Tag Archives: living on a boat

Big Cats, Monkeys, Birds and Waterfalls: La Paz Nature Preserve and Waterfalls

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Our tour continued after the Doka Coffee Plantation.  Oscar, our driver drove us an hour to the La Paz Waterfall Garden and Nature Preserve.  Originally, we were all excited about the waterfall tour, but as we entered the facility, our interests quickly shifted to the animals.

Aviary

The tour started in the bird aviary where toucans, pavas, scarlet macaws, grosbeaks, and many others fly freely.  This aviary is a refuge for wild birds that have either been captured illegally by hunters and confiscated by the government or donated by owners.  Many of the birds lack the basic skills to survive and the wild on their own.

La Paz Water Garden and Nature Preserve

La Paz Water Garden and Nature Preserve

Butterfly Observatory

Is an enclosed structure that allows over 20 different species of butterflies to soar freely.  We mostly saw the blue monarchs, but they were all gorgeous.

Butterflies surrounding me with joy

Butterflies surrounding me with joy

Flora everywhere

There were an assortment of breath taking flora around the park as well.

Flora at La Paz

Flora at La Paz

Hummingbird Observatory

La Paz boasted of a monkey, hummingbird, and snake sanctuaries as well.  The monkeys were just not as exciting as the ones we met in the wild, but still fun.  The hummingbird Garden was beautiful and offered a rare chance to see these skittish creatures in front of your face.

Can you see the beautiful green breasted hummingbird below?

Beautiful Hummingbird Enjoying Nectar

Beautiful Hummingbird Enjoying Nectar

Casita De la Paz

Is a reproduction built using only the tools available to the average farmer a century ago.  Inside they offered fresh cow milk cheese and hot tea.  Matt joined me for a photo op with an ox-driven cart, even though we passed on the joy ride.

Casita La Paz

Casita La Paz

Jungle Cats

One of my favorite stops was the jungle cat exhibit.  This is the newest exhibit and it is considering temporary at the moment.  We saw Ocelots, jaguardundi and Margays.

Big Cats at La Paz Sanctuary

Big Cats at La Paz Sanctuary

Waterfalls

Monica and Oscar took the van and drove around to the bottom of the falls where they met us after our hike.  The walk down the waterfalls was a 45 minute walk down hundreds of stairs which would have been too challenging for Monica.

As Matt and I began our descent, we quickly came across the first waterfall called Magia Blanca Waterfall which was 120’ tall.  This trail took us through the La Paz river along the rainforest showing the diversity of the plant and wildlife.

The other two waterfalls are Encantada Waterfall at 65’ and Escondida Waterfall at 10’.  They were beautiful and refreshing.    We had a little fun with each of them.

Waterfalls at La Paz

Waterfalls at La Paz

It had been a really long day.  It took us 2 hours to drive back into town where Oscar dropped Matt and I off at La Puesta Del Sol and took Monica back to Croc’s.  We had a quick beverage, caught our water taxi back to the boat and were unpacking as another boat stopped by.

Manu Kai is a beautiful 56’ catamaran that is part of the Panama Posse.  They invited us over for a cold drink to share stories. Super nice family, Thor and Tanya with a 16 year old son, Tristan and 12 year old daughter Sienna.

All Day Tour Included:

  • Transportation (2.5 hours each way)
  • Breakfast
  • Doka Coffee Plantation
  • Lunch
  • La Paz Water Garden and Nature Preserve
  • Stop at a tienda to buy fresh strawberries, local cheese, and blackberries
Wind Gauge Showing wind on the Nose and Low Speed

Quepos to Bahia Herradura

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Matt and I enjoyed a “lazy” morning and took our time pulling up the anchor.  Our destination, Bahia Herradura was less than 40 miles away so we were not in a hurry.  We pulled up the hook around 0715 and slowly made our way north. It was another uneventful trip, on a beautiful day with no wind.  It seems when we do have wind it is on our nose.  But, today, we didn’t have wind or direction.

