Volcan Poás

We wanted to see Volcan Poás, but we'd heard that clouds obscure it by noon each day so the best viewing is very early in the morning. We left our lodge at 8:15 and started the 20 minute drive with clouds already creeping over the hills so I was a little worried that we'd already missed it.

A little about parking in Costa Rica:

There seems to be some sort of rule in Costa Rica about backing into parking spaces. And it seems parking attendants have a really strong union, because they are always there gesturing with hand signals how to turn your wheels to get you exactly aligned. Like we don't have mirrors? And don't know how to back in? It's just weird.

Anyway.

When we got to the gate the ranger said the volcano was still visible, so we hurried up the path to the overlook. Even though the elevation is over 8000 feet, we made good time and arrived about 9:00am.

And this is what we saw.

The crater is almost a mile wide and a thousand feet deep and contains a boiling sulphuric lake that frequently shoots up geysers of hot water (phreatic eruptions). This volcano is still active and has had more than a dozen phreatic eruptions since 2014. The lake is the second most acidic lake in the world with a Ph of near zero. It continually emits sulphuric fumes which kill all vegetation directly downwind from the crater.

We had barely been there long enough to take a few photos when the clouds rolled in at 9:12. And just like that, the show was over for the day.

We hung around a while hoping the clouds would part again, but they never did. We talked to one person who had been there three times and never seen the crater, so we felt really lucky to see it for those twelve short minutes.

On the walk back to the Visitor Center we took pictures of flowers...

and goofed around with the Poor Man's Umbrella plant, Gunnera insignis. Their huge leaves were indeed used as umbrellas by the ancient people. We have seen these in Golden Gate Park, but they don't allow you to crawl under them there. Too bad, because it was fun.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens

If I had to recommend just one place to visit in Costa Rica it would be La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Set high in the rain forest near Poás Volcano, it's a wonderland of typical Costa Rican birds and animals.

The grounds look like Jurassic Park only with more flowers. The wide paved paths made it easy for the Captain to walk the whole park in his still-recuperating condition. Plenty of signs in both Spanish and English made it simple to find our way around.

Our first stop was the aviary. Inside were several species of birds and a few cages with special birds like raptors, macaws, and toucans.

When we were in Golfito a year and a half ago, I got all excited when I glimpsed a fiery-billed aracari in the wild, but I was ecstatic here because you get to hold the toucans!

These are Chestnut-Mandibled toucans, one of the two large toucans in Costa Rica. They seemed quite tame and readily came to the handlers for a treat. It could be because all the birds in this park were either pets or injured at one time, so they are used to humans.

Such charming birds with their fancy plumage and friendly ways. It was the highlight of the park for me.

There were also lots of these Black Bellied Whistling Ducks wandering around. They too seemed very nonchalant towards humans.

The frogs of Costa Rica were well represented too with four different tree frogs and three poison dart frogs. Did you know that tree frogs are nocturnal? We didn't but felt lucky that this little guy woke up and said hello for a few minutes.

The most un-nerving exhibit was the cats and especially this jaguar. When we walked by he slowly opened his eyes, stretched and yawned, then settled down again; the whole time keeping his eyes on us. I was thankful that I could have outrun Malcolm if I'd had to.

They also had a little farm exhibit with these oxen hitched to a colorful traditional cart and a milking and cheese making demonstration.

There was also a butterfly garden, a hummingbird area, a snake exhibit, a trout fishing area, a restaurant, and a gift shop. So, as I said, if there's only one place you can visit in Costa Rica, I would recommend La Paz Waterfall Gardens because they have everything a tourist wants to see all in a beautiful setting.

Butterflies Everywhere

If there is one thing that Costa Rica is famous for, it's butterflies. They are depicted everwhere: on t-shirts, purses, and all kinds of souvenirs. But the best way to enjoy them is in a special butterfly garden. We have toured three butterfly gardens in as many days and it is absolutely delightful to walk amongst these beautiful creatures. Some are so laid-back they will actually walk onto your finger for a selfie.

One of the interesting things about these gardens is the racks full of crysalises. We've seen many newborn butterflies here.

We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

Blue-banded Purplewing, Myscelia cyaniris

Malachite, Siproeta stelenes

The Owl, Caligo eurilochus

Blue Morpho, Morpho peleides

Emerging from the chrysalis

The bottom side of the Owl shows how it got its name.

