Pura Vida, Costa Rica

By Aaron

It’s hard to believe we spent nearly 6 months in Costa Rica.  We had a very enjoyable trip home for the month of October visiting family and friends, and even making some new friends.  Everyone showed us such incredible generosity and we are truly grateful.

Nicole, missing the stomach churning motion of an ocean passage, tried to recreate the effect at a pumpkin patch farm.

My dad had a couple bikes in the garage, so we took them out for a spin.  Nicole and I have been together over a decade and this is the very first time we’ve ridden bikes together.

For several weeks before our visit, every time we’d remember some food we missed we’d write it down on a legal pad.  We had a whole page, but we systematically worked through it and ate every single thing we’d been missing.  Thai food was at the top of my list – 5 star hot!  And Nicole didn’t waste any time putting down a few pumpkin spice lattes.

We got to see fall leaves, wear coats and socks for the first time in ages, and even saw a little snow up in the mountains. 

We sat right behind the pilots on the flight out of Golfito.  I was hoping they’d ask me if I wanted to drive for a bit but no luck.  We were a little nervous leaving Bella Star behind for a whole month but the boat was in good hands.

Fish Hook Marina was Bella Star’s home for about two months.  We needed to place the boat in bond with customs since our import permit had expired.  Mostly our fault since we didn’t put a hold on it while we made repairs for two months in Marina Papagayo.  Anyway, the bonding required that we keep the boat at an authorized bonding marina until we were ready to leave the country.  Fish Hook provided this service for us at no charge and drove us to customs to make the arrangements.  It was totally painless. 

This is Maikol on the left and his brother Andre.  They run Fish Hook marina with absolute professionalism and made us feel very welcome.  There were right there for us for everything we needed and always had a smile.  Maikol even drove us around to the various government offices when it was time for us to check out of the country.  Thanks guys!

We worked on quite a few boat projects while we were there.  I finished installing our replacement spreader lights and crossing annoying projects off the list.

After some time, Golfito became quite comfortable for us.  In a few weeks, you get to know some locals.  You get to know where the bank and grocery stores and post office is.  Before you know it, a place starts to feel like home if you stay too long.  So off we’ve gone to Panama!