Sugar Shack Motoring Along in Flat Seas

Sugar Shack Motoring Along in Flat Seas

Blowing on the nose – the wind is barely a breeze at 2.2 knots.  The speed is shown under the arrow.

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We swung by Playa Hermosa to see if we could find a dinghy dock or safe landing for “Sweetie” but we didn’t.  I thought it would have been great to stay here as I lived in Hermosa Beach in California for 8 years.  But it was not meant to be.  We also swung into Jaco Beach (pronounced Haco) where Monica is staying but there was nothing but hotels and resorts on a long sandy beach.

So, onward to our original destination of Bahia Herradura.  We anchored in front of the very ritzy marina called Los Suenos Marina.  This is a 200-slip marina that was the first government approved marina in Costa Rica.  The 1-mile wide bay was actually developed for the marina and resort.  It is really swanky!!!!

Bahia Herradura is a really pretty dark sand beach that runs the width of the bay and is populated with several eateries and bars.  However, there is no dinghy dock and no place to land the dinghy where she would be safe for extended periods of time.  Crime is prevalent in this area and we’ve been told to be extra vigilant.  So, we headed to the marina to see what they had to offer.

Los Suenos Marina and Bahia Herradura Beach

Los Suenos Marina and Bahia Herradura Beach

We took the dinghy in to the Marina breakwater (without calling security), motored around the docks before we found the fuel dock.  A very nice man from the marina came to meet us and informed us that we have to either call on the phone or the radio to the marina office.  I was perplexed as I just wanted to walk in to talk to them in person, but he was not having any of it.  He called the office and put me on the phone with them.

Evidently, everyone is supposed to call on the radio before entering the breakwater, we did not know to do that.  They were willing to let us leave our dinghy at their dock for a mere $100 per day (yes, that is U.S.) or we could pull the big boat into a slip at $3.95 per foot x 50% which comes out to $277 per day.  We get charged an extra 50% because we are a double wide (catamaran).  Do you remember when we stayed at Vista Mar Marina (VMM) for $25 per day?  Granted, VMM is really cheap as they are trying to attract new business, but Los Suenos is ridiculously expensive.  They are almost full to capacity with million-dollar fishing boats so they don’t need our business and it is apparent.

After I hung up the phone looking dejected, the nice man told us about a water taxi.  You can hail Zapatilla on VHF 69 and he will transport you to and from your boat for $20 a day.  That’s much cheaper, but still crazy expensive considering we are only ½ mile away from the beach.  Convenience and cost won out.  We called, they came to pick us up and we walked to shore, down the beach and to the marina.

The marina does have beautiful facilities including several restaurants, banks, salon, spa, liquor store, chandlery, market, gelato, car rental and tourist stores with clothes and trinkets.  Of course, everything is really pricey.  After we were done snooping, we walked over to the Marriott Los Suenos Beach Resort from the marina via this really pretty, live tree tunnel – the entire place was pretty swanky.

Marriott Los Suenos Live Tunnel

Marriott Los Suenos Live Tunnel

We stopped in at a soda, a local eatery for lunch and met Adriana who is the owner’s daughter.  She gave us all sorts of tips, tours, and contacts for taxi drivers.  A huge score!

Passage Details:

  • Total Miles: 9
  • Total Time: 6:43
  • Max Speed: 7.8
  • Average Speed: 5.6
Vista Mar Marina pool

Isla Otoque and Vista Mar Marina

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Instead of sailing 44 miles straight to Vista Mar Marina, we decided to stop at Isla Otoque.  This island is about 20 miles from La Playita and has two villages Otoque Occidente and Otoque Oriente.  Just a mile away from Isla Otoque is a very, very small island called Isla Bona which used to have an industrial operation in the past, but only remenants of heavy equipment are left behind.

It was a fairly quick motor over to Isla Otoque as there was no wind.  We swung into Isla Bona first as it looked really pretty in our guide book.  However, the wind and current direction made for a bad swell so we decided to head back to Isla Otoque.  There was one fishing boat, close to shore at the entrance.  It was a huge bay, so we selected a spot closer to shore and on the opposite side of the bay.  There is not much on the island other than old, broken down equipment that we could see from shore.  We hung out on the boat, had a great rice bowl dinner with chicken, rice, corn, diced toms, chipotle peppers, black beans and cilantro – YUM!

