Preparing to Leave Puntarenas

Costa Rica Yacht Club
Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Emma Jo at Costa Rica Yacht Club

The first week of March, Ole flew up to Orlando for a management meeting, leaving me alone at the dock beside the haulout yard at the Costa Rica Yacht Club in Puntarenas. I sat under the watchful eye of the guard tower, taking the shuttle ashore every day or so to check email and sip a quiet coke. Although the Bixlers left the boat in good shape, there were things that needed doing to prepare Emma Jo for the next long haul, putting things away, slapping on a coat or two of varnish, and visiting the SuperMega down the road for provisions.

We paid up, and cruised out of the Costa Rica Yacht Club at a decent 9:45 a.m., headed for the Tortuga islands. Definitely needed an escort out from behind the peninsula, as there were uncharted wrecks and a shifting mud and shoal bottom. Not the prettiest cruise we’ve done yet…nor the most scenic berthing. We were plagued with a daily shower of ash from the burning cane fields nearby.