Log Book
- Port of departure: Playa Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica
- Departure date and time: Thursday, December 12, 2013 at 7:30am
- Port of arrival: Bahia Drake, Costa Rica (via Bahia Uvita)
- Arrival date and time: Friday, December 13, 2013 at 12:00pm
- Total travel time: 1 day and 4.5 hours (28.5 hours, 24 hours in transit)
- Miles traveled: 72.4 nm
- Engine hours: 1177.5 begin – 1186.4 end – 8.9 hours
- Fuel consumption: 40.2 begin – 41.8 end – 3.6 gallons used
- Fuel economy: 37 mpg
- Tides and currents: Low tide was at about 4:30am and 4:30pm on Thursday and 5:30am on Friday. High tide was at around 11:30am on Friday as we approached Bahia Drake. No noticeable currents.
- Weather: The forecast predicted N/NW winds from 1-4 knots on Thursday morning switching to SW winds from 4-9 knots in the afternoon. On Friday morning the forecast predicted E winds from 1-3 knots in the morning with SW winds from 4-9 knots in the afternoon. 0.05 in/hr of rain was predicted each day with a 2 millibar drop in pressure each day.
Although we didn’t yet feel any wind, we decided to get an early start with the hopes of arriving in Bahia Uvita before nightfall. Once we cleared Punta Catedral, which protects Playa Manuel Antonio, we felt a slight 6-8 knots coming from the E/SE, which was wholly unexpected. More light and variable upwind sailing! Hooray!
It was a beautiful morning; grey, overcast, drizzly, cool. I’m not being sarcastic, it was lovely. A Pacific Northwest morning, albeit warmer. We were glad to have a bit of a reprieve from the sun, from which we are constantly seeking shelter. Rain during the day is much more welcome than rain at night.
After several visits to the operating table and an internal cleanse (read: factory reset), the doctor was ready to be retrained. Consequently we spent the first half hour turning around in slow circles to calibrate him to our compass and adjust his responsiveness so he would be a bit less squirrely on the tiller. We’re happy to report that he seems to have made a full recovery! Though we have some spares on the way, just in case. Gosh, I hope I didn’t totally jinx us.
For the first 2 hours we were able to sail by the East wind, albeit slowly (2-3 knots). When the wind died we turned the motor on, only to discover that we had a diesel leak. We’ve been having a few issues with diesel leaking from our fuel filter. The previous fixes involved JB welding the air bleed screw as well as another bolt whose threads had been stripped. The latest problem was a busted up hose, which Jeff fixed with silicone tape (McGiver tape, which I found at a Walmart in Chiapas) and zip ties. We’ll need a more permanent fix for the leaks, but we figure it should get us to Panama City.
With the diesel leak behind us and little to no wind (not even the daily thermals) we motored to Bahia Uvita and I worked on erasing my tan lines. Bahia Uvita is surrounded by impressive reefs and a very shallow (barely visible) sand island that is only accessibly by foot at low tide. We approached the bay at low tide, which made most of the reefs easily detectable as the waves smashed upon them. Anticipating a somewhat rolly anchorage we tucked in as far as we could, anchoring in about 13 feet of water.
After a swim, a sundowner and some dinner we got ready to settle in for the evening. The rolly-ness had been gradually escalating throughout dinner, leaving us both a bit on edge, fearing the worst. “At least it’s not as bad as…” I didn’t even finish my sentence before the boat was sent into a gravity defying roll that tossed us around the cabin.
Jeff roared with frustration “I can’t stand this.”
“Let’s just leave then…we can go through the night and get to Drake early tomorrow.”
This option was better than spending the night at an unbearably rolly anchorage, but still wasn’t good enough to engender excitement. “Okay, that’s fine.” It’s hard to pull up stakes when you’ve settled in for the evening.
I was awake and alert so I took the first shift at 9:30pm. We cleared the reefs under motor and raised sails in S wind. And of course, my shift would not be complete without a little bit of rain. The wind was steady at 10-12 knots, a great sailing wind even though it wasn’t at the ideal angle. I tacked out about 10 miles so that we could get a better angle on Drake Bay. When Jeff took over at 1:00am he turned us on a 140 degree heading into Drake Bay. The winds remained consistent and (aside from the rain) both of our first watches were pleasant.
On my second watch the wind completely died down (after intermittently blowing from many different directions) so I spent nearly all of my 3.5 hour shift waiting as the sails fell limp and we bobbed around in the swell. During the last 15 minutes of my shift a SE breeze between 6-10 knots picked up and we were once again making progress towards our destination.
During Jeff’s second shift the wind kept switching from the SE to the SW to the S and back again, making for a frustrating morning of backwinded jibs and constant sail adjustment. He motored for an hour when the wind sputtered out and then raised sails once again when wind blew from SW around the headland. At the end of the passage we cruised into Drake Bay making over 5 knots in about 12-15 knots of wind.
We sailed by a large four masted sailing cruise ship and a few passengers waved and took pictures of us (the scraggly PNW sailors pulling into the anchorage in our underwear). We dropped and set the anchor under sail in about 16 feet of water. This passage did not go as expected, but we were very glad we made the choice not to endure a rolly anchorage. I think it’s about time we add “setting a stern anchor” to our sailing acumen.