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10/27/14- We enjoyed our early morning
flight to San Jose. Sharon was a little nervous on the take off in the small plane, but she also enjoyed the flight.
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| Aeropuerto Golfito |
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| Pilots are served breakfast |
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| Too late to check the tires |
10/26/14- We loaded Georgia J on the
m/v Rickmers Yokohama for her ride to Ensenada, Mexico. The process went pretty well. In the last hour before loading, the autopilot
stopped working and a toilet started overflowing. Both of these projects will provide additional learning opportunities
in Ensenada. We managed
to snuggle up to the ship without actually touching her and the diver and crew soon had slings under our hull.
After climbing aboard the ship, we reattached the backstay (which holds up the mast), stowed the fenders and shut down the
electrical systems. Only then did the heavens open up with a typical torrential Golfito rain. After a wet panga
trip to shore, we enjoyed crevezas and fish sandwiches. We will fly out of Golfito tomorrow traveling to San Jose, Houston, and San Diego with stopovers
in each city. From San Diego, we will walk over the border to Tijuana and take a bus to Ensenada. The Rickmers
Yokohama is scheduled to arrive in Ensenada in 10 days.
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| Approaching the Rickmers Yokohama |
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| Georgia J Flys |
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| Afternoon storm moving into Golfito |
Road trip....Blue River Resort with Ron & Mel
Well we have learned a lesson about traveling across
borders via bus in Central America. Always take one of the "express" streamlined
buses. Costa Rica actually offers several. We took the Tica bus from Granada,
Nicaragua to Liberia, Costa Rica. Bus personnel collect your passports and documentation and you are
streamlined through Immigration and Customs. This was a much more pleasant and cheaper
way to go. We were so pleased and
excited that our dear friends and next door neighbors from Tiburon , Ron and Melanie, were coming for a visit.
As they were only going to be with us for a quick visit and it was their first time in Costa Rica, we struggled to
find the perfect setting. Kim gets all the credit for finding the Blue River Resort. Although after a very difficult and rocky 90 minute drive from the Liberia airport, we were all
very skeptical when we pulled into the resort. We were relieved to learn that the first building was the
maintenance barn and employee common area. The cabins turned out to be modern, spacious,comfortable and spotless.
The resort offered everything you expect in Costa Rica- beautiful botanical gardens, nature walks,
hummingbird feeding area, mariposa (butterfly) reserve, horseback riding, tubing, waterfalls, zip line. mud baths, natural
sauna and hot spring pools and howling monkeys. The problem was deciding what to do!
When we first arrived, there were only two other guests. After all, it is the rainy season. Mel and I proved
to be the most adventuresome as we opted to see the waterfalls from above- on
the zip line. We both loved it and got a check mark on our bucket lists. We all took
full advantage of the gardens, the wildlife, the hot springs and more than one cerveza. Our
time together was too short, but saying good-bye was easier since we know we will be home soon. We took advantage
of Marce and Jack's hospitality once more as we drove back . We are now back on Georgia and chomping at the bit to get
started home. Our yacht transport company, Seven Star, has continuously been posting delays.
Nothing too serious..YET. Kim has already launched into the boat projects made possible by the parts
brought by Ron and Mel. We will get those tasks done well before we leave. We are eager to be on our way once
more! S/v Georgia J Still moored at Land &
Sea, Golfito, Costa Rica
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| On the road to Blue River |
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| Mariposa at Blue River |
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| Resort botanical gardens |
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| Hummingbird meal time |
Road
Trip: Quepos and Manuel Antonio As we said we have enjoyed our time in Golfito but it was definitely
time to get out of Dodge! So we set off for sight seeing and visiting friends. We arranged
for Tim, owner if Land and Sea, to babysit Georgia so we felt very comfortable leaving for a couple of weeks. Our first stop was in
Quepos, Costa Rica where we stayed with our good friends , Marce and Jack (http://escapevelocity.mobi/). Still mastless, they seemed happy for a diversion while they waited for their delivery. Our
first day we had lunch in a rather unique restaurant. It is housed in a plane formerly used by the CIA
to supply the Contras. Clearly a tourist place, the food was good, the staff was nice and the view was
stunning. Whales obligingly performed for us during lunch. Day 2, we hiked in Manuel
Antonio Park. This is one place where a tour guide is a must. Without the guide's
knowledge and especially his high powered scope, we would have never seen the wealth of wildlife. He even
helped us use our IPhone to take pictures through the scope. On the hike, we met four very nice people
from Mexico City who have all now been invited to San Francisco. Next day, we said good-bye to Marce and Jack (knowing we would see
them again on our return) and started the next leg. Nicaragua here we come...
