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Golfito

Costa Rica’s southernmost town is located on the Golfo Dulce, the Sweet Gulf, across from the Osa Peninsula, just a little over 20 miles from the Panama border.

We were anchored off of Banana Marina, in Golfito, where we could access the shore via their docks, use their facilities like laundry and all for a small fee per week. 

A Costa Rican check in:

The first chore was checking in. We were directed by Yessica at the Banana Marina office where to start, where to go and plus she photo copied 7 copies of every document she said we needed copied, of which there were 9 documents! Yes, 63 copies to hand out, just crazy.

To start we headed to the Health and Agriculture folks. This proved to be the most time consuming procedure. We started here just after 9am and were not finished with them until after 1:00pm. There were papers to fill out, copies to be handed in, copies made, folks to consult and then we had to go back to Banana Marina to await an inspection of our food. The inspector, a young fellow called Michael, arrived and we took him in the dinghy out to Aeeshah. He was totally made up with Chico, had photos taken of him to show his boss and family. He checked all our foods and saw we had very little and that was it. 

Next we had to walk with him to his office where he had to fill out further forms which he then emailed to us while we sat there. Off we had to go back to Jessica, for her to photo copy those forms too, so we could take those copies to all the other offices…..just soooo much paperwork. 

We stopped for lunch next at a quaint street side resturante. It was a very local place, complete with the old fellow sleeping out front in his chair. 

Off to find Immigration, next we sorted Customs, and finally out to the far end of town to the Dock Master, just getting finished as they were closing up at 3:30pm. 

Around Golfito:

We took the dinghy out for a tour around the shores of Golfito. Along the shoreline are the local homes, most of them on stilts with their boats outside.

Behind the homes and across the road sit a few shops and then behind them the slopes of the tropical rainforest rise 1,700ft. In the water in front were their fishing boats.

Beyond the shores of the town of Golfito is jungle, wild, rain forest, untouched land except for a few rare rustic cottages. We enjoyed the dinghy around the massive bay and were totally amazed by the birds. We had Scarlet Macaws fly past, we saw hawks, vultures and many small colourful birds that I had never see before.

The town of Golfito was built in the 1930s as a company town to provide housing and facilities for the employees of the United Fruit Company. The company operated in Costa Rica from 1899 till 1984. For 40 years Golfito was the main banana port, but due to labour problems and higher costs the company abandoned Costa Rica for Ecuador. 

Each day we would walk along the roadway into the town to visit one of the 2 grocery stores. Along the way there was always something to see, a guy painting a scene on steps,

a retired banana train in the park by the ferry dock and incredibly:

Scarlet Macaws:

Scarlet Macaws feasting on the fruits of trees. Macaws are such a common sight that nobody pays them much attention. They fly over the boat everyday, we hear them chatting in the jungle and yes after a while its easy to take them for granted. To see them is still for me a real thrill.

Banana Trains:

The abandoned trains I learned had started running in the 1940s hauling tons of bananas from the fields to Golfito for export. The train in the park was known as the Black engine or Locomotive 81.

It served on the southern railway line to connect the Golfito region of Costa Rica for banana transportation and people. It hauled as many as 40 carloads of bananas. It was build In 1940 by Manufacturer: Baldwin Locomotive. The trains too were abandoned when the United Fruit Company left and the banana farms closed. 

Earthrace ship:

One evening we were invited by a fellow called Robert to go aboard an unusual looking vessel that was anchored near us. It looked like an old USA military ship. Robert was “boat-sitting” for the vessel and its resident dog, Adda.

Once aboard we found out it was part of the group Earthrace. It patrols the waters off of Costa Rica and Panama to stop illegal fishing and such activities.

Personally I could not live aboard this type of vessel it was just too rustic. John was super happy to get to explore the engine room. We were shown around the whole ship, each deck, the galley, the crews quarters, the bridge etc. It was quite interesting. The dog Adda was lovely! 

After a trip to a much larger grocery store situated on the Pan American highway where we stocked up, we felt it was time to move on.

Tides: 

Since being in the area we have noticed some amazing tides. Not being used to such, we find the 10ft – 11ft tides quite awesome. John watches the marina dock’s “poles”. The huge concrete pillars that the docks rise and fall up and down.

Golfito Dulce:

Away from the Golfito area we went heading towards Casa Qrquideas where there was supposed to be a botanical gardens to visit.

We arrived, the shoreline was lovely, wild and just so green, but the place we were looking for no longer existed. It was now a resort.

Never mind, we enjoyed the anchorage and the view of the jungle slopes.

Rincon:

At the very end of Golfito Dulce was our next destination.

Arriving later in the day we had a nasty surprise when the engine would not reverse to pull back on the anchor nor go ahead….engine problems!!

Of course to round things off, the weather erupted, lightening, thunder, torrential rain and winds of about 30kts. We were lucky the anchor held.

Back at Banana Bay:

The next day bright and very early, we up anchored with the dinghy attached to Aeeshah’s side, set the sails and drifted off towards Golfito and Banana Bay Marina.

It was a very slow, hot, passage of about 2 – 3kts most of the time, for the distance of 25miles.

Finally arriving in the later afternoon, we anchored off Banana Bay and made arrangements to enter the next morning. Under dinghy power we made it safely into the dock.

Engine problems:

John was fairly certain he knew what that problem was in the transmission.

He disconnect the propeller shaft, in order to get to the transmission, so as to get to the drive plate. He found that the drive plate had broken apart, smashed, scattering the pieces into the bell housing.

A new drive plate was ordered from the USA, goodness knows how long it would take to arrive. We were held hostage till its arrival.

Car ventures:

We made arrangements to hire a car by going to the very new and fancy marina at the far end of Golfito. It looks like a very nice marina, but the prices are just crazy.

