Golfito's Rain

After seeing SV White Falcon (Veronica and Andre) off at the fuel docks downtown, some friends and I filled up the dinghy (RDS dos mas tres... or whatever Randy has named it) with fuel, beer, sodas, water, gatorade and some snacks to find fish and failing that, a beach. Even out in the big bay, Golfo Dulce, the sun was tough on us without even a whisper of breeze to cool us. My umbrella, which is a must have piece of equipment in this town, served well as a parasol. We trolled with my Ugly Stick and a huge lure along big bay up towards Abraham's estate, where we entered a smaller bay with two fishing lodges (also Abraham's). About two hours later we did not catch a thing "Ni un zapato" (not even a shoe!). We spotted a little beach which turned out to be gravel. It appeared that there were a few towels or clothes spread out on part of the beach. Several palms lined the shore and a few little streams offered nice landings. My skipper however chose to land in the middle of the beach and swamped the dinghy increasing its weight three-fold. We tugged and pushed and pulled trying to haul it up the beach and out of the beach break. Suddenly, as if out of no where, I smallish and slight man with no teeth, offered to help. The old guy was surprisingly strong for his size and the dinghy was safe from the breaking waves. We offered him a beer and he invited us to chat in the shade. His name is Miguel, and he lives alone in a one room hut with a corregated tin roof, a nice breeze surrounded by a colourful garden and then jungle. He uses the streams for drinking, bathing and laundry, which was what we saw drying on the beach. The only access is by water taxi since his outboard engine recently died. He loves his paradise and relishes the solitude which we sensed. So after he toured us through his property, showed us various plans included a giant if not monsterous bamboo thicket, we launched "RDS dos mas tres", tossed him another Imperial and left him in his little piece of heaven. Mentioning this encounter to Sr. Abraham, he said, "Oh, that's Miguel, my neighbour". I guess he would be a neighbour since he's the only human within 10 miles of Abraham.

And today I was almost frightened by the noise and duration of the "aguacero"; rain storm. I walked to the panaderia, well almost ran, as I was racing the storm. By the time I bought my french bread and some sort of empanada made with a light pastry, the onslaught had already begun. Winds clattering the corrugated roofs and bearing the undersides of the you teak tree leaves. The Ticans hide under bus shelters, overhangs, the gas station, trees and store entrances .... and they wait and wait.... and wait. I tried this tactic with no success the torrential rains kept pounding down. Eventually I found a little red taxi to take me and my french bread to Fishhook Marina. The floor in the back seat had about 3 inches of water. I guess he had some holes in the floorboards. It was 600 colones for a distance of about 2 blocks but it was worth it as the rain continued for another 45 minutes.

Everyone speculated that such an early downpour (1 pm) bode well for a nice afternoon and evening. There have been showers all day and in fact, it's almost downright chilly.

Annie just dropped by to borrow more videos, a common pass time during such bad weather which is why she comes to me to increase her selection.

Hiking In Golfito

I finally found  nice hike/walk in the jungle.  It's actually a gravel road but it's steep and the rewards at the end are beautiful.  From Fishhook Marina and Lodge you continue on the main road away from Golfito passing a soccer (football) field on your left that has artificial turf.  Just after that you turn left on a gravel road beside a small stream.  Accross the stream is another soccer field.

Wear good shoes as the rain, moss, leaves and other tropical growth make the footing slippery at times.
Cathy and Dave from Andante met me at Fishhook at 6:30 am to start the 2 hour trek.  The relentless rain from last night made the air thick and hot like a quilt or a blanket.  Within minutes we were soaked in sweat and the sun was just up. Even the shade of the jungle did not offer relief from the smothering heat of the damp tropical heat.

Within 45 minutes we had peek-a-boo views of the little gulf and the mangroves at the end.  When we reached the look out, we could see the town  of Golfito and the Golfo Dulce.

We saw Toucans flying about but but the were too far off to really see them even with binoculars.  Just as we were starting our decent, one of them flew to the lower branches so we could see him.  He didn't even flutter a feather when a motorcycle passed along the bumpy road.  I managed to get several photos of him before he found a better roost.  I've heard that the locals eat Toucans. Impossible!  It has to be an urban myth.

Golfito, Costa Rica Take II

This blog site is not too user friendly, so excuse the set up and the order of the photos.  On April 23, 2010 we left the port of Panama City.  Randy was reluctant to set sail on a Friday but we went anyway. We calculated about 5 days to get to Bahia del Sol, El Salvador.  Olga, Randy's sister came down for this leg of our delivery of Lost Elvis back to Paradise Village, Mexico.  We also have a Columbian crew member, David Jose Jiminez Pereira. David and his dad have been working in Shelter Bay and in Panama City, on Lost Elvis (metal, varnish, wax and cleaning) for the last three months.  They are like family.  David begged us to take him to Mexico on our voyage. We told him that we could not pay him but we would fly him home at the end of the trip.  His father agreed and now we have a 25 year old going on 18 to look after.  He's a good kid and a hard worker.

