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Review of Explore Central America!
Boaters in first world countries enjoy many amenities that are unavailable elsewhere. One of the most important differences is the lack of official publications describing the waters. While Latin American countries do make their own, high-quality charts, these charts are unavailable to the cruising yachtsman. I, and others I know, have tried to no avail […]
Getting to Ecuador
On November 4th, Scream left Golfito, Costa Rica for Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. We planned this trip excessively. The passage profile is uninviting, even at the ideal time of year, November through March. The trades here blow consistently out of the SW, shifting closer to S as the coast of South America is approached. This […]
Bahia Rincon
Bahia Rincon is the quiet, sheltered bay at the head of Golfo Dulce. The jungle encloses the bay on all sides. We saw all kinds of birds, that we can't identify. It rained steadily the two days before we arrived and the first two days of our stay, so the water was murky so we […]
Volcan Arenal
Like Monteverde, there are about a bazillion tours available in La Fortuna, mostly visits to Volcan Arenal. We opted to simply take the one suggested by our hostel. It was $40 USD per person, and included transportation to the volcano, a small hike, a dusk volcano viewing, a trip to a local hot springs, dinner […]
Volcano Arenal and Back Again
We took a six day, five night trip inland from Golfito. The exciting and good parts of this trip are in the next post. This post is the tale of our misadventures. We started and ended the trip with the 7 hour ride on the Tracopa Bus to San Jose ($10 per person each way). […]
Golfito
Golfito is a strange beast - as its name suggests, it's a little gulf in the bigger Golfo Dulce, a very sheltered anchorage on the east side of the bay. There is room for many many boats at anchor, and the facilities for cruising boats are as good as we have seen them anywhere. There […]
Monteverde
There are many ways for travelers and their money to be parted in the Monteverde Cloudforest area. It's not especially expensive to be there, it's just that there are many, many tourist activities available, all for a fee. We skipped the butterfly gardens, the guided hikes in the national park, the Sepentarium and insect zoo, […]
South to Gulfo Dulce
We had a rolly and uncomfortable trip from the Gulf of Nicoya to Gulfo Dulce. We started out with a quick trip from Punta Leona, where we were comfortable and happy, to Bahia Herradura. Despite the barrier island and deep bay, Herradura is a rolly anchorage. We were not impressed and left after one night. […]
Climate Change
We try to keep a positive viewpoint in our lives in general and on the blog in particular, so we post a lot about seeing whales, not to mention teeming throngs of sea turtles, sea lions, eagles, and boobies. While this is evidence of a healthy world, there are other, less promising signs that we […]
Puerto Jimenez
Puerto Jimenez would be a cruising Mecca if it wasn't across the bay from Golfito. It has a large and comfortable anchorage, with easy access to a town with supplies, restaurants, and tourist activities. The anchorage at Jimenez is on the north side of Punta Arenitas. The bottom is somewhat steep, but there is a […]