Daniel K. left soon after wew arrived, then Pendria came in and anchored. Dick and his Pennies were looking for some mangos from the old hotel. (I guess I hadn't mentioned that Dick now has two Pennies aboard Pendria, his Penny and Penny from Amobel. Amobel Penny split up with Simon sometime in the last month and is crewing with Pendria as far as Golfito. Life out here ain't much different than it was at Crest Air Park, except that "crewing" gives it an added dimension.) Incidentally, we had our first mango from the hotel for breakfast this morning and it was great, one of the best I've tasted! Wish there were more closer to being ripe.
Talked to Doran and Donna on the radio this morning. They are almost to the Perlas Islands of Panama. Donna has decided that the cruising life isn't for her, so will be leaving Panache as soon as they have transited the canal. They are shooting to do that before the 1st of September because of the Panamanian elections - they are afraid something might delay their crossing if the U.S. and Panama get to scrapping. We'll not worry about that; it's hard to imagine the canal being closed for more than a very short time. We'll just stay away from any shooting and take things as they come.
Lois has now come down with the same kind of cold that I've been fighting for a couple of weeks now; and I seem to be having a relapse. To make things even more interesting, I think I may have gotten into some poison ivy during my hunt for mangos the other day. I've broken out with a rash on my side and it seems to be spreading to other areas just what we need. I wonder if they have any miracle cures for that stuff???
In the afternoon, with both of us feeling kind of poorly, we moved over to the anchorage between the islands and the mainland. It is better protected if the wind blows again. We'll stay there and nurse our wounds until we're feeling better.
I did manage to get a little more sanding done on the Metz oars and transom; and pulled Jimmy's sea water flow sensor off, gooped it, and hopefully stopped its annoying leak. Other than that we both just lay around, sleeping or reading. The one plus is that, even with the rain, we are in a lovely place to loaf.
Today was a nice, warm but not too hot day to swing at anchor and contemplate the world. My total accomplishment for the day was to put a coat of epoxy on the Metz oars and transom. It's so pretty here that I almost hate to think about leaving. In the afternoon Bob and Verna from Sailorr showed up bringing the medicines which Penny had bought for us the Benadryl, Eurax cream, and a bunch of Vicks cough drops. They are still waiting for mail which has been held up for a month in customs because their daughter put it in a cardboard box for mailing. Just came out to the islands for the weekend to get away from the noise and dirt of the city.
Heard on the radio this morning that Doran and Donna are on their way into Balboa, planning on going through the canal next Thursday. They sure didn't waste much time once they decided to move.
08:45 Anchor up and on our way to a new place for the first time since we came into Puntarenas on the 13th of June, two whole months ago. We are going to have to remember how to cruise again. The ride across was uneventful, nice slick swells out of the south, a few big turtles raising their heads to look at us as we went by, a few fishermen tending their long lines.
11:00 Punta Leona, a pretty little resort beach and bay tucked in behind a rocky headland and reef which protect it from the prevailing swell. There's a boat launching ramp (one of the very few we've seen) and some trailer parks and a restaurant or two, plus some nice looking condo or hotel looking buildings. Bill and Iris were here on Voyager, just back from a successful fishing expedition in their dinghy. They are waiting to haul out in September and came out here to get away from the city. A little later Hank came in on his boat Hegria. I think he's on his way south after spending almost as much time in Puntarenas as we did.
We didn't go ashore or do any visiting. While my rash seems to be slowly getting a bit better, it doesn't put me in the mood for much socializing, and Lois is still not quite up to par; so we fiddled away the afternoon. I played with the computer, trying to understand the algorithms used by Dick's little nav program. It's discouraging to realize how dull tools like trigonometry can get when never used. I must have spent a couple of hours just redeveloping the relationships between Sine, Cosine, Tangent and their inverses. There was a time, a long ago time, when that all came automatically.
09:00 We'd cleared Punta Judas I was down in the engine room when I heard Lois shout, "You've got a fish!". I had re-rigged our lines with black nylon and was trying out a couple of the new lures we'd picked up in Puntarenas, and this was our first hookup. We were hoping for a Dorado but I knew as soon as I looked back that it was something else; no leaps or runs, just something fairly good sized dragging at the end of the line. Turned out to be a Crevalle Jack, about ten pounds not as tasty as mahi-mahi but better than nothing. Left the lines out for the rest of the trip but no more action.
