Passage notes: Bahia Ballena to Playa Curu via Islas Tortugas, Costa Rica

Log Book

• Port of departure: Bahia Ballena, Costa Rica
• Departure date and time: Friday, December 6, 2013 at 7:00am
• Port of arrival: Playa Curu, Costa Rica (via Islas Tortugas)
• Arrival date and time: Friday, December 6, 2013 at 2:30pm
• Total travel time: 7.5 hours (4.3 hours in transit)
• Miles traveled: 12 nm
• Engine hours: 1170.4 begin – 1173.7 end – 3.3 hours
• Fuel consumption: 43.1 begin – 41.8 end – 1.3 gallons used
• Fuel economy: 9 mpg
• Tides and currents: We left in the middle of an ebb tide and had the current working against us as we made our way to Islas Tortugas. We arrived at Islas Tortugas at low tide and made our way to Bahia Curu against a flood tide.
• Weather: The forecast predicted N winds from 1-4 knots in the morning switching to SW winds from 3-6 knots in the afternoon. No rain predicted and no appreciable drops in pressure.

Our first buddy boating experience and it was GLORIOUS! I love Jeff and I know he loves me, but we have plumbed the depths of each other’s boringness and it’s nice to have an infusion of external energy, a social shake-up, from time to time. On Thursday we were pulling our dinghy to shore when we saw SV Vagabundo enter the bay, looking for a spot to drop anchor. We were so excited to see other cruisers that we promptly went to the mini market, bought a pint of icecream, excavated he spoon that we had purchased the day prior (to eat icecream) from Jeff’s man purse, plopped down at a bench on the beach and, while eating said icecream, watched them drop anchor all the while hoping that they might immediately come to shore so we could hang out. Can you tell we’re a little friend deprived? After the pint of icecream was secured in our bellies (and lacking any clear sign that Vagabundo was coming to shore) we decided that waiting around was a tad bit sad silly and we resolved to just drop by on our way back to Serenity after a (what would turn out to be unsuccessful and frustrating) propane run to Cobano. Phew, lots of run-on sentences.

After a fortunate run-in with the crew of Vagabundo at a restaurant in Tambor that evening we decided a game of Scrabble was in order (accompanied by tacos, beer and rum). We finished the beer and a bottle of rum and Jeff, putting his English degree to good use, schooled us all with the word yawp on a double word tile. Yawp! The game lasted until 2am and somehow we all decided that come 7am we would haul anchor and caravan over to Islas Tortugas. Jeff was all about it, getting up at 6am and washing dishes so that we could be ready to go when Vagabundo hailed us on the radio (Who is this man? And what did he do with my husband?). I was a bit more…how shall I put it…hung over.

We made coffee en route to Islas Tortugas to help revive us and Jeff opened up the doctor to observe his innards, which were producing a foreign sounding “bleeeeeep” followed by unintelligible gibberish on his screen. As always (because he is a magician), Jeff was able to put the doctor more or less back together so that he could lend a hand on this short and uneventful passage.

SV Vagabundo, which has a 40 hp diesel (in comparison to our 14 hp diesel) beat us to the anchorage under motor (no wind), though we weren’t toooo far behind. After a lunch of tuna fish sandwiches we hopped in the dinghy and rowed over to the islands on the NE side of the bay, away from the throngs of tourists bobbing along on neon noodles.

The snorkeling was great as long as you could look past all of the floating garbage that obscured the view. Plastic bags swimming about mimicking jelly fish, straws tapping me incessantly on the thigh, plastic bottles ramming me on the head. I was so distracted by the trash that I started collecting it and stuffing it down my swimsuit to bring back to the dinghy. There was one piece of garbage, a thick square piece of bright orange plastic, that I let float away after discovering it provided (quite effective) camouflage for a bright orange fish whose shape allowed it to fit perfectly in the hollow area. I looked intently at the fish, debating whether or not to remove the debris, and his watery eyes implored me to let his precious hiding place remain intact. I acquiesced.

With a nice breeze blowing out of the SW we all decided to head over to Playa Curu (a nature reserve) for a sunset hike. We raised the anchor under sail, sailed at about 3.5 knots over to Curu and set the anchor without running the motor (a welcome change from the motor heavy morning). The evening hike was followed by a delicious stir fry dinner aboard SV Vagabundo. Unfortunately, they were heading north up into Puntarenas and we were headed south to Manuel Antonio. So for now, we’ll continue on by ourselves in hopes that another buddy boat will materialize on our trip south (we have not seen many other cruisers here in Costa Rica).