Passage notes: Playas del Coco to Bahia Guacamaya, Costa Rica

Log Book

• Port of departure: Playas del Coco, Costa Rica
• Departure date and time: Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 10:15am
• Port of arrival: Bahia Guacamaya, Costa Rica
• Arrival date and time: Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 1:30pm
• Total travel time: 2 hours and 15 minutes
• Miles traveled: 8.6 nm
• Engine hours: 1163.5 begin – 1164.0 end – 0.5 hours
• Fuel consumption: 45.9 begin – 45.7 end – 0.2 gallons used
• Fuel economy: 43 mpg
• Weather: The forecast predicted wind from the NE from 4-7 knots with mild Papagayos off of the coast of Nicaragua.
• Navigation notes: Our charts were not correct for this area and there are lots of nearshore hazards to watch out for (reefs and rocks). Reefs extend off of the NW point at the entrance to Bahia Guacamaya and should be given lots of room.

We were both pretty eager to get out of Playas del Coco. Each day had been filled with dinghy woes (our 2.2hp outboard has been acting up), lots of errands (checking into the country, provisioning, filling the water tanks via jerry jugs, cleaning our cabin, acquiring and troubleshooting an internet dongle so we can have internet on the boat, searching out spark plugs to hopefully fix the outboard, catching up on internet stuff), which didn’t leave a lot of time for fun (though we did take advantage of good happy hour deals and enjoyed having someone else cook for us on a few occasions). Playas del Coco is a pretty pricey tourist town (some things are more expensive than back home), and we were looking forward to being in a place where there weren’t so many opportunities to spend money.

Enter Bahia Guacamaya. Bahia Guacamaya, only about 8.5 miles down the coast, promised a bit more seclusion along with good snorkeling.

At about 10am we felt a couple puffs from the W/NW and decided to try our luck at sailing. The breeze was light, between 3-6 knots and barely able to keep our main and genoa full. Furthermore, the wind was on our nose keeping us penned in to the bay. We tacked out (slowly, slowly) and then tacked back to give us enough clearance on a reef and to give us a better angle on Punta Gorda.

We were barely moving, making 1.2 – 1.5 knots (if we were lucky), and the wind was slowly edging us away from our ideal angle. Jeff decided to hop in for a quick rinse off and upon trying to climb back onto the boat via the dinghy, inadvertently filled the dinghy with water. We were both pleased to see that, even as a bathtub, Miss Nomer still floats. Jeff was not pleased at the prospect of bailing that much water out of the dinghy. Our speed dropped below a knot as Serenity pulled the swollen dinghy along along with Jeff who was busy bailing.

When we cleared the reef we started to feel the wind pick up from the NW and saw a wind line approaching. Within 15 minutes we were sailing along at 5-6 knots in 12-15 knots of wind from the NW (more or less on our side). Neither one of us were expecting such an awesome day sail. As we neared the bay, we changed our course with the wind now at our back.

At the entrance to Bahia Guacamaya, we jibed to get a better angle on the anchorage and doused our sails once we got close enough. The wind had picked up to 20 knots at this point. Under motor we scouted the NE portion of the bay, which offered the most protection from the wind and waves and anchored in about 18-20 feet of water. We could see the wind whipping up some frothy seas, but we were shielded from both the wind and the waves in this great little spot.

Our charts showed us that we had anchored on land…which I can confirm from first hand experience was not the case. When we were anchoring, Jeff asked “What does the chart say?” To which I responded, “You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”

Bahia Guacamaya was a perfect stopover. Couldn’t have asked for a better little bay.