Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Getting up Saturday morning was not a hurried affair. We were due to meet Jason at 9am so we went about our own things for a while. Around 8:30am we went ashore. The tide was right out so the rocky bank we had previously chained the dinghy too offered no opportunities for a repeat. I was left guarding the dinghy while Helen shopped for bread, fruit and veg.

Jason came by in his car while Helen was away. He went off to park the car and returned at the same time as Helen. We were soon back aboard Dignity. I did one last email check before heading off during which I received an email tsunami alert as a result of the 8.8 mag earthquake down in Chile. The alert contained a list of seaports in Central and South America with, ironically, Quepos being top of the list. It predicted a 24cm wave first arriving at 8:16am in the morning. Looking back we had felt some sloshiness in the ever present swell around that time but had thought nothing of it. That all being said, the lat/long given for Quepos in the email was somewhere slightly inshore of the coast of Gabon, Africa so I wonder how accurate it all was.

Soon we were off round the corner to Manuel Antonio Park where we anchored. We first went snorkeling, the first time for Jason. After a late lunch and a rest we went dinghied ashore. We were met by a park keeper who refused us ashore without a ticket. I had thought, perhaps, we could buy one on the beach but no luck there. We had to dinghy out again through the surf getting drenched. We headed over to the public beach and Jason and I went off and bought tickets to enter, even though we had only about an hour left.

Another drenching as we left the beach and we were back off to the park where we again landed. The park keeper again met us, looked at our tickets and demanded to see our zarpe – clearance papers. We now had less than an hour left so we complained that there would be no time to go back to the boat and get it. He let us off but made it quite apparent we had to be off by four.

We spent the time walking some of the park trails. We saw a lot of white faced monkeys, many of which were down by the beaches. They seemed to be waiting for the public to leave so they could pick on the scraps left behind. Some were lounging quite contentedly on branches with their limbs hanging down. It seemed as if they were posing. On our walk we saw a number of other animals which all seemed quite tame and tolerated our coming reasonably near.

We finished our walk without arriving too late. The park keeper was nowhere to be seen but we didn’t know if he would return to menace us so we made our third trip through the surf of the day back to Dignity.

We spent the evening nervously watching a terrific show of lightening all around us. Knowing what had happened to Callisto we were hoping to be spared.

Today we’ll have breakfast together either here or in Quepos, not sure where. Jason is going to help us cart our dive tanks around town so we can get them filled. At the same time we can get our gerry cans filled with gas/petrol and do a little shopping. This afternoon John should be returning with Ella. We’ll return to the park tomorrow and use Tuesday for a fuller exploration.

The motor up to Quepos was uneventful. We caught a fish along the way but that’s hardly news these days. We are, however, looking forward to Ben’s visit in two weeks as a couple of the items he is bringing are books to help us identify the fish we’re catching and which ones are good to eat.

Hoping to find an anchorage sheltered from the swells we were soon disappointed. There was one other boat here. We were soon greeted by the owner, Mike, who was on his way to pick up his wife and guest from the shore. Turned out he had been close to a lightening strike a few days earlier and was now immobilized due to his engine electronics being fried. When he returned with Anne, his wife, and Joanne, their friend, we invited them aboard to learn more about the area. Before we left for town we agreed to meet later in the day for tea and to have a look at his GPS which was also causing problems.

In town John booked his following day bus to San Jose so he could pick up Ella, his girlfriend. We ate lunch and bought a few bits and pieces in a supermarket before leaving John ashore so he could explore.

Helen and I went back to the boat through the increasing chop. Later I picked up John before Helen and I went over to Callisto for afternoon tea. I was able to help Mike out diagnosing which specific piece of equipment had developed a fault as a result of the lightening strike.

Today John has left on the bus. Helen is cleaning the boat and I am wrestling with the internet. I’ve given up trying to do anything productive from the boat and am now sitting in a cafe in Quepos to get things done. I’ve managed to upload pics since Golfito. Enjoy.