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Limerence Update # 30Septmeber 7, 2001 Herradura,
Costa Rica Los
Sueños Marina Lat. 9d39N Long.84d39S Within
several days we will throw off the dock lines and leave Costa Rica. We have enjoyed a
great summer with lots of time to explore Costa Rica from the central location of the Los
Sueños Marina. One of our favorite places is the Arenal Volcano that is the most active
volcano in Central America. It is magical to watch the volcano belch and explode in the
midst of a jungle paradise. We spent several days there last week saying “goodbye”
to Costa Rica by hiking the lava field and exploring the jungle in full bloom as a result
of the rainy season. We soaked in natural hot springs with orchids blooming all around,
and spotted beautiful trogon birds and flocks of green squawking parrots. Oh, and the
insects!! We saw our first tarantula . . . a
great hairy beast struggling across a dirt road over the rocks and through mud puddles
making his way into the bush. YIKES. In August, Doug spent ten days alone on Limerence doing boat chores, while I flew back to South Carolina to visit my parents. They live in Georgetown which is about an hour south of Myrtle Beach. It is a charming small town on a river off the Intracoastal Waterway. My Mother is a watercolor artist who displays her award winning paintings in several local galleries. My Father suffers from Parkinson’s disease, but is able to go out a little and can tell quite a few stories about the good old days!
My visit was
made all the better because my sister Dianne flew in from New York City, and brother John
and his wife Sandi came from San Francisco for the week. Both my brother and sister are
professional artists and designers. We enjoyed our time together, and it went by too
quickly!
After nearly
six months in Costa Rica we have decided the time has come to move on. We participate on
the marine single sideband radio nets almost every morning, and are in contact with about
30 other cruising boats from El Salvador to the San Blas Islands on the Caribbean side of
Panama. Hearing about the clear water and great snorkeling in Panama has us ready to get
cruising and exploring again! Every
country has different procedures when entering or exiting with very specific time
requirements. To leave Costa Rica we first need to go to the bank, pay a $20 Coast Guard
tax and get a formal certificate of compliance. Then, proceed to immigration and pay the
country’s exit fee with stamps purchased at a special vendor, get our passports
stamped and all documentation forms filled out. Next onto customs to get Limerence the
proper exit paperwork with stamps and seals, and finally to the Capitan de Puerto who
issues our exit Zarpe. This certificate is essential to demonstrate to the next country we
enter that we departed Costa Rica with no debts or encumbrances. This whole exit procedure
takes nearly a day of waiting in lines, dealing with officials who have different
definitions of the rules, and juggling the various office hours of the four departments
involved. We handled this task ourselves, but an option to this exercise in patience is to
hire an expeditor who will handle the red tape for a reasonable fee. Once we
enter the waters of Panama, there are many islands to explore as we move south. We have
provisioned Limerence for 6 weeks. Our
friends have warned us that there is NO civilization other than fishermen willing to trade
lobsters or fish. It is daunting to plan meals for fifty-some days, with a freezer the
size of a glove box! We expect to spend a month or so in the Las Perlas Islands that lie
about 40 miles south of the Canal. Cruisers don’t plan much ahead, but we suspect we
will transit the Canal in November. We will be
in touch with family through our ham radio e-mail, and send an update to our Webmaster,
Drew Decker. Wish you all the best, and stay in touch! Fair winds
friends, Judy and Captain Doug
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