Sunday, February 27, 2011

Escape from Costa Rica

Arrival

In August of 2010 we headed back to the Costa Rica Yacht Club to rescue Virago. As I pointed out in a earlier post we had overstayed our welcome by exceeding the limits of our Costa Rica cruising permit. It was hardly the crime of the new century, but it seemed prudent to remove any threat of empounding our boat or charging us to import it to Costa Rica. Our local CR attorney suggested that we might have to pay a fine of $500, but we were not comfortable that would be the total bill if we left Virago at the CRYC for months more.

 

Virago had been on the hard and was in fine condition with the exception of mildew as seen in the following pictures. Fortunately, it was confined to surfaces that had been wetted with either salt water or sweat. Thing kept dry including wash back from the laundry without having been worn were mildew free, even if they did smell a little musty boatish.

Mildew On Wall Mildew on Floor Mat 

The crew consisted of Marjorie Goss, John Eichinger, Harry Reppert and I. We stayed a few days at the CRYC’s motel. We rated it a little lower than a Motel 6, but serviceable for crew’s quarters while cleaning a mildewed boat. Here are some final shots of the CRYC and crew.

Costa Rica Yacht Club GateCosta Rica Yacht Club Motel 

CRYC Captain & Crew Costa Rica Yacht Club from Water

Schedule

I often tell people that I do not have the “cruising gene”—that I am a passage maker at heart. The easiest way to tell the difference is that Virago always has a schedule and makes a reasonable effort to stick to it. I get antsy being in the same place for more than a few days. There seem to be two basic responses from cruisers upon hearing this:

  1. “You’re missing out on so much.” This is a matter of taste and after 4,500 miles on this trip there are very few things that I lament not having seen. My crew understands this and so far have been willing to undertake passages with limited lay overs.
  2. “It’s dangerous.” This always puzzles me, since it is boat, crew, and sea conditions that  most effect the degree of danger of a passage. To date I think my crew and I would agree that we have done nothing foolhardy just to make a schedule. I know this can be a great temptation and I count on my very experienced crew to help me guard against rash decisions.

Those points having been made, here is the planning for the trip from the Costa Rica Yacht Club in Puntarenas, Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro, Panama. First the route:

Virago Rescue Route 

This route was planned far in advance even if the final date was pulled in due to our cruising permit running out. So as you see we only planned to stop at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal to await our transit, then at the Caribbean end just in case we needed any provisions or repairs, and finally at Bocas del Toro Yacht Club and Marina to wait for the right season to head up to Isla Mujeres. (This marina was recommended by our friends Paul and Tamar.) On the short scale we read the weather from BouyWeather.com and other sources as shown.

Virago Rescue 002

These charts show the wind at six hour intervals for up to seven days ahead. The body of the little arrows show the direction of the wind while the number of flecks indicates the wind speed in knots. We could see that there would be less than 10 knots of wind predicted for the entire trip and we expected to have to motor most of the six hundred miles. Not fun, but hardly foolhardy.

The Trip to the Canal

Having planned the trip, gathered the crew, launched the boat, provisioned, taken on fuel, and checked the weather we were ready to leave on our motor cruise on August 27th, 2010. (What Bill Eddy would call a Princess Cruise for its lack of wind and waves.)  Here you see the actual punta (point) of Puntarenas (sand point) and John beginning the arduous work of passage making.

The Punta of PuntarenasJohn Asleep 

Every section of coast has its bad place such as Point Mendocino, Point Conception, Cabo Corrientes, Bahia Tehauntepec, Bahia Papagallo, or in Panama, Punta Mala (Bad Point). Our weather prediction turned out to be accurate and here we see Marj checking the course at the chartplotter.

 Punta Mala & Marj

In the closeup we see several AIS targets (the little isosceles triangles) and some rain storms (the fuzzy blobs) . Our ship position is shown by the little teardrop shape. The AIS targets as ships sending out their name, position, and course information—we want to avoid them. We want to avoid the rain storms also. We were lucky to travel through on of the great lightning centers of the world without really being caught out in any thunderstorms. All in all, a true Princess Cruise.Punta Mala on Chartplotter

We motored at about 6 knots to conserve fuel and to time our approach to the Panama Canal for dawn. We had decided to take a slip at the Flamenco Marina on the Eastern side of the canal to await our transit date. But first we had to thread our way through the ship traffic on the Pacific side of the canal. The following picture shows the number of AIS targets we could detect. Of course, smaller boats are not required to carry AIS, so we had to watch out for recreational boats and fishing boats as well as true ships.

