind drop towards evening and we motorsail.
Isla Del Cano is a small Biological Reserve. It used to be an ancient cemetery. Archeologists have uncovered pottery, carved stone artifacts and highly precise stone spheres typical of the Diquis. These artifacts date back to 200 to 800 BC. Most of the archeology artifacts were destroy by an American businessman that wanted to make the island a casino. The Costa Rican government interfered in time and stopped the project and declare the island a biological reserve.
This island is famous for divers. It has clear water, tropical fish and non-aggressive reef sharks. The visibility can range from 50' to 100' or more. This island has Costa Rica's largest coral building organisms in the Pacific.
This morning we went for a hike on the island sightseeing and also to see the small archeological site. The forest is just beautiful, the trees must be thousand of years old. Very tropical with lots of ferns and plants. The leaves from the trees and plants are very thick under foot and the trees roots are all over, making walking quite difficult. We heard lots of birds, but did not see any.
After our hike we went back to the boat, got something to eat and got our snorkel gear. We were hoping to see some sharks or manta rays but no luck. We did see lots of fish and it was great snorkeling between the reefs.
We would like to stay some more time here, but unfortunately we have to get to Golfito. We are leaving around 3 am tomorrow morning, Tuesday 8 March, as it would take us about 14 hours. We need to get ready for our trip to the north of Panama for a major provisioning, before we leave for Galapagos and Marqueses, hopefully by mid-March.
We will upload our photos of Costa Rica when we have internet again.
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