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| Manuel Antonio hike |
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| Mom and kid |
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| Sloth via telescope and iphone |
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| CIA plane with menu |
Change of PlansFor the first
time in 3.5 years, Kim and I are both been ready to go home at the same time. Kim will
tell you I only wanted to go home when it was geographically impossible. Motivated by our tenants'
decision to move out at year end instead of next June, we started to look at all of our options. For the
past year, we have been dreading taking Georgia all the way home, assured of the Gulf of Tehuantepec winds and the rigors
of the Baja Bash. To our surprise not one, but two yacht transport companies have planned pick ups here
in Golfito next month. Kim did a masterful job playing the companies against each other to get the price
down. We are now planning to use Seven Star (the company we used before ) to ship the
boat from here to Ensenada, Mexico, leaving between October 15-20. Originally, we thought we would
wait until after the first of the year to take Georgia to Tiburon. Assuming the ship is close to being
on time, we now hope to take Georgia home before Thanksgiving. Can you tell we are ready
to go home?
Although, Golfito is not on anyone's top picks for places to visit, we are enjoying
our time here. The people are extremely nice and we have an inexpensive place to moor Georgia.
We are however getting a bit of cabin fever. This week we start a big road trip. We
will stop in Quepos to re-connect with our friends, Marce and Jack and to visit Emanuel Antonio Park.
We are then going to Nicaragua for 4 days. We are very excited that our friends,
Ron and Mel from home are coming down for a visit. We plan to head to a river resort and hot springs with them.
By the time we return, it will be time to focus on getting the boat ready to load. As I said this is a change of plans,
but one we feel great about. s/v Georgia
J- Still in Golfito, Costa Rica
Sharon's
Blog 9/11/14: We had a fabulous week with our nephew,
Jeremy our niece, Carlee, and our little niece, Emma. This was the first time we had met Emma, and at first she was very wary of Kim.
However, Uncle Popeye won her over. We moved off the boat for most of the week,
renting a villa directly across the street where Georgia is moored. We took in all of the local sites, botanical gardens, a jungle hostel,
ancient spheres of unknown origin , a ferry ride to Puerto Jimenez and majestic vistas from the
mountain top. Jeremy and Carlee both said their favorite outing was the overnight we
spent on Georgia J. This gave them a true picture of how we have been living
the past 3.5 years. We were very sad to see them go, but so grateful for our very special time together. s/v Georgia J- Still in Golfito, Costa Rica
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| Emma was a great joy to meet |
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| Over Golfito Bay |
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| Friendly Ferry to Jimenez |
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| Botanical Garden |
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| Searching the jungle for monkeys |
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Sharon’s Blog 8/29/14 Rain, Gallo Pinto, Broken Electronics and New Friends We
have been in Costa Rica almost three weeks and have become acclimated to our new surroundings quickly, despite our almost
daily deluge of rain. Forewarned, we have still been surprised at how expensive things are here.
For the first 5 days, we paid marina prices (for a marginal marina) exceeding what we paid in the Med.
We only pulled into the marina because Georgia desperately needed a thorough washing and we has some work to get done.
As soon as we could, we moved about 100 yards and picked up a mooring. Land and Sea is a funky little “yacht club”, run by a couple of Americans who have been here for 20+ years. It
is the kind of place that has potlucks every Wednesday and an honor system for the beers. The place has
a good vibe and is a fraction of the price. The work we needed to get done has exponentially increased
as we have been losing major electronics at an alarming rate. Just before leaving Panama for here, our
radar stopped working. Shortly thereafter, our VHF radio and our helm chart plotter have all died.
Gremlins? Maybe, bad news certainly. Our efforts to ship the
radar dome to the States for repair were almost comical. Golfito is a very small town. With
no Mailboxes Etc. or DHL office, getting a large box and packing materials became a major ordeal. We ended
up building a box from 10 grocery store boxes and using cut up swimming noodles and rags for packing material.
We also used almost two complete rolls of duct tape. The folks at Garmin will get a major chuckle
when they open that box. A 6:00 am trip to the airport and paying freight more than a passenger seat completed
this process. Sadly we repeated this only a few days later with the chart plotter We have
found the Costa Ricans, Ticos, very friendly and helpful. We both love gallo pinto (black beans and rice)
although maybe not three times a day. Additionally, I am crazy about fresh palmito (hearts of palm).
The fruits and vegetables here are a welcome change from what we have been seeing. We got here just
in time for the monachino season, which is a new fruit for us. The best thing thus far has been making
some new friends. Marce and Jack, from Escape Velocity, have become good friends very quickly. They have had more than their share of problems, being dismasted
450 miles offshore from the Galapagos. Fortunately, they neither lost the boat nor were hurt, but have
had a continuing battle with Costa Rican Customs while working through the many tasks related to their insurance claim.
They left us a couple of days ago for the boat yard to await their new mast. We plan to catch up
with them again soon. See their blog at http://escapevelocity.mobi/ for an amazing tale of the mast disaster and bureaucratic nightmare.
We are very excitedly waiting
for our nephew, Jeremy, his wife, Carlee and daughter Emma who arrive tomorrow. They will have a
real Central American experience, as Golfito is the real deal. WE can’t wait! S/V
Georgia J, Moored at Land and Sea, Golfito, Costa Rica
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| Golfito is pretty rainy |
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| Georgia J at Land & Sea |
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| Monachinos |
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| Crocodiles make this river a poor swimming hole |
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| Overlooking Golfito with Jack |
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