Quepos, Costa Rica
 28 January 2006: 0345

"Good Morning"

With the Southern Cross, abeam, the Big Dipper to aft, and the darkness beyond, we have pulled up our anchor and head to sea.  An unspoken, yet coordinated departure, three sail boats, pull up their anchors within ten minutes of each other.  We navigate out of this anchorage where mooring buoys lay in wait to tangle with props, sport fishing boats moor with no anchor light to position them, and ocean rock beds lie eleven feet from our keel.  But we are careful, our crew has taken their positions and relayed the Captain's commands as he unties the snubber line, then raises the anchor.  "Hard to port. Give her gas." Encanto pulls away from our anchorage of three days, Quepos- Costa Rica. Encanto hails the other boats to let them know we are free and moving out. Soy Libre's anchor is up and they are underway. Encanto moves ahead under the "iron jenny", not far behind is RDreamz, soon to move into the lead, and Soy Libre not far behind either of us. We will play relays for awhile, hoping not to play bumper boats. Sails up to stabilize the boats.

The Captains expect to motor for a few hours until the wind picks up.  Three Captains, who all sail with similar a philosophy: resist turning on the "iron jenny" (motor) until we absolutely need to OR follow the rule of "one hour at one knot". We'd love to sail at five knots, but expect we'll get up to an average speed of three knots, wing on wing, for most of today.  At an average of three knots, we'll make it to land fall, just after dark.  The crew will stand watches, as this could be a fifteen hour day; too long for any one person to do as a single watch.

Now, the Southern Cross lays directly ahead of us, the Big Dipper to aft and Venus hangs brightly to our port forward quarter, with a sliver of the moon rising in the east, just above the horizon. Ah, south is south and north is north, all is where it should be, and a course of 142m. The children slip easily, back to dreamland.  All is well. All is well.

We are underway to Bahia Drake, Costa Rica.

Arrived
Bahia Drake
28 January 2006: 1730

An uneventful motor ride with an occasional chance to raise the sails, of course less than we'd like. Twice caught the usual, seven-pound Skip Jack; kept one for sweet 'n sour fish with fried rice, tonight's catch of the day meal. Granted a reprieve to the other, tossing it back to Neptune. Otherwise, sighted a few dolphins, a turtle but not much else. The anchorage is calm, a few local fishing boats and dive boats anchor with us. The sound of cicadas increases as night falls. The Captain is ready for a cold beer and a good night's rest.  It has been a long warm day. We bid you all a "Good Night".

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