GOLFITO

Golfito in its heyday was the largest exporter of bananas on the West Coast.  It has a large very protected natural bay located within Golfo Dulce on the Southern Western Coast of Costa Rica.  It’s not known as a tourist destination but is on the list for many cruisers.  It’s a safe haven for yachters to rest, and mingle with others of their kind in this remote cruising area.  All the yachters know the Banana Bay Marina.  You can’t miss it as you enter the harbor; it’s painted a brilliant bright yellow.  An Expat owns it, a young guy in his 30’s, and he provides all the conveniences for cruisers that they haven’t been able to get for a very long haul on this coast.  The wooden docks are a bit rickety and they have a simple open-air restaurant and bar that looks a little worn.  But he provides a warm welcome like you’ve reached home and the pluses are Internet services, fuel, power, water, a few simple rooms to rent and a couple hot tubs right next to the restaurant/bar.  We didn’t head for Banana Bay though as we  couldn’t get a confirmation back on email to reserve a slip space.  We headed instead at a brand new marina next door called K&B.  We had heard about K& B from a sports fisher in Los Suenos.  It was the new upscale version with concrete docks and tin roof that covered the dock paths, power to blast off, water, and fine dining and the prettiest girls to run the bar and restaurant service that I’ve seen since we’ve come South of the border.  The restaurant had only been open 3 days when we arrived.  K&B claims it’s not in competition with Banana Bay but the longer our stay the more we sensed some tension between the two and their local followers, though we can’t put our finger on it. 

As we entered the bay, you must line up the boat with markers strategically placed in the jungle-covered hills at the entrance.  I suppose this is meant more for the large freighters that come into this port.  They still have the old pier that was used for the United Fruit Company for their banana trade through most of the 1900’s.  We gave way to one huge freighter coming out as we entered the channel.   We made our turn towards the marina and saw several dock hands waiting to take our lines but it looked much easier than it was.  There are huge 15-foot tides here and we happened to enter during the incoming or out coming (I can’t remember) tide.  It pushed the boat in squirrelly directions.  It took Larry three stressful tries to get into the slip and all the help of the very capable dockhands.  They tied that boat up better than we’ve seen it tied since the boat was commissioned.  Larry did a great job considering that Capt Rains had been doing all the docking up to this point.  Larry and I had the job of learning the lines and fenders, and docking starting in Costa Rica.  This was our first docking since we left Dana Point. 

The small marina (it had only one pier) was really the nicest thing we’ve seen since Los Suenos though not on the same scale.  A young man (Steve) from Maine runs the place.  He’s a tall nice looking guy and was busy taking care of his two daughters, the family dog, running the small marina, and showing us all the facilities.  He was a former mechanical engineer for tugboats in Maine and Massachusetts.  He said a money backer offered he and his family the opportunity to build this marina and live down here.  His wife was away in Maine on our visit taking care of final arrangements on the sale of their house.  Steve said he and three guys built every piece of the marina, which included the furniture.  We had all the power and wash down water we needed.  They offered a deck hand to wash the boat and he did a most immaculate job cleaning out every grain of dirt and salt that had lodged itself since we left Dana Point.

Steve said he was not in competition with Banana Bay but his intention was to get most of his draw from the sports fishers.   He said the owner of Banana Bay was a friend and had a house next door to him.  Steve proudly showed us the marina, restaurant, bar and the rooms that are available for clients that fly down just for fishing. He was very proud of the handy work that he had done.  All the guest room doors had hand carved bill fish on them and the chairs, barstools and tables were all custom made.   Steve made sure that we were comfortable and offered to help us with anything we needed.  He made several day trip suggestions that he could make arrangements for, etc.  It was way more than we expected. 

We had a couple days to rest.  We wanted to get the boat clean and orderly for our new guests.   We were lucky because the restaurant had just opened three days ago so we had several delicious meals there mostly prepared solely for us.  Steve had his staff trained to be friendly and attentive to our every need.  I think he’s doing everything right. 

Our first meal that evening was accompanied by a tremendous downpour that almost blew our tablecloth across the room.  We literally had to hold it down through dinner with strategically place candles, salt and pepper shakers and our arms if we got an especially good blow.  The clouds blew in and the wind, lightening and thunder were a site and sound to behold. 