Orange barred Sulpher, Phoebis philea

Malachite, Siproeta stelenes feasting on fermenting fruit.

For more information, click this site:

http://www.waterfallgardens.com/butterflies.php

Doka Estate Coffee Tour

The Captain was released by his surgeon on Monday, so Tuesday morning we checked out of the hotel near the hospital, rented a car, and drive up to Doka Estate for a coffee tour.

We were greeted with a tiny iced coffee and promptly joined a tour group. Harvest starts in October so our timing was perfect for seeing the ripe cherries and witnessing the drying process.

First our guide showed us the baby Arabica plants. Only Arabica plants are allowed in Costa Rica because they are the best and Costa Rica wants to produce only the finest coffee.

The trees start producing at about three years of age and are replaced at twenty-five years as their production starts decreasing. This tree was loaded with beautiful red cherries.

The cherries are harvested several times during the harvest season; the first few times just the red ones, but eventually all of the cherries are stripped off. The red ones produce the best coffee.

Most of the coffee pickers come from nearby Nicaragua and are paid only $2.00 per cajuela (basket). The baskets look to hold about a bushel and weigh 28 pounds when full. Good pickers can fill a basket in 45 minutes , but that isn't much money for an eleven hour day in those muddy, sloping fields.

The cherries are brought to this processing plant where they cull out the bad ones, peel off the various coverings, sort them by size, and dry them in the sun. Winter is the dryer season here, but they still must pile up the beans quickly and cover them with plastic when it rains.

Doka Estates ships the dry beans out unroasted, but roasts some to sell in their gift shop. Below you see their products: breakfast blend, peaberry, French roast, expresso.

We also enjoyed lunch at Doka Estates and wandered their beautifully landscaped property. I was surprised to see so many hydrangeas; all blue. Boy, could I have a lovely garden here.

Snorkeling in the Guna Yala

I made these videos with the GoPro camera several weeks ago and although I was able to transfer them to the laptop to view and edit them, I was unable to upload them to YouTube. We finally got a new dongle last week so here they are.

In real life snorkeling is amazing. On my computer screen the videos are way cool. Once uploaded they lose some resolution. When viewed on a cell phone screen they are hardly worth the bother. Oh well, I'll keep trying anyway.

Sunken Boat at Dog Island

http://youtu.be/QlYvOoKk1S0

Schoolmaster Fish at Green Island

http://youtu.be/FCzL_nB3Ii4

The Lightning Strike

We had been anchored near Nuinudup for two nights - about where the monohull is in the center of the photo below. We had enjoyed swimming, snorkeling, and chatting with the local Kunas; Justino and his sister Ermelinda who we had met on a previous trip. (We had given him a cell phone and he stopped by to tell us he had gotten it to work with a new SIM card.)

There were at least ten other boats anchored all around us. It was a calm night, but about 12:30 we awoke to rain and got up to close the hatches. The rain became a deluge and we put the dinghy (which was suspended at deck level) in the water because it was quickly filling with rainwater. Lightning could be heard in the distance and it got closer and closer. Most of it was cloud-to-cloud, but some hit the surface of the sea.

                           

 

We stayed up watching, listening, and estimating the distance of the lightning from us. At about 2:00am I went back to bed and Malcolm was standing at the nav station when our boat got a direct hit. Malcolm immediately said, "We've been hit! There's smoke back here". Not only was there smoke, but some of the electronics had turned on by themselves.

We both started opening cupboards and floorboards to determine if there was a fire because the smell of burning electrical components was quite strong. After determining that there was no actual fire, we worked to evacuate the smoke and toxic fumes then tried to get some sleep.

We were up again at 5:30 (I don't think either of us actually slept) and proceeded to take inventory of the damage. We started at the top of the mast where Malcolm discovered that the VHF antenna was totally melted off and the mount was bent down at a 45 degree angle. He also found scorch marks on the coaxial cable. The tri-color light was cracked so he brought that down. The wind speed/point didn't work at all, so he brought that down too.

 

 

 THE REMAINS OF OUR VHF ANTENNA                               A NORMAL VHF ANTENNA

 

Next we inspected all the systems on the boat and discovered that the inverter was only putting out 30V instead of 120V. The old GPS was dead. Three expensive Caframo fans that hadn't been working right for some time now wouldn't work at all. We found the cause of all the smoke and smell. It was the shower sump sensor: it was black, bulging, and stinky. But the biggest bummer was that the autopilot didn't work.

