Killing Time in Golfito

By Aaron

We arrived in Golfito after an utterly terrifying lightning extravaganza of an overnight passage from Quepos.  It was bad enough that, combined with our several other close calls lately, we decided to take a break here until November to let the worst of the rainy season pass us by.  It rains almost as much here in the month of October as it does all year in Seattle.  And this is a good spot to leave the boat for a trip back home to visit friends and family.  Also, we need to set ourselves up timing wise for wherever it is we head to from here.  There’s a big left/right turn decision coming up.

We tied up to a mooring for the first couple weeks while we figured out what to do with the boat.  Our visas were almost expired along with the temporary import permit for Bella Star.  We took the bus to Panama and were able to renew our visas by exiting Costa Rica and coming right back in.  Unfortunately there are no extensions available for the import permit, and our only option was to put the boat in bond.  It’s a double suck because you can’t be in bond while you’re at anchor or on a mooring; it has to be in an approved marina.  We checked with the two marinas that bond boats, Banana Bay and Fish Hook.  Fish Hook was willing to negotiate on the rate, and they were super friendly.  After hearing quotes of anywhere from $300 to $2000 for putting the boat in bond, we were pleasantly surprised when Fish Hook said they’d provide the service at no extra charge.  So we moved the boat over to the marina and they took us to the customs office for a painless process.  Legally the boat will need to stay in the slip until we are ready to check out of Costa Rica. 

 
At dawn I was down below sleeping while we made our approach.  I slept while Nicole kept a close eye on a waterspout off our port side.  You know she’s getting desensitized to severe weather when she doesn’t even wake me up to see a frigin water tornado. 

 
We picked up a mooring at Land Sea, run by expats Tim and Katie 

 
Land Sea has everything the cruising sailor needs. 

The dogs there guard the premises with varying levels of enthusiasm

If I spot a hula hoop just lying around you can bet I’m going to hula hoop the hell out of it.  FYI.

Golfito sits at the bottom of some mountains which are part of a national forest reserve. We got up early one morning to make the steep hike up to the top.

 The hike gets you up to some beautiful vistas overlooking Golfito and the Golfo Dulce

 
It was a bit hot!

 Some random dogs followed us around

 
We spotted a poison dart frog…

And lots of toucans, but they’re hard to get pictures of

And huge spiders

 
On another day we took our dinghy for a ride around the bay… if for no other reason than to get a breeze going over us

This is Pelican Island, which is for sale – asking price is $100,000

Views of the bay

There’s really only one main road in Golfito.  When we took a taxi here the first time we were surprised when it picked somebody else up along the way.  Turns out this is common practice here since there’s just the one main road, so if somebody is heading your way, they hop on in.

 
Bananas used to the be main economic driver here until the United Fruit Company ceased operations.  The bananas have been replaced by palm oil plantations.  Many of the buildings in town are leftover construction from the United Fruit Company, tin roofs and overhangs are the common architectural style.

Nicole was pleased to discover a fruit and vegetable market with an excellent selection and great prices.  A good thing since food prices here are otherwise extremely high.

These are called limones mandarinas and taste like limes but a little sweeter.  We like them a lot.  The best way to eat them is in slices, garnished with a gin & tonic. 

 
I assume this fruit is some sort of carnivorous variety

 
After we moved the boat over to Fish Hook Marina we soon met Javier.  Javier is a Tico who works on one of the sportfishers here.  He and his German girlfriend Janina took us out to a little off-grid restaurant on an island across the bay.  Apparently there was a pig there that was locally famous for drinking beer.  Something I was eager to see.

Unfortunately they had killed the pig and barbequed its ribs.  So we ate some.

A lazy day at the beach

Javier taught me a new trick – peel your beer labels off and stick them on the table before they take the empty bottles away.  That way you can keep track of how many you had when the bill comes.

It was super hot so we took a few beers into the pool

 
We had a good view of the soccer game that broke out on the beach

 
Heading back after a fun afternoon

Most days start out sunny and beautiful.  And HOT.

I try to keep busy and cross projects off the list on most days.  There’s still some lightning-related things to take care of, and I’ve completed several items that have been on the list for several years.  Right now I’m in the process of painting the dinghy boards with epoxy since they were starting to rot. 

Gotta get your outside work done early though.  Usually by the late afternoon it starts to rain really hard, but we look forward to it since it cools things down nicely.

September 15th is Independence Day, and we watched the parade go by.  It was mostly cute little kids in coordinated outfits, and lots and lots of drums.  High schools and colleges also participated.

 
MY CAPTION FOR THIS PHOTO CENSORED BY NICOLE