18 years of fun and sun (part 7)

Day 9: Scenic Cruising Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica

The calm sheltered waters of Golfo Dlce provide a panoramic view of the rugged coastline of southwestern Costa Rica.Golfo Dulce translates from the Spanish as “Sweet Gulf.” an apt name due to the abundance of rainwater and rivers flowing into the narrow inlet. Sparsely populated with small ports and villages, the area boasts only a few large towns. The largest, Golfito (population 35,000), is one of the most picturesque cities in the country. Heavy rainfall sustaining tropical rain-forest vegetation made Golfito from the 1930s until the 1980s primarily a banana port, belonging to the Banana Company of Costa Rica. Palm oil is now the major crop with the Golfito port, handling about one fifth of the Costa Rican sea borne trade. A roadway through the mountains connects this town to the great Pan American Highway. Costa Rica is one of the leading areas of conservation in Central America with more than 27% of the country protected in national parks and preserves. As we sail around the Golfo Dulce, we can view off teh east coast the Golfito National Wildlife Refuge, where a chain of mountains climb to 1,600ft (500m), then plunge abruptly into the sea, forming a jagged coastline of cliffs, tidal plains and estuaries.

Yesterday we traveled 45 nautical miles to get from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean. This saved us a voyage of 100,000 miles around Cape Horn. After we exited the Canal, we set sail for a day of scenic cruising in the Golfo Dulce. Today was a day of relaxation. We slept in, FINALLY! When we got up, we headed to an early lunch and relaxed around the pool. I finished another book on the Kindle. I really like this device and think paper books are no longer in my future.

Later in the day, they had an Indonesian BBQ on the Lido deck. The food was pretty good. We attended the team trivia as well as the afternoon tea. The evenings entertainment was a Farewell show with both Joel Mason and Rick Starr. It was a great show. Tonight’s dinner was another Formal night.

Today was basically, a low key relaxing day. Tomorrow

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