More Costa Rica

It has taken a while to update the blog because of poor internet connections at our last location...So let me catch you up. We arrived in Costa Rica on Monday, November 23, 2015 around noon. We were not able to leave the boat until we were cleared into the country by customs and immagration. Costa Rica is much more strict than any other country we have been to so far. The customs folks finally got to the boat around 11am on Tuesday, Nov 24. We were given our clearance and off we went! We rented a car and drove around the bay to Playa de Coco, Playa de Hermosa, and Playa de Panama. They were all neat little beach towns catering to tourists. Playa De Coco had a Hard Rock Cafe. It was very interesting seeing the open air bars/restaurants right on the beach as well as the different beach front hotels. Here are some pictures of that area.

The Marina that we stayed at was Marina Papagayo. It is part of a huge Four Seasons Resort on the Papagayo Peninsula. The Marina Manager Dan and the rest of the staff took great care of us. http://marinapapagayo.com/

The last picture is another Nordhavn 55 (Terrapin out of Morehead, NC...Small World) we were parked next to. On Wednesday, November 25 we took a trip up in the mountains to the Borinquen Mountain Resort and Spa. It is a great place to relax. You can sit in the natural hot springs sauna, rub soothing hot volcanic mud all over, sit in the hot mineral baths, or hang out in the cool mineral pool and order drinks from the poolside bar. It was a very relaxing day. Unfortunately i do not have any pictures of the resort but you can go to this link and see what it looks like. www.borinquenresort.com I highly recommend a visit! The trip up to the resort was an adventure in itself. The last 18 kilometers is all gravel and dirt roads winding there way through rural Costa Rica. Here are some pictures of the scenery we encountered.

One of the great things about staying at Marina Papagayo is that you get to take advantage of the Four Seasons Resort amenities. So on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) we spent the day at the beach club. Great Pool and Beach and the staff were all wonderful. The marina has a dockside restaurant that is run by the resort. So all of the bartenders and wait staff rotate through all the restaurants in the resort. When we got to the beach club we saw all the folks that had taken care of us at the the marina.

Illana and Fabio

Maria

From right to left..Ivan, Illana, Maria,and unkown Here are some pictures from the beach club

I spent Friday washing clothes and lounging in the marina pool. Saturday morning was spent going to town for groceries and preparing the boat for departure that afternoon. I enjoyed Costa Rica very much. I highly recommend everyone visit it at least once in their lifetime. It is more expensive than any of the other countries we have been to but I think it was well worth it. The people are fantastic and the country is absolutley gorgeous! If you make it by Marina Papagayo and the Four Seasons Resort Tell Dan, Illana, Ivan, Maria, and Fabio I said Hi...Great Folks! So all for now...next post will be about our 3 day voyage to Panama.