Da Boys

Well, Pat and Alex have been down here staying on the boat with me for almost 2 weeks now and we've been having a pretty damn good time. The original plan was for us 3 to go sail around and explore the areas of costa rica that are only accessable by boat. What ended up happining is that we ran into a rediculous burocratic paperwork dilema that had us driving all over the area talking, bribing and begging officials to let us have temporary visa so that we could go see their country! After a week of this we all decided it was too much hassle and we should go to plan B: SURF, EAT, SLEEP...drink beer. We have made the best of this unfortunate situation though and have squezzed just about everything postive thing we can out of this shitty area called puntarenas. We have basically become locals. The people in the restaurant here are awesome and we just have a running tab, we lounge by the pool with beers, BBQ on the boat and wake up every morning to hike out to a secret overhead left point where we haven't seen a single person in the last 6 days. Not bad. This point is amazing, you have to hike about 3 miles and over some seriously sharp rocks, but when you get there you set up camp and surf your own private left point. The swell seems to be dying even though the swell models say it should be increasing, so last night we performed the sure fire ritual of drinking way too much to bring the surf on. I don't know what happened but instead of more swell we got more wind...hense the reason I'm not out surfing right now. Anyways, the sailing trip to nowhere has been pretty fun. I a couple days we will drive to San Jose, drop off Alex, Pat will pick up Rachael and his mom and I will pick up Jamie. Jamie and I will provision for the next 4 months in San Jose and then we will drive down to Playa Dominical to hang out with Pat and Rachael for a day or two before we head back to the boat to get ready for our pacific crossing! Here's some pics from the last couple weeks....PURA VIDA

--secret spot mid-day hide out--

--going feral...--

--"the PU" on one of its better moments--

--costa rica yacht club--

--Jowen "the paperwork guy" and his mangrove croc. tour...Thanks Jowen!--

--Take your FREAKIN pick!! FEB 23 THE SPOT aka Punta Mono--

--pre surf--

--Trolling chicken for crocodiles--

--PAtty on the dishes--

Ready For Another Round...

Back in Costa again... The plane flights were exactly how I expected them, long and annoying. When I showed up to LAX they almost didn't let me on the plane with the ammount of gear I was carrying. My delema was that I was carrying 215lb's of gear and my 'big' bag was 89 lb's and there was a max of 70. I began pulling out clothes and strapping them to the outside of my already oversize carry-on backpack and put 2 shirts and an extra sweatshirt on myself. I eventually just had to throw a few away. I looked like I bum and was completely ready to reject me when I tried to get on the plane...but I hid the computer and pulled all the straps down bar-tight and got away with it. After two packed flights and a stop over in beautiful George Bush International Airport I stepped out into the heat. The cheapest way for me to get to puntarenas was to take a cab and it turned out to be a good choice. The cabby was a pretty rad guy and we rocked out to some american classic rock station while indy racing all the way to Puntarenas. I showed up just in time to get the last room for the night and sat down for a well diserved imperial and arroz con pollo. When I sat down and relaxed I felt so stoked to be back here, all the memories just started pouring back in. I didn't take long though to remember why I was here alone, early, and yielding a bag full of parts and tools. After dinner and back in the room, I felt the slow, overwhelming and undeniable symptoms of stress. Who knows what condition the boat will be in? How long this extensive list will take to accomplish? Will the engine start? Will anything start? Will the boat be there? Well, the next morning I got my first look. The boat was covered in dirt, bird shit, mold and the varnish was destroyed. Inside, the boat looked just how I remembered it...trashed. But, all in all everthing looked like I'd expected. The next two days cosisted of cleaning and making it possible for me to move around inside. Then I arranged to have the bottom painted, hooked up all electronics, solar panels, dodger, moved everything on deck, drained and filled water tanks, did a complete engine overhaul and started wiping down the mold off all the walls inside. There were no real supprises, just many hot, long days. I have been here now for 14 days and Gaviota is ready to go. The new autopilot is installed (I would never wish a Raymarine install on anyone) and everything is operational. It's been dead flat here so I've spent the last two days relaxing and waiting for Pat and Alex to get here so we can go do someting fun for once! I have met some old friends here and some new ones and it's been great geting to know all the employee's here at the yacht club...when your living here like this everyone just becomes family. I'm feelin pretty good about the future right now and can't wait to see what lies ahead...