Costa Rica (Not Sailing)

I wasn't planning on blogging about our trip to Costa Rica since it did not involve Sailing or Whisper, but we had such an amazing time the trip deserves a mention. We missed Whisper and are happy to be home, but we really enjoyed relaxing, warm water (at the beach), cooking with friends and a few adventures. 

The meals produced in a very limited kitchen were not only the tastiest food we had all week, but also turned into adventures in themselves - both acquiring the ingredients and figuring out how to cook them with a few propane burners, a charcoal grill-pit, one cutting board (plus an extra "wood cutting board") and a small prep area. Luckily from being on the boat, we've been cooking under similar situations for the last two months. We also thought ahead and brought our kitchen knives and our spice rack from the boat (a large ziplock bag filled with small ziplock bags filled with spices). The first night we cooked we had purchased a jackfish from a Domingo on the beach, but after a little bit of research there was some concern about ciguatera. The fish taco meal turned into veggie tacos and as we sat down we realized the meal was completely vegan (except for a small about of fish consumed by Seth who volunteered to be the King's Taster). Later in the week we had a few rounds of ceviche (You know ceviche?) and an absolute feast of octopus and shrimp. For much better pictures of the food, see Justine's blog. Actually, referring to Justine's blog I realized I had completely forgotten lobster night!

The lobster night actually happened after one of our first adventures. Armando, one of our Costa Rican spirit guides, took us snorkeling off the Montezuma beach and was able to spear about 4 lobsters for us. We purchased the rest from Domingo, our favorite fisherman. The snorkeling was pretty good (not Bahamas good, but the water was clear and there were plenty of fish to see). The bad part for me was the  jellyfish I found as soon as we got in the water. I tried to tough it out, but eventually I had to go in and rest.

She said Yes! We also had an amazing day going to Saint Teresa on ATVs. It was a fun and dirty trip but especially exciting because it turned out to be Tristan and Erin's engagement day. We were excited to be able to celebrate with them and look forward to celebrating at their wedding as well.

The place we stayed is pretty janky - no hot water, limited kitchen, bugs, geckos and crabs in the rooms, small holes in the roof, and a caretaker with some late night antics and the ability to make liquor and cigarettes disappear overnight. All that aside, it's worth it for the amazing view right out the porch. One of the best parts about was the tide pool right out our front door. The tide pool had the infinity pool effect with the ocean and was pretty warm although during high tide the waves would bring in some refreshing cool water which would knock over your beer if you weren't careful. More on the trip, including the canopy tour will need to come later.

Because it's Sunday the laundry in Treasure Cay is closed, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get that big task out of the way. We have quite a few dirty clothes from Costa Rica - it was so dusty that clothes got dirty pretty quick (as compared to the boat where I'm pretty sure I've worn the same pants every day for 2 weeks without washing). We also have quite a few towels to be washed (we asked Ben's parents to bring their own towels to save us $8/load at the laundry, but we were not clear that meant they should take their dirty towels with them when they leave, so once they're clean we are also going to need to find a place to store our "new" towels). We also spent this morning cleaning out the starboard water tank which developed a scummy growth in our absence and smelled awful. Staying in Treasure Cay today will also allow us to buy fresh bread in the morning (the baker was at church this morning).