There’s not a whole lot to say about June. We spent the first half of the month wearing a little groove into Boca Chica – figuring out our basic systems like: where and how do we fill our water tanks if there isn’t a sufficient amount of rain? where should we throw our trash away? where can we snag an occasional shower? what’s the best way to get to shore if the tides are not in our favor? what’s the best way to fill our propane and reprovision? what are we going to do here with all this time? Lots of little logistics to sort out. Fortunately, we have found a community of very generous people here who have helped us find some manageable solutions to these nagging logistics.
The highlight of June was our quick trip out to Isla Gamez to romp around and see our friends at Isla Parida as well as a body surfing, beer drinking, shell collecting session over at Playa Grande. The lowlight of June was going to Costa Rica (to renew my visa and to put Jeff on a plane) and getting our stuff stolen while we swam (rookie mistake!).
Jeff wrapped up June with a quick trip back home to see family and play on a very different coastline with threateningly cold water. I held down the fort in Boca Chica cleaning every nook and cranny on our boat and making some less than pleasant discoveries in the bug department (I’ll spare you the details). As I write this we are enjoying a clean(er) boat and I’m going to conclude that the bug problem is under control (?!?). While Jeff was away I worked with a supremely awesome American/Canadian couple and a local hotel owner to start an English after school program at the local elementary school. These kids are ridiculously adorable and fun and they give us a great excuse to get off the boat.
Here’s the quick recap in numbers:
20 … miles traveled by boat
533 … miles traveled by bus (between the two of us)
0 … nights at sea
28 … nights at anchor
0 … nights at a marina
0 … nights on a mooring
2 … nights at a hostel
$1,446 … total June expenses
4 … times our dinghy has sunk since we left home (once at Shelter Cove, CA, once in Panama City, Panama twice in Boca Chica, Panama)
6:00am … time at which the sportsfishermen start zooming past our boat kicking up monster waves (we think it was one of these monster waves that swamped our dinghy – thanks @#$holes)
5 … regular volunteers who have been the net controllers for the Pan Pacific HAM Radio Net (Ben on Gweneviere One (sp?), Debi on SV Serenity, Chuck on SV Jacaranda, Kate on SV Magda Jean and me)
3 … net controllers we’ve met (we have not yet met Kate, though I adore her on the radio and I’m sure I would also adore her in real life)
31 … years that Chuck has owned and sailed SV Jacaranda (dang! that’s a lot of years)
6 … years that we have owned and sailed Serenity
3 … nights spent out at Isla Gamez
2 … big beautiful lobsters gifted to us from our friends on Isla Parida
12 … brothers and sisters in our friend Carlos’s family (from Parida)
3 … of Carlos’ brothers we met out at Parida (over a plate of patacones while watching some protracted World Cup commentary on TV and wating for a storm to pass)
250 … approximate number of days since Tack has set foot on dry land
$60.00 … cost for a vet to do a check-up on Tack, give him his three vaccinations (to make him travel ready), and give us ear drops to alleviate an ear infection he has
200 … small birds that swarmed the bow of our boat one night (originally I thought they were bats)
8 … birds that Tack killed that night before I figured out what was happening and locked him inside (see pics above)
360 … days allowed for our boat import permit in Panama
180 … days allowed on a tourist visa in Panama
72 … hours you’re apparently supposed to stay out of Panama to renew your visa
52 … hours Harmony stayed out of Panama (and she was granted a new visa)
12 … hours it took us to go from Boca Chica, Panama to Uvita, Costa Rica by bus
5 … buses we had to catch to get from Boca Chica, Panama to Uvita, Costa Rica
2 … times in my adult life that I have had anything stolen (my wallet in Seattle and my camera in Costa Rica)
10 … minutes we left our stuff unattended at the beach in Costa Rica (rookie mistake!)
$440.00 … the cost of my camera
$700.00 … average monthly salary in Costa Rica (so in 10 minutes, someone made half of a month’s salary…pretty crazy stuff)
16,720 … number of pictures I have snapped in the last 1.5 years
15 … pictures I lost (thankfully I’m anal about removing pictures from my SD card)
35,000 … reward miles to fly from San Jose, Costa Rica to Portland, OR for a quick visit home
12,166 … reward miles that Harmony has left on United (our stash of frequent flier miles has been almost entirely cleaned out)
205,000 … miles on a 1997 Toyota Tacoma that we came this close to purchasing for a quicker, drier return trip home – we met the awesome owners (Kathi and Josh) in Uvita who have been birding throughout Mexico and Central America and will continue their trip in South America in a bigger rig – you can follow their adventures at: Birds of Passage
32 … years that Jeff has been alive on planet earth! Happy Birthday Jeff!
$0 … the cost to exit/enter Panama by bus
$500.00 … the amount of money Panama wants you to have on your person to enter the country
$0 … the cost to enter Costa Rica by foot/bus/plane/boat
$7 … the cost to exit Costa Rica by foot/bus
$29.00 … the cost to exit Costa Rica by plane
$25.00 … the cost to exit Costa Rica by boat
7:00pm … time the last bus leaves David for Horconcitos (which is en route to Boca Chica)
5:00pm … time the last bus leaves Horconcitos for Boca Chica
8:15pm … time I arrived in Horconcitos, without a ride already lined up to take me to Boca Chica
$12.00 … cost of a taxi from Horconcitos to Boca Chica (better than being stranded in Horconcitos for the night!)