Curu and Cedros

We picked up Larry and Lena of MV Hobo and their dinghy with Sea Turtle early this morning and motored the short distance from Islas Tortugas across to the Curu Nature Preserve (N09°47.351' W084°55.329') on mainland Costa Rica. But oh oh, the depth sounder was not working - making anchoring tenuous. With no instrument, we reverted to the old fashioned way. I went up onto the bowsprit and with the sun at my back I visually sounded. We went in as close as we dared and then Jordan dropped anchor in what seemed like perfect depth.

The 4 of us hiked around and up and down through the very tropical jungle setting and saw hawks, howler monkeys, iguanas, and the so very adorable white-faced capuchin monkeys which entertained us  for awhile with their antics. The babies were extra cute as they pranced around from limb to limb looking down at us. Unfortunately, we did not spot any of the other animals that make this their habitat (i.e. armadillos, coatis, etc.)

Yes, I know I'm cute

Larry and Lena then dinghied us back to Sea Turtle and they then chose to continue in the dinghy back to Islas Tortugas to their boat.

As the display was not working on our depth sounder, Jordan checked the external contacts and then opened up this fragile instrument and cleaned the internal contacts and electronic board. It's mostly working now but we definitely need a spare in the future as this is a very important instrument for any boater.

So off we went heading north up the Gulf of Nicoya to the next set of islands. About 2 hours later, we set anchor between Isla Cedros and Isla Jesusita at 15:45 (N09°50.601' W084°53.062') where we had the area all to ourselves.

This is a well protected and treed area with not a lot of beach where tourists are said to come for swimming and windsurfing but no one appeared while we were there. Fresh produce and a few groceries are available but we did not go ashore. The local ferry also docks here which goes north across the gulf to the city of Puntarenas.