Navigating Costa Rica

I’ve sailed my entire life, in fact growing up on Cape Cod it’s pretty much a law for a kid in their teens to own a sailboat. In fact, I remember my dad helping me buy my first sunfish. I gave him the first thousand dollars he had saved in my life working summers and he came back with my new sunfish. I remember finding a two-wheeled handcart specially designed to hand-push sunfish onto the beach. It had a metal loop like the top half of a giant paper clip that went through the hole in the center stack with two inflatable scooter tires. Hooray, I was browsing.

I now live in Costa Rica and still love to sail and have the real fortune to sail in Costa Rica with a friend and several clients who have allowed me access to their boats. We recently did a wonderful sail to Ollie’s Point and around Papagayo in a beautiful 32 foot trimaran that really pulls if you know what I mean. The boat is so fast in the right winds that the dolphins were able to ride our bow wake like they do on motor boats. In fact, the wake, as I recall, assured me that we could have taken out at least 1 water skier. The man was that funny.

We were sailing at the end of the dry season in Costa Rica, which has a surreal beauty of its own. The transformation from the lush jungle to the dry foothills of California takes place in Guanacaste every year beginning in December and lasts about two months, as the jungle transforms from an impenetrable green carpet to a stark, dry, brown landscape of a desert covered with leafless trees. those of you unfamiliar with weather patterns in the world’s last dry rainforest (I know it sounds like a contradiction in terms, but bear with me). The rainy season (green) lasts from April to December, then the winds come out of the north. and the rain stops on a dime. A perpetual sun embraces the region for five months without normally raining a single drop. The days are beautiful and warm but definitely a delight for tourists. The sunny, dry season coincides perfectly with northern winters, making Costa Rica a very popular destination for snowbirds.

The best thing for boaters in Costa Rica is that at this time of year the northerly winds are strong and constant. On this really beautiful day we had a 15-20 knot northeasterly wind which allowed us to have a lot of fun with such a skinny lady and a captain who knew how to fit that boat.

We moor the boat in Playa del Coco for the after party that is always the custom after a day cruising Costa Rica. Fresh seafood, buckets of beers and a party atmosphere really were the perfect climax to a great day of sailing.