Saturday, January 24, 2009

Position 08 05.578N, 082 15.667W Isla Bolanos Western Panama.
Loving it here in the islands, its very undeveloped no shops, just a few locals, blue bays, white sandy beaches, swaying palm trees etc. Excellent kayaking, swimming and snorkelling, seeing lots of turtles.
Traded dried milk for fresh fish, but had to trade green backs to get the Lobster! We boiled (murdered) them in a big pot, and could hear the little screams........yeuk! We do have to say they did taste good with melted butter, boatmade tortillas and avocado.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

On to Panama

We are leaving Costa Rica tomorrow after loading up Stan and some fresh fruit and veggies.
Next stop are the islands of Western Panama.They are quite remote and there are no shops, so we have loaded up with "trades" to trade with fishermen, dried milk and cans of corned beef get you fresh fish; we might have to throw in a couple of beers to get a Lobster!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Latest

Our current position is 08 41.822 degrees N, 83 40.039 W.
Anchored in Drakes Bay. Its a beautiful bay right on the edge of Corcovado national park, which is a lush rainforest. We are here with another boat we met in El salvador called Passat 2, they are from Canada, and are heading down to Panama too.
We've been kayaking and hiking in the park, which is full of beautiful plants, birds and wild animals. The village here is great, we have a few nice restaurants and resorts we visit and dine there, and use their pools and facilities.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hot and steamy Costa Rica

Curu National park Costa Rica


Stan experiencing "the curse of the blue kayak"
One of the many beach landings, this one was relatively drama free,others we could have sold tickets for! That's what happens when you sail in a surfing area like Costa Rica. 
One of the many Monkeys seen in Costa rica.


It seems like the humidity is 100% here in Costa Rica. its the" lightening capital" of Central America, and the clouds roll in every so often and give us a nice downpour.

Stan & Mary arrived and we hopped down the coast stopping in at parks and nature reserves along the way. We've seen all kinds of wild animals, the best was the two Toucans (we saw 3 actually but two Toucans just sounds better!


Thursday, January 1, 2009

Sing Hallelujah left the Papagallo winds behind!

We have been in the evil clutches of the Papagallo winds for the last 250 miles. What makes these winds so wicked is that they are hard to forecast, and just seem to have a mind of their own. The winds are caused by the fact the land mass is narrow, the winds come from weather disturbances on the Caribbean side of Central America, they pour over the land and intensify.
one minute its flat calm , next minute 30- 35 MPH winds, then none. So its very noisy, tiring and sometimes dangerous.
Now we are south of them and all is quiet, but now the wind has gone its mega HOT,and guess what the winds return when we reach the Gulf of Panama they pour over the Isthmus as it is very narrow too, and has lots of nasty currents.......can't wait!

Christmas day in the workhouse cleaning the bilges!
later on Christmas day relaxing on Bahia Hermosa Costa Rica
New years Eve dinner
Restaurant at Bahia Ballena Costa Rica
Our Japanese friends on sailing yacht "Fang"