However one can hire a car there for the going rate. We thought 2 days of exploring the surrounding area would be wonderful to break the tedium of awaiting the engine part’s delivery at a hot marina dock. 

Day 1:

off we headed towards Mirador Las Torres do de Jovita and Mirador La Torre Cerro Adams in the Golfito National Wildlife Reserve:

To reach these miradors we had to turn up a narrow, unpaved, rough track that led uphill from the Golfito road. It really was quite an adventure driving along this lane through the trees with a huge drop on one side and the jungle slope on the other.

Thank goodness we never met another vehicle! Up and up we drove, finally coming to what we took as the 1st mirador, as there was a gap in the trees and therefore a viewpoint. The view was lovely looking out over the bay. We could see all the way to the Pacific beyond Golfito Dulce.

Further up we drove to yet another viewpoint where we could see even more of the bay and further into the distance.

Deciding to continue along this very rough lane to see what was at the end, we found a small casa that had a sign up saying Cocoa for sale.

John parked and we walked up a path where we found a lovely garden and above a porch. The lady of the Casa invited us up to the porch where we sat and enjoyed a coke each. (I think the sign meant Coca Cola)

The view was stunning!! This was a true mirador. We could see right across the top of the bay and over some of the countryside. 

I was also really happy to be able to sit on the porch and see many different colorful birds. They were so tame, not worried at all by our presence.

 

While enjoying our drinks the lady who was called Konica was cooking on her rustic, outdoor stove. Being curious I went to have a look. I saw she was roasting a very large bean shaped seed pod.

Konica broke it open and started scooping out the dark brown inside and eating it. She offered me some, and Wow! It tasted wonderful! As Konica said almost like chocolate, dark sweet chocolate.

She very kindly gave us some to enjoy, plus a whole seed pod to roast back at Aeeshah. Konica also explained it was very good to have with milk at night for a good nights sleep. 

Upon returning to Aeeshah I researched the seed pod:  Carao seed pods:

They come from the tree commonly known of as Pink Shower, a relative of the Golden Shower.

What is miel de carao?

It grows in forests and open fields at lower elevations, and is known to be planted as an ornamental tree. In at least Costa Rica, its pods are stewed into a molasses-like syrup, taken as a sweetener and for its nutritional and medicinal effects, called Jarabe (or Miel) de Carao. Cassia grandis. 

We headed off back down the bumpy, wild, trail and along the way spied a couti family.

and an amazing flock of toucans perched in the branches of a dead tree. We counted 15 of toucans.

They were all squawking at each other, perhaps arguing, or discussing the days plans, what ever they were making quite a ruckus. We watched them for about 10 minutes until most had flown away. I believe they were: Chestnut Mandible Toucans

Further along a hawk flew off the lane and perched in a tree branch near us. Dangling from its talons was a snake wriggling to try to get away.

Playa Palvones

Our next destination was Playa Palvones which is reputed to be: One of Central and South America’s very best surfing hotspots. Found at the mouth of Golfo Dulce Playa Pavones, Peacock Beach, is a reputed world-class venue, with the world’s second longest wave in terms of length, height, speed, and swell.

   Along the way we passed many fincas/farms. Some were cattle farms and some were farming palm oil. We were both surprised to see so much palm oil being farmed.

Again the road was quite rough, pot-holed, and narrow, with crazy bridges, but at least it was flat.

The Playa Palvones area turned out to be gorgeous! The beach just goes on forever and ever, the colors were startling, and hardly anyone around.

It was lunchtime and we found a lovely restaurant La Choza De Gaby. There we enjoyed a wonderful meal. It was a family restaurant which basically catered to the surfers of which there are usually plenty, however the seas are down, so no big surf for surfers yet. 

Back to the beach we drove to enjoy a walk along its shores. 

John started chatting to the only fellow on the beach and it turned out his wIfe was a Bermudian, Nancy Mc Ellen. The fellow had us go to their bungalow which was nearby to say hello.

Turned out she had been ahead of me in school by some years and taught by my mother. What a small world. After a chat we headed off back along the beach, to the car and back to Banana Bay after a wonderful day. 

   Day 2:

Piedras Blancas National Park

We followed the road through Golfito, past the airstrip and into the jungle slopes. This was part of the Piedras Blancas National Park.

Driving along the rough track through the jungle we kept our eyes peeled for any birds or wild life. The best we saw this day was a hawk. However the jungle slopes were lovely.

 Off to Rincon

Along the road that led to Rincon we were again surprised to see palm oil farms. The road was quite high in the slopes above Golfito Dulce with a few view points which we decided to stop for on our return.

Upon reaching Rincon we stopped to look out into the bay where we had anchored for the night that we lost the engine. Being a lovely day the bay looked gorgeous.

We had a very nice lunch at a restaurant there.

I spent my time trying to capture shots of the birds.

There are so many lovely birds in Costa Rica.

On our return drive we stopped at the view points and then at a cafe that had a viewpoint.

There we enjoyed a Passion Fruit smoothie while looking out at the terrific view and watching toucans in the trees.

Another wonderful day trip.

A couple of Costa Rica facts:

1. Costa Rica’s forests are home to an astounding array of creatures, including the world’s tiniest squirrel species, the aptly named “pygmy squirrel,” which measures just a few inches in length.

2. The decision to abolish the army in 1948 was not only a move towards peace but also stemmed from a unique circumstance: after a brief civil war, the victorious side opted to invest in education and healthcare instead of maintaining military forces.

3. While many know about Costa Rica’s active volcanoes, few realize that the country also hosts one of the world’s few accessible underwater volcanic vents, known as “Black Smoke” or “Black Smokers,” found off its Pacific coast.