Photos from a 'Zeppelin' cruise, including getting away from the dicey bars of Costa Rica, gorgeous sunsets at Bahia Santa Elena, scuba diving and lightning strikes, dark sand beaches at the jungle's edge, a surprisingly primitive coast and highway system — and big old sharks!
and tourist catamarans. It is a pretty town with lots of tourists — which was a bit of a shock, since we'd come from El Salvador, where you rarely see tourists. Like all tourist resorts, it had inflated prices and an international feel. We met a few Canadian business owners and residents, lots of Americans, and folks from Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. Playa del Coco is where southbound cruisers check in to the country. Unless you're lucky, you'll need to set aside two days for the process. Wayne saw the port captain at 8 a.m, and Migracion at 10 a.m., and the agriculture inspector came onboard at 2 p.m. Customs, which is a 45-minute drive away at the airport, closes at 4 p.m. The ag inspector was savvy enough to have a buddy who just happened to have a truck and could drive us the 45 minutes to the Customs office near the airport for $40 round-trip. The
local taxi drivers wanted 50% more, so we lucked out. When checking in at Costa Rica, be advised that you'll need several copies of all your documents. The Costa Ricans are fanatics for paperwork. In order to clear in, we had to pay $60 to Agriculture, plus $40 for the ride to Customs. If you'd prefer to sit on the deck of your big yacht while someone else checks in for you, you could head down to Marina Papagayo, where they'll take care of everything for $300. We enjoyed walking the dirt roads of Playa del Coco and seeing all the activity. We were amazed to find three dive shops in such a small town, so we figured the diving must be pretty good. We decided to dive with Deep Blue Divers, three people from the Netherlands who set up their
business five years ago. It had been six months since our last dive, so we wanted to keep our first one on the easy side. It turned out to be just us and a fellow from Switzerland. We saw white-tipped reef sharks, a zillion reef fish that we have seen throughout Mexico, two octopus, lobsters, and stunning spotted rays. It was the first time I had been in the water with two white- tipped sharks so close. Our guide Sometimes it's harder told us to stay still to get around by car as they circled us. than by sailboat. Yikes! But that was nothing. A few days later we did a dive at Isla Murcielagos, which was an hour panga ride from Coco. The purpose of the dive was to see big bull sharks — and see them we did! We descended, found an open sandy area with rocks to hang onto against the current, and waited. It was as if a curtain was raised and suddenly the sharks came out from behind it. Let me tell you, these fellas were grand! They were not only 10 to 12 feet long, but they were very full through the torso rather than long and lean like most sharks. We hung out on the sand and watched them circle to check us out. At one point there were six of them in view at the same time. It was an unbelievable experience! Given the fact that it rains every night in Costa Rica, the visibility was quite good. We took our boat over to Marina Papagayo that weekend to get fuel and spend an evening with Len and Erin of Maestro, Eric of Perfect Wave, and Matt of Red Sky. It was great to see them again and catch up, as we'd all been in El Salvador at the same time. Marina Papagayo as seen when it was just completed. It's a ways from town and has some surge, but the staff is terrific. LAUDERDALE LOUIE
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY ZELLEPLIN
IN LATITUDES