Renee (aka "The R") is on her way to rejoin Intermezzo after a long six-month hiatus. She left the boat in El Salvador in the beginning of April to take care of her mom. Things are stable enough that she can resume her sailing adventure, but will need to stay in closer touch while she's on the boat and we'll be breaking The Voyage in to chunks so that she can return home periodically to check on things. I'm looking forward to having her back on the boat, sailing together again, and the culinary benefits of her fish-catching prowess.
I'm renting a car to pick her up from the airport in San Jose around noon. Our first order of business is to go food shopping. We'll be sailing in some fairly remote waters, so will need to stock up for about three weeks worth of meals. I'm sure we'll be able to find the basics along the way, so we'll be mostly loading up on harder to find goods like cheese, frozen fruits and veggies (for smoothies), quality canned goods and cereals, soy milk and other healthy foods, wine (and other "healthy" beverages), chocolate and other "delicacies".
I have been doing some passage planning, but Renee and I need to review options to finalize our itinerary. For sure, we will be clearing out of Costa Rica on Friday and leaving the marina and then anchor in Bahia Ballena for the first night, a short 20 mile sail to get our sea legs back. Then my preference would be to head directly to Isla Partida in northern Panama, a two day sail of approximately 200 nm. Renee's not sure she's ready to a multi-day passage right away, so we may break the journey up with a couple of (technically illegal) stops along the Cost Rica coast.
The boat is ready for Renee's arrival, mold free, squeaky clean and smelling good. There are still quite a few things on my boat to-do list, as always, but these can be handled while underway.
I'm definitely more than ready to get out of the marina and back to sailing in open coastal waters. Intermezzo and I have been in marinas or estuaries since March, save for the several day passages along the coast between El Salvador and here. I don't expect that we will tied up to land again until we get to Balboa at the Pacific entry of the Panama Canal to re-provision in three weeks or so. I'm looking forward to life back "on the hook" in some remote and pretty anchorages.
