Playa Panama, Costa Rica
20 November2005Dropped the anchor at 1715 in Playa Panama, Costa Rica. Our nearly twelve hour passage was uneventful, especially passing through the infamous Golfito de Papagayos. A mixed passage of motor sailing and sailing, the Captain called it a day of "patience" as he didn't immediately start up the engine when the winds died, but waited, floundered and adjusted sails to catch even the slightest of breezes. Luckily, the seas were not swells or uncomfortable so those of us down below, read, played games and slept. The girls did a lesson of school.
We continue to see floating by us, dead turtles of adult and mature size. It has us wondering how old do these turtles live and if this is just part of a natural cycle, life to death. As we watch, the carrion take his time to circle the dead, then watch the dead from shore, pace the shore, for several minutes, time passes, then he and his friends begins to nibble at the soft parts (eyes), and then nibble more, this is all just a natural part of the ecological cycle. Even though we prefer to not observe it, there is nothing about death that is worth hiding our eyes from, as it is life giving, too. We feel sadness as we are more sympathetic to the "attractive" species than the "ugly" scavengers, but we should not judge nature as a beauty contest.
Luckily, as John sailed along he reported sighting a pair of oblivious mating turtles, doing their thing. And then an hour out of Playa Panama, he reported a tiny, baby turtle happily swimming on the surface.
So, we see it all, life, mating, death and the circle of life begins again.
There is nothing quite so wonderful as dropping the mainsail and slowly making your way into an anchorage where every vessel you pass is waving to you, shouting greetings of joy and accolades for your arrival. If they had thrown flowers you would have thought we were someone famous on parade. In our anchorage are Clair De Lune, Mira, Comfort Zone, Carina, GIA, Moonsong and AlumerciA. We were taken by delightful surprise when Liz and Mar (m/y AlumerciA) made a special trip on their jet skies to swing by to welcome us. And then we motored by s/v Carina, Philip - decked out in his finest Zacote shirt and Leslie in her finest pink capri's (Does Denis still have her lost pink shorts???), waved with abundant joy and love. We have missed them.
Playa Panama is more developed (shoreline hotels), less isolated than Bahia Santa Elena (National Park-Santa Rosa). We will stay here a few days, enjoy Thanksgiving with our friends on s/v Carina and then move on to Playa Coco where we must check-in to the country and visit a reported "FOO FOO" grocery store with nearly everything we want....hummmmm, maybe they will have an ice cream sandwich. We are craving ice cream.