Ziggy had the run of the place and was welcome under the table at meals.  We were able to get our complete load of laundry done and delivered to us.  So, for any of you yachters out there, and haven’t heard about this place, this is a find.  It’s not advertised and it’s difficult to get the phone number because none of the locals seem to offer much info about it, perhaps because of some loyalty to the Banana Boat Marina.  It’s small and charges less that Banana Bay, but that won’t last long.

The town itself, is run down, and the people at first glance do not seem friendly like previous places we’ve been.  The bones of the town have a lot of charm.  The United Fruit Company established itself here back in 1938.  It saw its potential as a natural port and they built a major dock and offices here in this wilderness.  It drew Costa Ricans from all over the country here seeking employment.  It’s white fleet of banana boats shipped out 90 percent of Costa Rica’s bananas from here.   Golfito quickly became a boomtown supposedly filled with brothels, smugglers and drunks.  It still has that feel to it today.  Apparently there was a lot of corruption within the banana company and great amounts of money were being funneled into the US stock market.  It left a bad taste with the Ticos for Americans.  After many labor strikes and conflicts, the United Fruit Company closed down leaving behind economic depression and many interesting buildings.

Recently, there has been a slow comeback.  They have built a large “Duty Fee” zone down by the port, which draws Costa Ricans from all over to purchase TVs, refrigerators, etc.  In order to be able to purchase from the Duty Free Zone, the town requires that you register 24 hours ahead. This means that visitors must stay overnight.  So an increase in accommodations was required and these visitors also spend money in restaurants before they can buy their purchases at the duty free.  Many of the old charming buildings left over by the United Fruit Company have been turned into rentable cabanas for this very purpose.  We took a cab to see the duty free zone.  The entrance was cluttered with small vendors selling t-shirts, watches, cell phones, drinks, fruits, and snacks.   As we wondered through the vendor’s stall the people are very curious about you and follow you around asking about Ziggy and just trying to have small talk with you.  Inside it looked like you were going through “customs” at the airport.  There were rows and rows of aisles with metal railings.  People were lined up in these rows with their dollies carrying out refrigerators, washers and dryers, etc.  After they went through this “check out” process, they would then head out to the street and load their huge load of purchases into taxis. It was an interesting sight.  You also noticed the many men hanging around without jobs.  That made me nervous worrying about being mugged or pick pocketed.  Looked like they had a lot of unemployment.

The town boasts a hospital, high school, grade school, and the University of Costa Rica.  All are housed in the old United Fruit Company buildings, which have tin roofs, build on stilts, and shutter awnings over the windows and doors with large walk around porches.  Green lawns and beautiful palm trees with white painted trunks surround all the buildings.  So much potential for fixing up.  In fact, the owners of both marinas now live and own houses that were formerly owned by the ex CEO, and CFO of the old United Fruit Company.  They are beautiful old houses that they have meticulously restored.  They are situated up on the hillier side of town with the jungle as their back yard.  As you toured this neighborhood you can notice the lowering tiers of hierarchy of housing.  Each street as it got closer to the waterfront were owned or occupied by employees of lower importance in the company.  They are fixing them up to the grandeur of the old days.  They have large areas of land that are all perfectly manicured and some have swimming pools and exotic birds in large arboretums.  All this behind tall barbwire fences, flood lights with sensors and guard dogs.

There is a large pier set up for freighter or I think in the future, cruise ship landing.  You can still see some of the rail tracks for the old steam engines that transported the bananas.  We even found some of the old trains in falling down warehouses, slowly decomposing by the jungle environment.  The Pueblo Civil, is the old downtown area, and the small road of this area wind up the short hillside.  It is filled with old small shops, bars, and brothels, dating from the early 1900’s.  We purchased fruit from one and the counters were old and antique but charming.  They love to help you pick out the freshest and best fruit.  Interestingly the meat shop was in the same room.  We watched as they cut the meat to order in the open air on wooden counters. 

The longer you stayed the more you discovered and the more comfortable you become in this rough and tumble environment.  Steve was pointing out a fellow staying at the marina one night who has investors that are putting in 400 million to redevelop some of the area.  This is like the old Key West but not for long.

After a few days, our soon to be partners for this next leg of our adventure arrived in a small rustic ponga from a resort miles away.  We were glad that they were here and as they were.  We had not seen each other over two years when we met them cruising Alaska.  We don’t know each other all that well having only a couple occasions having dinner in Alaska and having only a few emails and phone conversations in the last months planning this adventure.  We knew they were in the Golfito area the last few days and thought we would hear from them sooner.  They were at a remote lodge and had difficulty finding anyone that knew about the new marina or pretended they didn’t know because they were friends with Banana Bay.  They were relieved to find that we were here since they couldn’t get any confirmation the last few days.

