Don't rock the boat
Sailing from Guanacaste to the Nicoya Peninsula
Costa Rica is known in the cruising community as a very rocky and rolly cruising ground. In fact there are many surfers who visit Costa Rica every year to take advantage of the high surf off its coast. But in reality it was much different for us. We found many protected bays which made for a sweet anchorage with not many other boats around. We love anchoring with other boats but sometimes it’s nice to have an anchorage all to ourselves.
Our first stop after we provisioned in Playa del Coco was a small anchorage in Bahia Guacamaya, only a few nautical miles away, which had a couple good snorkeling spots and a small beach. The only issue was that it was a private residential club on land. We could use the dinghy dock and walk the beach, but we were not welcomed to eat at the restaurant, and in fact, they chased us off! Costa Rica has a lot of exclusive places, which makes the people who are guests or residents there feel special, I guess. The good news for us was that all of Costa Rica’s beaches were open to the public — awesome for the people living in and visiting Costa Rica. We could anchor any where we wanted, and the views were always spectacular.
After a couple of days it was time to pick up anchor and continue south to Potrero Bay. It was a short sail around the corner. A friend recommended we find the Sailing Center, and we anchored in front of it. There was a restaurant and the sunsets were really beautiful. The only issue was that it was hard to land the dinghy on the beach — with the waves crashing we had to time our landings to avoid getting caught in a breaker. Getting off the beach was even harder! In fact one evening as we were trying to leave we got hit by a wave which flooded our dinghy and then it was hard to move it because it was so heavy. Luckily the owner of the Sailing Center who was a long-time cruiser, came out to help us. We eventually moved to a different unmarked anchorage off the side of the Bay with less swell.
The Sailing Center was open, but it was “off season,” so no classes, but there was still a community of people that came to watch the sunsets, play in the surf and eat at the restaurant.
It was time to move further South so we left pretty early the next morning with our buddy boat, Jubel (Leah and Kyle). The forecast showed a very moderate wind but the reality was quite different, as it ended up being a very sporty sail! I think the wind clocked up to the mid to high twenties, which would be fine for me if we didn’t have full sails up! As it was, we fairly flew down the coast.
While we were sailing, the autopilot stopped working from the waves hitting our stern at a particular angle. We rounded up which means the boat turned into the wind and swell once the autopilot stopped. I ran to the helm out of my reflex to grab the wheel, but unfortunately, my toe hit the metal frame in front of the wheel and I was a bleeding mess! I cleaned it up and put a bandaid on it but it would take a lot more than that to fully heal due to the high amounts of salt water I exposed it to daily and the humidity.
We continued sailing, and after stopping in a couple bays to break up the sail, and avoid all night passages, we made our way to Islas Tortugas, once we rounded the point of entrance into the Gulf of Nicoya as shown in the below video.
The island had a bar that served cold beers and strong Coco Loco’s. It also was home for many wild pigs and a few peacocks roaming around. I guess they weren’t wild as they were being fed daily.
The anchorage at Isla Tortuga was getting a little rough as it was closer to the mouth of the Gulf of Nicoya. So we decided to head further in and anchored at Isla Cedros next to Isla Jesusita.
Every night at dusk we heard a huge flock of wild parrots cackling away with each other inside the forest. This time they flew overhead.
There was a fisherman who was fishing near our boat and Peter called him over to see what he had caught and we ended up buying some fish from him for dinner that night.
Our next stop was the creepy Isla San Lucas, where one of the most infamous prisons in Central America was sited. It felt eerie to walk around the deserted grounds and prison cells, but it was interesting to walk around the compound. Some of the stories we heard about the place were fairly bone-tingling, especially as you looked down the dark little hole where they used to put prisoners for punishment, to stand in knee to waist deep water, sometimes for weeks, or until they died.
In coming issues, we’ll be headed down to the Oso peninsula, seeing lots of interesting wildlife (sloths and monkeys!), and arrive at our final anchorages in Costa Rica, before continuing on to Panama.
Gorgeous pictures! We were just talking about Costa Rico last night. We’ve only been once but our friends love it. Did you get that toe taken care of at the dispensary? Just finished reading The Wager. Sailing sure has changed since 1741, thank God! Stay safe. Enjoy!
Love,
Rose
I remember the sunsets in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Sublime!!