Hiking on Cocos

Having arranged to meet the guide at 5 AM, we wake up at 4 AM to get the dinghy and ourselves ready to hike to the other side of the island, Bahia Wafer. Landing wonderfully uneventful, we tie up the dinghy and meet up with Melana to set off on our hike. Melana is a petite, strong woman who lives in San Jose and is here for a month as a volunteer. The hike has three parts, the first is steep climb up to the top, with amazing views of the bay, the second part is through the forest, cool, wet and shaded, the last part is a steep descend. This was my favorite part; we use ropes to hold on to, to keep us from slipping down the side of the hill. We come out of the woods into the work area where crews of about 15 are working on the future housing for park workers and volunteers. Everyone greets us; Melana knows everyone on the crew, and will probably be cooking him or her some meals for the next few weeks. The hike took 3 hours and we’ve earned a little rest in a hammock.

We run into the main park ranger guy, I don’t remember his name, but we’ve nicknamed him Fidel, for obvious reasons. He gives us a tour of the base, shows us the confiscated illegal long lines that is a constant problem here, and some of the equipment and boats owned by the Nat’l parks. He says that replacement parts for the big Yamaha outboards are a problem. Boat parts…a common thread for discussion for all boating types. He allowed us to use the computer in the office so we were able to do a few surprise emails to let some folks know of our latest change of plans. The best part was that the office was air conditioned….so nice.

We got a wild, fast ride back to our dinghy on the ranger’s extra big, extra fast dinghy. The rest of the day, we cleaned up our muddy clothes and bodies, hung out on the aft deck; our heads hit the pillow before 8 PM.

Most people that come here come for diving so they can swim with the hammerhead sharks; we were just happy to play in the water, sans the sharks thank you.

Good Bye Puntarenas Hello Cocos Island

Leaving Puntarenas, we finally cast the dock lines off midday Saturday, April 10. Our little flotilla cruised out of the marina led by David, in his turquoise blue, Parasail boat, then us, followed by Mahboula.

We’d made many friends at the marina and were a little sad to say our good byes. George and Karen, on Mahboula are heading towards the Panama Canal, with plans of being back to Florida by July 1.

Our next destination is Cocos Islands, 300 miles off shore of Costa Rica. Cocos is a National Park, one of many in Costa Rica. The passage took about 72 hours, with 15 to 20 knot head winds much of the time; making for a lot of rock and rolling. We did have one day of lovely sailing, so nice not to be motoring. As promised, it’s the rainy season and we got heaps of it. While on watch, you can crunch up under the dodger and sort of stay dry.

A few facts about Cocos Islands: it is only about 2 by 6 kilometers; it gets 280 inches of rainfall a year, it has three species of bird not found anywhere else in the world, the water is a deep turquoise, and it is lush and beautiful. There are two park ranger bases, one at Bahia Wafer and the smaller of the two, Bahia Chatham, where the anchorage is located. The other boats in the anchorage are dive boats and a big ship with a helicopter, which cruises over to the other bay a couple of times a day. The big draw of this place for most folks is the diving, one of the few places that you can dive with the hammerhead sharks…not something I’ll be jumping over board for. These boats pick up tourists in Puntarenas, and Heraduras, take the 36-hour trip here to spend the next few days swimming with sharks. We had planned to do some snorkeling but so far; Al hasn’t gotten me in the water yet.

We stay for about 5 days, so we get to enjoy it and of course, to celebrate Al’s big birthday.