Central America « Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Back on the boat

by steve, on March 22nd, 2010 (Costa Rica)

The drive from Arenal to the airport took about three hours. Fortunately we were not stuck behind any slow moving traffic on the narrow roads but we did have to wait for a truck having problems on the road for about 5 mins and for about an hour we had really thick fog. At the airport we quickly checked the flight and departure was on time. We had three hours so we popped to a nearby restaurant for drinks and lunch. Helen, John and I had only a small appetizer as we were due to meet Jason for another lunch later. Ben and Jess were facing current day airline food so needed feeding.

After dropping them off we headed off to meet Helen’s ex-colleague Jason outside a huge supermarket called Hipermass. We had 3/4 hour to spare so we shopped meeting Jason at the end where he helped us at the check out.

We followed Jason to his home which was right next to the school where he currently teaches. We stayed there a while before going out for an excellent rotisserie chicken meal at a nearby local establishment. Our thanks to Jason for this meal.

We were soon on the road back to Puntarenas along a newly built highway/road. It took much less time than we expected and were aboard before dusk. We’d left the freezer on while away and had no idea how the electrics had stood. We must have had plenty of sunshine and wind while we were away as we found the batteries topped up which was pleasing.

We loaded all our shopping aboard and set about settling in. John’s PC and Helen’s eReader had both run into problems while we were on the road. John was able to fix his PC with his repair disk. I earned a few brownie points by fixing the buttons on Helen’s eReader.

Today we have lots to do. We need to check out everything on the boat to make sure there are no impending issues. The dinghy needs to be prepared for ocean travel. I need to drive 20km south to Caldera to check out of the country. We need to do some final shopping. We had hoped to leave tomorrow but high tide is at 8am leaving us little time for contingency. We are expecting a replacement sump pump to be delivered tomorrow. Right now it’s in the capital and could possibly arrive today which would allow us to possibly leave tomorrow. It’s looking more like Wednesday now. When we do leave we want to stop somewhere nearby to check / clean the hulls one more time before setting off for the Galapagos. The current wind forecasts suggest a very slow ride but that won’t stop us. Reports from other boats suggest winds a little stronger than we see on our downloads so we’ll see when we’re out there.

Arenal

by steve, on March 21st, 2010 (Costa Rica, Zombie Coffee)

We managed to pack and be off from our accommodation around 8am. The road out of St Helena was again all dirt track but fortunately we didn’t get stuck behind any slow moving vehicles. We eventually stopped for an enjoyable brunch at the German Bakery in Neuvo Arenal.

Reaching our accommodation in El Castillo we a short drive on from brunch. We had chosen to stay at Essence Arenal which is an incredibly well located (for mountain viewing) hostel. Unfortunately we could not see the volcano due to the clouds and mist covering it. We were welcomed by Kelly who runs the place who gave us some advice on where to go nearby while our rooms were being prepared.

We headed off to the nearby Arenal Observatory Lodge where we had a short hike to see a waterfall. The weather was not being cooperative as the steady drizzle meant we all got a little damp and certainly no chances of seeing the volcano which we’d come to Arenal to see.

By popular vote we decided to skip the hot springs and head back to the hostel to rest the afternoon. Helen and I, then later Jess and Ben, took a stroll on the hostels properties, walking trail. This entailed a steep descent into the secondary rainforest surrounding a couple of streams. The descent implied a muddy ascent on the other side which for us was rewarded by spotting some large birds exhibiting some interesting mating behaviour.

For dinner we drove back down the hill and along the lake to Jardin Escondido (aka Pizza John’s). We were warned that if we ate there we may not return until 11pm. The place was quite small and friendly tucked away in the ‘jungle’ 40m from the road. John’s hospitality was simply awesome plying us with free rum shots and bags of his own brand Zombie Coffee as well as serving excellent pizza and home made ice cream. The weather was showing no signs of allowing us a sight of the volcano. While we were disappointed by this, our time at Pizza John’s more than made up for this. For our last evening together things couldn’t have been much better.

This morning we’re all gradually waking up. We’ve had glimpses of the volcano but not the top. We’ll have breakfast soon then head off for San Jose and the international airport to see Ben and Jess off. We’ll meet up again with Helen’s friend Jason before heading back to Puntarenas this evening, picking up provisions along the way.

Monteverde Activities

by steve, on March 19th, 2010 (Costa Rica, Video)

I’m getting a sense that if it were put to the vote, the majority may go in favour of saying we did a lot yesterday – some would say, perhaps, too much.