12:00 Anchored in a little hook behind Punta Catedral in Manuel Antonio National Park. There's not much protection from the Pacific swell along this part of the coast, but back in behind a group of tiny islands we found a spot where the waves had lost most of their energy. It's a popular bathing beach, and this Sunday afternoon there were lots of weekend escapees from San Jose' on the shore. It's hard to imagine a prettier setting for a saltwater park. The virgin jungle grows almost to water's edge providing shelter from the sun for half mile long, curving, white sand beach between two rocky headlands. There's enough surf to make swimming interesting, but not dangerous. Just a delightful spot!
We had anchored and were rolling around pretty good when a nice breeze sprung up out of the east putting our stern into the swell. We quickly got out our little stern anchor and set it to keep the boat in that direction making things much more comfortable. The rash on my hands, which had been in salt water while I was cleaning the fish, seemed to be better, so I decided to risk a swim. I'm afraid that may have been a mistake; although it felt great at the time, I had the itchiest night yet. I think I'd better stay out of the water until I get the rash whipped.
06:30 Anchors up, we're out of Quepos for Drake Bay on a calm and comfortable sea. As soon as we clear the little Quepos islands, which tend to generate a lot of smaller waves, we're riding on a glassy smooth, undulating surface without even a wind riffle. It stayed that way almost all the way. Like yesterday, it was sort of a boring trip. I had the lines out but was getting no action, and we had only the pelicans and boobies for company.
13:30 Hookup! And whatever it is is a fighter. I went back and watched for a while as my six foot length of 5/16 shock cord stretched to ten feet. We were running at our usual seven knots which will usually drown a fish quickly but this one just wouldn't give up. I watched as it would make a run, then somehow hold itself in a way that made a huge spinner at the end of the line. The swivel couldn't keep up and my black nylon parachute cord was being twisted all the way to the boat. It was almost ten minutes before the fish started to drag on the surface, and even then it would dive again from time to time as I pulled it in. It wasn't until I got it up to the boat and swung it aboard that I saw what we had, a big Sierra, a barracuda like, long, narrow fish with a large mouth full of very sharp teeth. I'd caught it on my new Rapalla lure, a plug with two treble hooks which I'd never used before, and I made the mistake of holding the fish down with my gloved left hand and trying to remove the hooks with my right. Bam! The fish jerked and I was hooked, up to the shank in the ball of my little finger. Now I had a real problem. if I let the fish loose with my left hand it would tear the hook out of my finger flopping, but I couldn't work the hook out with only my right. Lois came back and tried to get it out with a pair of pliers but it was too deeply embedded. Finally she managed to get the hook out of the fish so I could let go of it with my left hand, and I screwed up my courage and jerked the hook out of my finger. Fortunately, it was in the fatty part and tore out without major damage. I bet that's the last time I try messing with a treble hook with a bare hand!
14:00 Anchored in Drake Bay next to Pendria. I got my hand cleaned up, the fish filleted (it has beautiful white meat), and sat down to let the shock wear off. One thing the accident did was to take my mind off the itching for a while. Dick and his Pennys came over for a drink and chat. They'd just gotten in at noon after spending a rolly night at an anchorage called Uvita - said they wished they'd come on down here yesterday. Drake bay is nice. There's a little, gentle swell but not enough to roll us around. I wish I felt better; we might stay a day or so, but I think I'd better get on into Golfito and see if I can find a dermitologist.
09:00 Anchored again in Drake Bay just as the rain started there. For the next four hours it rained, no lightning and thunder, just a steady soaking rain. We spent the rest of the day loafing and reading. I washed the watermaker pre-filters and spent a lot of time trying to convince myself that I could see some improvement in my rash. About the time that one spot seems to be getting better it spreads to another area. I feel like I'd like to just dive into the soothing water and stay there, but nurse Penny says that's not the thing to do and my experience of the other day confirms her advice.
08:00 Caught up with Pendria as we approached Punta Salsipuedes. The had left about an hour earlier than we and we motoring along with just the mizzen up as a steadying sail. As we rounded the point we could see Punta Burica off in the distance, our first glimpse of Panama. It'll be a while 'till we get there it's on the other side of Golfo Dulce and Golfito.
11:00 Rounded Cabo Matapalo and headed into the Golfo Dulce. It's a big bay, about ten miles across and thirty long, first runing north and then making a dogleg to the northwest. Golfito is a natural, totally enclosed harbor on the northeast side as the gulf makes its turn.
