Isla San Lucas

After a restful night sandwiched in the channel between Isla Cedros & Isla Jesusita, we got underway for our next destination, Isla San Lucas. A former penal colony, Isla San Lucas is now a protected Costa Rican National Heritage Site. It's very special to cruisers because of a well-protected little bay on the east side of the island. When we set sail, we thought that we would tour the old prison and see the sights ashore. Well, things turned out otherwise...

We arrived at Isla San lucas a little ahead of Wayne and Ruby aboard S/V Learnativity. Wayne had slowed to perform some compass calibration earlier in the day. We had the "honor" of choosing the anchoring point. We based our decision on information in the S/V Sarana guidebook (which we have found to be invaluable). There were already three sailboats anchored in the area where we wished to drop the hook. In fact, all three were rafted together.

In our chosen spot, there was only 11' of water. We need 7.5' to avoid touching bottom so I was a bit apprehensive! A glance at the tides indicated we were at low tide, so we anchored a bit apart from the rafted sailboats and set about putting Samadhi into "in port" mode.

We weren't anchored for 2 minutes before a small sailing dinghy came racing by with its sole occupant offering free use of the craft! At first we demurred, but they would not take no for an answer. It didn't take long for all of us to take turns sailing the little Open Bic. Even better, it turned out that there were four sailing kids aboard the three boats. Soon, Alexander and Nicholas had their own sailing dinghy in the water and four little sailboats were out prowling the bay!

We were invited aboard the "raft" for a BBQ that evening. Our charming hosts had an amazing feast in store for us. Fabio, Theresa, Edgar, Josu, and Laura kept our plates and glasses full while regaling us with stories of their lives. Meanwhile, Nicholas and Alexander played with their new friends Bito, Miguel, Zaca, and Maria Elena. We all dined on BBQ lobsters so fresh they tried to crawl off the grill, marinated grilled pork, and BBQ beef. Yum, Yum, and YUM!

To cap it off, we enjoyed some of the best rum I have ever had. Josu had brought it specially for Fabio all the way from Venezuela! Santa Teresa 1796 Ron Antiguo de Solera is a 15 year old solera rum that is one of the most subtle, elegant rums we have ever tasted. It was the perfect complement to a truly delightful evening.

More impressive still, Fabio took us on a tour of his 40 foot Hunter sailboat. Once you step aboard you realize that this is NOT an ordinary Hunter! Fabio completely gutted the boat to a bare hull, then redesigned and rebuilt the interior using lightweight cored material. Not only did the boat lose a lot of weight, but the new interior design makes much better use of the available space! During our tour we saw detail after detail of his reconstruction that rival some of the custom yachts we have been on. I feel bad calling this boat a "Hunter" as it bears so little resemblance to the mass produced boats that carry the same label. Truly amazing, I could write a lot more just about the boat!

All of us returned that evening happy, but exhausted! New friends, a new port of call, and great food!

Sometime around midnight, it suddenly occurred to me that we didn't visit the former prison ashore. I guess that this means that another trip to Isla San Lucas is in our future...