While our first pickup wasn’t until 10:30, no one really had a decent lie in as the latest we could have breakfast was 7:30am. As we were all up we popped into town in the morning to pick up drinks for later.

At 10:30 we were picked up and taken the Extremo Canopy Tour to participate in one of around five different zip line activities in the area. The activity comprised 14 lines, a rappel from a tall tree and a ‘tarzan swing’ which began more as a freefall than a swing.

Of the 14 zip lines, 4 of them cross the valley giving runs up to half a mile in length. 12 of the runs we took solo but a couple we had to take in pairs. The last of the 4 runs, and in fact the last run of all, was called the superman run where we were suspended horizontally and zipped hundreds of feet above the valley at around 50mph. All very exhilarating.

After lunch we were taken in a mini bus for our waterfall rappelling activity.

Helen bowed out of this one but the rest of us geared up to rappel down 6 separate waterfalls. Most of them were quite small but the 4^th was well over 100ft high. It turned out to be quite exhausting but a lot of fun. There was a sneaky trick on the last waterfall as the rope was just a little too short causing us all to fall in the cold mountain water. The following video shows us all descending the 4^th waterfall and a demonstration by one of the helpers.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2DHfC4Cjag[/youtube]

Having been dropped off back at our cabins we had about 90 mins for our final activity of the day – our night hike. This turned out to be a guided tour through some woods. Jess’s disposition was not helped when the second creature we were shown was a tarantula. We did see a variety of creatures though from leaf cutter ants through to a sloth in a tree.

We were all quite exhausted by the day’s activities and all were asleep shortly after wolfing down pizza.

This morning had an earlier start. We had been advised to get to the Monteverde Reservation at 7am to avoid the lines at the ticket office. This meant breakfast at 6am. We arrived in good time and soon met our guide. Unfortunately, the other four people assigned to our guide arrived much later causing us to wait nearly an hour for the start of our tour.

Being in the clouds, we were subject to mist and rain for our entire tour. Few animals were out but we did get to see a number of rare and interesting birds. Our guide, Eric, was excellent as he told us all about the plants and animals in the cloud forest and all the various natural remedies they were used for. He also had a good sense of humour. For example, when Helen asked if one particular fruit was edible he replied “only if you want to howl like a howler monkey.” We thought it was funny.

This evening we were up for our sunset horse riding trip. John, Helen and Jess all bowed out of this one leaving just Ben and myself going in this one.

We had a really good time. The ride was for two hours. For the most part we followed winding trails through woods and fields. Despite being novices we were allowed at times to pick up the pace over and above just walking everywhere. Noone else joined us on this trek so with the two helpers we made a party of four. It seemed my horse was used to being behind Ben’s horse as every time I tried to pass Ben’s horse took it on itself to block the way. If I left my horse alone it would follow on behind Ben’s. This kept us entertained for some time.

The highlight for us was ending up in a sort of field where we were allowed to gallop the horses up the field three times. The slight downside was at the end of the third run when I fell off the horse. Not quite sure what happened but the saddle ended up being on sideways and I had to pick the best place to take a dive / roll. I ended up with nothing more than a few scratches and found the episode quite funny although it could have been more serious.

The ride ended up at sunset when we saw the sun set off to the right of the Golfo de Nicoya – a spectacular sight.

My body now aches a little too much so it’s off for a hot bath and cold beer.

Monteverde

by steve, on March 18th, 2010 (Costa Rica)

We did a good job getting off the boat, over the river in the panga and into the car by 6:30 in the morning. The drive to Monteverde was simple enough although the last 10 miles were along a dirt road. This was fine until we came up behind a truck with no intentions to let us pass by. Nevertheless we were in the town of Monteverde by around 8:30.

It was delightful to be up in cool fresh air away from the heat and humidity of Puntarenas. The town was quaint and obviously aimed at local area tourism with plenty of restaurant, concessions, bars and hostels. We sat down and ate our packed sandwiches before having a little wander around. On the main street was a lovely looking restaurant built up around a tree. It looked a little pricey but they had ribs on the menu and other attractive fare.

We decided to check out our accommodation, Cabinas Capulin, a short way out of town. As expected the place wasn’t ready yet but we were able to speak to one of the English speaking brothers about local attractions. We decided to drive further up the ‘road’ to Selvatura where we took their canopy hike which included 8 suspension bridges.

