Goodbye Golfito

Today we went to get our international Zarpe for leaving Costa Rica. Reg, Phoebe, Rich and I piled into a taxi to take us to the National Bank. There is a security entrance where you press a button, step into a space the size of a closet, it does some sort of scan and then the opposite door opens and lets y into the bank. It would not let me in with my cellphone so I gave it to Rich to hold outside the bank. Phoebe and I took numbers and waited our turn. When our numbers came up we found out we were in the wrong line and were sent to another desk to wait. The woman at the desk called us over and we explained what we wanted. She took our boat information and went off to type up a form in triplicate with carbon paper. With this form she sent us over to take another number and pay the cashier. Oops, there was a typo. So she had to retype the form and we went to pay. For us it was 10,060 colones or $20.04 US dollars.

We walked to immigration. The gentleman here spoken great English and processed our paperwork, stamped our passports with an exit stamp and explained which paperwork we should give to customs and which to the port captain.

Another taxi ride to customs or Aduana in Spanish. Here we gave them the paperwork and they completed some more paperwork. We met a couple from a powerboat named Wet Bar, who were checking in from Panama, doing the international check in dance.

Yet another taxi ride to the port captain. We gave him our paperwork and now we have a Zarpe which we will provide to officials when we check into Panama. Outside the office was an old narrow gauge train engine, coal car and a box car. It must have been a relic of the banana days.

Yet another taxi and a stop at the grocery store. It had started to rain so we grabbed the last taxi ride back to Land & Sea where Windarra is moored. After a cold drink and the rain had abated, well just a little we went back to the boat, stowed the dingy for passage on the davits, took down the sunshade (read rain tarp) and settled in.

Tomorrow morning we will be up early to catch the tide out of Golfito and on to Panama.

Adios Costa Rica

Sent from SV Windarra iPad