Islas Tortugas, Costa Rica
A Contemplative Moment at Isla Tortuga
Grabbed a mooring buoy off the park, and enjoyed a lovely overnight. Other than the fact that the generator started acting weird just around dinner time, it couldn’t have been better. This Westerbeast is a pain in the butt. It started surging, and when we added load to it, it just gave up and died. We were able to cobble together a dinner, and suppressed many curses to try to keep lighthearted about it. As luck would have it, when darkness fell, we were surrounded by thousands of fish, just hovering in the ring of light cast by the anchor light. We could see phosphorescence in the outflow from the generator, and as the fish moved, when their fins broke the surface, it looked like hundreds of smoke rings blooming on the water around us. We also took a turn on the foredeck, lying against the Portuguese bridge and looking at the milky way and trying to identify constellations and spot satellites. After a time, we just experienced being grateful for the wonderful life Emma Jo has helped us to live.
Islas Tortugas Tourists
This morning, while Ole struggled with the generator, the troops landed in the form of two huge catamarans who nosed up to the beach and disgorged dozens of tourists. Judging by the pallor of most, we figured them for cruise ship passengers. Unfortunately the mooring buoy we had chosen yesterday belonged to one of the catamarans, so we were booted off and chose to anchor a little further out, which was just as well. Lowering the dinghy, we explored snorkeling spots, but found the current just a bit too strong to deal with. Lots of fish…parrot fish, angels, seargeant majors, and baby somethings grey with one bright yellow spot. We opted to move away from the current toward the beach, where Ole spotted a ray with a 3-foot wingspan; I spotted the march of the hermit crabs on the beach. It was so odd, strolling along the gravel beach, feeling as if I were being watched…then noticing the beach moving, as hundreds of tiny hermits stumbled their way toward the waterline. Back aboard Emma Jo, deck showers done and clothing rinsed off, we noticed a turtle about 50 feet off our stern craning his neck for a look at us. How wonderful to see – a Jacques Cousteau moment. Today was how cruising is supposed to be…work a little, play a little, enjoy the sunset.
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