13:00 At the entrance to Golfito we get a call from Whitey at the Jungle Club advising us on how to enter and inviting us to anchor near their Club. The entrance is easy. There are a pair of range markers for the narrow forty foot deep channel and two big can buoys marking a sand bar just inside, artifacts left by the United Fruit Company when they pulled out in 1985. Inside the water is pretty consistantly ten to forty feet thoughout. The bay is very pretty, about three miles long and one wide and totally surrounded by jungle covered mountains. The town of Golfito is on the east side, stretched out on a narrow strip of land between the bay and mountainside. We ran down the town side, checked the anchorage at the Gavioto Yacht Club (Sadko is there but no one else we know), then went across the bay to anchor at the Jungle Club. We were surprized to find Ruby Lee and Voluntary Compliance there.
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting ourselves back into "home" configuration - Metz fully inflated and down, poles in and secured, awning up, etc. My rash was feeling better this afternoon. I've increased the dosage of Benadryl to four per day and tried some desoximetasone ointment that I found on board, so I wasn't panicy about getting to a doctor. Whitey told me on the radio that there is a hospital in town where they might be able to give me some help; we'll check that out tomorrow.
After breakfast we went over to the Jungle Club to meet Whitey and Barbara. The tide was out so their float was high and dry and we had to land on the gravel beach a hundred yards away, but it was an easy walk back along the beach and up a flight of concrete steps to their place. Their "house" is a large, rectangular palapa set back in the edge of the jungle and open on two sides. As we climbed the steps there was an awful racket as three pet parrots and a scarlet macaw all started screaming at once A word from Barbara and they all quieted down. Although Whitey and Barbara have been down here for ten years they just opened their Jungle Club this year. It's a very informal and easy going operation. They have a half dozen small tables sitting in the open area overlooking the bay and in the the large open room behind are their living area and the kitchen. They invited us to sit down and Whitey brought us each a cerveza to drink while he filled us in on the essentials of Golfito. He made us a little map showing where to find the Port Captain, the drug store or rather a Botique that carries a few drugs, the market, hardware store, post office, etc. Barbara had four different kinds of ointments for skin problems and loaded me down with all of them, plus Whitey went out and cut a leaf from a cactus called something like Alalon which they said was excellent for burns and rashes. They said that, while there is a hospital in town, the best man to talk to was Dr. Alvarado at, of all places, the local gas station.
There wasn't much wind and the bay was flat so we decided to take the Metz to town. It's about a two mile run to the old banana loading pier near the Port Captain's office. We anchored the Metz out behind the pier and climbed a rusted and wobbly flight of stairs to the street. We'd overshot our landing a bit, but had the good fortune to run into Dick and Penny who had just finished checking in and out and who led us to the right place. As usual the check in was easy. The port captain just welcomed us, took our Zarpe from Puntarenas, and said all was bueno. There was a phone booth nearby so I called Nan and told her to hold our mail until September 1st, then send it to Panama.
The town center is a half mile back down the bay, so we took the Metz back to the municipal pier where a boy helped us land and offered to watch our boat. As Whitey had said, at the gas station just off the pier we found Dr. Alvarado, wrench in hand, working on a truck engine. He speaks quite good English and said that yes, he was a medical doctor. We talked a bit and he looked at my rash and asked a few questions, then suggested that I try a medication called Betnovate - he got a rag, wiped the grease from his hands, and wrote out the name for me - but said that we'd have to go to Neily, a town a few miles away where there is a real pharmacy, to get it. We thanked him and he said that, if we needed anything like oil or gasoline or motor parts to come see him, then went back to working on his truck.
The town isn't very big but it seems to have at least one of most stores except for a pharmacy. The business area extends for about three blocks along the side of a hill overlooking the bay. There's one fairly nice looking hotel, and a bunch of restaurants and bars. We walked up to the post office which was closed it was 1:30, still siesta time did a little sightseeing,and then headed back to the boat. I had on a short sleeved shirt and was starting to feel the effect of the sun on the sensitive areas of my skin. The rest of the afternoon we spent on the boat, staying out of the sun and reading.