Panama Canal Approach AIS

We did arrive safely at Flamenco Marina around dawn on August 31st, 2011 after having spent three nights at sea. One of the amazing things about Flamenco is the tidal range. You can see in the pictures that the dock pilings tower over the boats to allow the floating docks to go with a tidal flow of over 14 feet. This was a particular challenge to the builders of the Panama Canal since the Caribbean side has tides of less than 3 feet. That means that “Sea Level” is not level from one ocean to the other! One of our biggest surprises was the skyline of Panama City sceen behind Virago.

Virago Rescue Paul 029

Prep for the Next Leg

The usual preparations had to go on for the rest of the trip. Luckily, the trip having been so mild there was no significant damage to be repaired. About all we had to do was get fuel from the local Pemex station since the marina was out of fuel for two more days. John, being the newest crew member got the unpleasant duty of decanting the fuel from the jerry cans into the fuel tanks. He also took the obligatory trip down into the lazarette locker to retrieve and stow rarely needed items.

John Refueling John in the Box

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Waterfronts in Puntarenas

Puntarenas sits on a sand spit that is only about one hundred yards wide where the Costa Rica Yacht Club is located. The club is on the side away from the ocean on a river estuary. There is a highway adjacent to the club paralleled by the abandoned railroad tracks and on the far side a beach.

Beach in Pumtarenas 014 Beach in Pumtarenas 001

As with so much of Central America the natural beauty is besmirched with refuse.

Beach in Pumtarenas 012 Beach in Pumtarenas 010

There is a new condo development and marina next door named Puerto Azul where the contrast can be seen graphically.

Beach in Pumtarenas 020Beach in Pumtarenas 007

On the back side of the spit there is a lazy river with a collection of fishing boats and boat yards.

Beach in Pumtarenas 018 Beach in Pumtarenas 017

Monday, February 21, 2011

Businesses Around Puntarenas

Even in a somewhat depressed area of Costa Rica like Puntarenas, the basic infrastructure is in good condition especially compared to El Salvador. It goes to show what fifty plus years without an army and without civil war can do for a country. The following pictures were taken on one of my many walks from the Costa Rica Yacht Club to the central part of Puntarenas.

The two restaurants are typical of the non-tourist part of town. The men’s club seems to have failed probably due to the demise of the port. Of course the scrap dealer serves a universal need for recycling.

 Roadside Business 1  Roadside Business 3 Roadside Business 4Roadside Business 2

Due to the poorer economy there were many closed up buildings bespeaking a better time.

Empty Building 2 Empty Building 1

The fishing fleet also showed signs of decline, while I have to admit that the lone rusting fishing boat seemed quite picturesque. There seemed to be a large number of Japanese or Chinese fishing boats languishing about also.

Idle Fishing Fleet Lone Fishing Boat

There are still two decent chandleries one with an engine repair shop.

Borbon Marine Apui Marine

No Mexican town would be complete without its Mercado.

Mercado 1 Mercado 2

Two other structures just caught my eye. One is a now unused water tower made obsolete by a new water system. The other appears to be a sand washing plant perhaps to make beach sand usable for cement, but that is just a guess.

 Water Towers Sand Washing Plant

Rotary Park in Puntarenas

Rotary International has been active in Puntarenas for years. They have a substantial building there that hosts cultural events—like a seminar by Avon cosmetics.

 Rotary Club Rotary Club Avon Calling

One of RI’s most welcome projects in Puntarenas has been a beautiful downtown park.

Rotary Park 5 Rotary Park 1 Rotary Park 2 Rotary Park 3 Rotary Park 4

Cruise Port in Puntarenas

Virago was in Puntarenas, Costa Rica from early May until late August of 2010. Puntarenas was once the bustling busiest port on the west coast of Costa Rica. It is at the head of a twenty mile long bay far from the open Pacific. Today it is struggling economically since the port was moved about twelve miles to the south. It has a population of over 100,000 people who are trying to regain some prosperity catering to the cruise ships that use the revamped municipal pier. (The large building in the pictures is the old train station, now part of the local technical school, but mostly empty.) It has a fine dark sand beach and all the usual businesses that grow around a malecon regularly flooded with tourists including some ecotourism businesses providing day trips for the cruisers.

Malecon Train Malecon Beach Malecon Old Station Malecon Pizza Hut Malecon Statue Malecon Street Meat Malecon Strollers  I will keep posts short due to poor internet connection as I sit at Isla Mujeres. More about IM later.