The next day, Dave Wyman arrived, not without some difficulty also.  Apparently, the Golfito airport closed for repairs the day he was to fly in and he had to fly to another village 30 miles away.  He had a 30-mile pot holed ride in a taxi going way too fast in the terrible heat.  He was starved when he arrived so we all went to Banana Bay Marina for lunch to get Dave food and refreshment.  Dave, our friend from Santa Barbara, a very experienced yachtsman, is joining us to help us through the canal, the San Blas Islands, and will be leaving from the small island in the Caribbean called San Andres.  He’ll be flying straight to San Jose, Costa Rica and then to LA, then to Santa Barbara.

Banana Bay Marina is more laid back than K&B.  It’s rustic in nature and reminds me of what Key West might have been back in the old days.  There are yachters that arrive and never seem to leave.  They just kind of hang out or drop out here.  They hang around the bar and exchange sea stories.  The marina has a resident white and brown large boxer that greets every new boat and sits on the dock staring the new boat down until it registers and pays it’s fee.  No kidding! The owner makes you feel right at home and the Tico lady takes your order and slowly delivers it.  There are two Jacuzzi tubs right by the bar that sit up high on the dock (who would want to take a Jacuzzi in this heat?).  They have a small Internet and gift shop with a few bottles of boat wash, and a couple filters.  Very limited.  The restaurant was much cheaper and more casual than K&B so it was good for lunch and casual dinners. 

There are dogs everywhere in this town.  Ziggy goes everywhere and is welcome everywhere.  One night we asked Steve to recommend another place to have dinner, since we didn’t see any place that looked good in our travels through town.  He recommended “Mike’s Place”, owned by an old Hungarian guy and his wife.  It’s a bit out of town and the steaks are supposed to be great.  Steve offered to drive us out that night and dropped all of us off.  The place looked like a rundown shack.  It had an old rotting sign out front that said “Argentinean Restaurant” T-bones.  Inside was a crummy run down old bar with American car license plates nailed to the walls.  A big old grey haired guy pointed poked his head out from a door and pointed us into the back room.  We wandered our way through some not took attractive doorways which finally opened onto a tiled patio with a roof.  There were now walls as it was open to the pitch-black night and jungle.  All through dinner, we could hear were the screeches of the night animals.  The furniture was very simple homemade wood block tables and chairs with vinyl table clothes and simple candleholders made from whatever was around.  Mike’s Tico wife came out and greeted us with a big smile.  Her English wasn’t so good but we managed to order some drinks.  In her broken English, she told us what they had for tonight:  T-bone steak, ribs, and stuffed peppers.  We ordered drinks and dinner and began the wait.  Steve had warned us that there is no rush here, it comes when it comes but when it gets there it’s great.  As we sat the place filled up, obviously a popular hangout with Expats and yachters.  My steak was the best steak I can remember and I had enough left over for Ziggy.  Richard had not been feeling too well, had some kind of bowel problem so didn’t eat much.  He also didn’t like where we were sitting, so after trying a couple tables, we settled back in the first table.  This restaurant was a fun place and a memorable experience.

The next day we all sat down and planned our trip for the next few days.  Larry had made different calculations with various stops that would eventually land us into Panama City.  We wanted to stop at Isla Secas for sure and then everything else was up for grabs.  We decided we’d head the next day about 2:00 PM after Larry got the clearance papers done.  This would put us into Isla Secas mid morning just right for the tide so we could get the dinghy ashore before the coral reef would be exposed and too shallow for the dinghy to go through.  Our plan was to spend a few hours seeing the island, snorkel, then head for our night anchorage in Bahia Honda, Panama.  The next morning we would leave at 5:00 AM  doing an all-day, all-nighter, putting us into Panama City at 5:00 or 6:00 AM.  Larry then gave a tour of everything on the boat and the procedures for doing watch and engine room checks.  

We made a few last minute visits to downtown Golfito to pick up some t-shirts, go to the internet café, provision at the “super Mercado”, and to stop at the ice cream shop that we discovered.  The heat is so unbearable and the humidity makes you sweat so much that you really can’t accomplish much in a day but we got everything ready for our first adventure together.  Now on to Panama