Made it into Costa Rica. What a ride! These Papagayo winds are no joke!
We made it to an anchorage, Santa Elena, on the northern end of Costa Rica after a 36 hour run from El Salvador, total of 270 NM. We saw wind gusts of 41 Knots with steady winds of 20+. We were 18 miles from the anchorage when we hit a **** storm and had to play like a blow boat and start tacking, took an additional 4 hours to go 18 miles.
We dropped the hook at 3AM in the morning and after making sure all was well, passed out in bed for 6 hours. Would have slept longer, but the winds were howling again. Spent 2 more days at the anchorage. While at anchor, we watched the winds howl with steady 20 knots and gust that hit 47, or ground tackle did there job and held us secure.
We left the anchorage this morning before sunrise and had a lumpy ride to the Golfino De Papagayo where we will spend the night on the hook and check into the Marina here in the morning. Wi-Fi is real spotty for now, maybe get better once tied to the dock.
Cheers all