Surf's up in Costa Rica
Trip Start
Mar 04, 2008
1
19
20
Trip End
Ongoing
Jaco,
Province of Puntarenas,
Costa Rica
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Well I survived the boat trip from Columbia to Panama (just about), stayed in Panama city for a couple of days and caught a flight to Bocas del Toro on the coast of Panama and now I'm finally in Costa Rica, my last destination, well for this trip anyway, ha ha!!
The boat from Cartagena to Panama was an interesting one to say the least. We waited in Cartagena from 12 noon till 6pm for the captain to sort himself out and finally get clearance from immigration, in between all that we had a visit from the port authorities to see how many people were on board, 6 beds, 7 people the guy asked, how does that work?? The captain started scratching his head, "oh I will be sleeping on deck" No you wont!! So we argued, well the captain argued and the guy eventually gave in and let us go on our way! While all that was happening, Gene was stocking the boat up with alcohol, enough for 5 days Gene said
Colon, bocas del toro, Panama
. So with 96 beers and 5 bottles of rum on board we set sail for Panama. It wasn't long before we hit the high waves of the Caribbean seas and that was it for me, I was literally hanging over the edge getting rid of what ever I had eaten that day! I was joined by most of the crew except Gene who kept on drinking. That was the key he said!! The next day I didn't leave my bed for fear of getting even more sick. Everyone else seemed to get better and the food was going down well, and the warm beers! We came across dolphins and even that couldn't move me from my bed. The next day we arrived at the sandblas islands and it was all worth it. Beautiful deserted islands in the middle of the Caribbean sea. We anchored up and I would say I was one of the 1st off the boat on to dry land. We had the whole island virtually to ourselves so we set about getting wood for a fire and preparing our patch for our island party. We cooked on the boat that night and sailed back to the island, Sam, one of the lads had a fiddle, once that came out, the craic started and we had a great sing song into the wee ours. Later on we all just lay under the stars listening to the waves crashing next to us, it was heaven. The next morning we woke to an English breakfast cooked by Sam which was fantastic, we were joined later on by some of the local Kuna tribe who were selling various hand made crafts. Gene was straight over with a beer and some rum for the leader and he was very happy
Irish Pirate, Gene
. Apparently they would get very annoyed if you have been eating their coconuts, we had 3 or 4 the day before, but the beer and rum helped us out. We then sailed to a ship wreck about a half an hour away, we all grabbed the snorkel gear and swam around the wreck which was amazing. Then it was on to immigration island as they call it, to get our stamps for Panama, nothing here except the immigration office, a runway and one restaurant which unfortunately for us closed when we got there. We decided that night to sail overnight to Panama rather than wait the next day. To be honest I think we all couldn't wait to get off the boat. We arrived into Panama in the wettest conditions we had all seen for a while, pouring it down! We hopped off the boat to seek our hostel and find a restaurant for some wholesome food.
The boat trip was grand, the boat itself was a bit cramped, food was non existent and the captain turned out to be a bit of an arse. Had it not been for the people on board, it would have been terrible. Gene had me in fits of laughter the whole trip, he was crazy.
We stayed in Panama city for 2 days and I wasn't really that impressed with it. The thing that really struck me was how Americanised everything was, MacDonald's on every corner and all the main retail shops you would normally see in any American city. We caught a flight from Panama city to a group of islands on the coast called Bocas del Toro. We opted to stay in Bastementos for a couple of nights, really laid back atmosphere here, nice beaches and good treks if you feel up to it. We did feel a little intimidated by the locals here though as we seemed to be the only westerners on the island at the time. We moved to the main island called Colon the day after, it was much more livelier and it seemed to be where the parties where
Our very own Island, Sandblas
. And when the Irish arrived the party begun, ha ha !! From Colon we hopped on a boat to the main land and then onto a bus to the Panama/Costa Rican border. I stopped off a little hippy village called Puerto Viejo and Gene and Gillian continued onto San Jose for their flight back to Ireland. I spent the next couple of days chilling out and trying to get back on the surf board. The waves here were quite big and strong so it was a wee bit hard to say the least. Eventually I mastered it and spent a couple of hours each day. I spent 4 nights there and then made my way to San Jose for a stop over before making my way down the pacific side of Costa Rica to little town called Jaco or Ha-co as the locals call it, which is where I am now. I say Jaco is a small town for now, in 5 years time this will be an altogether different place, there are plans for 8 x 25 floor condo suites all along the beach which will be a shame. I have spent the last couple of days surfing which has been great, I managed to find the right board and have been really enjoying it! Bit of a laugh, I was out in the water yesterday and I saw fins circling me, at first I thought dolphin, then shark, to say I was planking myself is an understatement!! I soon discovered that they were manter rays, "harmless" a kiwi guy later told me laughing his head off when I told him. So today I was out and I was hitting manter ray everytime I was paddling.
I'm leaving Jaco tomorrow for Man Antonio and Dominical, down the coast
Sandblas Islands
. I'm then going to make my way back up to the north Pacific coast of Mal Pais and onto Tamirindo. Then it will be back to San Jose via Monteverde for my flight back!! Its gone quick. Thanks to everyone for all the emails and best wishes over the past nearly 6 months, hope to catch up with you all when I get back.
Take care,
Mark
Comments
....
mate, that all sounds amazin, like somethin out of a fillem ;) especially the bit where your mate whips out his fiddle... hope alls good, enjoy rippin up the surf, you're more than welcome to drop by ciren for a few swift pints when ya get back. laters
Awesome!!
Hi Mark, what a fantastic trip...I bet your pleased that you took the plunge and did it!!! Great reading, great photos...Brilliant. :-)