Friday, May 06, 2011

Bahia Potrero

We pulled anchor at 08:45, leaving peaceful Bahia Guacamaya behind to go to the next bay, also only a couple of hours away. We're not making much distance along the Costa Rican coast but we are enjoying our short layovers.

We lowered the headsail shortly after rounding the point, and just in time, as the gap winds really kicked in as we neared Bahia Potrero. We soon lowered the mainsail and dropped the hook at 11:00 at Bahia Potrero (N10°26.418' W085°46.916') amongst several boats that appeared to be here permanently rather than actively cruising.

In the anchorage, there is this mast sticking up out of the water that apparently stands up straight when the tide is high. A sunken sailboat along with someone's dreams.


Like Bahias del Coco, the constantly moving and shifting gusty winds here were relentless and very uncomfortable!!  But we decided to venture ashore even though the surf looked menacing. We arrived beside a pier, thinking that would be a good spot, and made it in dry between breakers to another dirty sand beach. We were then informed by a local that it was a very bad place to land a dinghy, risking getting flipped by bad timing of the surf. He said most cruisers usually land down the beach further by the breakwater but then the risk there is thievery. We already had 2 hand-towels taken from our dinghy at Bahias del Coco.

We walked around a bit and didn't see much so we returned to our dinghy. After watching the surf come roaring in for a few minutes, Jordan timed it perfectly and we made it safely out and back to Sea Turtle dry once again. My hero!

1 comment:

Sailor Jerry said...

Hey Guys,
Jerry and I (SOMF)along with SV Windfall are in Potrero right now, we are probably leaving tomorrow the 29th for Bahia Ballena. I love reading your blog, getting ideas on where to stop. Thanks, keep up the great posts.