We were all ready to leave the rustic yacht club in Puntarenas where we were tied to this little floating dock in the mangroves.
During those 2 weeks, we got the injectors of the engine cleaned and SAGO ready, we thought, to cross the Pacific which is a big thing. Around 10,000 nm to go from here in total. Some big hops of 1,000 and 2,000 nm coming up. We need to be more or less self sufficient for the next few months. Means food provisioning but especially boat wise. Some limited supplies possible at the next panned stop at Galapagos, but then not much more on the next stops Easter Island and Pitcairn Island until we probably reach Tahiti. Only around 3,000 people live on Easter Islands, and around 50 on Pitcairn. On the nice little atolls that follow, the Tuamotus, in the middle of the Pacific we will find some friendly islanders but no necessarily boat parts… On top of that, most sailing boats go directly from Galapagos across to the Marquesas in French Polynesia, and don’t do the detour we planned. Bottom -line, will be isolated and again, self-sufficient.
High tide was at 12.45, that was the time we had to get out of the Yacht Club and up the river. There would be just enough water for SAGO to get out. To finish the check-out procedure in time, the entire SAGO crew showed up at early in the morning at immigration in Puntarenas. After that, the boys headed back to SAGO to get her ready, while the girls took the bus to Caldera to finish the check-out. Spirits were high despite the 37 degrees in the bus during the 40-minute ride. A bit lower during the sunny 40 min. walk from the bus stop to the Port Captain’s Office. And at the low point when the Port Captain told us we had to go to back to Puntarenas for customs and to pay a fee at the National Bank, then come back to him. Really? We did not need to go there when we checked in. There was only the “quarantine office” near the Port Captain. So different procedure to check in and out? The first country so far, we experienced that. There was another extremely friendly Costa Rican person, again, to come to the rescue. He drove us in his car to customs. Then to SAGO, as Geoff had to sign some paper, back to customs to hand in the signed paper, then to the bank where we had to stand in line behind 27 other customers, and back to the Port Captain. Thank you so much. Amazingly helpful people in Costa Rica!
In the meantime, Geoff had to leave the yacht club on SAGO by himself at high tide — with the kids. Meeting point: The Coastguard in Caldera. The Captain even came by SAGO to wish us a good trip! We were all ready!!?
Nope — The motor was blowing black smoke when he left, much more before the injectors were cleaned. What a disappointment. With that smoking engine, there was no way we could head off to the Galapagos.
Our neighbours coming and going during the next week in the main port of Costa Rica
We ended up 2 more weeks in Costa Rica. A rollercoaster of feelings. It was not the mechanic who spent the entire next day on SAGO who found the reason of the increased smoke. It was Geoff who found out the following day that it was one of the injectors playing up. Messed up when it got the clean?! The next 3 days spent with getting hold of a Yanmar dealer, until new injectors were ordered. It became clear that we would not make it in time to meet Oma who had booked her flight to Galapagos.
We waited for the injectors in a little bay down the road, leaving our industrial port. Oma rebooked her flight for 3 weeks later. Just in case. Was expensive enough to do that once. Some forced down-time for us, and time for more jobs. You never can be ready enough.
Actually, not too bad, we are still in lovely Costa Rica. Lots of velvet macaws with their bright red, blue and yellow feathers, nice little beach most of the time just for us, and on a bushwalk we also saw our first Tucans. Another week and 3,000 $ later we had our injectors. Geoff put them in during a night shift so we could head off early the next morning for Silke’s birthday to Montezuma. A great day! Especially as the motor was hardly smoking. Although still, a little.
Waiting for the injectors
SAGOadventures 