In the morning, we headed to Vista Mar Marina where we are to drop off our old batteries and meet up with “Itchy Foot.”  It is 22 miles from Isla Otoque to Vista Mar Marina, and to our great surprise, it was a perfect beam reach.  We were thrilled to unfurl our jib and hoist our main.  Just enough wind to keep us going at a steady 7 knots with an occasional 8 or 9 knots.  There is nothing like the feeling of sailing in perfect conditions.  The sun on our back, the wind on our face, and the beautiful sound of the ocean lapping around us.

We arrived too quickly for our liking as we were having fun – 3.5 hours.  We were tempted to turn around and do it again, but alas we had things to do.  The water drops to about 9 meters about 3 miles from the breakwater.  As you get closer it drops to 4 meters.  Very strange.  We decided to fuel up first, so the marina met us at the fuel dock.  Pretty painless and fairly reasonable at $3 per gallon. (about $.20 cheaper than La Playita).

Photo courtesy of Vista Mar Marina

Photo courtesy of Vista Mar Marina

Vista Mar Marina

Vista Mar Marina

After we pulled into a slip, secured the boat, and said hello to Jon and Mia, I headed to the office.  We only decided to pay for a slip because it is really inexpensive.  We thought about anchoring outside, but having access to free water, wifi, and electricity was too good to pass up.  It turned out to be $25 per night ($.50/foot).  Keep in mind that we normally pay $2-$2.50 per foot plus an additional 50% because we are a double wide.  So, this is really cheap.  They are trying to attract more boats to their marina, since they are new.  With rates likes this it is hard to say “no.”  We know of 4 other boats here: Itchy Foot, Freya (from San Blas Islands), Iris, and Kefe.

We headed to the pool to cool off and have a beer with Jon, Mia and Teo (Itchy Foot) and enjoyed a nice sunset.  The top pool is about 2′-4′ and has a nice negative edge overlooking the marina.  The bottom pool / jacuzzi is RED which looks like a pool full of blood in the photo, but in real life it is actually interestingly pretty.

Vista Mar Marina Pools

Vista Mar Marina Pools

The next morning, Mia and I went for a walk and then enjoyed a little noodling in the pool.  I used the water aerobic / noodle routine we did in Bonaire.  The book was written by a fellow cruiser, Awilda (“Willie”) Haskins called “Noodling at Sea.”

Matt took this opportunity to wash down the boat with the pressure washer and fresh water.  He also swapped out our old batteries with the new which was no easy task.  Trying to manuever 90lb blocks within the settee proved to be a challenge, but he got the job done and they are working like a charm!

IMAGE: Top photo is of the old battery bank. Middle photo is the old batteries (gray), with the honda generator and the new batteries (black).  Bottom is the new battery bank installed and working.

Swapping out the house batteries

Swapping out the house batteries

We dropped off two of our older batteries to “White Shadow” (Barry is visiting friends in London), and the marina took care of disposing the other 5 batteries.  We kept one for emergencies.  The marina also took away our old window coverings that had yellowed and ceased being “presentable” and old defunct honda generator.

We finished cleaning and putting oil on our teak sugar scoops and they look lovely, finished our fruit, helped “Itchy Foot” with their rigging, cleaned up the boat, more noodling and pool time.

Sugar Scoops cleaned up with a new coat of teak oil.

Sugar Scoops cleaned up with a new coat of teak oil.

A group of us went to dinner at the local restaurant called “Boga Bar” with Jon, Mia (Itchy Foot), Johana, Timlo (Iiris), and John, Becca.  Not my favorite place, the food was average to poor and it was pricey, but the company was first class.  Top image is the bar and bottom image is Mia and I having a tasty cocktail.

Boga Bar dinner with good friends.

Boga Bar dinner with good friends.

COMING UP NEXT:

  • 150 mile passage around Panama Point
  • Exploring dozens of small islands between Panama and Costa Rica
  • Costa Rica