November was a month of high highs and low lows. Convinced that rainy season was over, we said goodbye to the many friends we made in Bahia del Sol and set sail for Northern Costa Rica, stopping in the Gulf of Fonseca along the way to explore beautiful Isla Meanguera – a definite highlight. Although the Papagayo winds were blowing across Nicaragua, they were not overpowering, which made for a fast and pleasant passage to Bahia Santa Elena. Bahia Santa Elena is the type of anchorage cruiser’s dream about. Well protected, beautiful clear water, hiking trails nearby, waterfalls, wildlife – it was the perfect welcome to Costa Rica and in hindsight we should have stayed longer to soak it all in.
Things started to fall apart (literally and metaphorically) when we reached Playas del Coco. Our outboard motor quit working making for long trips back and forth from land, everything in Playas del Coco was extremely expensive (compared to both El Salvador and Mexico), we were surrounded by developers thirsting for wealthy vacationers and retirees (not frugal cruisers), we felt that we were barely keeping up with all the dirty, rusted, broken things and we started to question everything: how we spent our time, money, energy; our travel philosophies; our plans, or lack there of. We were both homesick, a sentiment that comes and goes with some regularity and is always heightened during the holiday season. Fortunately any lows we experienced were offset by beautiful anchorages, hiking, snorkeling, surfing, wandering around and being in the company of extraordinarily friendly people.
Here’s the recap in numbers!
363.7 … miles travelled
10.3 … gallons of gasoline used
35.3 … mpg, fuel economy for November
30 … nights on the hook
0 … nights at a marina
0 … nights on a mooring ball
40 … dollars, the cost for clearing out of El Salvador
0 … dollars, the cost for clearing into Costa Rica
45 …. knots, speed of the wind from a squall encountered off the coast of Nicaragua
35 … knots, max speed of the wind generated by the much dreaded Papagayos off the coast of Nicaragua
500 … number of Costa Rican colones equal to $1 US dollar (move the decimal place three to the left and multiply by 2)
3 … number of bank withdrawals it took for us to figure out the exchange rate in Costa Rica (it takes some getting used to pulling 100,000+ colones out of the bank)
6000 … colones ($12 US dollars), the amount pulled out of our bank account on the first attempt
60000 … colones ($120 US dollars), the amount pulled out of our bank account on the second attempt
200000 … colones ($400 US dollars), the amount pulled out of our bank account on the third attempt
1500 … colones ($3 US dollars), the average cost for a bottle of national beer at a restaurant or bar in Costa Rica (think Budweiser – would you pay $3 for a bottle of Bud?)
3 …. microbrews enjoyed in Costa Rica (nom nom nom) – you don’t want to know how much the microbrews cost
4 … amazing fresh fruit smoothies enjoyed at Hotel Joya del Golfo at Isla Meanguera (thanks Isaac!) – smoothies and icecream are a necessity in this heat
10 … beautiful rainbows seen (a rainbow in every port!)
2 … octopuses Harmony saw while snorkeling at Bahia Guacamaya
1 … sea snake seen while underway, sidling its way through the water
0 … cockroaches spotted on Serenity (Hallelujah!)
4 … number of ticks that latched on to Harmony while tromping around the jungle (they weren’t as attracted to Jeff)
5 … major systems that had problems and needed mending (including our inboard motor, outboard motor, autopilot, sails and prop shaft)
3 … number of times Jeff had the Doctor on the operating table
10 … surf landings successfully completed with only minimal damage to our psyche (a surf landing is where you have to surf waves in your dinghy to get to shore…if you accidentally turn sideways, well then you’re kind of hosed)
10 … the number of surf landings landed with only oars since our outboard motor kept dying
2 … spark plugs purchased in hopes that they would make our outboard motor fully functional again
12 … the collective number of times Jeff and I stood up on our surfboards and rode a wave all the way to shore in Tamarindo (not too shabby for our first time ever)
4 … other cruising boats encountered since we left El Salvador (small community out here)