Pacific Highs
My husband, Neil, and I had left Mexico in March on board Distant Drummer, our Liberty 458 sloop, with a plan to spend the rest of the year on a leisurely cruise down the west coast of Central America. It was in this way that, after enjoying the delights of El Salvador and Nicaragua, we arrived in Costa Rica in mid-May where we were looking forward to exploring the coast and visiting several of the national parks.
The west coast of Costa Rica can be split into three parts. Golfo de Papagallo in the north is exposed to the Pacific swell, but the rocky coastline has several sheltered anchorages and some great surf spots. Golfo de Nicoya in Central Costa Rica is an excellent cruising ground with a myriad of beautiful bays and islands protected behind the Nicoya Peninsula. The southern region of Golfo Dulce has only a handful of anchorages, but is wild and remote, with amazing wildlife in several outstanding national parks.
The three months we spent cruising on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast seeing the beauty of its shoreline and the fantastic diversity of its flora and fauna was a remarkable and memorable experience.
GOLFO DE PAPAGALLO
During the winter the Golfo de Papagallo is prone to strong northeasterly “Papagallo” winds caused by the easterly trades from the Caribbean funnelling through low points in the Central America mountains. These offshore winds create rough conditions off the coast and picking a gap between them is a primary consideration when transiting this area. When we left Nicaragua bound
