While our stay in Golfito, Costa Rica was short, we had fun visiting with Tim and Kate, the owners, and all the other cruisers who came through the anchorage.  The upstairs is the cruisers lounge with a cool patio, shower and bathroom, TV, and honor system refrigerator, and walls decorated by boaters passing through.

We recognized a few acquaintances from the last time we cruised in Mexico, so Genny was tasked with adding Makai to the wall.

Roy lowered the Costa Rican courtesy flag.  We fly a similar flag for each country we visit. A quick stop at the fuel dock and off we go.  The passage is well over 600 nm, should take 5 days and pass by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and then enter Mexico.  Except for the Gulf of Papagayo, there isn’t much wind predicted so we’ll be using the engine quite a bit.

Our first 24 hours was motoring along on glassy water. Roy put out a fishing line, it’s always exciting to hear the zing of the reel when a fish takes off with the lure.  Today when the reel sounded off everyone sprang into action.  I was sitting on the back step giving Topaz a hair cut so all I could do was yell, “Fish ON!”, the line was going fast, Eric stopped the boat, and that’s when we saw it.  A huge Marlin was out at the end of the line.  Leaping into the air, thrashing about and taking more line.  Roy knew we were unprepared for this guy and then started calling for scissors to cut the line.  It all happened so fast there was nothing we could do except stare out there at this beast.  Within half a minute he took all the line and then broke it to our relief.  Roy reeled in what line he had left and assessed the damage to the reel while the fish was still out there jumping. The guys found one broken part and one adjustment to make.  Some new line and the replacement part and we’ll be back in business.

We finished up Topaz’s haircut, both of us get all hairy and itchy, we’ll have to swim next.  I bought these clippers many years ago to trim Teak while we were cruising in 1997 and 1999.  Each year I get new blades, my favorite is size 3F, and Topaz his styling in her tropical brush cut.

Turning off the engines left us stopped in the water and ready for a dip.  The water around Golfito was really mucky and it’s been awhile since we swam in clean fresh water so this was fun.  Marie wasn’t taking any chances with this offshore dip, she has her life vest, fins, goggles and a float.  Topaz loved it, she’s been hot and dry for weeks, too bad we have to start up the motor and press on.

Marie saved a few buckets of fresh water for her cockpit bath.  Very refreshing since it has been so steaming hot lately.

The gulf of Papagayo is one of the crossings we had to watch the weather for.  The timing worked out nicely where we started to cross at daybreak and finished at sunset.  Yes, there was a lot of wind and choppy seas, but all reefed down Makai was happy to race across the gulf at a comfortable 7-8 knots.  The challenge was that it was gusty at times.  The wind would die down and we would have to put on the motor.  Within a half hour the motor would go off, the jib would come out, then the wind would increase and prompt us to roll the jib in half way then the cycle would start again. Once on the other side we saw plenty of shrimp boats.

Even though the wind was light we had good sailing from 1 pm to sunset.  As the land heats up, the air heats and rises leaving a space to fill with new air from the ocean.  I think of it as the land is inhaling and giving us a free ride.

With five days to do nothing but read and nap, the boredom starts to set in and we start to do chores.  Last summer I made a new cover for the mainsail with straps to gather the sail when we lower it.  These lazy jacks can have quite a load on them with our heavy mainsail.  I’m not sure if I didn’t reinforce the areas with the most load properly or if my thread is too light but most of the straps that tie off to the lazy jacks were tearing away from the stack pack.  While on watch I sat there and looked at the repair job and thought about wrestling with the main sail in the hot marina to get the cover off for repairs.  With the sail up, this looked a lot easier, so with no excuses why I can’t sew underway, we took it off and made the repairs.   What a relief, that job is done.

We saw many turtles resting on the surface, dolphins came to play in our bow wake and these birds circled Makai for hours.  They would swoop in and bicker among themselves. When they landed, they walked really funny on their bellies. Maybe it’s nice to have guests, but these guests aren’t potty trained so we set Topaz off to clear the decks.

Just before arriving at the Marina entrance in Mexico we had a bee problem.  First there was one or two, then there was a swarm.  Hundreds of bees swarming around the radar and the helm.  Topaz and the kids ran inside and closed up all the hatches while Eric got our salt water hose out and blasted them.  In the past we’ve been attacked by Love Bugs in Florida and Flies in Delaware, but nothing that will hurt us. Eric and I each got one small sting, but luckily Makai got rid of the bees. We remembered experiencing these Africanized agressive bees from last time we cruised in Mexico.

Finally we arrived in Marina Chiapas, tied up, cleaned up and got a full night sleep.

I scrubbed all the foot prints from people boarding at the Panama Canal, dirt and ash from Costa Rica, and salt from the passage off of poor Makai, then buffed and waxed the starboard hull.  The kids are doing school work and Eric is working to keep up with our spending.

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Our friend who spent many years cruising in Mexico sent us an envelope of pesos last summer.  We’ve been waiting patiently to arrive so he can buy us our first ice cream and beer treat.

The neighbors have been directing us to the nearest shopping plaza, so we packed up and walked up to the street and waited for the bus.  There aren’t any bus stops or schedules, just wait for the next one to come by.  First a taxi came sailing down the street, flashed his lights and kept going. That must be the signal, so when a mini bus came by and did the same we flagged it down. The bus was very nice, more like a 15 person van. We experienced these buses in other places where there is a driver and a conductor who loads and unloads passengers filling every nook and cranny and collects the fare. When the seats were full we thought it was going to be an express bus to the market. HA! They picked up like 10 more people.  Lots of squishing and standing, even though the bus isn’t designed to stand.  There is no isle, just rows of seats.  Soon enough we arrived at our destination, Walmart.  We were surprised to find the plaza is actually an indoor, air-conditioned mall.  There were a few clothes stores and gift shops, but also a high percentage of the stores sold shoes.  Not just sneakers and such, but those super high heel, platform, how do you walk in those things, style shoes.  Also, there were several barber shops.  So Roy got a haircut.  Across from the barber was a video store with a rifle carrying guard.  We later learned they are the Brinks guys with an armored car out front somewhere.

It was a successful day.  Besides Roy’s haircut, Eric got a SIM card to power up our phone and data for email, we had lunch at the food court, Dominos pizza for Eric and Marie, Chinese for the rest of us, we peaked at the movie theater and considered a movie but decided we didn’t have time.  Instead we went for the main event, Walmart.  Oh, yea, Eric got a few new pairs of shorts (old ones were in tatters), Roy got head phones (old ones disintegrating), the girls got ear buds because they look cool, I got a new shirt for a treat.  Now that fruits are plentiful, we got a blender to make smoothies and margaritas and then a few groceries and that’s all we can carry.  Heading back to the curb for a bus, the taxi drivers bargained with us.  That’s the last straw, we’re now certain our Spanish totally sucks.  We’ll have to take classes when we get home and then bring Makai back to Mexico again to test out any new skills.

In the end we paid $14 for a taxi instead of $7.50 for the bus.  Marie had to sit on my lap, but we had air conditioning and the driver played loud music.  When he took curves we all squealed in the back as we squished from side to side.  We also noticed that the lines on the road seem to be more of a guideline instead of a rule because no one obeys them.  The bus and the taxi pass on double yellow lines, squeeze between on coming traffic and the guy they are passing, drive on the shoulder, all kinds of scary things. The driver kept fiddling with his phone and music, Marie said he was driving with no hands and kept drifting into the oncoming lane. In the end we survived.  Eric closed up the boat, put on the air conditioning and spent the evening doing our taxes.  I made yummy tacos and smoothies for dinner and we watched Herbie the Love Bug.