A morning started with good Costa Rican coffee

The anchorage in Bahia Ballenas (Whale Bay)

The solar panel is a favored "Billy-Goating" target.

"YIKES" What was that?





We returned last night from our mini-cruise over to Bahia Ballenas near the town of Tambor. We sailed in great weather and Meredith caught a Bonito on the way over. I unhooked the fish and it swam away as I have never been able to make Bonito taste good. Once we got to the harbor, I rowed the three of us to what appeared to be a loading dock for all the fishermen. There were piles of Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) and another stack of Bonito. I asked one of the fisherman, "Que tipo de pescado es este?" "What kind of fish is this? He replies, "Es Atun Negra." "It is Black Tuna." We had caught at least five of these since we entered the Pacific. They looked so similar to the Gulf and Atlantic Bonito, I thought that was what they were. Meredith was steamed when she learned she had caught Black Tuna and I cast them back.

One thing about this trip was the new words we invented. On such word was Billy-Goating. That is the process of coiling up energy in your body as the boat rolls to slamming your head into some target as the boat rolls back. That is called Billy-Goating.

I publicly thank my wife, Lindsey for helping me out of a dilemma. I had prudently set out two anchors for the overnight stay. When it became time to leave, I starting pulling in the anchors. I tried to cheat the system and pull in the small Fortress anchor without out letting out the rode of the main anchor. I pulled all the slack out of the line and tried to unseat the anchor from the seabed but it didn’t work. I had flaked the excess into the lazzarette an left it untied to anything. I then got into the dinghy (without the oars onboard) and hand of hand, pulled my self out to a position right over the anchor. I then easily pulled it up and put it in the dinghy. I then started pulling myself back to Relianto hand over hand using the anchor line. The trouble was, I had left the boat without attaching the anchor line to anything. I discovered the line was uncoiling from the lazzarette as fast as I was pulling on it. It moments, the bitter end of the line would splash into the sea leaving me stranded from the boat with no oars. Lindsey came out on deck just in time to catch the line before I pulled it totally off the boat.

We walked up the road that surrounds the harbor and as I looked down to Relianto anchored out there. Her classic lines looked pretty from above. I couldn’t help but reminisce about how far we had sailed her from Brunswick, Georgia. It seemed a long time ago when Lindsey and I worked her through the locks of the Okeechobee Waterway. She has evolved into a lean and effective sailing machine. She looked at home anchored in the Bay.

Pura Vida,

Glenn the JungleBoy

18 Enero, 2014

Casa de Olas

Playa Hermosa

Costa Rica

Moments before discovering I was in peril. 




A sunrise in Edgewater, Florida