Randy arrived in Panama on April 19 to find that the generator wouldn't hold any oil, and even worse, the ice maker was kaput. We needed a marina badly so we could get power and hopefully fix the generator.  Flamenco Marina, the only marina in Panama City, was full. Thankfully,our friend Taylor Housser was hauling out his boat, Bakatawn which freed up a slip for us to use for four days. 

We found a good mechanic who goes by the name of  "Fish".  He fixed the crank case for the generator.  It looked like new.  After he installed it we discovered that the generator pump was leaking and needed an complete overhaul. Fish found a "tailler" that could fix it on a priority basis, if we paid a bit of a bump.  After about $600 in labour, bribes, parts and other nonsense we were back on track... except the ice maker which is still on strike.

We left Panama for El Salvador well provisioned and mechanically sound or so we thought.  Right in the middle of the shipping lanes for the canal, Otto, our auto pilot decided to drive in circles.  Out come the manuals.  It turns out, our new flat screen TV, which is mounted about 12 inches away from the autopilot sensor, interferes with the compass of Otto.  So now when we are under way, the TV resides on our bed.  So much for watching movies on long crossings.

Panama to Isla Coiba was a beautiful sail.  Light winds, calm seas, blue skies. As we were reveiwing our fuel consumption (divide by 2.5, carry the one.... both of us are math phobics), we got slammed by what we thought was a Papagallo.  It turned out to be a tropical storm carrying winds at gale force.  It was tracking us or we were tracking it.  For over 20 hours we took 6-8 foot waves on our beam at 4 second intervals.  Our portholes and gunnels were underwater each time we were slammed. Two of our crew members were in their bunks for over 18 hours with no food or water due to sea sickness.  Randy and I finally decided to abandon our El Salvador plans and head for Golfito, Costa Rica so that the boat and crew could rest and recover.

We arrived at Fishhook Marina and Lodge at 9 am on Sunday morning; exhausted.  Lidia, the manager helped us check in.  She returned to advise that Jose David, our Columbian crew needed a visa and would have to be sent back to Panama to apply for one which they couldn't do because of road blocks.  I explained that the only reason we are in Costa Rica (beautiful but really expensive) is because David and Olga were severely sick.  They were dehydrated and had not eaten for 2 days.  Immigration finally acquiesced and has allowed Jose David to stay in Costa Rica but he is not allowed to leave the boat or the marina.  Of course, this is nonesense but on the other hand, you don't want to risk it in a foreign country.  It really irritates me because he is a good kid and as long as he lays low, I'm sure he could walk down the street or go have lunch at a little "soda" but they won't let him. 

Before Randy returned to work, we went to Zancudo fishing lodge throught the mangroves to have lunch and swim in their pool and the next day, to Abraham's house out in Golfo Dulce (where we saw wild Guacamayas eating almonds) followed by "pescado entero" at "Bar Restaurant Juan" accessible only by boat/dinghy. 

Randy left for work on April 30 after a failed attempt the day before (no airplanes due to weather).  Thank goodness for Skype. We can chat for free when Randy is in Kuwait, Hong Kong or Africa.
David and I are working on the boat; cleaning the bilge, the dinghy, the seat cushions and plastic glass.  David is also going to put another coat of varnish on the rub rails.

Two days ago I went to the duty free zone here in Golfito.  It's about a tenth of the size as the Zona Libre in Colon but it has some good deals on electronics, alcohol and Italian housewares.  The process is like a wild goose chase however.  It's best to use one of the "facilitators"; unofficial young men who will lead you through the paper work and help cart your purchases around for about $15.

I met a nice couple heading for Panama; Andres and Veronica.  He's German and she's Tica.  This afternoon we will eat local ceviche while I give them the low down on Panama. Using Stanley as their maritime agent to get them throught the Panama Canal will be my first pointer and purchasing Bahaus' Panama Cruising guide, the second.

Golfito seems a little cozier and slightly less gloomy than last year; a few more smiles, an occasional unprovoked "Buenas Tardes".  The general sadness that douses the town like it's tropical rains is as damp and dreary as the Golfito afternoons.  I believe that when the National Fruit Company pulled up stakes here in the 80's, some of the town's happiness clung and left with it.