{"id":5856,"date":"2023-08-01T15:41:16","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T19:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/?p=5856"},"modified":"2023-09-10T09:53:39","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T13:53:39","slug":"golfo-dulce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/?p=5856","title":{"rendered":"Golfo Dulce (part 4 of 7)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuing northward with diminishing wind, we motored toward Golfito, Costa Rica\u2019s southernmost port. During my 4 AM watch I could see to starboard, the shadow of a mountainous coast. Rounding Punta Burica we entered Gulfo Dulce<\/strong><\/em>. It was steamy with clouds hovering over a lush, remote Osa Peninsula.<\/p>\n

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The Osa sticks out into the Pacific. A third of it is\u00a0Corcovado National Park,<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0the largest, most biodiverse natural area in the country. Years later, curiosity would take me there.<\/p>\n

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A channel marker stood at the entrance to Golfito Bay, a port developed by\u00a0United Fruit Company<\/em> in 1937 for the export of bananas. At the time, the region was a primeval wilderness with few inhabitants. As United Fruit<\/em> thrived, so did Golfito.<\/p>\n

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By 1984\u00a0United Fruit Company<\/em> abandoned Golfito due to an economic shift to palm oil production, among other things. Challenge <\/em><\/strong>was anchored so we could register with the Aduana,<\/em>\u00a0customs office.<\/p>\n

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With a jungle backdrop, waterfront dwellings were a stark contrast.<\/p>\n

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Natural beauty surrounds the bay.<\/p>\n

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The water was 90\u00b0.<\/p>\n

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Dugout canoes crafted from single logs have probably been used here for centuries and are still commonplace.<\/p>\n

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This family may have been heading to town for school or supplies. Most locals don’t have cars.<\/p>\n

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Downtown Golfito had not changed at all since my first visit in 1983.<\/p>\n

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We pulled anchor and motored to Playa<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Pavones<\/em><\/strong> to visit expatriate friend Malcolm Miles. I was first introduced to him 4 years prior as he was raising a family at\u00a0Playa Zancudo<\/em><\/strong>. Later he built an isolated \u00a0homestead well beyond Punta Banco<\/strong><\/em>, until finally settling on a large chunk of land at Pavones<\/strong><\/em>. His life as an expat has surely been interesting.<\/p>\n

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We brought Malcolm aboard to share some stories, mahi-mahi and go for a surf.<\/p>\n

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Before departing we had two more stops to make. One to get our exit visas stamped, then to visit legendary expat, Tom Claremont.<\/p>\n

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We got 15 pounds of large shrimp from a fishing trawler and visited the man known as Captain Tom<\/em><\/strong>. He lived on an isolated hill near the entrance to Golfito Bay with his second wife and their kids. As a young United States Marine he lost his right leg in the Battle of Iwo Jima during WW ll. Once back in the states he bought an ex-Navy sub chaser and sailed it to Costa Rica. In 1954 it broke down and he beached it nearby where he built his home. He seemed very happy and I envied his determination and lifestyle. We had quite a shrimp feast!<\/p>\n

That night we slept on the deck of Challenge<\/strong><\/em> as a cool tropical breeze blanketed us. Our next landfall would be Puerto Madero, Mexico 4 days away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continuing northward with diminishing wind, we motored toward Golfito, Costa Rica\u2019s southernmost port. During my 4 AM watch I could see to starboard, the shadow of a mountainous coast. Rounding Punta Burica we entered Gulfo Dulce. It was steamy with clouds hovering over a lush, remote Osa Peninsula. The Osa sticks out into the Pacific. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,51,6,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","category-sailing","category-sea","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5856"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5943,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5856\/revisions\/5943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/photoblog.michaelhalminski.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}