After our adventurous start with the zip lines, we sailed down to Quepos. We only spent one night just off the marina and one night anchored off of Punta Quepos. We didn’t find the town too exciting, but it was nice to get coffee, fresh food and walk around.
After Quepos, we sailed to Manuel Antonio. We anchored in the bay of the National Park, but after a few hours a guard hailed us from the beach. We weren’t allowed to anchor there on Monday, the day they were closed, so we motored over to the public beach. The next day we motored back over to the park and rowed to shore. Again we were approached by the guard stating we had to pay, which we expected, but we found out that we could only pay in Quepos, and then we also had to pay to get into the park, which we had to do in the town. Rather than going back to Quepos, we motored back to the public beach and rowed in with a surf landing that we timed carefully. We found a guide to hire and paid for us all to walk into Manuel Antonio National Park. We saw all sorts of wildlife and it was nice to get a hike in. See our post about it here.
The next day we sailed down to Dominicalito, but first we stopped for a surf at Dominical. We anchored just off the break and all paddled in. After 2 hours there, we made our way to anchor off the little fishing village in a cove of Dominicalito. There wasn’t much to do there, surf, internet, and groceries were all in Dominical, so for two days in a row, we hitchhiked to Dominical. Dominical is a happening little surf town with many tourists. The prices are a little higher, but you can find Thai food, a natural food store, yoga and massage spa, and Cafe Mono Congo for good coffee and wifi.
Two days there went quickly. Afterward we sailed to Uvita, well more like motored the 12 miles there. One thing is for sure here, we have had to motor a lot more than we like to. The days are mostly cloudy, so our solar input has been low, and the wind has been sparse, so equally, our wind generator hasn’t put out more energy, and the wind leave us drifting. We’ve resolved to motoring, to boost our battery bank and to get to our next anchorage before sunset. Another reason Costa Rica is an expensive place for cruising, it cost more money in fuel.
Uvita is a pretty little town off of another National Park nicked named “The Whale Tail”. We anchored inside of the bay of the Whale Tail and didn’t have to pay to anchor there this time. Although a beautiful beach with lots to see, it was by far one of the rolliest anchorages we’ve been in. We spent two of the days there just checking out the beach area and swimming in the surf. On our third day there, we met up with Ellamae’s dad and his partner CC, who had flown over from Florida to pick her up and take her back with them after a week of traveling Costa Rica for themselves. Ellamae will now be with Papa and CC for the next 2 months and will fly back to Panama, to continue west with us from there.
Taj Surfing on his boogie board.
paddling up the mangrove.
A Family Afloat 