January 21, After navigating along the Costa Rican coast throughout the night we took a north-easterly heading towards this costal town. We arrived around 7:00 and dropped our 5.8 ton anchor. This is our first tender port. Princess talks indicated the local town was depressing and that it was really to far to walk due to the heat. The shuttle service was $8.00 each way per person which would be $32.00 for us. We planned on staying aboard the ship as it was a tender port also and the fact we have been to Costa Rica before. This is the first time a large ship has stopped here. Betty decided we should just go ashore and see if there was anything near the tender dock. We have never skipped a port. They were a few locals selling trinkets but that was it. We walked a little farther toward a boat club but then again nothing there. As we were about to turn back to the tender some fellow passengers were walking toward us and said it was about a 5 minute walk to the town. We started walking and in 5 minutes we saw a street market filled with vegetables and fruit. We bought a couple bananas, the best we’ve ever eaten. The ship has run out of them. We strolled the market and at the end was the town. It was not depressing at all and quite large. We wandered around thru some stores and took in the local culture. A majority of the stores we went in were owned by expats from places like North Carolina and Florida and we also met a woman running PAWS International, a pet rescue group from Vermont.
There was a Best Western in town that had it’s own casino, we did not try our luck. The stop sign was a Texas Hold’em sign. But nearby was the ‘World Famous’ El Gran Escape Restaurant and bar.
I figured we saved $32.00 by walking to town and we were parched from the heat, so why not stop? Actually it was very pleasant, I think our bodies are accepting the heat. I will update the beer list soon, but the best Costa Rican beer was Imperial. We met some beach bums from Florida that come to fish. Many world records have been set here. We were joined by Sam and Marty from the ship, they are from Manistee, Michigan. We will most likely do some on our own tours with them. She is a good bargainer!
If you are laid back, like great fishing, great beaches, hiking and snorkeling this could be the place to come. Not overrun with tourists but a lot of expats. Everyone was amazed that our ship was still going to cruise for 99 more days.
We walked back through the market on our way back to the ship, wishing we could buy some more of the fruit. Marty bought some flowers for their cabin, I was surprised the ship let them bring them on board.
After returning we took relaxing showers, one thing this ship has is nice hot water. We went to the dining room for dinner. This ship’s dining structure is different as it doesn’t have a evening buffet every night but only on port days, on sea days it has a Bistro Night in the Panorama Buffet. Gone are the days of the 24-hour buffets, a good thing!
Tonight we will stay in the cabin and watch the movie “Limitless”
Other things we have been doing on board, we play Sudoku everyday and attempt to do other puzzles and crosswords they provide. Of course Betty is constantly reading. I plan on attending a Adobe Photo Elements workshop, to improve my pictures. That starts after San Diego. I need to purchase the program. Betty has been attending Culinary Demonstrations that have been conducted by Culinary Ambassador, Master Chef Commendatore, Alfredo Marzi.
Betty has picked up a couple recipes from the chef to prepare at our next dinner party. They are
- Oysters, Sieur De Bienville
- Cacciucco Alla Livornese
- Cozze A Raganati
- Cavatelli with Sausages and BroccoliI
I have warned you! I hope the mussels are properly de-bearded.
Tonight we are to navigate a semi-circular route around the north-western coast of Costa Rica then eventually set on a north easterly course in the morning to our next port San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. We again will be at anchor and tendering. A note on the tenders, they are in excellent condition and clean, a notch better than Holland tenders. Nice to know if we ever tip over.
Attempted to post on January 24th but no internet connection. Happy Birthday Chris!
Update as of January 25, still no internet, plus my laptop stopped working, but I finally got it running again. Hoping that will not happen again. So if I get to post this and somewhere on the trip you don’t hear from me, you will know why.
January 26, No internet this morning, apparently some major is wrong.