In the evening we went in to the Jungle Club where we met the people from a boat called the "Rainbow's End" who have been cruising the Carribean for the last ten years. They are planning on going no farther north but to soon go back through the canal; said they didn't like the murky waters on the pacific side. Dwight, I think that is his name, said that on the isalnds of Venezuela 150 foot visibility is common. He and his wife, Diana, do a lot of diving. For dinner Barbara fixed us what she called a Champagne Burger, by far the best hamburger I've tasted since eating a the Red Robin in Seattle. While we were eating Whitey disappeared, and then came back a few minutes later saying he had moved the Metz from his dock where we'd left it to a ways down the beach; he didn't want us to be stranded as the tide went out. That's pretty nice service!
My rash seems to be getting gradually better. I'm still taking four Benadryl a day and am afraid to stop. I think we'll stay here until I'm sure it is really cleared up.
Going into town I ran across the bay in the Metz to the Gaviota Yacht Club and then took a bus from there to town. The yacht club is a very nice facility, not as plush as Acapulco, no swimming pool, but they have a long foot pier leading out to a float and a pleasent, open, tile floored lounge/restaurant/bar. There's a direct AT&T phone line to the U.S. The nearest bus stop is a quarter of a mile away, but I found that the taxi fare is only 50 colones so that's the easy way. Today I rode the bus, went to the Post Office, picked up some fruit, and got my medicine, then caught a taxi back. Just loafed the rest of the day. My hands are still so sensitive that I can't do much in the way of chores. Finished reading Cardinal in the Kremlin; Tom Clancy tells a pretty good tale.
As an aside, we also found that the huge plantations of palms which I had speculated might be cacoa are what are called African Palms, the fruit of which is used to make margarine. They have replaced former banana plantations because of lower labor costs. The demise of the banana crop and the departure of United Fruit also spelled economic doom for Golfito, turning it from a busy shipping port to the lazy and scenic place it is today. I must remember to ask Whitey about the plants which are grown in conjunction with the coffee beans. As a farmer, he might also have the answer to that nagging question.
Didn't accomplish much again today. My rash is almost gone, just a few reddish spots an roughened skin where the blisters had been; but I'm still going real easy on it. I sure don't want any relapse! I ran over to the municipal pier with our jerry can and filled it with gasoline for the Metz. This afternoon it rained and it rained and it rained. We had four five gallon buckets catching water, did two loads of wash, and have enough for another load. 'Bout wore myself out carrying buckets down to dump in the washing machine. Lois loves all that free water. She was as excited as a kid at Christmas. The way things are going I think we ought to be able to check out Monday, pick up a few provisions, and head out on Tuesday.
My skin problems are just about cleared up. We even managed to get a little work done this morning on scrubbing down the decks, although Lois did most of the hands-in-water work. A pretty young lady at the party named Ellie is breaking out in much the same way as I did. She says she was also picking Mangos. We've heard that some people are alergic to the whitish fluid which is released at the stem possibly????? You can be sure that, if we pick mangos again, I'll be verrrrry careful in how I handle them!
We had moved the boat over to the Gaviotas Yacht Club anchorage this morning to save a long dinghy ride, gone into the club, and flagged down a taxi to take us to the Port Captain's office, so we were all though the paperwork by about nine thirty. We then caught another cab back to town, went to the post office and mailed Donna's mail back to her in Seattle, bought a few vegetables and three cases of beer, and headed back for the boat. We'd planned on having dinner at the Jungle Club but when we got back over there we dicovered that they are closed on Mondays - their day to go to town. Whitey and Barb got back about five with eggs and some more Benadryl we'd asked them to get, so I went over then, said goodby, and we managed to get things all stowed before the rain hit. Not a hard rain tonight, just enough to cool things off a bit.
06:00 Big pod of dolphins, big guys this time, bottlenose I think - they have the bulbous head and round snout. They stay with us for quite a while. The leader is a real monster, twice as long we normally see, and he has white scars all over his back. The water's still a bit murky here but I can see him swimming on his side under the bow, looking up at me with one eye and seeming to be grinning. We're heading for Punta Banco at the entrance to the gulf, fifteen miles away.
08:00 We turn on the watermaker as we're out of the gulf and into the clear waters of the Pacific again. Twenty-one miles to Punta Burica, the long narrow neck of land that forms the border between Costa Rica and Panama. I raise Margory Grace on the single sideband and find that they are at Isla Gomez, our destination. They are stuck there waiting for an oil cooler that Sailorr is bringing from Puntarenans. For some reason I could never hear Bill on 6 Charley when we were in Golfito - too much noise. Bill said Sadko came in yesterday.
9:00 Buzzed twice by a Skymaster painted olive drab wonder if he thought we might be a fishing boat - we've got our poles out.