SAILING CAMELOT

Leaving behind Bahia Drake just before six in the morning, we set to circumnavigate the Osa Peninsula. It’s an all-day trip, should actually take a little over nine hours to be precise.

The day could be bordering on the boring, if it weren’t for the many squalls that precede us, follow us, accompany us and finally… get us!

These annoying rainstorms can last a few minutes or a few hours, sometimes even a few days. In our case, they were brief, but intense and numerous… Certainly not helping to keep our spirits up.

Our main distraction seems to be watching alternatively the ominous clouds -tracking their path visually- and watching our radar screen to follow them electronically. Yep, we can see the squalls on radar. They look pink, my least favorite color…

We get pretty soaked eventually, and are both grumpy because of that, but we’re making good speed and we’re soon entering Golfo Dulce.

Tracking squalls can be fun, if you don’t have anything better to do

The closest safe haven in the Gulf is Puerto Jimenez, so we make a beeline for that anchorage.

Boy, are we relieved once the anchor gets set! Even the sun finally tries to peek out, maybe just to make fun of us, who knows. Predictably, Tom declares : “I think it’s Beer Time”. Heck, he deserves one. Me, too, if I drank beer… Instead I settle for a chilled Diet Coke and feel in Heaven.

Puerto Jimenez in all its glory

The Ferry Dock. There is Ferry Service between Puerto Jimenez and Golfito.

Puerto Jimenez was a gold mining and logging town back in the 1960’s, before the protected habitat of the Corcovado National Park was created.

Now it serves as a very convenient base for Surfing trips, National Park excursions, Fishing expeditions, Mountain Biking and Kayaking. There’s a lot to choose from, regarding what to do here…

It is a thriving little town and even has its own quite busy little domestic airport. Flights get in and out many times a day.

We just happen to be anchored in front of it, apparently separated merely by a small copse of palm trees, judging by the proximity of the small “puddle-jumper” planes zipping by … Needless to say, watching take-offs and landings becomes my favorite pasttime.

Little Sansa-Air plane taking off

… And another one landing

The bay is flat calm – which we really appreciate, as it’s conducive to restful nights and better dispositions.

We spend two nights here and don’t even feel the need to leave the boat. We are mildly curious about the town, but not curious enough to warrant a trip ashore… Can you say “LAZY”? Besides, we can always return, maybe take a Ferry boat for a day trip…

There are talks of visiting the little bays further up the Gulf, but we’re both quite worried about our windlass (the device that electrically pulls up our chain and anchor). It has been giving us a few warning signs and we definitely need to check it out soon, as we certainly wouldn’t like it to fail on us with a long stretch of chain and an heavy anchor laying on the bottom of the sea…

So we unanimously decide to take a straight shot across the Golfo Dulce and aim for Golfito, maybe an hour’s trip from Puerto Jimenez.

Optical Illusion, but unnerving nonetheless. The sailboat’s name is “Life Is Good”