So the last post finished off November and here we are in December, still in El Coco, Costa Rica.
A few days in I’m just hanging around, going into town basically every day, enjoying the heat and the slight letup of humidity. It’s around 75% daily here now instead of the 85% it had been. I check the weather nearly every day online and so it was easy to spot the downward trend. But even that lower humidity was often uncomfortable. There were times in the mid-afternoon that I couldn’t stand it any more and retreated to my bedroom with the AC running. But these daily bike rides were fun. And sometimes in the late evening we’d get a breeze off the ocean. But unlike Mazatlan, they were few and far between and didn’t last long.
Here’s a shot of that tree again. I backed up this time for a long range shot.
Nice harbor. Lots of sailboats and private launches.
Here’s where I got reminded of the catamaran cruises. I zoomed in my camera on this big ship off in the distance and then it hit me when I noticed that catamaran. HEY, there are cat cruises here in the bay! Back in Sept while planning this trip I had found them online. With that reminder, when I got home, grabbed my tablet, did a local search and soon bought a ticket for a cruise. More on that later.
Here’s a map of the town. As you can see, it’s not that big of a town.
As you drive towards the beach using the main road into town, the road splits and this comical statue is there at the split. I passed it many times biking from the beach up to CocoNutz. Never saw a shark fin out in the bay though I suppose they’re out there.
Later I was hanging out at CocoNutz and this woman sat next to me with a puppy. Who can resist. Got to hold it a while.
My cruise wasn’t for 3 days so I just hung out and rode my bike to the beach every day. Relaxing.
Remember that big tree, well, according to the cruise guideline, we were all supposed to meet there on the departure date and time and the crew would pick us up. Got there plenty early and sat at the tree. Nothing happening. Nobody came by to ask if I was going on the cruise. No clutch of tourists lining up anywhere near. No boat had landed directly out front. It got to be less then 10 minutes from departure time and I got up and walked to the beach where I could see a boat had beached itself and people lining up to get aboard around 100 feet north from the tree. WTF? That was the only beached boat at the time so I walked over and asked. Sure enough, that was the cruise. The other people were all picked up at their various hotels and delivered right to the launch area. Me? They had no idea I was over by the tree where the instructions said I was to be picked up. Fuk. Almost missed my cruise. Really doubt there would be a refund coming if I had. More proof you really need to have situational awareness wherever you travel. Showed them the receipt I had on my phone and they let me board.
The crew is very helpful when you’re scrambling aboard the launch and when you board the cat. They only sail during good weather but there are still swells hitting the beach and moving the boat out in the bay.
And here’s the cruise cat…
As soon as we boarded the boat, we were required to remove our shoes and sandals and drop them on a giant shoe pile. I did wear strap on sandals so I wasn’t slipping around all over like if I’d worn flip-flops (not allowed anyway). And so, soon we were underway…
Pretty soon we are off headed north using the boats engines.
Very nice boat, lots of family groups with some younger adults aboard but mostly older folks like myself. No kids though. Open bar with several adult beverages available, I had a pina colada and then switched to margarita and then to beer as the trip progressed. The bartender did the right thing and reduced the amount of alcohol in the hard drinks as the trip wore on. I appreciated that.
Here’s the boat’s captain.
We’re going to sail around this point and into a secluded bay area.
I made some sailing friends. Found out they were part of a travel group enjoying a couple weeks in CR. They had come with the group from the hotels, picked up by a shuttle so didn’t need to form a que at the tree.
Small cruise ship in the harbor of this remote bay we passed heading north. And note the big cranes? They’re building another massive hotel over there. First the cruise ships find a nice cove to hang out at for a short while and then the hotels move in.
And then in the next cove, we dropped anchor and people were invited to swim. Because of my eye, I declined of course.
Crew said that there are boat excursions into some of these shoreline caves, but it wasn’t them.
Here we’re anchored for fun and frolicking.
Some jungle.
Interesting shore line I thought. Just think if you were running from the law, you could hide out here for weeks and no one would find you.
Frolickers! Right there!
There’s the landing crew and the rafters. Several fun things to do, swimming, snorkeling, rafting, boat excursion to the jungle. I really should have been with the landing crew. Dammit.
I do regret not taking the launch over to shore to explore some of the jungle. I was too slow deciding about jumping into the water or not while considering my eye issue and the launch left soon after we anchored, without me. Shortly after we arrived and anchored, I decided swimming wasn’t worth the risk to my eye. By then it was too late to join the landing party.
The cove was fairly remote and I didn’t see any other boats, people, or buildings anywhere near.
And then it was time to head back. So everyone climb back aboard. I do NOT recall them doing a head count or sounding the horn so if you go on one of these trips, you’re on your own so if you miss the return launch or swim too far away, you’re screwed until the next day.
One of the family group members tries her hand at sailing.
We got a bit closer to the cruise ship on the way to port.
Once away from the coves, the sails were unfurled and we sail back with the engine shut off.
And we approached El Coco bay right around sunset.
And here’s a series of sunset pictures you don’t see every day. It was really nice on the boat and watching it was a treat. The sailboat in the middle distance set it off nicely.
Then turned around and watched moonrise for a while.
And we get back underway and head into shore. This trip was titled ‘Sunset Cruise’.
 
Okay, time to park the cat, get the launch ready, and it makes several trips back to shore loaded with passengers each trip.
Eventually I’m sitting in the launch and a guy walks up, points to the sandals I am holding that I grabbed from the pile and tells me they are his. In my haste I’d grabbed the wrong sandals. So I had to climb back aboard and search for my (better) sandals. Glad the guy caught that.
The entire sailing adventure was calming, fun, interesting. Well worth the $100 cost for 4 hours. And free open bar. Anyway, they dropped us off on the beach and since it was nightfall and I can’t see well in the dark with my eye problem, I headed straight home in the dusk…but the bright moon made up for the lack of sun.
Thank you, come again.