 

We put new bulbs in the tricolor and it worked again. Malcolm removed the electronic switches from the Caframo fans and they worked again. We even went in the water and checked the hull; it needed cleaning anyway, and we usually scrub it about once a month. We couldn't see any damage and all the through-hulls worked properly. And the good news was that the main engine, generator, battery charger, water maker, refrigeration, pumps, small electronics, computer, chart plotter, depth sounder, and VHF radios still worked. And in the wonderful spirit of generosity that other cruisers display, a boat named Points Beyond gave us a handheld VHF and simply asked that we mail it back to them when we got ours repaired. So we intend to carry on to Cartegena, Columbia and make repairs there. We need to haul out for bottom paint and wait for the Caribbean cruising season anyway, so Cartegena, here we come.

________________________________________________________________________________________

 

So now we naturally wonder WHY US?

We are just an average cruising sailboat: 44' fiberglass monohull, aluminum mast with a 3' antenna at the top, chain rode, the usual number of electric gadgets aboard, nothing special. So why did the lightning hit us?

 

And why so little damage?

Could it be because our boat has huge copper straps wrapping around the inside of the hull bonding together all the through-hulls and ground wires? Could it be because the captain used eight million zip ties and all the wires are tightly bundled and secured?

I guess we will never know the answer to those questions, but you know what? I'm suddenly just a little gun shy when I hear a thunderstorm approaching!

Back to Panama City

After four pleasant days at the Las Perlas Islands, we are back at the Balboa Yacht Club.

Last Thursday we did some provisioning, filled the fuel tanks at Flamenco Marina, and left for Isla Contadora about noon. We arrived about 6pm and anchored in the south anchorage, Playa Cacique. After a leisurely dinner and some Phase 10, we all went to bed early. The next day we cleaned the waterline and dinghyed ashore for a well earned drink.

 

 

Saturday we wanted to visit Isla Bartolomé, where the Survivor tribal councils were filmed, so we moved to the north anchorage. It would have been a one mile dinghy ride into the wind and chop, so we scratched that idea, but we did go ashore again at Isla Contadora where the ferry lands. We walked around the island being tourists; buying souvenirs and frou-frou drinks. Below you see our boat anchored at Playa Galeon with Isla Bartolomé in the background.

 

 

Sunday we headed back towards Panama City under patchy clouds. I was below cooking breakfast when suddenly things started sliding towards the port side. I turned the stove off and got on deck just in time to see 25 knots on the wind speed indicator. Not good. So we quickly double reefed the main and pulled in the genoa. Allie said water was actually coming over the rail for a few seconds! Things calmed down soon though, and the remaining trip was uneventful.

 

 

However, when we arrived back at the Balboa Yacht Club, the mooring ball we had reserved was occupied by another boat. (There is a serious problem with mooring space in Panama. It's probably because the transient boats find it so difficult to know exactly when they will be there.) But we eventually found a mooring ball and went to the restaurant for our farewell dinner.

 

Early this morning we drove Allie to the airport. The remainder of our day was taken up with groceries, laundry, and returning the rental car. And now we start another phase of our stay here in Panama: boat maintenance. Stay tuned for those exciting details.

Tourists in Panama City

It's been a busy few days since Allie arrived. We have not only finished up our paperwork to get legally checked into the country, but we have also seen a few sights and reprovisioned the boat.

 

 

We walked through the BioMuseo and not only admired the striking architecture, but also this old Magnolia tree with its huge network of aerial roots.

 

 

 

 

We visited the Miraflores Locks one afternoon and watched the amazingly fast process of two ships being lowered down to the level of the Pacific Ocean.

 

 

 

We took a little walk through the Parque Natural Metropolitano and saw a toucan, some Jesus lizards, turtles, and lots of smaller birds.

 

We visited Casco Viejo and learned a little about the rich history of Panama. This old section of Panama is a wild blend of crumbling, squatter-filled buildings, historical sites and plazas, beautiful renovated buildings and trendy coffee houses, and souvenir shops selling Panama hats, molas, sundresses, and trinkets.

 

 

 

 

 

We have driven all over town including across the Bridge of the Americas and the Centennial Bridge, somehow finding our way in this throbbing mass of confusion that the Panamanians call traffic.

 

 

 

Now we plan to sail out to some nearby islands and enjoy some quiet time just swimming and lazing around. We will not have Internet again until Sunday, but will check in again then.