This was a great experience. We were immersed in the sounds of the rain forest which was incredibly peaceful. The bridges took us through and over the forest canopy. The variety of scenery and foliage was quite stunning.

After the walk we visited their reptile and amphibian house. This was interesting although we saw little more than one would see in a reptile house in a decent zoo. We therefore considered it a little pricey for what we got.

After this we drove back to our cabins to find it was all ready. The ‘casa’ we have looked a little boxey on the outside but inside it is very nice. The inside is all wood. We have four bedrooms including two doubles so we have plenty of room. Outside the views are pleasant. From the upstairs we can see all the way to the Pacific Ocean or at least the Golfo de Nicoya.

In the afternoon we went back into town to have a look around. We separated by generation but as it seems to happen with us we bumped into each other in the same bar. The kids had stopped by for a beer and we were just looking in. We ended up having a long conversation with the owner ‘Ran’ who gave us some very good feedback on the local attractions. He also told us what he thought the best accommodation was in Arenal which turns out to be the same place as we’ve already booked: Essence Arenal. That was reassuring.

We split up again to do our various things. Helen and I booked all the attractions we’re interested in for the time we’re here.

We again bumped into each other in the main street so we visited the supermarket together before heading back to the cabin for a rest. We had one little piece of unplanned excitement when we spotted a scorpion near Ben’s head. While it was probably harmless I don’t think Jess was too impressed.

In the evening we walked into town to eat at the Treetop restaurant. While very nice in appearance it turned out to have mediocre food and was pricier than first thought. I wouldn’t recommend it. We followed this by returning to the bar we’d met up in earlier as they were celebrating St Patrick’s Day there. The festivities hadn’t yet started so we chatted for a while outside around a fire and a beer each. Helen and I left the younger ones there and took a taxi back to the cabin.

Today we have a lot planned although all of it after a bit of a lie in. We’re going on a zip line adventure followed by the option of rappelling down some waterfalls. We’ll have an hour back at the cabin before going out on an evening/night hike. The only flaw is the latest we can have breakfast here is 7:30am which messes up the lie in.

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Puntarenas

by steve, on March 17th, 2010 (Costa Rica)

The day started with some underwater searching. A small piece of metal had fallen off one of the saucepans while Helen had been washing it around dawn. We’d sunk a large bottle shortly after thinking that it would make a good marker. John, Ben and I all searched for both the bottle and/or metal band but the only things found were a clothes peg and something unmentionable.

We had around 10 knots of wind for our trip to Puntarenas but guess what, it was on the nose again. We could have tacked our way but that would have taken a lot longer and time is precious with the family here on limited time.

We again had lines out to see if we could catch something. Closing in on Puntarenas we came upon a patch of sea with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of birds either sitting in the water or circling above. There was a lot of fish activity which in turn was attracting the birds. I circled Dignity through and around a few concentrations of activity and we picked up a fish on one of the lines. Sadly, it got away as Ben was hauling it in. It did look like a Spanish Mackeral from the distance.

Arriving at the west end of Puntarnas just past the ferry dock we contacted the Costa Rica Yacht Club who advised us to wait til 12:30 when the tide would be higher and a panga would come to show us in. We had lunch while waiting and around 1:15 the panga came. As we progressed further up the estuary the heat and humidity rose higher and higher. We had been expecting a mooring ball but were given a dock on the far side of the river from the club. We weren’t quite ready to make the dock the first time as we had to change our lines quickly. The current was nearly two knots so I had to turn and swing in again so we could tie up.

The kids had to get off the boat quickly as we were all pouring with sweat. They called the panga over and headed off while Helen and I got on with finalizing our plans for the next few days and some boat chores. We both eventually went ashore too. After exploring the club for a short while we went out on the road and started walking towards town.

We saw the kids board a bus in the distance and decided to do the same. It gave them a surprise in town when we appeared right in front of them crossing the road. We wandered around town for a while checking out supermarkets for our later provisioning before returning by bus to the yacht club.

We all returned to the boat for our shower gear and headed back to the club. The kids used the pool and showers while I sorted out the rental car which had just arrived. Helen arrived later on. We had a beer by the pool before going to the club house for dinner.

We’ll be off soon. We’ve rearranged our itinerary a little. We’ll drive to Monteverde and stay there for three days before heading off for one night at Arenel. We’re all looking forward to this not least for the coolness of the mountains.

Incidentally, this is the furthest north we will be for years. Also, look back at the last couple of blog entries for new pictures.

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